Life Book 2014 - week 25

Life Book 2014 - week 25
Main lesson: Reverse Excavation with Effy Wild

This was an interesting lesson. I liked the idea of working for 15 minutes a day, but I think my painting just got worse and worse as the week passed. I didn't know how to save it. It was not until the final day as I managed to rescue it. Actually, I'm quite pleased with it now. It ended up as a self portrait - although my hair isn't that golden! ;-)

Day 1 - collage

Day 2 - paint and stencils



Day 3 - mark making and doodling

Day 4 - create focal images

Day 5 - shading and glazing

Day 6 - tending

Day 7 - tending

Life Book 2014 - week 17

Life Book 2014 - week 17 - Gratitude and Living in the Now
Main lesson with Tascha Parkinson

It seems like I'm doing the lessons in the order that I was supposed to. I'm repeating myself; this was just what I needed right now. I couldn't agree more about this lesson. It is so important to be grateful for every little thing in your life. I think that's what happiness is all about. And even though I felt miserable earlier this week it seems I have plenty to be grateful for! I sat smiling when I wrote down my words!

I  went for the "interesting, modern look", as Tascha called it. I didn't bother to paint my girl and the flowers with watercolors. Instead I painted the cut outs with Vernis Scintillant, a kind of "sealer" that has glitter in it. It felt like cheating leaving them all white!



There is so much to be grateful for

My glittering girl!

MATERIAL:
Venus acrylics: 215 Lemon Yellow
Panduro Acrylics: Permt green, Emerald Green, Fluorescent Pink
Diams: Vernis Scintillant
White Posca
Black markers
StazOn:Jet Black
Stamps from Impression Obsession: CL68 Spring Blooms

Life Book 2014 - week 29

Life Book 2014 - Week 29 - You Diva! with Marieke Blokland

This was another great lesson in Life Book 2014. I just love the art of Marieke Blokland. She seems like such a sweet and wonderful person. She let us know that she had been redundant from her daytime job and that she will concentrate on teaching art. Good decision! Have a look at Bloknote Academy!

And just as always, this was what I needed right now. "Today is today, the past is in the past", what a great reminder. I had a bad day yesterday and this wonderful lesson lifted me up.

I got stuck on another lesson because I didn't have any good color for painting flesh. Mixing three or more colors to get a somewhat natural color of the flesh made me bored. It was also a nuisance to continue on the painting the day after.  I recently bought a color that I was recommended and I was so excited to finally be able to paint faces without the prior mixing! But when I tried to paint with it on this face it didn't blend at all with the rest of the colors, it was so ..."oily". Yep. I had bought oil color...

"Today is today, the past is in the past".

Sometimes my phone takes photos in this way
out of it self. I liked this one!

MATERIAL:
Traditional Craft paint: gipsy pink, flesh tone, sky blue
Panduro acrylics: vermillion, orange yellow, primary yellow, titanium White
White Posca
Staedtler pigment liner
CKS super chalk in blue and yellow
Ink and dip pen
Graphite pen
Neocolor II in blue
Scrapbook papers
Stickers

Life Book 2014 - week 28

Life Book 2014 - Main lesson with Tamara Laporte - The Inner Sacred Eye.

I was thrilled about this lesson because some time ago Tamara showed a little piece of this painting on her Facebook page. First I thought about sharing her photo because I liked what she had written so much, then I decided I wanted to write something similar in my next piece of art. I was so happy when I found out it was something we were going to do in Life Book!

Tamara was also spot on on how I feel right now. It's july already and I haven't done half of what I had planned so far. It is my last week of vacation and then it's work, work, work for another 12 months (I have late vacation next year). But I guess vacation is about resting, contemplating and taking care of yourself. And that I have done!
I have done the meditation once a day since the lesson actually, and it makes me feel a little better. But I still feel stressed.

