Random Arts is BACK!!

The shop that we all love in the western mountains of NC is back!
Random Arts is back!
Jane Powell will have her shop open tomorrow (Thursday), Sept. 22 from 10-5.
I'm hoping to be able to make it up there with samples for my next book class.

Oh - the next book class!

I'm so happy to report that I'm teaching the fun mixed media book making class on Oct. 13 & 14 at the new shop!
I can't wait to see what the new place is like.
Jane has such a way of putting things together that I'm sure the studio is going to look wonderful.
We're going to have lots of room to spread out too.

So - if you're interested in taking the book class in this new and creative environment, get in touch with Jane about the class.
I was actually thinking that you could get a room in one of the local B&B's and make a mini retreat out  of the whole thing!
Now that would be fun...I'm thinking that I will stay up there overnight for the second day of class...be sure to let me know if you're staying in town or close, we can get together for dinner.

I'll leave you with several photos of books that I have made for the class.
I use my books to paint in, draw/sketch in as well as write in.
You could make them the work of art...
You could use them as visual journals, a place to capture photos, or as a written journal.

I love to just thumb through them after I have made them.

Those of us who love books will know exactly what I mean when I say that it is just a joy to hold that handmade book in your hands.
The effort that goes in to making the book is so worth it.
I promise that you will love this class!

Urban Sketching

When I was a young girl, I used to love to ride my bike. I would wake up early (my mom said that someone had to wake the chickens, right?), eat a quick breakfast and jump on my trusty stead.
What I felt for my bicycle could be described very easily.

Bike = Freedom


I rode a bike almost everyday until I was 16 (then I discovered boys with cars).
I have missed riding.
One day a couple of months ago my husband and I rented bikes to make sure that we wanted to ride regularly before we purchased one.
And, in all honesty, to make sure that my back and hip could take it (I have back and hip "issues").
And of course, it was great!
I felt the same exhilaration that I did when I was younger...that same feeling of freedom (maybe with an additional ache or two!).

A couple of nights ago my husband had a baseball game to umpire. I didn't want to stay at home, I wanted to ride my bike, I wanted to do some urban sketching...

What's a girl to do?

Why allow her gallant husband to offer a solution!
He loaded my bike into our car and we all took off to the complex where the games were.

I made sure that I had the necessary sketching tools & supplies.
1. Compact watercolors
2. Water brush
3. Pitt Artist Pen
4. Reading glasses (or drawing glasses...)

I took off on my bike (Electra Townie 7D) (awesome round town cruiser). I rode over and watched a little bit of youth football (and those cute little cheerleaders), a softball game, a soccer match, and a baseball game. I got a little bit of exercise, let the wind blow through my hair and then set up to draw.

First I drew my Townie.

Now the back wheel really isn't that small...It was late, I was getting tired, the light was bad - okay, how many more excuses do you want?
My bad but I still love the simple lines on that drawing.
And the fun of it is this - I'll draw it again and it will be a better next time!
I'm getting practice, I'm not only exercising my body but I'm exercising my drawing skills...
Remember - if you don't USE it, you'll LOSE it.

By the time I finished the Townie, it was too dark to draw anything else where I was.
So I headed down to the baseball game.
Found a patch of blooming gardenias...
Drew this in the twilight -

I love the way that the gardenia petals unfurl as the bud opens, don't you?
The blooms smell so sweet...
They remind me of waking from a summer's nap at my grandmothers home. She had huge shrubs just full of sweet blooms outside of the bedroom that I napped in. I'd wake with the windows open and that sweet smell greeted me.
The gardenias remain one of my favorite flowers to this day.

So - remember to exercise your body as well as your mind.
Use your eyes to really see the world around you as you use your hands to draw what you're seeing.

Don't forget to check out the Sketchbook Challenge Blog. There are several free tutorials on the site as well as links to many, many more!

New Class Schedule

Hello everyone!
I sent out a newsletter about an hour ago announcing a new book making class that I have scheduled in Greenville SC at Artists Guild Gallery of Greenville on Saturday October 1 and Sunday October 2.
I am limiting the class to 6 students and have already heard from 2  3 people that are registering. (yay!)
Sooo, I'm thinking that if you want to take this particular weekend class, you'd better get in touch with me pretty quick as it is filling up.

