Scrapbook 2014

Last year, I took a liking to scrapbooking. I found the December Daily Challenge exciting and I loved documenting the good times and the everyday. Upon research, I found that that kind of scrapbooking, picking up small pieces of everyday, fit better with Project Life than anything else. But I am broke, a student, and I do not like 12x12 pages.

 

So here is my alternative

 

I had an A4 black paged sketchbook lying around and I had no idea what to do with it. the pages are of good quality and should hold up well if I ever choose to embellish heavily. It also cost me nothing extra. And I can also use it to use up my stash of paper goods before University.

 

This is my sort-of title page. It sets the ground work and it looks good. The others may not look like this, as I plan to do these on a Sunday night to review the week, and occasionally dedicate pages to their own individual events. But I am at school, so nothing particularly happens. And, because I don't have a fancy camera phone, any photos will be taken on my camera, which looks really odd if you produce that in the sixth form centre.

 

 

So this is the first week! As you can see, much more basic.

I included a pocket made from tracing paper containing the confetti from the party popper that I used at Midnight to ring in the new year, and I have tried to keep it colour co-ordinated... The gorgeous London Eye sticker came from Accesorize (who'd have thought it?) and was bought with a Christmas gift, so completely guilt free!

 

I found this gorgeous 'this week' card on pinterest, which I printed out in black and white, that I hope to use for the whole year. I like the instant sense of what I was doing that week everytime I just glance at it.

 

Printables used in these pages come from:

HERE for the 2014 hearts

HERE for this week filler

 

Hopefully I can stick to it, and maybe I'll show you every week what I've been producing? Hopefully also, they'll get a bit more visually appealing!!! And perhaps someday even include pictures!!!

 



I'm going a-travelling...

Well, sort of. I'm going on Holiday to Crete with my family for a fortnight, but I want to make a travel journal while I'm out there - it'll give me something to do, and it'll keep all of my memories in one place, which I've never done before.

I'm taking with me a brown paged 8" square ring bound scrapbook, and a selection of papermania travel inspired papers (so that I can choose which ones to use where, unlike mister-stupid-SMASH-book) and this journaling pad, which seemed like a fun idea.

 

These posts and journals were the ones that inspired me to take on this feat:

 

 

I want to make pages like this, except not with a SMASH book, as I don't believe in big brands trying to control everything. If I want to journal on the road, who's to say that I need a SMASH book or not?

 



 

I'm writing this check list down as good ideas for page starters.

 

And this video by Jenniebellie gave me the idea of what I want to be able to achieve one day:

 

 

I hope to share my book with you when I get back!

 

5

A decoration.

 

 

This is a long awaited post of some goodies I made for my Mum for Mother's Day. Inspired by this post on HelloLidy, my mum is the most avid tea drinker I know. Left to her own devices, she would drink at least two cups an hour, if not more! Therefore, it was a fitting Idea.

 

I altered the instructions slightly, to make a neater representation - when following instructions, I tend to make a variation if I can think of one. For each tea bag, I used a star-shaped hole punch to cut a pair of shapes from different papers, and sandwiched the loose ends of a piece of folded thread between them. At the folded end, I tapered it to a point and threaded it through a large eyed needle. This i then sewed through the top of the tea bag, removed the needle and threaded the paper end through the loop.

Sounds complicated? It's not. It's just like adding the fringing to the end of a scarf, or that tassel onto a bookmark... You know the ones I mean.

 

I packaged these in a glass jar, with a few fake flowers poking out of the top. Mum was most pleased, but perhaps that had more to do with the poster of Daniel Craig I gave her? Never mind...

 

50 Things to Make



DIY: Winnie-the-Pooh Card

This is the card I made for my correspondence with a friend in Yorkshire. This technique does not specifically require to be Winnie-the-Pooh; any stamp could apply.

 

Equipment:

Stamp and ink pad of your choice

Silver line stickers

Base Card

Complimentary/tonal card scraps

 

1) Fold an A5 piece of card into a blank. Turn this horizontally.

 

2) With your card scraps, stamp your chosen design, and cut out.

 

3) Matt the design with a second piece of card. Attach this to a Larger piece of card, an inch wider than the design, making sure to line it up with the right hand side.

 

4) With silver lines, mark out first the centre, then one inch to the left. With a third line, border the large matt card on the left hand side.

