IW 24 stage one!

The penultimate Inspiration Wednesday page for 2015!!!

This is the start.

We are supposed to have a page that has ugly dimension and colours to start with and gesso over the whole thing no  matter what!

I don't have a spare page like that so decided to go my own way and try to make an ugly base by just layering lots of different stencil images made with molding paste.

As it happens I'm rather liking the look of this and am not sure about adding random colours over the top to disguise it!!! Think I might have to ponder a little longer......nothing new there then ROFL ;)

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

Happy Annniversary

Sharing an anniversary card I made this week.

Can't believe its a year since they married!!!

Just simple one layer stamping....carefully choosing the colours so that it does not look like you just stamped the images willy nilly fashion.....ROFL!

The butterfly was stamped and masked before adding the other background images.

(All T!m Holtz apart from the sentiment which is Papertrey Ink)

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

Inspiration Wednesday 23

Another page It's number 23 in the great IW 2016 journey :)

Yet more collage as a base layer.....well at least it's making a bit of a dint in the piles of offcuts and bits that I can't throw away!!!! ROFL

It turned out to have a much darker look...perhaps feeling yucky from having a flu jab on Friday influenced it!

I used some sayings that I like about art and added a stamped skull....as you do! ROFL :)

What did I learn this time?

I learned that you can't like everything you make!

Although I do like the semi transparent look of the paint within the shapes and can see this will be a useful technique to use again ;)

I think it's time to ask for some extra colours of acrylic for Christmas.....;)

Just noticed I've missed off the date tag.....will have to rectify that ;)

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

Coffee card and Bristol.

We have spent the weekend in Bristol celebrating a special 30th birthday.

Here is the card I made for my super step son James......don't think I will ever get used to writing that word.....step son.....Lol

It's based on one of Tim's 2015 tags.....and as James likes his Costa coffee I incorporated the logo.

I do like the idea of slipping a gift card under the cup :)

It was gifted in a Costa bag for added measure ;)

Meal out at The Cowshed......fab night, lovely food and wonderful company :)
My Tiramisu journey ;)

Can't wait for the next time we can all do it again :)

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

IW 22

Well I managed to finish the page last night. ;)

Just in time for the new one tomorrow.

I'm not a purple person as a rule....but seeing as I did not have the colours Donna used I made do with what I've got and used them! :)

Donna used some fluorescent colours for the flowers....nope not got any of those!

So I mixed in some iridescent medium with the winsor violet and permanent rose (both Winsor and Newton acrylics purchased because they were cheaper than Golden to do the flowers on the black background week)

There's a reason they are cheaper.....simply not as thick as golden! Lesson learnt!

 As it happened I'd decided to add a bit more gesso as a texture base where I thought the flowers would go......what a stroke of genius luck that was because the winsor paints really don't give the texture that golden do. They do give a nice glimmer though with the iridescent medium mixed in....hope it shows up.

Really like the way this came out......must try and find a black pen that is non permanent though for the washy writing......would you believe it after years of having pens that bled....I made an effort to obtain some good permanent ones!!! Sods Law! :)

The background stamped writing is one of my all time favourites from The Artistic Stamper calligraphic mat 13.

Sorry about the lighting...it's a tad dark here today!

Going to try this on a canvas next...

Oh BTW... I couldn't choose a long enough quote that I liked to go all across the pages so I wrote three different ones that I really like and am trying to motivate myself with :)

"Attract what you expect, Reflect what you desire, Become what you respect, Mirror what you admire"

"Just because the past didn't turn out like you wanted it to, doesn't mean your future can't be better than you ever imagined"
and

"Be who you were created to be, and you will set the world on fire"

The last one being a quote from St. Catherine of Sienna.

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

Half way there.

I'm half way through last weeks Inspiration Wednesday.

I'd like to think I could finish it before the new one is up this Wednesday. ;)

Donna is doing a 2016 Inspiration Wednesday and it's still a very reasonable bargain price $35.00....I've enjoyed it but I have the feeling it's helped this year go much faster than usual!

For that reason alone I'm in two minds about doing it again...however I would recommend it to anyone who needs a bit of inspiration....it's worked for me on that front :)

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

Amazing Grace in watercolours!

I decided I liked my acrylic "Amazing Grace" creation so much that I wanted to try using another medium and see what happened.

I'm rather pleased with how it turned out using watercolours and a touch of Dylusions ink for some of the more intense coloured areas.

I once went to night school to learn about painting in watercolours and was always a bit disappointed with the results....mainly because we were supposed to be creating something that resembled real life...and mine never looked like it! ROFL

I'm much happier with the abstract in life so making this was a revelation.
Much thanks to Donna Downey because, if I had not signed up for Inspiration Wednesdays this year, I most certainly would not have made this!

It's painted on Fabriano Artistico 300 hp watercolour paper which has a smooth surface. The white splatter type areas were randomly done using masking fluid before adding the colour....some of it was obviously less successful at keeping out the colour but it adds to the overall look. :)

I'm thinking that quite a lot of the stuff I've created over the years could be reworked like this...
...ooh er! Is there ever enough time to do all these things we want to?!!!

Thanks for looking.

xoxo Sioux 

Crosses galore!

I've been cutting lots of shimmery gold T!m crosses.