Down and dirty details

Who -me and you (and 5 other lucky people)
What- Mixed Media Book Making class
Where- Artists Guild Gallery of Greenville
When- Saturday Oct. 1 10AM-3PM
            Sunday Oct. 2 1PM- 6PM
Why- For fun, To learn new & exciting things, To stretch that creative spirit, to get out of cooking dinner and doing housework!
Cost- $135 for both days, $20 optional kit

Questions? Email me at carolbsloan@yahoo.com for registration details

Developing Ideas

This post is also being posted over at the Sketchbook Challenge blog.
I hope that you're following along on that blog - there are so many free tutorials from 16 different artists!

This summer I purchased a Thermofax machine (yes, I jumped up and down when I saw the ad!).
I had been thinking of looking for one for a while and wasn't fully committed to the idea when I looked at a local "Craig's List" ad.
There it sat.
Only one for sale.
Only 20 minutes from my house.
Only a few hundred bucks...

What's a girl to do?

I decided that it must be Fate at work and made the phone call.
Bingo.
I made a few calls and inquiries about the machine, calculated the cost of getting it up and running and made the leap.
I had to invest a little more money on maintenance, film and a belt but I still got a good deal.
Now I am the (ecstatic, jubilant,over joyed) owner of my own Thermofax!
One of the things that I wanted to do was offer screens of my line drawings.
And I will, it may just take a couple of more weeks for that.
In the mean-time, I wanted to share the unfurling of an idea that involves the Thermofax.

My husband recently took on the chore (and I do mean chore) of re-doing our bathroom.
Now our house was built in 1864 so you can imagine how wonky it is.
We always say this -
"The more you look, the more you find".
And it isn't always a good find either!
But - he did a great job replacing walls, floor, toilet, tub and whatever else he replaced while I was in Colorado Springs.
Smart man - doing this work while I was gone, huh?
So now we have a really clean and white bathroom.
We decided to put in one of those rounded shower curtain rods (which are awesome!) along with the snap on curtain that you can get for those type of rods.
The only color options were white, brown or gray.
Yikes...
So I decided that I could alter the white one with a bit of color.

That was the seed of an idea.

Barely shaking in the fertile ground of my mind...but beginning to take root none the less.
I began thinking about colors, shapes and tried to decide if I wanted to go with a "theme".
At this same time, Clinique was having one of their bonus buy events at Belk's.
Yep, you're asking what in the world does that have to do with her bathroom and making art??

(Stay with me, it will all come together soon)

My husband (he really is wonderful about doing these special little things btw) went by the store and got one for me, brought it home and sat it in the bathroom.

(you really need to see both sides of the bag)

Well, well, well...
That little seed of an idea just had a growth spurt!
It was unfurling, developing, gaining ground in my mind.
I want to take a second here to talk about the creative process...how creative ideas are developed.
The above story is a perfect illustration of how I get ideas.
Ideas for any art that I make - whether it's a painting, a collage, a mixed media piece or a pen and ink drawing.
I see something that triggers another idea, which triggers a different idea, which triggers...
You see what I mean.
You must learn to pay attention to your random little thoughts.
You have to allow these thoughts center stage.
Let them unfurl.

I tried a couple of different ideas for the design of the shower curtain.
This is the one that I actually sketched out in my sketchbook.

This one is hand drawn, painted and then free motion stitched.

It's nice but not what I had in mind.
Then I drew a simple flower shape. A line drawing devoid of a lot of details.

Then I made a Thermofax screen from this drawn image.
I printed the image on a piece of green hand dyed batik using a green paint. Sounds strange but I had a plan.
I cut the fabric out around the screened image, leaving about 1/8 inch around all edges.
Then I printed the same image on a piece of orange/yellow batik. I cut each petal out separately, along with the center of the flower.

Oh – I forgot that I fused Misty Fuse on both pieces of fabric. I love Misty Fuse because it is so thin and fine. You can fuse two (or more) pieces of fabric together and it is still so soft...it's almost impossible to tell that there is a fusible between the layers at all.

After all the pieces had fusible on them and they were cut out, I placed the orange/yellow petals on the green “background”.

This is what it looked like.