 

5) Position the layered piece so that the border line lines up between the middle of the two others on the card blank.

 

Tada! It's simple, it's quick, and it's effective. Not bad for some card, a stamp and some stickers...



Sgraffito, Silhouettes and Story-telling

I'm realising now that I started to flit around a lot at the end of this sketchbook... This post is a collection of me finishing up all of the ends of the book.

Sgraffito - isn't that a cool word?!
 These here are a selection of studies that I did experimenting in the sgraffito style. Here's how you do it:

1) Paint a block all over the paper. You then leave this to dry until you could essentially sandpaper with it and no paint would transfer (but I would not advise trying that). The best thing to do is to leave it overnight.

2) Then, very quickly, paint another layer of paint over the top,making sure that none of the bottom colour is visible.

3) While that top paint is still wet, use an implement to scratch and take away the top layer, leaving the base exposed.

There we go. Very simple,but a bit time consuming. The effect I created was very similar to the red figure Greek Pottery,and I became particularly fond of the bottom pattern...

Then, at this particular time, silhouette cameo's were in fashion, So I took a look at the history behind them, creating a few examples in different styles of my friends. I used traditional paper, then acrylic paint and oil pastel as well. The pastel one adds more texture, which is very nice, but is not keeping with the tradition of being a plain shape. The paint was the easiest of all,and also had a very good finish to it.


Storytelling was the final idea I took a spin at, inspired by the stories conveyed through the Greek pots. I looked at several more artists, and chose to create my own version, with a more modern story that will and has travelled through decades.

I started off by looking at storytelling in art, being directed to look at Tracy Emin. Once again though, I had extreme problems actually liking the work. I could see how it worked, but I didn't necessarily consider it nice or good. I did however, set up my own version and took photos of my revision.

I then started to look at stories being told through people, by emotions and their body language... taking inspiration from both Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings.

Here is a greater development on the study of the LotR photo, explaining its meanings and my attempts to draw them myself. I did a paper cut out, and a pencil drawing. Unfortunately,with the cut-out, I forgot that if you turn things round,everything will be backwards... so now the Fellowship is walking in the other direction....

Bent backs, faces pointed down; tired, dejected and scared. The body language of the Fellowship says it all. Also, their order shows the rolls of each of the group. Gandalf the Leader, Aragorn the loner to say but two.

These last page was focused on showing how colour can affect the mood of the painting. This is an oil painted study of one of Picasso's Sorrow Paintings. The image is done in various shades of cold, icy blue, depicting a man that the viewer can immediately see is sad.Those colours heighten this, making for a rather depressing picture. My study,however,I was particularly pleased with - I am very proud of the undulating waves of light and shadow on his cloak/blanket.

Well, nearly there! That is most of the prep done, now comes the final piece!

DIY: Ribbon Card

This is a card I made months back for my Mum's birthday, with the promise of a tutorial. Here it is!

You will Need:

Base colour card (I used blue)

Reflective card

White card/paper

Vellum, tissue paper, or any other translucent paper by another name

Organza Ribbon

Scissors and/or guillotine

Glue/Foam Pads

1) Fold your base card to create a card blank. Then, cut off half of the card front, as seen above.

2) With the reflective card, trim so that it fits comfortably within the outline of the base colour (my card front was 10x15cm, so the reflective was 5x10cm). Adhere only to the half flap on the front of the card so that it swings freely. The overlap creates the illusion of a full card blank.

3) Centrally, adhere the vellum at the top, and then a white rectangle to cover the adhesive marks.

4) Cut the Organza Ribbon into 3 equal sections. Around a smaller piece of reflective card, tie the ribbon sections, arranging them how you wish.

5) Attach ribbon strip to the white card, and you're finished!

You could use any ribbons. I think those ones were actually off of last year's Christmas Crackers, so there's a good example of recycling...

This card could be used for many things other than Birthdays - invitations, thank you notes, or any occasion, really...

Just a little bit of opulence...



Bark Studies

One of the exercises my teacher made us do was to collect a natural object, then experiment in techniques and media that we wouldn't usually have used.

I picked up a piece of bark from our field.

First, I drew it, but not in my usual, photo-realistic style. I used cross hatching to create detail and texture. Personally, I think it strikes a particular resemblance to a whale, but others said it looked ok.

