My projects from the Mixed Media Circus...part one

Five workshops during the Mixed Media Circus means also five projects to show!
I didn't finish all the projects during the workshops. Sometimes because of a lack of time, sometimes because I wasn't sure about what to do next. I decided to think about next steps later when I got home.

The first workshop was about image transfers to a pillowcase. A new technique for me...my fingertips are still suffering from rubbing of the paper.

 Step one:

Transferring the image of a Graphic 45 paper onto the pillowcase with gel medium.

Step two:

Add layers of stamps, paint and glimmermist.

Step three:

Stamping with glimmermist as an adhesive for the UTEE powder.

Step four:

Add a piece of cord. I decided to make the word 'Grow' with it.

The second workshop of day one was all about layers.

We got a big piece of paper (forgot the name..sorry..), gesso-ed it on both sides and added several layers of paint with stencils, handdrawn details and finished with a black and white layer.

I painted both sides only I didn't finish the other side with black and white details...and I forgot to take a picture...

Julie showed us how to fold the paper into a booklet. I decided to leave it this way. My first intention was to use the paper to create a cover for my altered A4-sized journal. But I did something else with it...so keep reading and you will find out at the end of this post!

Day two started with the so-called 'Entrance of the gladiators': two workshops, two teachers with in each workshop the same materials! We got a canvas, bookpaper, scrapbookpaper, grungeboard and metal embellishments.

In both workshops we created a layer of bookpaper first and than added a layer of acrylic paint. In Nat's workshop we created this layer with a stencil. In Julie's workshop we had to paint our own designs.

This is my canvas after Nat's workshop:

I was a little bit pigheaded here. I collage a piece of the paperbag of the metal embellishments too..In the meantime I was eating one of those unforgetable magnificent cupcakes and decided to collage a piece of the papernapkin with the beautiful flowerdesign too...Talking about mixed media, huh?!

I didn't add the grungeboard die cuts, nor a picture and the metal embellishments. No time.

This is my canvas, halfway Julie's class:

And the result at the end of the class:

I learned some more about NOT painting in between the lines...which was way out of my comfort zone! But I loved how it turned out!

No embellishments here either...wanted to think some more about a next step.

In the afternoon we had the grand final: a workshop by both teachers, all about techniques to create backgrounds. We painted, gesso-ed, put layers of gel medium and tin foil on scrapbookpaper. We added glimmermist, chalkboard, pan pastels, more paint etc. We were challenged to use all the techniques we learned during the workshops before. We glued pieces of these backgrounds in a manila folder book, handmade by Julie, to create a great reference book for future projects.

One of the techniques was to paint your own embellishments on a piece of paper. I put some of these on the cover of my book and added some doodled letters:

Julie and Nat left a personal message on each book too: 

And than I got home, looked at all my projects and wondered what to do with them...I wanted to create a memory of this great weekend and combine all the pieces together.

This is what I did:

The pillowcase became a cover, just by folding it in half.

I used the opening on the other side (now inside) of the pillowcase as pockets for my reference book and the journal I created with the other projects:

I cut the canvases from their wooden frames and folded these in half too, to create a pocket.

The big painted piece of paper from Julie's first workshop was cut into pieces in the same size as the canvases and folded too.

So I got four pockets! I binded these with my Bind It All.

I created some big tags of leftover scrapbookpapers from the workshop to put inside the pockets. I added little tabs with the scraps of the big painted paper. 

I kept all my receipts, boarding passes, traintickets, cards and more of this trip to Hamburg to fill the album, together with a lot of pictures!

I'm waiting now for my printed pictures to arrive and hopefully I can finish the album soon.

Of course I will show you these results in part two!

TFL!

Sandra

Back from Hamburg!

I'm feeling completely exhausted but so extremely happy! I just had one of the best weekends ever! The Mixed Media Circus with Julie and Nathalie was awesome!!!!!! I could never have imagined that it would be this great. I met such wonderful people. People which I only knew from blogging or Facebook and new people. We had such an amazing group and so much fun.
Of course, I learned a lot too!
For now, I will leave you with some pictures to give you an impression. Later this week I will come back to you in more detail.

The start of the first day with a workshop by Nathalie...image transfers.

The second workshop with Julie...all about layers.

The results...

We had cupcakes and candy!
Do you want to know the similarity between these cupcakes and Cuchy? Both so sweet and unforgetable!!! Cuchy gave me a beautiful handmade necklace. (I will show you later, have to make a picture by daylight first...) Cuchy, you're the best! And I loved meeting you IRL!

But also our lunches were worth remembering:



Salad buffet on Sunday

Pumpkin soup for Marlies on Saturday...It looked much better in real life...

We met Sara, another amazing artist, coming from the USA and living in Amsterdam. Sara, I loved meeting you and hope to see you again in Utrecht in March next year!!!

At the end of day two: the 'official' photoshoots with both teachers! 

Julie and Nat, you were amazing!!!!!

And day three....time to go home...but first: breakfast at Starbucks!

With Caramel Macchiato and carrotcake!!!!!

Yes, the rest of the year I will be on a low calorie diet....

I will be showing you more of all my projects the next days. I didn't finish all of them and I don't like to show unfinished work...To be continued!

TFL!

Sandra

New art journal 'Inspired by Nature'.

