Finishing the 14-Day Art Journal

Here are the last four days of Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's 14-day mini art journal series.

Day 11 - Abstract (left page)

The technique for this day was to stamp with acrylic paint multiple times on the page and then color in the negative space with watercolor to form an overall abstract design. My stamp did not give me as abstract a result as Julie's but the technique was interesting.

Day 12 - Black and White Doodles (right page)

This technique was simply drawing lines with black marker to form shapes and then to doodle on the lines and within the shapes with both black and white pens of different widths to form patterns. My white pens didn't show up well on the black - it seems they soaked into the pigment so the result is far more subtle than desired. I discovered several dried up pens, so I was also able to declutter!

Day 13 - Mixing Media (left page)

This technique used water-soluble crayons (I used Tim Holtz Distress Crayons) and acrylic paint. Three colors of the crayons were scribbled on the page and then spread with a paintbrush and water.  The yellow circles and dark blue marks were also added with the crayons. In order to make this layer permanent, I used matte medium on the gel plate and printed over the entire page. . This is a great tip to fix any water-soluble medium instead of brushing over.  Once this dried, the light blue acrylic paint was added for extra interest.

Day 14 - Monoprint and Sketch (right page)

This page was already painted from the extra acrylic paint (blue) that I used up from the previous page. Then I used the gel plate to print a second layer with orange paint. When dry I sketched the flower with permanent pen and then used fluid acrylic paints to color the flower. Since these are transparent, you can see the sketch marks and previous layers underneath. I also doodled with white pen since the page was quite dark.

I thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with these techniques - some old and some new. It was a great distraction from what's presently going on in the world. Art is therapeutic!

Art Journaling

I've done a few art journal pages these past few weeks. The backgrounds were mainly "done" as they were "mop-up" pages (when I have leftover paint or messy stencils when doing another project, I don't waste the product but clean it off on pages in my art journal so later I don't face a blank page!). I used some of the images and words left over from my Journaling by 5s project so these went very quickly.

Documented Life Project - Week 32

August Theme - Faces, The Human Form and Characters

August 15 - Week 32

Art Challenge: Characters

Journal Prompt: "If You're Going to be Weird, Be Confident About It"

Is it just me or are the challenges getting harder? Or maybe this is just not my comfort zone! This is what I ended up with for Week 32 and, yes, it's kinda weird.

For the background I used some under paper that I liked (this is the paper I keep on my table to catch all the drips and wipe-offs when I'm working on a project - often they turn out really cool!) I didn't do anything to the background other than washing it with a light coat of gesso. The paper did not cover the full spread so I painted the left side and glued on a border strip and labels for the days of the week. The numbers are Tim Holtz Alpha Parts.

underpaper

I decided to collage a crazy character using the body

I decided to collage a crazy character using the body of an owl (image from the Internet), adding eyes from a woman's face in a magazine ad and red glasses and pink Doc Martens from the web.  For the legs I stamped Dyan Reaveley's funky tendrils stamp (lower left below), cut two of them out and colored with permanent pens.

I drew the hat and painted the stripes and polka dots. The title is also a Dyan Reaveley stamp which I cut apart and glued in place.  This is not my favorite page, but he is a character!

I will be back in a few days after we travel to Albuquerque to see two of the grands.

September LBH Art Journaling Workshop

Here's the information for my September Art Journaling Work-
shop at the LBH. I hope many of you locals will join me!

September Art Journaling Workshop

“Creative Mediums and Studio Glaze” with Susan Tidwell 

September 2, 2015 10:00 am - 1:00 pm

$15.00

This month we will be focusing on and playing with some new artsy mediums 

from Imagine Crafts and Tsukineko. You will create a double spread in your journal 

using stencils, Distress stains and sprays, metallic and iridescent mediums, napkins and glaze.

Try products before you buy! I will explain their properties as well as fun techniques

and ways to use them on your projects. And, as a bonus, I will be demoing the new

Ken Oliver Color Bursts!

Please join us even if you are a “newbie” - there are no rules or “have tos” 

in this class - just lots of fun ARTSY PLAY!

