doodle, paint, collage, repeat!

last week, when i wasn't making cards or otherwise engaged, i was playing around in my sketchbook. here are a few things i worked on:

heart mandala doodle

i had intended to "finish" this --as in fill up the page & possibly add more color; but when i went back to it the next day, it kind of felt DONE to me, so i left it like this.

watercolor circles: before and after

my sister has just acquired her first sketchbook, so we've spent a fair amount of time recently texting and talking about --amongst other things-- how to think up what to do within its pages. one of my strategies is to start with a simple shape, like say, circles, and just randomly fill a page with them. usually it's a warm up, sometimes it morphs into or inspires a "real" idea, and occasionally the starter idea actually turns into a finished page. the point is to just get a pen or pencil or brush MOVING and see what happens next. in this particular case, i went back to the painted page and added a whole lot of really loose machine stitching, which was A) fun and B) looks kinda cool, imo.

sisters with heart in art prompt: "once upon a time"

a sort of fairy tale collage using elements from a bunch of different falling-apart old children's books that live in my collage area. (believe it or not, the light blue backdrop, the castle, and the blue trees at the edges were not only from three different illustrations, they were actually from different sources/artists!!!)

mandala with tiny pink hearts

another sketchbook strategy which answers the question: "hey lauren! WHY do you draw and paint soooooooo flippin' many mandalas, for pete's sake?!!" well, it's another "get that pen MOVING" scenario. most of my sketchbooking takes place after 10:30pm, by which time i have thoroughly depleted my stock of brain matter for the day. if i had to think up an original idea at that point, i'd NEVER get anything done. so i love art challenges and blogs that publish art journaling prompts; i make lists and pinboards of ideas i want to try out; and yes, when all else fails, i do one of my "comfort zone" activities. mandalas give you a built-in structure that can be taken in an almost infinite variety of directions, artistically. plus, i do just really like them.

sisters with heart in art prompt: "architecture"

another old-school paper and scissors collage, with an almost record-setting level of fussy-cut images. i confess that i hadn't actually expected to USE all of them on one piece, but that's what happened and i kind of like it, lol! :)

i hope you're having an excellent sunday, and that you'll be able to do something creative before it is over! ♥♥♥

totally collagical

so it turns out that last month i was so excited about "30 days of watercolour" i forgot entirely to post the collages i made for #SistersWithHeartInArt. duh, lauren! here they are, in reverse order, starting with the current prompt-- though actually, the themes never expire, you can do them in any order, or just pick and choose the ones that speak to you.
 

 "METALLIC"

i'm back to my peeling poster wall collage idea; this is my third (i think) attempt and maybe my favorite, though i've actually had a lot of fun every single time! one of my IG friends suggested i try distressing the underlayers as well as the bits on top... not sure *how* i hadn't thought of that myself, but it was a lightbulb moment and i've used it here.

"NEST"

i was excited about this one even *before* i found the teeny tiny vintage illustration of an actual bird's nest. after that i was pretty much cackling with glee... :)

"FIVE THINGS"

again i stress that the SWHIA prompts are meant to inspire, so you can take them in ANY direction you'd like; and for that matter, if you use them as a "starting point" from which your finished piece morphs away... nobody's going to disqualify you! sometimes i *am* very literal, though, so i made this into a limited supplies challenge, for which i chose: vintage paper, a circle punch, a circle stencil, glitter embossing paste, and my favorite pen.* 

"LACE"

this is one of my all time faves, i think. b/c yes, it's got lace, and pink, and flowers, and vintage paper and it's loose and messy but still a bit pretty and elegant. yep, i love how this came out, and i'm immodest enough to say so in so many words, lol. so there! ♥

*for the record, my favorite pen is a black, permanent ink faber-castell pitt artist pen with an XS/.1mm nib; which nobody is paying me to say, and alas, nobody is providing me with for free! yes, micron makes good ones, too; copic's outliners are great --and copic-proof, which is important if you use alcohol ink markers to color with! in fact, there are loads of good pens out there, and i think i had tried most of them, lol. i mention all of this because i encourage you to keep experimenting until you find YOUR pen... (and yes, you'll know when you do, lol!) ...it really makes a difference! :)

a couple of collages...