MATERIAL:
Distress Marker: tumbled glass, vintage photo
ProMarker: cornflower, turqoise, crdinal red
Neocolor II: slmon, orangish yellow, slmon pink
Adirondack Color Wash: stream, lettuce
Dylusions: vibrant turqoise, funky fuchia, pure sunshine
Pitt 2907 Medium
White Posca
Staedtler pigment liner
Panduro acrylic: orange yellow, primary yellow

Life Book 2014 - week 14

It's still raining here so I spent another day in my studio and I chose to make week 16 - Springtime Journaling Collage Bonus Lesson with Dyan Reaverly. This was also just what I needed right now! Amazing! I love Life Book!

I loved to see how quick Dyan was working. She, just like Traci Bautista from week 16, made multiple pages at the same time not to waste any ink. It was also very nice to have all the material used for a change. The only thing I didn't have was the stamps so I drew my flowers and skipped the stems.

I haven't seen much of Dyan before but I've understod that she is a very colorful person with lots of make-up and bright red hair. In this video she had no make-up to help raise awareness for cancer. I did the opposite! I normally don't wear make-up but I actually went to put some on before I started creating just to make myself a little more colorful when I was going to create like Dyan! I think it worked! I'm happy with my colorful piece!

Dyan told us that we didn't have to be deep or profound when art journaling, she wrote just to empty her head because the journaling was not ment to be read again. I did the same. I emptied my head and it felt good. There's a lot going on in my mind right now. So many sad things have happened the past year and I need to focus on being grateful for what I've got instead of dwelling in the past. It's up to me to decide. And just when I finished my piece my aunt called and wanted us to go and plant flowers on my mother's grave. So, I am thankful that I've had a mother for 41 years, I'm thankful that I've got money to buy flowers to put on her grave and I am so grateful that I still have my aunt!

The phrase Dyan used suited me perfectly so I used the same. That phrase really spoke to me. 'Bloom where you're planted'. I need to remember that.



'Bloom where you are planted'

The material I used

Life Book 2014 - week 16

I am so behind in Life Book. In order to catch up a bit I decided to start with a lesson that looked quite easy and quick to do. Little did I know that I had to make my own stencils and rummage around the house to find different utensils for mark making in this Main Lesson: In the Moment with Traci Bautista! It took all night! I left my husband all alone in front of the tele! But I had so much fun. This was just what I needed right now.

Traci tought us to be and create in the moment and not to think too much about what we were doing. She works on multiple pages at the same time. Besides the art journal page she made she cleaned her tools on another page which she uses later on. I did the same thing. I created one page and cleaned my tools on another page. I actually don't know which turned out the best! Interesting! I believe I learned a lot from this workshop. I need to let go and just be in the moment. I also loved Traci's way of doodling and writing illegible at times.

I hade to substitute a lot of stuff and it didn't work out very well. I had no china marker and no Collage Pauge so I used a transparent wax resist crayon and some school glue instead. It didn't create much of a resist at all even though the glue created some nice texture. Instead of the Tulip Slick dimensional paint I found a dimensional fabric paint and some gloss gel I haven't used in ages. I don't know what effect the Tulip Slick dimensional paint gave so I think my substitutes worked out quite well.




My In the Moment art journal page

My cleaning-my-tools art journal page!

The material I used

Life Book 2014 - week 4

Week 4 of Life Book 2014 was a bonus lession: Be True to You with Kelly  Hoernig.
We were supposed to find a symbol that we could relate to (I chose a star), at least three things that we love (I chose an Italian text, die-cut stars, rubber stamps, handwriting and quotes). We were going to work with the colors from the first lession but I chose pink, red, orange and yellow. I love the bright and happy effect  they give when you combine them. Then we were supposed to use our word for the year again, but I got lost in finding a quote that I liked. I like the sentence "We'll be counting stars" but I ended up with the whole chorus from the song 'Counting Stars' with OneRepublic. I really like that song and I would like to count some more stars in 2014!



