Free Classes in Visual Journaling

Last year one of my goals as an artist was to try to advance my own creativity in the areas of drawing, collage, and mixed media. I  joined swap groups and created collaged ATC's, Chunky Book Pages, and Tip-In pages. Still trying to find my own voice I am venturing into the area of visual journaling. I think keeping an visual journal can make your art more personal, helping you to develop your own style. It can document your life, your travels, your artistic growth. As with any journal or diary it can be a daunting process as well.  Somehow staring down a white page has never been a very comfortable experience for me. Many artist begin with "toning" or adding a wash of color onto the page before beginning, or choosing paper which already has a tone of color on it. It can still be a very large, blank page and while I have found working on a very small scale can be less intimidating it is also somewhat confining. So when I saw that Strathmore was offering free classes online in Visual Journaling I was excited! I signed up and began a type of "pages in stages" workshop using copies of my own previous artwork and a few other simple techniques. At any rate it is all about having fun and being free. So jump in at http://www.strathmoreartist.com/. Here is my page after Week 1:

Brrrr.......

January may have come in warm and snowy but it is going out cold and blowy! Subzero temperatures have finally come home this week. A great time to stay inside and make those February valentines. Reflecting back to when my boys were young I thought of how we would always make Valentine's to give others. Usually flat, about the size of baseball card, we would paint and color them one Saturday afternoon. After they had signed each one (a laborious process), we would staple a bag of candy or a lollipop onto each card. For some reason over the years an extra treat had become a part of the giveaway. When I was growing up we were happy to get the little cartoon based cards from all of our class- mates. Nowadays specially packaged candy is the Valentine!  Some marketing genious, I suppose. But I must admit I am still a sucker for the homemade with love variety.

And so... I have been playing around with Tim Holz's alcohol inks again for a valentine swap on artfortytwo.org. Alchol inks are solvent inks which adhere to any non-porous surface.  They can be used to color metal, dominos, glossy card stock, glass, etc. I am always discovering a new use for them. They are just so versatile and colorful, as well as quick and easy. Inspired by an article in the December issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors I thought these little ATC's would look perfect mounted upon a card. They can be removed and hung up on their own as an ornament or picture frame. I love the look of the alcohol inks on the metallic foil tape on the sides of the card.

So with Make and Take coming up on January 24th at Swift Weaver's I decided a Valentine's project was just what the weather ordered. At left is a card designed by Swift Weavers' intern Diedre Ranney. We hope to see how you can inspire us with your own designs and ideas. We'll be here Monday night from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m or email us your own valentine creations at dianetrew@yahoo.com.  

Happy New Year!

Well the new year started off with a  bang at the Benson Golf Course. We had a whopping 120 people for dinner on New Year's Eve! Wow! Thanks to everyone who came. It is a real labor of love because some of the members and myself get together to cook and make it a special dinner for everyone who comes out. Don't you just love Kay's pinecone cheese balls, and the mini mice were a new treat for this year. All the food was outstanding: Rick's soup and ribs, Bill's brined chicken, Kay's sauteed shrimp, the prime rib and last but not least Anne's awesome cream puffs.

There is nothing like starting out the new year with good food and good friends!

Another new year project for me is cleaning my space at Swift Weaver's. What a job! I just don't know where anything is anymore and a thorough shake down is a must. So I will be spending the next few days revamping, recycling, redoing!

The Sketchbook Challenge has begun with the new year also. I have never been an artist to art journal or sketch overly much. I have books full of ideas and colors and thoughts on different projects but I am going to enter this challenge with the idea of exercising my drawing skills and expanding my creativity. You can find the sketchbook challenge here at http://www.sketchbookchallenge.blogspot.com/. There is also a badge on my right sidebar which will lead you there. Jump in and start sketching!

Make and Take is coming up this month on the 24th and I think I will be making journals or sketchbooks - whichever you wish it to be. I will be posting a sample picture in a week or so. So off to a busy start for 2011. Happy New Year to everyone!

Tis the Season

Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Lk. 2: 10-11)

Merry Christmas to all from Swift Weavers!

Winter Swap

Over the weekend I finally had the opportunity to create a white on white ATC cards and a white on white chunky page for two swaps on the artfortytwo.org site. And while I love white on white it is hard to come up with a project that has no color at all. In the chunky page I did incorporate a silver tone which I think still qualifies (?). A white on white project is also hard to scan and produce a good image for uploading. That said here they are:

Freebies

One of my favorite artists is Lisa Vollrath of Ten Two Studios. She is an amazingly prolific artist with a million fun ideas, tutorials on how to accomplish them, and digital products to use to produce them. She has another website entitled Go Make Something, her own blog and also a facebook site. This month for Christmas she is giving away a series of digital images everyday. You can find them at this link on the Ten Two Studios site. http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/ They are well worth it.

There are many free or low cost digital images out there for use in your own private artwork. Some are available for use only in your own personal art and some available for use in art for sale. Be sure to investigate each individuals terms of use policies before you use anyone's artwork so you don't infringe on their copyright. There are also many sites out there which have copyright free images available for use. Many of these sites may be found by following the links on the side bar of this blog.

Happy hunting!

Winter White

I arrived back home in Benson just in time for the first big snow of the year. It came down all day and night Friday, light and airy, quiet and peaceful, white on white. The perfect inspiration for two swaps I have due mid-month for the artfortytwo.org site.

One of my favorite color schemes is white on white. I love how much can be said with so little.
I was recently looking through an issue of Midwest Living in which a couple had done their Christmas decorating in a white on white theme. It was quite simple but elegant. White is cold, yet calm and serene. It speaks to us of purity and goodness, hope. It is clean, fresh, new. When I picture the color white I see snowflakes and winter. I see delicate lace, the luster of pearls, white doves of peace, the fire in an opal.

Just because something is white does not mean it has to be colorless. Actually the quality of white in the light spectrum is not the absence of color but the combination of all color. One of my drawing teachers in college was known for fabulously detailed color pencil work. I was particulary awed by her colored pencil drawings of white objects such as rabbits. Somehow she managed to never lose the white quality of her subjects even though her drawings were in color.

White is the color of new beginnings. Every artist or writer who faces a blank white page or canvas know how it feels just before you commit pen to paper. Scary. However, more often than not what emerges is beauty, like newly fallen snow on a winter landscape.