Looking better...getting there.

I'm thinking of adding a long skinny stem to each flower on the curtain - like a flower garden of different colored shaggy daisies.

I'll post more as my ideas continue to develop or unfurl.

I'd love for you to hang around, to tag along with me.

First Friday

Greenville, SC.
Artisan Traders.
1274 Pendleton Street in the historic West End art district.

That's where I was last night, along with my incredibly handsome and hard working Art Husband.
Along with a few of our friends.
Art Friends.
Art Lover Friends.
And the nurse from my internists office ;-)

Really - we had a grand time there - eating good Italian food, drinking home-made wine, tasting Art Cake, gazing at fine art and talking to fellow art makers and lovers.

Art lovers or just lovers?
Oh, a little bit of both I suspect (that's my Saturday humor kickin' in!).

Today I am starting in our bedroom -
I am being
RUTHLESS
and throwing out, donating, giving away and otherwise cleaning out my house - room by room.
I am tired (sick and tired actually) of a cluttered, dusty house and I am going to do something about it!

That's one big draw back to being a collector of things...
a repurposer of all wonderful things in your artwork...
a sentimental fool that wants to hang on to that book cause your mom loved it...
or that half made doll from your grandmothers sewing stash...
or a rusted old bell that, well, you just might need one day...
It all begins to pile up, to crush your creativity or at least your house cleaning.

Can I get a big "hell yeah!" from all of you that completely understand what I'm sayin?

Most of what I have could be found again.
I'll hang on to a few (maybe more) things but I am at the point that the rest
has got to go people.


And what is up with the return of the horribly hot and humid weather in upstate SC??
Someone told me last night that the thermometer downtown was reading 102!

I sure do hope that this won't be one of those years that fall just passes us by...
or it lasts for two days and turns to winter.

I miss my river time.
I want to go camping in some cool weather.
Looking for sharks teeth.
Wading in the Charleston Harbor.
Kayaking in the Atlantic.

I have been away from the healing powers of our kayak,
missed the flow of the river and her cool waters.

What are you missing today?

Sketchbook Challenge September Theme

Thursday, September 1, 2011

September Theme: Unfurled

Kelli Nina Perkins here with September's Sketchbook Challenge theme. I've chosen UNFURLED as my theme for all things
spiral-y, wrapped and unwrapped, slowly revealed and layered.


Unfurl is such a lovely word. It evokes fluttering flags, tendrils of new growth, winding paths, bound fabric scrolls, blossoming flowers, secrets, unwrapped gifts, labyrinthine creations that reveal themselves one layer at a time.

unfurl
verb
1.To open, unfold, open
out, blossom, develop, progress
2.To unroll
or release
something that had been rolled
up

3. to unroll, unfold, or spread
out or be unrolled, unfolded, or spread out from a furled
state

4.
To turn
out
or unfold;
to evolve;
to progress
or debut

Our
artistic journey unfurls as we acquire and debut new skills day by day. Looking
back over your creative life, see how many discoveries you've made by unfurling
your wings a little at a time. There is no hurry; no rush. We all have a little
blossom inside of us that is coaxed open as we travel through this life.
Continuous growth means constant unfolding of our protective layers, and as we
expose ourselves to others and to new experiences, we evolve into the artists we
were meant to be.

What
will you unfurl? Don't be afraid to fling your arms open wide and release your
inner artist.

Pen sketch.

Collage. Watercolor.

Stitching.

Snap a photo and add some digital sketching.

How to be eligible for prize drawings:

In order to be eligible for one of the September prize packages you must post at least one photo of a sketchbook page related to the September theme to the Sketchbook Challenge Flickr group and you MUST tag one of your photos with the code "sep257".

IMPORTANT: PLEASE ONLY TAG ONE OF YOUR PHOTOS with this special code!

It is not necessary to tag more than one and it will not increase your chances of winning.

Information on how to upload photos to flickr can be found here.

Winners will be chosen based on random draw on 9/30/11 and announced on the Sketchbook Challenge blog either on that day or on 10/1/11.