...cause you know how much i like to glue random things to other random things, lol! :) both of these were based on prompts from #SistersWithHeartInArt... (the instagram art inspiration in which i participate; to which all artists and all media are welcome!) ...the first is for our current prompt which is "TEXTURE"; i may have gotten sliiiiiiightly carried away with adding dimensional items, beads, modelling paste, metallic flakes, crumply tissue paper, etc; but holy moly it was FUN!

last week we had "NUMBERS" and i went a little less lumpy bumpy; mostly i stuck with various vintage papers which had numbers or numerals on: there's an old (written on) ledger sheer, the table of contents from a children's encyclopedia, some play money, a train schedule and a few different washi tapes with rulers, which i especially love b/c they are somewhat transparent and are thus the best thing EVER for layering... plus they are self-adhesive... what's not to LOVE, eh?!

hope that you are having a fun and creative week, darlings, and that you will get to do something that makes you happy before friday has even arrived! ♥

birds of a feather...

...flock together. especially if i make a collage for the #SistersWithHeartInArt instagram group's current prompt "BIRDS"...

...and then think to myself, "that would make a pretty good mother's day card, actually". at which time, i'd probably go back and make a second version, seeing as how the stuff i used was still sitting around in my work area...

...and (especially) because einstein's other theory of relativity states that if a couple is lucky enough to each have a lovely mum on the scene, there had better be *TWO* equally cool cards being mailed out in may, if one expects all the relatives involved to still be speakin' to both of you the day after mother's day.

so that's what i did. because einstein was a very smart man!

meanwhile, i hope that you are doing something fun --and maybe creative?!-- on this lovely sunday. ciao, darlings! ♥♥♥

a collagification situation

several, in fact. mostly made for our sisters with heart in art instagram challenge.  the first is for our current prompt, "LAYERS" and you can see that i've taken that idea VERY seriously. there are a lot (A LOT!) of layers here: layers of paper, layers of modelling paste, layers of drywall tape and lace... a little bit of everything* really!!!
 

of course anyone is welcome to work on any prompt, whenever they're inspired; there is no need to catch up, or make a commitment, or work in order, or even follow the theme very literally.

but if you have a little time, take one of the prompts that appeals to you, and follow it wherever it goes. then post to instagram with the hashtag #sisterswithheartinart so we can come marvel at your creations! (a complete list of the themes we've done so far is posted here)

last week's prompt was, "PLANTS" and it occurred to me that i hadn't made a stapled collage in far too long, so that's what i did! :)

the week before that we had, "QUOTE" for which i combined a few different stencils (including my own handcut buddha) some fun/funky brush lettering, and a magazine picture of ripply water that i added in by cutting a heart shape behind the buddha and backing the page with the magazine paper. kind of a backward way to do collage, but i really like how it looks so i predict you'll be seeing it again, lol!

wishing you a ♥HAPPY MONDAY♥ if that's not a contradiction in terms; but if it is, i'll wish you a creative and art-filled monday evening, instead! ♥♥♥

*the kitchen sink is not included, but only b/c i've not yet found an adhesive strong enough. it's just a matter of time tho. :)

heart, heart, polka dots... pineapple?

yep. that pretty much sums up my sketchbooking lately. wanna see? the first heart was for the first day of kathy racoosin's latest 30 day coloring challenge, which is taking place throughout february. i'd love to tell you that i've used her awesome example to color every day and really practice shading and so forth. alas, no. but i've jumped in here and there. and i ♥LOVE♥ seeing the gorgeousness everyone is submitting via instagram!

 the second heart was for last week's sisters with heart in art instagram prompt, which was (...wait for it...) HEARTS. i busted out my most vivid shades of color burst and went color craaaaaaaaaaazy! (woohoo!)

POLKA DOTS are this week's SWHIA prompt. mine are kinda freelance polka dots. polka dots without portfolio. ok, maybe not. they were fun to make though, which is the main thing, imo.

finally the pineapple. because... ok, no, there's no particular reason. i've just seen a bunch of kawaii pineapple illustrations around and they put me in a pineapple-y mood, i guess. i'm taking bonus points for having resisted the urge to outline the whole thing in black. at least i haven't done it yet.

meanwhile, i wish very happy ♥VALENTINE'S DAY♥ to everyone who's celebrating; a very happy ♥GAL-entine's DAY♥ to all my friends who treasure their gal pals as much as i treasure mine; and a very VERY happy ♥chocolate's gonna be on sale tomorrow day♥ to anyone who'd care to join in!

xoxoxoxox, 

darlings! 