Now my 'Inspired by Teesha' art journal is finished I needed a new journal. Well, needed isn't the right word perhaps....I'm working in several journals but I really liked the size of this last journal, including the flaps. So I started binding and painting the pages. I used a cheaper brand of paper which was just a little bit too thin. Somehow I wasn't satisfied with the way the pages looked like after painting them. I threw the journal in a corner...To get rid of the frustration I decided to refill my stash with magazine cutouts and went through all the magazines I still had laying around. I even bought a new pile of second hand magazines. These 'new' old magazines were dutch magazines about nature, called Grasduinen and I found some beautiful page sized pictures. (The magazine is called Roots since recently.) I kept staring at these pictures and really wanted to use them...but how? Than lightning struck (in my mind...) and the idea of using these pictures to create backgrounds in my art journal was born!

Did I make you curious? Here is the preview of my new art journal:

My intention is to fill each page with more collages and journaling.

Of course, I couldn't wait to start in my new journal. Here is the first page:

(size: 25x30cm)

I will try to translate the journaling as good as I can...:

Vicious Circle

If you look the way you've always looked, you will keep seeing what you've always seen.

If you see what you've always seen, you will keep thinking what you've always thought.

If you think what you've always thought, you will keep doing what you've always done.

If you do what you have always done, things will keep happening to you which always happens.

I hope my poor translation is enough to show the meaning of this short poem....or is it a long quote?

I have had my doubts about this page though. The black letters are sometimes hard to read on the dark background. On the other hand, I didn't want the journaling to be on the foreground either...so I left it like this.

I would love to hear your comments on this page..and the preview of course!  

TFL!

Sandra

A new art journal page...with my first video!

I wanted to make a video about the proces of making my collages on my journal pages for some time now. Well, this week I did my first attempt!
Here is the final page:

(size: 30x30cm)

And here you can see how it all happened:

I would love to hear what you think of it and please...I welcome positive feedback!!!

Let me know if there are parts that are too fast or too dark. Maybe there are parts in the video that need some more explanation...anything...Let me know!

TFL!

Sandra

Dear blogreaders...

I've had a couple of emails the last few months from blogreaders who couldn't comment on my blogposts. Somehow Blogger didn't open the window for typing comments. I'm so glad these bloggers sent me these emails to let me know about it...and of course, I loved it even more when they wrote how they loved my work!
But....now it seems like I have finally fixed the problem. I have searched Blogger's Helpdesk for a long time, trying different settings and it looks like I found it...
So for all of you who haven't been able to comment on my blog...please try again!! And please tell me if it still doesn't work...

I also have another page to show you.
This was the background with only acrylic paint:

The dots were made by pressing a big stamp with dots into the wet paint. Thanks to Marlies, who loved the colors while I was painting and desperately wanted to press her texture stamp in it!

This is the finished page, after adding images, rubons, journaling and perlen pens:

For the journaling I used Nikki Sivils Willie-Bee's Font stamps. I traced these with a white marker after stamping. The flowers have an outline made with perlen pens. The rubons on the borders are from Basic Grey. I outlined these too, but now with a black Faber Castell Pitt pen. The image of the frog is a magazine cut out.

TFL!

Sandra

Bad...busy!...blogger...

Yes, I know...I have been a bad blogger! I didn't post anything for more than a week! But you know, it is even worse...I hardly created anything this week...I had some busy weeks and today is the first day that there is not a single appointment in my agenda. Of course, I always make time to journal every day but the results simply aren't 100% satisfying. And yes, I know...not every piece can be a masterpiece...It is all about the journey...blablabla...Still, it feels so much better to create a page that you like than a page that is 'just ok'!
For now, I have to do with 'just ok'...

Last week I had a 'get messy'-date with Marlies. We will be going to the Mixed Media Circus of Nathalie Kalbach and Julie Fei-Fan Balzer together. It is in two weeks from now!! We did get messy but I only finished two backgrounds. Here is the first:

I used acrylic paint and foam stamps.

And yesterday I finished the page by adding a magazine cut out and doodling with black and white markers:

As I said...not a masterpiece but 'just ok'.

I really have to get back in the right mood to journal so hopefully more next time!

TFL!

Sandra

Go as far as you can go...

...From there you can see farther.
A completely new way of making a collage, inspired by Michelle Remy's 'Ornithological Oddities'.
No magazines this time for me, but only old books with different fonts.
Michelle has made a whole series of canvases for a show, as you can read on her blog. I love each and every one of them. Well, the ones she showed on her blog...I wish I could have seen the show IRL.
So I had to try to make a collage like this myself. Not on a canvas but on a piece of watercolorpaper(I'll glue it in my AJ later!) to try.
Here it is:

Size: 17x25cm

I love it and I'm especially very happy about the colors. I love working with all the colors of the rainbow and adding black and white details.

(I got the peacock here.)

I'm now thinking of making a new 'Inspired by..' art journal...not inspired by Teesha Moore this time but by Michelle Remy! To be continued..I hope...

TFL!

Sandra

Last page and first AJ flip!

I finished my 'Inspired by Teesha' art journal! Yeah..my first art journal without any left over white pages!
Here is the last page. This time I made a picture before and after 'the big paintmarker attack'.
This is only the collage on a painted background:

And this is the finished page, after using paintmarkers, FC pitt pens, Sakura glaze pens, Sharpies and 'perlen pens':

This 'Inspired by Teesha' journal was made during September and October. Because I got a lot of requests to show the complete journal when I finished it, I made my first art journal flip. (I even had to buy a new webcam for this...lol...)

Here it is:

TFL!

Sandra