They are going on Christmas cards ;)

Just a little peek at a bit of the card design. Inspiration from our Greek holiday this year :)

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

Idea coming together!

Worked a bit more on those colours and here is a portion of the painting I'm working on.

I think I'll have called it finished soon and will post as soon as it is. ;)

Can you guess yet...

...which Inspiration Wednesday page I'm trying to rework?

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

Watercolour sample

A quick post just to show a bit of progress!

A little sample of colours in mind.

Need to make some of the watercolours more vibrant.....perhaps a bit of Dylusions inks will have to go in the mix! ;)

The scribbled effect uses pencil and over painted.

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux 

Got an idea to try.

Time to break out the watercolours.

Think one of my Inspiration Wednesday pages might look good in watercolours....its been a while since I've done any water colouring in the traditional sense...

...apart from using distress inks!

I'm amazed they have not dried out completely!! :)

Watch this space....;)

Thanks for looking.

xoxo Sioux 

Life is...ART...is Life!

Don't all shout EEK at once!

After having the same blog banner since I started in 2008...

...I've tweaked it a little to reflect who I am and where I am intending to head in the future.

As I said the other day....I've set up some on line shops and guess what?

They are called Artyjen Studio :)

Don't worry...I am not going to bombard you with suggestions to buy my artistic makes!

Although I will continue to share my artistic endeavours with you if you don't mind ;)

Anyway, some of it may or may not be for sale ;)

I'll also try to be as honest as I can about the whole process and share the experience of selling on the WWW!

I am starting out with no expectations of selling anything....so it can only improve can't it?!!! ROFL

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

IW 21

Here is Inspiration Wednesday 21.

Can't say I've learnt anything new here apart from discovering the combination of yellow ochre, burnt sienna and teal is very appealing :)

Texture using modelling paste through a couple of T!m stencils.

As I said in an earlier post, I've become discontented with my job and life's too short to be unhappy so I've been toying with the idea of setting up a bricks and mortar shop but the financial risk is not something I can realistically take on. So I'm going to try out some on line selling platforms such as Etsy. Because one thing doing the inspiration Wednesday pages has taught me is that painting and creating keeps me happy and sane....ish! ROFL ;)

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

IW catch up....caught up!

Inspiration Wednesday number 21 just got posted and here I am with number 20!

Wow...I've managed to catch up after holidays and work ate into my creative time.

Added the words "in the beginning" printed from my computer onto tissue paper and attached with multi matte medium.

"Live your dream" is a Papertrey Ink stamp, again on tissue and applied.

The final stamp on the inclusion is a T!m one on tissue again but coloured with Distress pens on the back before application.

Somehow or other I have got to find time to do more of this sort of work as I really love doing this. "Life's too short" ;)

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

From a distance!

Inspiration Wednesday number 18 at last complete.

Staring at pages of black gesso for far too long is not productive.....so I just plunged in and kept on going!!

Have not done anything quite like this before and that's why I was hesitant to start!

In the end it's much better than I could have imagined!! Who knew? ;)

I had hoped to learn a bit more about the application of the acrylic paint to make the flowers....but I'm afraid Donna's video was on fast forward at the nitty gritty points!!

I ended up doing a mixture of one stroke type painting and just making a mess ;) The leaves really need a bit of practise.....but I really like the way the vase turned out :)

I decided to keep the inclusion in and tried to make it become part of the pages.

Donna mentioned a chalk board effect but she went down a different path....I decided to give it a go on the back of the inclusion. Needs a bit more practise I think.

After dithering so long to start putting the colours down I'm quite pleased at the effect.....although it does look best from a distance!!!! Rofl

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

Back to black?

At last some colour added to the black gesso pages!

I'm having to stop till its dried as the colours are easily getting muddy!

If all else fails I can always cover the whole thing in black gesso and start from scratch!!! ;)

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

A little less black

My black gesso page is a little less black today.

At least I made a start drawing the basic flower positions with a pink chalk pencil.

Thanks for looking.

xoxo Sioux

IW 19

I've skipped a week!

Yes I know ....slap my wrists ;)

It's all part of the catch up process. I watched week 19 whilst dithering over my black gesso week 18 page and realised it was a quick page for a change and as I was in the groove I went for it.  :)

Background uses a piece of brown wrapping paper I've been using to protect my journal pages as I gesso or paint on them.

Added an eclectic mix of T!m Holtz stamps on a circus theme...

...and if clowns scare you, you had better look away now! Rofl

Enjoyed that one....thanks for looking.

xoxo Sioux.

IW 17 all done

 

I've finished number 17 at Inspiration Wednesday.

Had to bodge together a couple of different stencils for the background...was happy with the image transfer :)

Onwards to week 18....staring at black gesso pages and wondering where to start! Lol

Thanks for looking.

xoxo Sioux 

Amazing Grace...IW 16 done!

I have done week 16 and am pleased with the result.

I chose not to add modelling paste words over the shadow image (cut my own template) as it spoke enough to me as it was.

I used a Paperartsy flower stencil for the gold bubble arrangement behind the figure.

Already started week 17 pages.

Will they take me away if shadow people on a page start talking to me?

On that I'll leave you guessing ;)

xoxo Sioux