Wanderlust 2024 - weeks forty-one to forty-nine - Alternatives

The last theme of the art journal course this year was Alternatives.  For the first page of the theme, we could create different substrates to work on.  I used gesso mixed with Plaster of Paris to give me a textured background and then had fun using inktense pencils and mark making with acrylic pens on the top.

We used collage and pressed flower petals for the next page and added extra colour to the petals with acrylic paint.

I really enjoyed creating the elements for week forty-three.  We had to go for a walk or go into the garden and notice what colours we were drawn to.  We then made little numbered swatches of the colours and a description of what provided that colour.  On the right, we used window envelopes to display pressed leaves. The vibrant pink was from Salvia Cerro Potosi.

Rust dyeing was used in the collage background here.  The photos are of my Dad, aged about four on the left, my Granny in her twenties towards the top and my Mum aged fifteen just below her. I also did some journaling about some of my memories of them.

The page took a long time, but was enjoyable to do.  We created interesting stamps using string wrapped round cardboard and lids from bottles.  these were then stamped onto various papers and cotton material.  We made a patchwork from all these papers and hand sewed them together.  The photo which is 'trapped' behind tracing paper is of my Granny, Mum (at the front on the right) and her brothers, David and Robert. 

Another enjoyable week, making 'zines' from one sheet of paper, collaged onto, painted and illustrated with stamps, images or whatever you wanted to add, to make these little books.  I chose two of my favourite songs, 'What a wonderful world' and 'What a difference a day makes' for my zines.  I then made the envelopes and decorated them using watercolour swatches.

Dyeing material with plants and flowers was the next lesson.  I didn't have enough of anything to be able to use flowers or onion skins etc. However, I did have some walnut granules, so I used them as a dye and then attached some of the material to journal cards.

The artist's musings week was using stabilo all pencil (which is water soluble) and watercolours.  The teacher had incorporated collage in her page, but I was happy with my simple version. 

The final week was a round up and a bit of reflection, thinking of what we enjoyed, creative breakthroughs, what we would like to do more of next year.  I used a patchwork of gel printed pieces and made a tag flap on the page.  I carved a small birds in flight stamp which is on the tag.  I would like to do more printing (lino and gel), collage and loose watercolour and ink drawing, all activities I really enjoyed this year. 

On to Wanderlust 2025, which starts in January. 

Wanderlust 2024 - Weeks one to eight - Brushes and Tools

I have joined Wanderlust 2024 - the year long mixed media journaling course I have done since 2021. This year, there are star supplies which are the focus for eight week blocks. The first of these is Brushes and Tools.  We started with an overview of brushes and then I created the page above.  With life as it is now, resilience seemed like a good word to choose for the year.  We all need some of that. 

The next week was more calm with a focus on watercolour brushes, using a round brush, a fan brush and a rigger brush (with a toothbrush as well), to create the different effects.  It is based on looking into a rock pool.

Week three was all about a palette knife.  I found this quite tricky but kept on going.

Week Four we used gel plates to make collage papers, some of which we added a tea dye to.  I used a photo I had taken as my inspiration for this, but it has a few imagined details too.  I loved creating this collage.

We had to make our own tools for this one. We wrapped bits of sponge around sticks/skewers and used these to make patterns based on nature.  These then became the background collage.  The sponge sticks made fantastic splats (you can see them in the top right and top left corners).

Using a bottle with a fine liner tip was the next tool. We wrote with it and then outlined a face.  I used a stamp to start with, as my face drawing, while improving a lot, isn't quite there yet.

Paper punches were the tool for week seven.  I don't have any except for a one inch circle, but what I do have a lot of are dies. I used these for the different sized circles and to create the paper lace. My focal image is from The Secret Garden and the muted colours of the image, where Mary is finding the door in the wall, worked beautifully with this page.  I enjoyed creating the shading too, using an inktense pencil and water brush.

Week eight was an 'Artful Musings' week, where we heard about organising a studio space from a mixed media artist.  I created this page, again using collage but adding tissue paper, embossing and some stamping.  The face was a stamp which I then added to, with paint and black pen.

Now we are on to Texture, which should be fun!

Wanderlust 2023 - Weeks nine to fifteen - Pencils

The Wanderlust course feels as though it is going very fast this year.  The focus for the next seven weeks was pencils. Above was an introduction to pencils in their many forms - graphite, watersoluble (like Stabilo Woodys or  Caran D'AcheNecolour II), watercolour, charcoal, crayons...

Week ten was focused on people. We had to paint the page,  then see the faces and characters and bring them out with pencil details.  We also had to include hands even if they looked weird (and they do!).  Chris made up quite a story about these figures.  I 'saw' the small person first, then the one on the left and the floating face.  I thought I had finished but the face on the right demanded to be included.  He looks a bit like a Disney character to me, but I added him in.

Asemic writing (which looks like writing but doesn't mean anything) was the next focus. I wrote about the week I had at work on the section at the bottom right, but then reversed the tracing paper to stick it down, so it isn't that easy to read. 

More layering and botanicals for week twelve.  I enjoyed the splodges on the right hand side where we drew the wispy bits out. 

Charcoal portraits were the next focus.  I do enjoy using charcoal.  We then used water or oil to add shading.

We should have added a selfie to this page but as I have an aversion to seeing myself in a photo, I passed on that one.  This didn't really grab me - some weeks are like that.

Using Derwent Intense pencils four ways: dry, as paint, mixed on the page and then dipped in water made for an enjoyable amount of playing for the final pencils week.  I do like the Derwent Inktense pencils - very pigmented, easy to use and versatile - my new favourite pencils! 

The final week was the 'Artful Musings' week where an art practitioner talks about what they do.  The trusty Derwent Inktense pencils came out again, to be used like watercolours for this page, which is loosely based on the water cycle.  It included lots of mark making, using the pencils wet and dry and with various brushes used like stamps.

As always, there has been lots of experimenting and some weeks are more enjoyable than others, but I have a go at them all.  Our next media to explore is Pens - I am looking forward to that!

Colour swatching

Colour swatching is one of my favourites things to do when I have got new paints/inks/crayons.  Previously, I put these into my techniques book but have recently decided to make a swatch book separately from anything else.  The pages of colour are just so satisfying to look at and make a very helpful directory so that I can see what I have and choose what I need to use for a project.  So far, I have done gouache paints,  sparkle inks, inktense pencils (my new favourite watercolour pencils), Woodys and Neo Colours. 

Lovely rainbows of colour...

These make me happy - so bright and colourful.  I still have dye inks, oxides, pigment inks, stickles, pixie powders and more watercolour pencils to do.  I can probably find other supplies that I need to make swatches for...