Then, after tracing the image onto a second piece of paper, I used torn bits of sugar paper to collage the image. I hated it. The colours were too bright, it looked too abstract... Then I slid the tracing paper across it accidentally, and realised it actually made it better. It's translucent nature dimmed the colours,and the lines I had used for tracing gave it definition. I offset it, so the sugar paper is still visible, but it gives it more character.

This is a particularly bad photo of the final technique I used. I applied layers and layers of different shades of brown paint to the paper, before using the tip of a blunt pencil to scratch in the details of the bark pattern. This is called sgraffito, and it worked rather well.

Clustered together, I use these three experiments as a reminder to step out of my comfort zone every once in a while, and try something new.

Craft Review: Week 23: Sunday 29th May - Saturday 2nd June (and a Thank You)

Tada! We're back, but with a different format...

I'm not going to do structured days anymore... I'm just going to gather together everything from the week and show them.

I'm also not going to be as strict on my Resolution as I was before; as long as I get one crafty project done a week, I think I'll be happy. This is thanks to Deer Little Fawn, and her wonderful comments in my Wednesday Recap. Please, go and check out her blog, her paintings are gorgeous, and she's a lovely person.

So, without further ado, here is what I did Last week.

Hana, as seen in a previous post. She is definitely one of my favourite characters, and indeed, my favourite painting of my characters that I have done so far.

And this.... may look familiar. I did the stitching a few months back. I've spent ages on this, and I think I've finally reached a point where it's acceptable. Beneath this, there are layers and layers and layers of watercolour washes, pencil lines, other swirls.... If anyone has any ideas as to what could make it look a bit better, I'm willing and open for suggestions. Just add a comment below.

It has struck me how recently I've only been painting, rather than drawing or knitting or sewing.... I'd like to change that (hopefully). In just over a fortnight, my Exams will be finished, and I will be free! But, until then, I need something to keep me sane as I revise.. watch this space!



Hana

As promised, here is Hana.
I was getting bored with regular, plain people, and she's such a crazy character, I figured her painting should reflect that. Note yellow half-jumper (I don't know its technical term...) Blue spotted shirt, and coloured under layers to her hair...

Hana is a descendant of Merlin, and skilled with magic, along with her cousin, Ian. They are the two in charge of the group, as second in command(s). She is argumentative and serious, but also kind and bubbly. She's weird, basically...

Painting her was fun, because she is different from the rest. all of the others have just been wearing plain clothes, but Hana's add to her personality. It made  me feel very free, painting the small dots onto her shirt sleeves and collar, something childish. Perhaps we all need that hint of childishness every once in a while...

Her under layers of her hair caused me some strife. Following with the childish theme, I was too impatient to wait for them to dry, so all of the colours began to bleed into each other... It was good when I was able to paint the black of her hair on, as it covers the worst of it... In that way, black is very forgiving, but in another circumstance, that would've been  seen as a bad thing....

Hana was fun. I think she's one of my favourite characters, overall.

"Kate gazed at the older girl. Her essence oozed control but her demeanour was calm.  Kate noted how some of the under layers of her hair were tinged pink, blue and green, hinting to a more daring nature."

Lonnie

Woohoo for Exam reprieve!!!!!

This one is Lonnie. He's one of the fighters, and really just one of 'the guys'. He gets on with everybody, pretty much, and is mainly impartial to small tiffs. But, when he can see that something is wrong, he'll stand by his friends over the troublemakers.

He's also a very deep sleeper.

Random.

I'm finding with these paintings that I'm gaining more control over my watercolours. That's a nice feeling. I'm beginning to understand them more through my experimentation. I used to be too impatient to let them dry, and all of the would colours bleed.... Here, I'm learning the effect of letting them dry to create layers and colour density..... I'm also getting more used to working in pen, which I actually used to hate...

I drew Lonnie perhaps a bit too small compared to the others, But I suppose that's all part of the learning curve. Proportions and sizing's.

I love doing art. It's just a shame the exams have to take up so much time, work and effort...

" “How the hell did I sleep through all of that? More to the point, how could you let me sleep through it?” He glanced up, eyes daring.