MATERIAL:
A page from an Italian book
Liquitex Matte gel Medium
Gesso
Die-cut stars
Panduro Acrylic: primary yellow, orange yellow, vermillion, fluorescent pink
Clear Art Stamps: Fairies Medium SM05
Distress Ink Pad: Black Soot, Pumice Stone
Dylusions Ink Spray: White Linen
A wooden die-cut in the shape of a star
Crackle accents
Staedtler Pigment Liner 0,8
White Posca Pen

Life Book 2014 - week 3

The third week of LB2014 was a main lession: Creativity & play with Carla Sonheim. It consisted of seven creativity exercises in order to create more freely and not getting hung up on 'perfection'. And an envelope pocket to store what we created in.
The exercises were One-Liners, Eyes-Closed Zebras, Wrong-Handed Knick Knacks, Imaginary Flowers, Animals in Tape, Found Poetry, and Blob Animals. I had so much fun! I will sure have use of what I learned later on. It was so freeing to create like this! Loved the lession!

MATERIALS:
Pastel colour: green, brown
Gesso
Watercolours: red, white, green
Spray fixative
Tim Holtz Tissue Tape
Masking tape
Staedtler Pigment Liner 0,8
Page from old book
 

Life Book 2014 - week 2

The second week of LB2014 is a bonus lession: A happy affirmation with Micki Wilde (The Secret Hermite). She challenged us to work with grey's and neon colors. We were also going to chose a Word for 2014. I chose bliss! I want bliss in 2014.
Normally I don't use a lot of grey but, as usual, I really liked to try something new. I'm not in love with arrows so I made hearts instead. You can either think of them as arrows pointing into the circle or as hearts spreading from the circle.

MATERIAL:
Gelatos: Squid Ink, Silver Ice, Earl Grey, Coconut
PanPastel: Paynes Grey Tint
TCW381s: Mini Quatrefoil
Chalk Markers; yellow, green, blue, Purple
Adirondack Acrypil Paint Dabber: Lake Mist

Life Book 2014 - week 1

The first week with Life Book 2014 has been just awesome! The first lession was by Tamara Laporte and we were to create our Inner Artist Guardian after a meditation. I knew that my Inner Artist Guardian was going to give me a color (I wanted it to be purple, orange and white) and a word (I wanted it to be 'accept') for this year to come. Nothing much happened during the meditation but just after the color petrol and the word 'heal' came to me. In order to heal I have to accept so I used both words.

I enjoyed the building of this painting in different layers. It has showed me that the first layer doesn't have to be perfect, it is something that I can adjust later in the process.
I had so much fun creating my Guardian Angel! I have been thinking of the song Guardian Angel by Nino de Angelo during the whole process. Oh, how  I used to love this song! And how I used to love Nino de Angelo! ;-)
Really, really good first lession!

My Inner Artist Guardian!

Close-up

Starting with the background

Some shading and some collage

First layer of the face

The first sketch

MATERIAL:
Watercolor paper - Moulin du Coq 325 g/m²
Pencils, different kinds
Neocolor II - Salmon, Salmon pink, Azurite Blue, Malachite Green
Distress Paints - Chipped Sapphire, Seedless Preserve, Moved Lawn
(to the face a mix of Wild Honey, Victorian Velvet, Antique Linen and some white acrylic)
Gelatos - Metallic Mint
Gesso, white
Mod Podge
Posca - white, black
Gel pen, white
Liquitex - Light Molding Paste
Diams - Vernis scintillant
Distress Ink - Black Soot
Stencil - TCW325s - Mini Swirl Garden

Life Book 2014 - warm up exercise

I'm so happy, I got Life Book 2014 for Christmas! It was all I wished for, and I got it! I knew that I was going to get it because my husband spoils me! And ok, I did a bit of nagging too! I also sat beside him when he ordered it! ; )
I have been waiting for this online class since last summer when I read about the Life Book 2013. I'm not good at catching up so I decided to wait and see if there was going to be a Life Book 2014. And now finally, I'm going to do the Life Book! I am super excited, because I know it's going to change my life!

Anyhow, I haven't done the first lession yet. This is only the warm up exercise. And I think it's was a nice start! It's going to be a marvellous year!

MATERIAL
Watercolor paper - Moulin du Coq 325 g/m²
Pencil
Neocolor II - Ice Blue, Violet, White
Distress Paints - Chipped Sapphire, Seedless Preserve
Duga - Dynasty Pewter
Gesso, white
Mod Podge
Staedtler permanent pen, black
Page from music book (first heart)
Old lamp-shade (second heart)