Closeup

Supply List

art journal or mixed media paper
(you can find at LBH) 

heat tool and palette knife (if you have)

one or two small napkins with images you like (if you have - I will have 
some to share)

chipboard letters for a title

Call the LBH at 817-431-7930 or Come by the store and Sign Up for this 
upcoming Art Journaling Workshop 

Art Journaling Workshop at The Little Blue House

Art Journaling Workshop

"Introduction and Using Photographs"

August 11, 2015

10:00 am - 1:00 pm

$15.00 (new reduced price)

(Page sample only - yours will be totally unique!)

The new school year is about to start so do something for yourself! Join me for a fun and informative art journaling session on Tuesday Aug. 11, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm. Don’t know anything about art journaling or where to begin? No worries! I will start with all the basics and teach you techniques and tricks that anyone can do. This will also be a good refresher for those of you who’ve done this before. We will create a journal spread from the very beginning using collage, gesso, paints, stenciling, spray ink, texture paste, stamps and more. I will also show you two fun ways to use photographs in your artwork.

Supplies to bring:

Art journal (or loose mixed media paper)

Usual basic supplies

Heat tool, if you have one

(2)  4x6” photographs - one colored photo of an object (this will be altered) or landscape and one headshot of yourself or a favorite person (this one will not be harmed)

Call The Little Blue House at 817-431-7930 or stop by for further information and to sign up.

Hope to see you then!

Documented Life Project - Week 16

Week 16 - April 19-25

April Theme: Color Safari (Exploring Inks and Paints)

Art Challenge: Monoprinting with Gelli Plate

Journal Prompt: A Lot on My Plate

 Here's my spread for the current week - finished before Saturday even!

I was so happy with the art challenge this week - I've had my gelli plate for over a year and have only played with it once or twice. This was a great excuse to get it out and plaY! The great thing is, you make the mess once and then you have oodles of prints to use in projects for a very long time.

I chose three different gelli prints from my play day to use on this spread: the main page is predominantly blue and green; the calendar side is a book page that was actually where I mopped up extra paint and cleaned off stencils (torn into strips for the 7 days of the week); and the orange scallops at the top of the page were cut from a predominantly yellow and orange print.

I liked the blue and green print a lot, so didn't add much to it. For the prompt (a lot on my plate) I decided to use the idea of keeping a balance with all the areas of our lives requiring attention. It's hard to see in the photo but I did a bit of messy journaling on the right side saying "when my plate is full I need to remember to keep a balance ... and breathe."

I used rubons for BALANCE and computer-generated the words below.

This was a quick and easy page (if you don't count the day spent gelli printing). I'm pretty happy with it even though it's not my usual color scheme. I love that about art journaling - you can challenge yourself and step out of your comfort zone. It doesn't have to be perfect and is all about the process!

Art Journaling/"Mix it Up" Product Play Day

"Mix it Up"

Product Play Day - Color Bursts

APRIL 14

10:00 am - 1:00 pm or

6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

We are changing things up a bit.  Join me next Tuesday for a Product Play Day (formerly Art Journaling Workshop)!  For those of you loyal art journalers, we will continue to play with products and learn new techniques. For those of you who are not art journalers, we invite you to join us to play and get messy! It is not necessary to have an art journal - we will provide specialty papers for you to work on.

This month we will be making creative "messes" using a new product from Ken Oliver Crafts - Color Bursts! These are very intense pigment powders which can be used in a variety of ways. Wait til you see these gorgeous colors and their unique properties!

I GUARANTEE WE WILL HAVE FUN!

Supplies to bring:

usual basic supplies

art journal (if you already have one, but not necessary)

non-stick craft mat

Please call the LBH (817-431-7930) or stop by the store to reserve your seat.

Art Journaling Workshop

I'm back from a month in Albuquerque with my daughter and newest grandson. Time to get back in the swing of things here! I have lots to catch up on.

Next week I will be teaching an Art Journaling Workshop about Lettering and Journaling.  I will be showing different ways to include words in your journals and what to do if you don't like your handwriting. I will also share techniques for lettering.

This workshop is also useful for those who are joining in the new movement of Bible Journaling.  Learn some techniques for adding creative journaling in your bible.

Come join me at the Little Blue House for Art Journaling!

