Saturday 26 July 2014

Look what I found!

Hello lovelies,

It's the weekend! So I hope you are all having a wonderful time :)

I was down in Geelong today teaching Class 3 of Art Journaling Basics (Art Journaling 201), and this class is all about words and lettering.  It's a great class - very scary for some students, but worth the effort - there's journal spilling and learning to love your handwriting, or perhaps I should say "learning to hate your handwriting a bit less"...

In preparation for this class I was poking around the internet & procrastinating (as you do) looking for a bit of inspiration to vary my class pages in order to film them, when I came across a fantastic lettering related TED talk.

Jake Weidman is a Master Penman - who even knew that existed?!? His art work is beautiful, but what I found really interesting is the link he makes between using a pen and how a person learns and thinks.


Pretty cool huh!

I hope that this talk makes you think about using your own handwriting in your journal, and not always resorting to computer print-outs and ready-made ephemera.  One of the messages that Jake so eloquently imparts is that if you really want to absorb something - write it down, and because we are all art journalers, we shouldn't just write something down, but make it super decorative as well.

Here's a few pages from my journals that incorporate hand-written quotes: 

Friday 25 July 2014

SHE IS stamp (a post for Aussies)

Hello Lovelies,

I have fielded a couple of questions from fellow Australians about where to get Donna Downey's "She is" stamp.  This is the stamp I used in this video tutorial.
Create on Ormond has sold out, but Karen from Kazmoz Kreations currently has it in stock here.  I suggest that you grab one before they're all gone!!  

(It's tough getting Donna Downey stock here in Australia).

I have prepared a non-local arty post for you all that I will post tomorrow before I head off to teach a full day of Art Journal classes :)

~Liz

Thursday 24 July 2014

Classes with Limor Webber

Hello lovelies (this is a long post, so please click through),

I mentioned in my earlier post that I went to Echuca for artyness on the weekend.  Friends and I  traveled 2.5 hours each way to take 2 classes with the fantabulous Limor Webber hosted by Hobbysew in Echuca.

I believe it's important for us Aussies to support the dwindling number of bricks and mortar shops we have in this country.  Plus I love to be on the other side of the room being a student rather than teaching all the time. 

I'm such a girly swot - I managed to get a photo with the teacher :)
But onto the classes - what did I learn?  Plenty!!

Tuesday 22 July 2014

Product Review - Fude Ball (Ranger)

Hello lovelies,

I confess, it has been 11 days since my last art related blog post.... oops!

It has been a hectic time - teaching, playing tour guide to friends from out of town, squashing 4 days of (paid) work into 3 days, starting to film another Art Journaling 201 class, and travelling to Echuca for a class with the fantabulous Limor Webber. I'll do a recap of my class with Limor Webber in my next post.

Whilst doing my art journal spread for 201 I decided to use my *new* (i.e. new to me) Fude Ball pen.  I had seen this video (below) in which Dina Wakely recommended the pen.

What you may not know about me is that I am perpetually in search of the perfect art journaling pen. So of course I thought - Halleluiah, someone has found the answer for me!

not so fast.....

Monday 21 July 2014

My heart is breaking

Dear Ant,

I know that we haven't spoken in a long while - our lives just get busy, and we live on separate sides of the country.

I always remember the funny, happy, generous guy from uni who was a joy to be around.

You and Rin have suffered an unutterable loss, and I do not know what to say.  I have no words of comfort, there is no comfort to be found when you lose your 3 beautiful children.

I saw this photo of you today at the Scarborough Juniors Footy match, and my heart broke for you.
Death is hardest on the living.


Rest in peace Mo, Otis and Evie. 

~Liz

Friday 11 July 2014

Art Journal Pages - Colour Theory

Hello lovelies!

I'm sharing some art journal pages today.  As you may know, I am running my Art Journal Basics course in Geelong at the moment, and I am re-doing all the class pages and recording the process.

I have released the first class as free video tutorials here, if you are interested in playing along!

Of course I can't do things in exactly the same way that I did it the first time, that would be boring... So I thought that I would share my progression for you...

So here's the first colour theory page. Students make a colour wheel of their own, and put in all the relevant "colour words" like monochromatic, secondary, primary, tertiary etc.  This was the first version:
and here is the second version!
~I love using colour wheels!

Next is a Monochromatic spread and a window cut out. First version:

Wednesday 9 July 2014

Bendigo sightseeing

Hello lovelies!

So a little more on my trip on the weekend. Bendigo is a beautiful town, it was founded during the gold rush of the 1850's and has that typical late Victorian Colonial feel - ornate but yet country.

The old Town Hall:
 The Cathedral - as you can tell, it was a bit chilly first thing Sunday morning.


Monday 7 July 2014

I'm going up the country, babe don't you wanna go

Hello lovelies,


I went to the country on the weekend!

I headed up to Bendigo with a friend.  She had to attend a function for work on Saturday night, so I played handbag :)  Bendigo is about 2 hours north-west of Melbourne.
My current theory is that Bendigo is the new Victorian Hipsturbia... Just take a look at this.

Friday 4 July 2014

Art Journaling in Geelong - Class update

Hello lovelies,

I travelled down to Geelong last Saturday to teach class 2 of my art journaling basics class. I have been reproducing the pages for this class so that I can film them for people who can't make it to Melbourne every month. I can't do every page exactly the same - I'm just not built that way, so I thought you might like to have a little look at what I have made instead!

This is the spread that we do in the class.  It is a colour theory lesson that is based on Pam Carriker's book Creating Art at the Speed of Life, and is an excellent class exercise as it re-inforces colour theory.
This is the left page of the spread:


Tuesday 1 July 2014

INKtoxicated Art Journaling 101 Lesson 2 - Video

Hello lovelies!

So I have had these videos edited and waiting to be produced for about a week now - just finding the time to produce them has been a challenge!  Perhaps the fact that they are done is a testament to new organisation regime, and the breaking of my diet with chocolate...

This is the second lesson of INKtoxicated Art Journaling 101. The class is all about testing your "wet" supplies.  I have used sprays in this video lesson, but you can use watercolour paint, crayons, anything you want to!

Here's close-up pictures of the spread I am preparing in this lesson:

Left page: