Goodbye Summer. Hello Autumn!

…..And then in the blink of an eye it was Fall…

I am not sure how the seasons changed so quickly, but they did. I had decided to take the month of August off blogging due to a house full of children, visitors, a road trip or two and lots of work all mixed in. Here it is the end of September and I am just finding my way back here.

What can I say?

It was an awesome summer.

We did a little of this…

A little of that…

A lot of this….

There was no shortage of adventure, sights to see and good summer fun. I already miss it.

I am sharing with you a few links to courses that kept me creatively curious this summer. All of them from Creative Bug.

Pam Garrisons Creative Sketchbooking –  A three-part series working from journal to canvas. Lots of interesting mark making techniques and exercises  – working with your non dominant hand, intuitive drawing, paper collage and lots of mixed media.

I love Pam’s use of colour and style. It was very interesting to me to see how she approaches her work. She makes it all seem so simple and random, but, wow, does she have great results. For more viewing pleasure check out #cbsketchbooking on instagram.

Next up was Lisa Congdons Sketchbook Exploration – a four-part series working from sketchbook to canvas. Lots of line work, mixed media, collage and abstract work as well, but a totally different approach than Pam’s class. She inspired me to get out my markers and pencil crayons and I have re-discovered a whole new medium which is not only easy to use anywhere, but very satisfying in the mark making department.

I managed to take a little bit away from both courses and adapt to my own style, painting and pasting my way to a finished piece.

Finally I started Yao Chengs Watercolour class, but then life got too busy and I had to put it on hold. I am looking forward to the rainy season here in Whistler to get caught up on my learning. Rumour has it that Lisa’s Sketchbook Explorations Part Two has also gone live. I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, but I am definitely looking forward to it.

Let the rains begin!

See you next week!

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Colour me Creative – Summertime Blues

I may have a slight case of the Summertime Blues. All I want and need right now is more summer.

I can feel life slowly starting to shift around here. The  mornings are damp, the air has a crispness to it and there is talk of going back to school.  I have four weeks to go until September and my plan is to savour every minute.

Cool refreshing water, grass tickling my toes, the colourful pop of flowers, blue sunny skies…

Inspired by my mood, this weeks colour palette is brought to you by the colour Blue.

Life is just a bit crazy around here these days with guests and a never-ending stream of kids in my kitchen.

I have taken to working in small short bursts that do not demand too much concentration. Small scraps of painted cut art  are working in my favour. When I finally do get a moment of uninterrupted time, I can put them all together into something that works.

I have also continued with my sketchbook explorations inspired by Lisa Congdon’s Creative Bug course.

Blogpost all about it here

Playing with patchwork and motifs in my art journal.

Playing with patchwork and motifs in Photoshop.

My head is spinning with applications for these designs. As a surface pattern design I can see them on rugs, fabric, ceramics, paper and even stationery,combined with some fun hand lettering.

I feel a September project slowly starting to develop. I love a new project – almost makes me happy and excited for the Fall to roll in.

Until then, you can find me in the lake!

Enjoy yourselves,

Everything I know I learned from my Art Journal

I have been somewhat successful this past week training my creativity to switch on at night. It hasn’t been easy, but I find that once I start it usually leads somewhere. Starting is the hardest part.

Being a bit of a morning person, my muse always has me getting up very early so it has been a nice change trying to switch things up and work at night . I figure it can go either way – I either stay up late fully immersed in my project or I get up super early, excited to get at it. Either way I am losing sleep.

I started Lisa Congdons Sketchbook Explorations on Creative Bug. It was fast, fun and informative.. It is a 4 part program, but easily finished in an evening (especially if you have Netflix TV series training;). Lisa explored lots of different ways to just start and get something down on your page.I loved the way she used lots of different mediums layered together – water-colour, markers and collage work. I also found it encouraging to watch how she incorporated her journal piece into a piece of wall art.

I have included my pages even though they are not really finished and they are rather random.Right from lesson one, inspiration struck and I had to run with it. I have a tendency to go off track when creating and I did just that, rather well I might add..my pages look nothing like the course pages!

Lots of ideas were springing to mind and I managed to try a little bit of everything. I believe that is the beauty of art journalling –  if you tire of one page, start another, I have found myself flitting from one page to another nightly adding marks and colours as I go. At this rate I may never actually finish a page!

I have been  very happy to re-discover my Prismacolor markers and coloured pencils. It is so nice to curl up on the couch and have some colour so easily accessible. No water and no dirty brushes. I will be using them all in my art journal from here on in..

 

My main goal for this experience is to gain some new ideas and hopefully a bit of  insight into some new colour combinations. I am also interested in combining a few different mediums that I will then be able to transfer over into my mixed media work. One thing is for sure and that is…Everything I know, I have learned from my art journal…

Next week I am going to try Dawn Devries Sokols art journal class on Creative Bug. I also have my eye on Yao Chengs water-colour class. There are so many interesting classes there so be sure to take a look.

Also on the learning front I am slowly finishing up Pattern Observers Photoshop for Designers  6 week course.

Wow!

That is the only word that  can sum it all up. Sherry London has poured her heart and soul into this one. It is full of information. Look out for more info here soon.

Well, there you have it! I was in need of something new  to inspire me, to jump start a new project. Happy to say that I found it and have a new series in the works.

The internet has no shortage of awesome classes and inspiring ideas and techniques to try.

Never stop learning:)

Training my Creativity

There has been a lot of this going on everyday…

My desk is covered with little tiny pieces of cut paper, loose leaf with sketches of Santa and all his friends, some painted spring flowers and a mood board for all things coastal.

Life has been busy! The beautiful, sunny, winter that wasn’t, has not helped at all. It has been way too beautiful here in Whistler for all of February. Everyone has packed away their skis and taken to the trails. I think Mother Nature is going to slap us around silly with a big winter storm soon, but we would have to have snow for days on end and cold temperatures to get winter back.

I cannot lie. I am loving our balmy weather! Word in the village is that so is everyone else. I am hearing this daily..

A few things to share as I have been absent from here for one month. I am not really sure how that happened. I am still a bit shocked that it happened. It is the beginning of March!

I have to admit that sometimes I cannot figure out how to do it all. Find inspiration, sketch, design,think about work, run a household, feed and water my children,exercise, walk the dog, think some more about work  and breathe.

Amongst all of the above which I understand is just Life as we know it, I am finding it difficult to fit blogging in.I know it has an important place in my creative journey and I know I enjoy it, but I just haven’t figured out the recipe that works for me. Like all things in my life it demands a wee bit of creativity. Right?

I am convinced that we only have so much creative juice everyday. I know mine runs out after 6 hours and like coffee, it is best in the morning. I am trying hard to work at night, but it’s not the way my mind rolls. I wish it was. So I have decided to try to train it. We all know that sometimes it is just a matter of starting and doing..

So tonight I sit here typing away. I may just get this blog post out to you by morning. My other nightly creative training routine has to begin art journalling again. I am 4 days in to this training session and so far, so good. I know that habits take time to form so I will just have to give it my best shot.

I have just recently discovered Creative Bug. It is an online instructional arts and craft site. It offers everything from calligraphy to sewing to jewellery making. It also has some art journalling classes offered by Lisa Congdon and Dawn Devries Sokol. At less than $5 a month to join, you can’t go wrong!

I am joining tomorrow night and plan to spend my evenings learning and doing. I will be sure to share here.

Also for your interest, The Strathmore  2015 Online Workshop series starts today. It is Free..yup, thats right! This year it includes printmaking with Traci Bautista, some loose acrylic painting with Patti Mollica and some exploration in ink with Maureen Wilson. I have been doing the series for a few years now and they are packed with new and interesting techniques. For more info go here

Do you have any tricks or routines for spurring on your creativity at night? I would love to hear them:)

See you again soon,