♥♥♥

painty and colorful

once again i find that i've got a backlog of things made for various prompts set by sisters with heart in art, the instagram art group i'm in. we've been having a ball, choosing a new theme each wednesday, and everyone is welcome to join in! this week it's RAINBOW, so i broke out the cool set of frixion color pens that gina gave me for a marathon doodling session!

last week's prompt was PEACOCK. i love the palette and the shapes, so i did some watercoloring with lots and lots (and LOTS!) of machine stitching on top.

the week before that, we had CUP. i had intended to draw a traditional teacup and saucer. i'm not sure how it turned into a fanciful lotus teacup, but it did, so i just went with it:

finally i have a few random colorburst paintings, sort of vaguely back to the RAINBOW theme, but a lot looser. some wavy striped circles...

...and some random paint splodges that i doodled upon... very messy, but fun.

one more colorburst painting, this one is loosey-goosey flowers in kind of a pam garrison(ish) style, just playing around.

it seems like i cannot get enough color in the winter, especially when there are still such mountains of snow piled everywhere! hope you are keeping well, getting enough vitamin c AND enough art play time, darlings! ♥♥♥

a bit sketchy

hello and happy sunday, everyone! wouldja believe, after a couple of weeks of properly cold winter temps, we've got *63* degrees here in central new jersey today? not that i'm complaining, mind you! i'm not complaining about the rain we've had for the last few days, either, though i will just mention that my lawn is greener right now than it was during our very very dry summer, which seems kinda crazy to me, but there ya go. meanwhile, i've been having a pretty creative new year, which includes the last two prompts from our fun instagram art group, sisters with heart in art. everyone is invited to play along, we welcome all media, styles and types of art, and there's no need to "catch up" or commit to participating every week, so if you're on IG, come check it out!

the prompt last week was "STEAMPUNK" which i quite like, as a genre of art and literature, but i'm not sure i've ever made anything in this category. so it was really fun to draw a sort of whimsical flying machine and incorporate loads of cogs and gears and chains and... well, let's just say there's a little bit of everything that looked or felt like steampunk to me; but i'm pretty glad OSHA will not be inspecting this for safety, lol.

our current prompt is "BRIGHT" which was much more in my usual vein. i attacked it with gusto, a few of my favorite stencils... and all my brightest and most vivid distress inks, as well:

wishing you a very happy rest-of-the-weekend, and i hope your day will include at least a little bit of fun and creativity! ♥♥♥

inky AND collagey AND stencilly!!!*

the current theme at sisters with heart in art was set by *ME* (woohoo!) and it's "CIRCLES" so if you have an idea for a card, ATC, art journal page, photograph, sketch, or... well... whatever... take a pic of it, and post it to our instagram group with the hashtag #sisterswithheartinart so we can all come and love it! here's what i did; not at all what i thought i was doing at the time** but i think i actually love it more than the idea which was in my head, so that's nice, right?!

the central image is a stencil... carolyn dube's "opera house" by stencil girl products, actually, and i'm somewhat obsessed with it. most of the rest of the images were cut from magazines, though there are a few bits of music paper that were used to blot something inky or finish up tinted modelling paste or both-- it turns out that even the "rejects" of those are nice when you cut them up... so HOORAY i now have an excuse to save even more and weirder bits of paper!!! :0

would you like an excuse to play with your art supplies and glue things randomly into a journal??! because sisters with heart in art exist entirely to support you in your quest!!! ♥♥♥

*and YES, those are real words! ok sorta real. you knew what i meant, right? then they're perfectly adequate, lol! 

**tell me i'm not the only one this happens to: you set out with A PLAN and the next thing you know you've used THE PLAN as a blueprint for doing everything except that which was in THE PLAN...? i'm not complaining, i'm just marvelling how my art brain takes over at times, i just hope it doesn't start doing that when i'm driving or paying bills or other activities that aren't ummmmm.... "creativity-friendly"! :)

is there a 12-step program for stencil addicts??

...not that i'd *GO* you understand... i was just wondering. i think i'm past the point of no return, actually. as proof i offer my journal page for this week's sisters with heart in art prompt, which is "hues of blue":

can you guess how many different stencils i used on this? (if your answer is, "too many" then just scroll down, it gets better, lol) let's count them, shall we: 1. my own handcut buddha from over the summer; 2. heidi swapp butterflies; 3. stencil girl "dots and dashes"; 4. folk art large quatrefoil; 5 and 6. tim holtz flourishes and flowery lace. ok, so six... that's not too many, is is... nahhhhhhh... not even a whole baseball team, for pete's sake!

here's last week's SWHIA prompt, "thankful" for which i didn't use any stencils, just a handwriting background and a sort of tattoo-style design i drew because i've always loved that old school ed hardy look:

this next one we're back to stencils... but only ONE; it's called "1700's building" and it's also from stencil girl, who make these utterly brilliant 9x12" stencils where you can use the whole thing and fill a page or layer it in segments or... whatever. for this one, i was totally "enabled" by my instagram friend saskia, who used it soooooo magnificently that i HAD TO have it! (had to!) next time i think i'll put it over a less-busy background; but i just wanted to have a "play" and this page was an abandoned collage that had a few scraps of vintage paper, a little bit of leftover colorburst, and some handwriting. (i no longer tear out "reject" pages from my sketchbook... i know that at some point i will add to them or cover them up, or use them to test paint colors or... well, i just feel like it adds something to how i work/play if i leave EVERYTHING in there...)

so what are ♥YOU♥ addicted to right now? and would you give it up, if you could, or do you --like me-- find it more fun to wallow and enjoy? discuss. :) :) :)

aloha, darlings!

no, alas, i'm not in hawaii, but a couple of weeks ago our sisters with heart in art instagram prompt was "ALOHA" (yes, it was my turn to pick, how did you guess, lol?) so i made a super-fun hawaii-themed collage, with some handpainted letters. this is one of those ideas that i think you'll be seeing again --probably on cards--because those "custom" alphabets* are just soooooooooo much fun to make!

last week we celebrated "THINGS WITH FINS" so obviously i drew half a mermaid! ok, yeah, i actually had a waaaaaaaaay more sensible idea about fish but then i saw this shirt on etsy. for the record, i'm not in love with the finished piece on this one... (i feel like the quote and the illustration are fighting each other for attention; also i colored in the letters with water-based marker before painting the background so OF COURSE everything smeared all over the place) ...but for me the whole point of working in a sketchbook is to practice, to try out ideas, and to look at what i've done and be able to evaluate: what do i like or dislike, what could i do better, what was so much fun i can't wait to do it again, etc; so i'm not having a moan here, just sharing my process! :) one of my collage/art journal heorines, kelly kilmer, recently wrote a great blog post about this very topic that i highly recommend reading.

this week we're all about "FLOURISHES" and no, this time it wasn't me who set the prompt, but you know i'm all over it!!! i started off by doodling the word  --i often begin with a bit of lettering (my drawing "comfort zone") when i'm not sure what i want to do; it seems like if my pen is moving sometimes it'll jump start an idea better than if i'm just sitting there-- and it occurred to me that "flourish" is a verb as well as a noun, so in addition to swirly bits i've got some flowers in there, too.

we'd love for you to join us on any of these prompts; we start a new theme every wednesday, but the old ones never expire, and there's no need to "catch up" or play along every week. just post your work on instagram with the hashtag #sisterswithheartinart and we'll come along to ooooooh and ahhhhhh at your creations! ♥

*i didn't think to take photos as i was working, but the basic process for the "ALOHA" letters is pretty simple: trace your favorite chipboard or plastic alphabet onto watercolor paper... add a pattern and/or paint to each letter... wait for them to dry and cut them out... mount on foam tape over the project of your choice whilst grinning like a loon. :) :) :) 

journal page to card: butterfly edition

i'm not sure i'd ever done a direct, art-journal-to-card conversion before the narwhal card from this past weekend, and yet i've already done another one. i'm onna roll. or something, lol. first here's this week's sisters with heart in art page, our prompt is "things with wings". we'd love for you to join us and all types of art are welcome; post your art on instagram with the hashtag #sisterswithheartinart.

ok, so, a mixed-media extravaganza right here and i had twenty-four hours of dark blue inky fingertips to prove it! lots of vintage paper, stencil action, modelling paste, stamping and a boatload of loose and swirly machine stitching... the whole nine yards of grungy je ne sais quoi. in the course of which, i made that butterfly into a stencil... (it was a piece of copyright-free clipart i found online, re-sized and cut from stencil film) ...and since i can never, ever, just cut one layer of anything, there were a couple of extras. meanwhile, i wanted to make a very special card for a friend who is having a really really hard time of it at the moment, and it occurred to me that butterflies are an awesome symbol of both hope and transformation. so basically i scaled the whole thing a bit smaller and simulaneously turned the grunge knob down and the glam control up. et voila:

oh and is it just me who winds up with two or three (or fourteen lol) "rejects" for every stenciled or spray-misted background that turns out looking really cool? well, *don't* throw those out because they make absolutely awesome die-cutting fodder!!! in fact both of the butterflies above came from "essperiments" that were... ahem... seriously (SERIOUSLY!) unsuccessful, and yet they are my favorite element of both these projects! so there. :)

words... and rust...

once again i somehow missed posting not one, but two, sisters with heart in art (#sisterswithheartinart) prompts so let's remedy that right now. first this week's topic, which was chosen by me, and it's "WORDS". as always, it can be interpreted in whatever literal or tangential way you'd like: song lyrics, hand-lettering, poetry, collage of text papers, photos of great typography or signage, anything goes! i went with a quote over top of some hand-cut stencils. because... ok, really, there was no great thought process, i just happen to really love this quote:

last week's prompt was "RUST" and i had an equally fun time making my page, which was inspired by what i've always felt were the "beautiful ruins" of the old bethlehem steel plant that's about an hour from my mom's house in pennsylvania. apparently i'm not the only one who loves the history and the industrial vibe of the place, as a few years ago, the sands casino built a fairly large and deluxe hotel, casino and entertainment center ...but kept the old stacks as a backdrop. i think that's pretty cool.

whatever you're making today, i hope you have as much fun as i did making these! ♥

FIRE!

i realized when i sat down to post my sketchbook page for this week's sisters with heart in art instagram challenge, that i somehow never blogged last week's page either? duh, lauren! ok, so it's a two-fer, then, woohoo! this week's prompt is "FIRE". somehow i went from doodling flames to the five chinese elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. but that's what i love about prompts... you kind of start with an idea and just see where it goes. 

no real art products involved here except my artist's loft watercolor paints and a faber-castell pitt artist pen with a suuuuuuper skinny nib (it's called xs) 

last week we had "SPOOKY" and again, i didn't really have a *plan* as such (can you tell, lol?!) just a color scheme, a phrase and a whole bunch o'stencils, lol!

loads of ranger distress inks here, some heidi swapp alphabet stamps, and a lot (A LOT!) of stencils, mostly tim holtz ones. oh and a doily

everyone is welcome to join the fun, and you needn't be an art journaler; you could stamp, draw, paint, write poetry, do handlettering, collage, take photos... all media and all formats are welcome and there are some really fun folks hanging out, so i think you'd have fun! ♥

m is also for matisse

...and my lovely friend tracy is big fan! well, so am i, as a matter of fact. this week tracy was talking about matisse's cutouts, and challenged some of her fellow instagram arty types to do what matisse called "drawing with color"... basically to create a little bit of art using only color and shape. since this happened right when i was thinking about mandalas for this week's sisters with heart in art prompt, and since i was specifically thinking about ways to make a mandala without drawing, it seemed like a really good time to see how detailed of one i could make using ONLY punches and scraps of patterned paper. no outlines, no sewing, no gems... just color and shape. i think i did ok, actually! :)

scraps of patterned paper by: basic grey, hambly, teresa collins, american crafts, k and co, sei, prima, girls paperie and... well, i think that's about it; butterfly punches: martha stewart; circle punches: ek success, marvy, fiskars

ok, so... yeah... i suppose it's very slightly cheating to use patterned paper, but frankly that's what i have the most scraps of, so that's what i did. i'm pretty sure the principle would still apply with solid colors of paper, though. maybe i'll have another go at some point? in the meantime, i hope that maybe i've made you think about what YOU could make with punches or dies or... well, whatever you happen to have at hand! ♥

m is for mandala...