“Simple. You’re scary when woken at ungodly hours, and your body has adjusted so as not to ever let anyone involuntarily witness it” I grinned at him, laughing slightly. He glared and punched me hard on the arm. "

(Matthew in first person, Lonnie referred to in third)



Kate

Kate is the first character to have her chapter... She's the new girl, but her talent is recognised near instantly; it's the reason she was recruited. She is highly gifted in art, and the story will follow the sub-plot of her learning and growing into the role that entails. 



I based Skye on my Art teacher, who is very nice and kind, and very supportive. I wanted a way to remember all of the nice teachers when I left my current school, and this is how. The other two who I based on my other favourite characters are Smith and Shelley - my Biology teacher, and my Form Tutor/English teacher.

Kate is one of my favourite characters, possibly for the previously mentioned reasons.



"Slowly, she picked up the pen, and began to draw a butterfly, first the outlines, then filling in the details with quick, sharp pen strokes. She had seen one in the summer, and its beauty had engrained itself in her brain."





Skye

Next Character up, Skye, and a particular favourite of mine... I have plans for her..... Evil plans....

She seemingly has no talent, she is good at nothing combative and she skims the basics of academia. Her chapter is either the penultimate, or the last.

She is often depressive, but finds comfort in Ian, who worries for her constantly ( I will post him later). She is good at playing the piano, and that is the only thing that seems to truly make her smile.

She's Italian, but one of her defining features is her big blue eyes.... This is the first time I've actually felt sorry that I don't paint their faces. In my mind, her eyes stand out above everything else. I have tried to reflect them, in her necklace, and the jumper, but it's not the same.

"In the corner, the source of the music was found, a grand piano stood majestically. A girl turned from it, surprised to have been interrupted from her playing. She had viciously curly, dark brown hair, and olive skin, but her eyes were a startling, deep blue."

Step-by-Step: How I paint

Our Glamorous assistant being, Erick.

(Yes, I do know it's Edmund from Narnia....)

But, he does provide the base for my Erick.

First, I sketch out all of the basic pencil outlines.

Then I watercolour in the base colours for each section.

Wait for that to dry...

Paint in the shadows....

And finally, ink in all of the outlines.

These have to be quick and sketchy, accuracy is not the aim of the game here. I find it gives them more character this way, more undefined details.

Very simple, yet quite effective.

And very good for characters. As I've said before, I dislike knowing precisely what a character is supposed to look like. I use a reference image, yes, but more often than not it is a mash up of two or three different images... or even people! It is within avoiding facial features which allows the imagination to truly run riot.

If there are any questions, referring to my story, or the art, I will be glad to answer them. If anyone would like to read it, I will take suggestions on how to go about it in the comments.

Erick

Character 5, Erick (and he gets annoyed when people misspell his name, just like Allan). His chapter is most definitely one of the last ones... He is an archer, like Ida, and he is in charge of that branch, descended from Sir Tristan.

I haven't written much yet for Erick... But I do know he's very kind and empathetic. Painting him was fun too, and someone had asked for a step-by step of how I paint these, so I will do that in a separate post. It gave me something to do today, as I was rather bored... I think the green is a nice colour, and it suits him.

"There were scrapings of chairs, and muttered sympathetic apologies to Kate. Erick patted her shoulder, smiling encouragingly, and murmured into her ear."

Greek Rock (how descriptive....)

Sorry! I seem to have neglected my coursework Posts for a while... This one is still following the theme of 'Surfaces'.


This was a double page spread, plus an A3 enlargement painting that I created for my project.
The inspiration came from my visit to Rhodes, the Greek Island, in one of the previous summers. I had found this piece of carved rock, perhaps once a pillar top or part of a cable, and it fascinated me. I loved how intricate the carving was, how intricate and delicate it was. And it made me think of how much history it must have seen, made me dream up all sorts of wonderful stories as to how it had fallen, or who had touch it. I love history.

For this page, I started with a pen and ink study of the painting, which I then photocopied, and worked into with Watercolour.
The result was beautiful, one of the best things I think I've done. It captures light and shadow, and the stone wheel in the background is gorgeous. Everything about this painting, I love completely.
I thin did an acrylic painted study, using heightened colour and a small section of the rock for enlargement. I used the paints 'dry' giving it that stony, scratchy look.

I love these, for their history and how successful the mediums were. This was a good way to continue my Surfaces project.