March 10, 2015

10:00 am - 1:00 pm

or 

6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Call 817-793-3592 to reserve your seat!

(More information including this month's supply list can be found here.)

Documented Life Project 2015

I really enjoyed doing the daily Rolodex art journaling cards last year. It kept me making art almost daily, even if it was just a little bit, and I loved the challenge of coming up with something different every day.  This year, however, I wanted to do something different.

Last year I followed along on the Documented Life Project which was started by 5 very talented and sharing ladies: Roben-Marie Smith, Lorraine Bell, Rae Missigman, Sandi Keene and Barbara Moore. The project basically combines a weekly planner with art journaling.  But I never actually did it!

I have decided to do this in 2015. There is more information posted here: http://www.art5academy.com/the-studio/the-documented-life-project-free if you think you might like to join (it's free!). This year they are using a large Dylusions art journal since the paper will stand up to more than the Moleskine planner that was used last year.  And they post a monthly "Theme", along with a weekly "Art Challenge" and a "Journal Prompt" to go with the theme.

January's theme is: The Blank Page & How to Face It.  The first week's art challenge was to use book paper and the prompt was "Be your own Goal Keeper." Here is my first page, incorporating a tag under which I wrote my goals. The entire spread was decoupaged with book papers and then watercolored over. The left side is reserved for the week's plans. I like the fact that I can document my year and incorporate it in with art.

This week's art challenge is to use gesso and the prompt is "The beginning is always today." by Mary Shelley. Have only gessoed the background - we'll see where my muse leads me in the next few days.

More Art Journaling Pages

For the December LBH Art Journaling class we repurposed old Christmas cards.

I shared my first sample page in my December 2 post.

I also created two more samples for class.

For this page I tore music paper randomly and adhered to the entire background. I added washes of white and cream paints and a bit of light brown to tone it down, as well as some light stamping. 

Then I punched one-inch circles and cut them in half to create the scalloped border. 

For the tree I cut random strips, starting with the bottom strip and each slightly smaller than the previous one. Even the star was punched from a card. I used brown and green Inktense pencils to outline the tree and scallops to add definition and then outlined all with a permanent black pen. The tree needed some decorations, so I glued on three red bows, also from a card!

For this page I used a snowflake napkin for the background. Napkins usually have three plies and, if you use the top ply, it creates a background similar to tissue paper. But the middle ply still had faint printing on it so I used that for the entire background and then tore the darker snowflakes from the top layer and decoupaged them in a few places.

The "landscape" scene in the center of the page was a pretty card which I tore into three vertical strips. I glued these down staggering the bottom edges so it would look more realistic than just gluing down the entire card. I added my new snowman stamp and mixed pearl paint with texture paste to add some snow and snowflakes through punchinella.

So, don't throw out all those pretty cards (Christmas or otherwise) you receive. They make great fodder for your art journals!

Rolodex-Card-A-Day for November

We were out of town for the last part of November, so I did not get 30 cards done for the month, but I did create 22. You can see that I was very influenced by the colors of fall as well as Thanksgiving.

Embossed metal butterfly w/ Inka Gold; resist stamped flower;
background is scrap of modeling paste and spray inks

Embossed paper with Versamark and Pearl Ex; die cut word
and punched leaves

Paint scrap background; stamped and embossed "twinchie"; gold
Delicata ink on die cut flourish

Spray inks on WC paper, text from book, butterfly stickers
and stamped and colored poppies (Inktense pencils_

Heidi Swapp scraps repurposed from old CHA Make n Take

Paper and fabric scraps; stamped image

Dina Wakley stamp painted, deli paper, Dylusions spray
ink background over book text and gesso

Magazine and contact paper image transfer on scrapbook
paper; stamped title

Envelope liner background, heart is dryer sheets Mod Podged
together and embossed and inked

"Art Pop" collage sheet from Robin Marie Smith, enhanced with
magazine letters and stamps

Washi tape background; "reduction stenciling" w/ Xacto
knife cutting out hexagon shapes

Scrap letter and number stickers collaged for background; stamp;
camera washi tape, TH film strip and pin