...and coincidentally "inspired by mandalas" is the prompt this week* for the sisters with heart in art instagram challenge. so today i'm going to show you some mandalas i've made over the years and we'll talk a little bit about the form, answering such questions as, "do you have to follow a lot of rules?" (no!) and "are they hard to make?" (NO!) and "can i make a mandala if i don't like drawing or doodling?" (yes!!) ok, so here's what i'd call a pretty basic hand-drawn mandala:

nuthin' but black pen on white paper... which is all ya really need
(a bit wonky, as well, which doesn't bother me)

as far as i know there are no rules for the making of secular/decorative** mandalas... which are the ones i'm talking about. although, for that matter, even if there were rules, i'd be totally in favor of you breaking them!  :)

on the other hand, I LOVE COLOR!!!
(ps: using a gridded paper helps with symmetry, if you like that sorta thing)

probably the most common decorative mandala structure you see around is more or less a series of embellished concentric circles... sometimes they look like flowers or snowflakes, or even a bit like the spirograph art i loved in childhood. often they are filled with zentangle-esque doodley embellishment. they can be mathematically precise or really loose; they can be colorful or not. if you do a google image search or pinterest search for mandala, you'll get a nice sampling of ideas. i've also made my own mandala pinboard, just because... ok, there's no real reason... except that i've been having a bit of a back issue over the last week, and may have become slightly more addicted to pinterest, lol.

this is my very first stamped mandala, from icad, 2012
(remember what i said about not drawing?)

tammy of daisy yellow art*** has done loads of unique, AMAZING and inspiring mandalas over the years, and it's thru her (during my first year of icad) that i got into them. she has doodled, collaged, even stamped tiny images or letters in circles!

another non-drawn version... punches this time!
(and arguably waaaaaay too much stitching but it's easy to get carried away, kwim?)

which brings me to the issue of drawing, which i realize not everyone enjoys. sooooooo... can you stamp or stencil a mandala? yes! can you make one out of stickers or punches or paper flowers? YES! for that matter, you don't have to actually make a mandala as such. we've deliberately called this prompt "inspired by mandalas" to make it as fun and easy and loose as possible, so please go ahead and make this into something fun for yourself! seriously, having now looked at a few mandalas, go and do literally ANYTHING you'd like, darlings!

a square mandala? ok, maybe it doesn't quiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite work, but i still kinda love this one!

having said all of the above, i want to tell you a secret: for me, mandalas turned out to be the thing that made me enjoy drawing for the first time since i was about seven. i feel like they're a great intermediate step between doodling and drawing. i suppose it's because there are enough standard shapes (circles, petals, scallops) to get you started, but you can also branch out any way you'd like. you don't have to worry about making them look "real" or dimensional, etc; and as you can see by my own "body of work", lol, a little wonkiness doesn't seem to do them too much harm! so if you find yourself with a little extra time, grab a pen and some scrap paper and maybe have a little go... you don't have to show anyone...

my attempt at a triangular mandala came out more like "picasso's pizza" but it was FUN, so i defend it staunchly!!! :)

on the other hand, for anyone who'd like to assay the "typical" mandala, i'll be posting tips, tricks and new examples over the course of the next week or so. i'm also happy to answer questions here, via email, or on instagram! the biggest hint i'd give from the get-go is to always work from the center out, and possibly start yourself off by tracing around a cup or bottle top so you have a nice solid/symmetrical circle to build on. after that, just do... whatever happens!!! :) :) :)

the peacock mandala got its own entire blog post, last fall
(and is still quite a favorite of mine!)

need more mandala examples? (she asked, expecting the answer, "omg NO!!!!!!" lol) here's a clip art one i used on a card; here's one drawn with black and white pens on a bright background; here's one that i used a set of nestabilities flower dies to create mandala layers out of pretty papers; here's one that illustrates my "off page" stratagem to avoid symmetry. 

*guess whose turn it was to pick the theme??! ;)

**there's a whole separate category of buddhist mandalas, which don't have rules as such, but tend to follow a certain structure and contain recognizable iconography; they're kind of the buddhist equivalent of stained glass windows in a church. here's a wikipedia article that gives a sort of overview of those, with some nice illustrations. 

***if you type "mandala" into the search feature on the daisy yellow art blog you will find TONS of inspiration for beautiful mandalas that can be accomplished at any skill level!