Sprayed and stenciled background; flower stickers; Inktense
pencils

"Faux riveted metal"; stamps

Music paper with Shimmerz paint; collaged papers

Tissue paper ephemera leftovers - perfect for Nov. 19

Techniques from Tim Holtz November 2014 tag - Distress
Stains and paints; inked embossing folder

Spray inked and stamped background, bird sticker, die cut branch,
"22" scrap - perfect for Nov. 22

Decoupaged napkin background; punched, inked, embossed and
crackled ovals for pumpkin

Painted book text, small dragonfly cut from napkin, old transparency
butterfly sticker

Backing paper from purchased bracelet used on background,
stamps inked and colored w/ Inktense pencils; gold pen

Silhouette die cut (matches old Hero Arts stamp) inked w/
Distress Inks; gold pen

One more month to go! It won't be a full month again since we will be out of town for Christmas, but I will do what I can!

Calling All Art Journalers!

Come join me next Tuesday, Dec. 9th, for our next LBH Art Journaling Workshop.

A Christmas Play Party!

Sample page

Let's celebrate the last workshop of the year by PLAYING in our journals this month. Have you been saving old Christmas cards but not knowing what to do with them? I will show you some ways to recycle them incorporating them into holiday (or not-so-holiday) artsy journal pages. 

Also we will be doing a Christmas Napkin Swap! Bring 10-12 cocktail size napkins to swap with everyone. They do not have to match. I will give you some ideas on how to use these in your journals and everyone will leave with an assortment of new napkins to play with.

When:  Tuesday December 9th  

Time: 10am-1pm or 6pm-9pm $25 

See further information and the supply list on the LBH blog. 

Call or stop by the LBH to reserve your seat.

Calling all Art Journalers!

Can you believe it's been almost a month already? The November Art Journaling class is next week at LBH! Come join me to learn about and play with all kinds of dimensional media.

"All About 3D Media"

There are many new dimensional media on the market now - texture paste, Whipped Spackle, modeling cream, Glitter Paste, dimensional paint, and paint writers to name just a few. Come learn their different properties and what to use when. We will play with lots of products and you can determine your favorites!

When:  Tuesday November 4th  

Time: 10am-1pm or 6pm-9pm

Cost: $25

In addition to the usual basic supply list, please bring these items this month:
a few favorite stencils
palette knife (or old plastic gift card)
look through your stash and bring whatever dimensional media you have

More information can be found here (just click on the Art Journaling Page on the header). Call or stop by the LBH soon to reserve your seat!

Looking forward to some artsy play with you!
Susan 

Calling all Art Journalers!

There are still openings in this month's Art Journaling Workshop at The Little Blue House next Tuesday. Hope to see you there!

Art Journaling Workshop
Tuesday August 26th 

We still have space in our Art Journaling Workshop this Tuesday!!! 

This month in Art Journaling we are playing with Scraps! We have some fun techniques to share with you on how to create art masterpieces with just Scraps of Paper! 

Call (817-431-7930) or come by (118 W. Olive, Keller, TX) to sign Up for our Art Journaling Workshop $25.00

10am-1pm or 6pm-9pm

Get the What to Bring List on the Art Journaling Tab on the LBH blog here. 

Another month of Rolodex Art Journal Cards!

July has come and gone and I've completed yet another month of the daily Rolodex Art Cards. I did really well this month, completing 29 cards for the 30 days!

Without further ado, here are the first fifteen.

Similar to the swap cards I made for my annual retreat - made a RCAD while doing the others

Scraps and part of a paint chip

Summer/beach scraps 

In honor of the 4th of July - stamped image on vellum and paper pieced background

Playing with my new Tim Holtz "Frameworks" die and stamp

Trying out an alcohol ink technique with stencils

To commemorate my grandson's 2nd birthday on July 8 - papers and stamps

Background is security envelope liner; collage images from Jodi Ohl

Collage of paper scraps

New Dina Wakley acrylic paints; DIY embellishments from pony beads

Distress Inks, Whipped Spackle, stencil, stamp

Stamped metallic paint chip background and paper collage

Stencils and paints

Scrap paint background; stamps; image from catalog

Dylusions spray ink background; Dina Wakley bird stamp painted with acrylic paint

The remaining photos will be in the next post.