You might also like:

Sketchbook Profile: Kelli Perkins

Start a Sketchbook Group of Your Own

A New Way to Sketch

LinkWithin

Art Journal Pages

Three simple ingredients (so far).
Gesso
Spray Ink
Masks (&/or stencils)

Swipe gesso across page in a random (and distracted) manner.
Hold stencils (or mask) down with one hand while using the other hand to mist watered-down ink over area.
Allow to dry before proceeding with the next step.

I'll proceed with the next step later.

Just wanted to pop in and share a simple background method with you all.
This is a great way to add color/texture/just something to your paper without a lot of work.
It also prevents that "blank page" syndrome...nothing like a little (or a lot of ) color to brighten up a page of paper.

I have been remiss in posting on this blog and the Sketchbook Challenge blog this month!
Over at the SBC blog, Jane has offered up this wonderful theme ("Everyday Objects"), that should have had me jumping up and down for joy (since I draw everyday objects so often) but I (like so many of us here) have been so busy preparing for, teaching workshops and recuperating from the prep and teaching of said workshops that I am pooped.
I have been ignoring so many things that I should not be ignoring...
this blog.
The SBC blog.
Making new artwork for the upcoming First Friday art crawl in Greenville SC.
Oh, so many things to do.
But I'll show you a peek of what I did do.
I taught two wonderful workshops at "Textile Evolution" in Colorado Springs last week.
Tex Evo is the brain child of Liz Kettle- teacher, writer and artist extraordinaire.

I taught a two day book making class that everyone loved!
The folks that didn't take the class, saw the books that the ladies made while in the class...and now they all want to take the class!
They made some awesome books! I love how they plow right through their doubts and work so hard in those two days to create a treasure.

The "Whimsical Mark Making" class is what I really wanted to talk about.
Most of the 9 ladies in this class said that they "couldn't draw" at the beginning of class.
I asked them.
They didn't want to believe me when I told them that they could draw.
But they also plowed right through - laughing at the silly things I asked them to do.
I was a strict teacher and didn't allow them to draw with a pencil!

Straight to paper with a pen...

I would say that around lunchtime these ladies were beginning to shock themselves...
I gave them a few tips, some guidelines, explained the paints, gels and pens at their disposal and turned them loose.
They were drawing a variety of things - some everyday objects, some totally from their imagination, some from source books that helped them along.

And the thing that I loved was how quiet they got as they began to believe that maybe they could draw...
then the excitement as these beautiful, whimsical images began to flow from their pens...

right from their pens!

I'll show a few photos of what they were doing.
These drawings are from women that believed their entire lives that
they could not draw.

Their entire lives (so far) spent not drawing.

Not even really trying because they had been told/believed/were not the creative one in the family/husband told them they needed to quit tracing or copying/and so on and so forth.

Now?
These women are drawing the most beautiful, whimsical, heartfelt images.
Straight to paper with a pen!

Take a local drawing class, check my schedule for one or watch for my online Mark Making class that will take place...um...in the future.

Until then?
Practice making marks.
Every single day.

Here's that peek -

Click on these photos to see the detail!

I do wish that we could have put together a small journal for these pages...
Wouldn't that be awesome to have a hand drawn journal?
Maybe I need to develop another class that includes this...we could squeeze in a small journal, couldn't we?

I'm listing a new local class soon - in Greenville SC.
Please sign up for my newsletter so you can get all the details of my classes - whether local, online or across the country.
I'll also advertise sales on original artwork, prints and handmade books.
I will occasionally offer my subscribers a special discount or deal on classes and artwork.

Keep on making marks!

Back Home

Hi everyone!

I'm back from Colorado Springs at Textile Evolution.

What an awesome retreat!!

I personally had so much fun and was so inspired & fulfilled by all the creative work done there.
The atmosphere was not only inviting but safe.
Safe to begin at where you are.
Safe to push where you want to go...

We had creative spirits there that ran the gamut - young women that had no idea of what they were getting in to all the way to grandmothers that we just finding out that they HAD a creative streak.

And they all LOVED it!

Yummy healthy food that was catered in.
A section of the room had piles of supplies to use in our art journals (all free!) with daily demos of different products and techniques (some brand spanking new ones- barely in the stores yet!).
Lots of heartfelt conversations, laughter, some tears (of pain, self discovery and growth) and most of all - lots of support and friendship.

Women need these relationships in their life - we need unconditional support and the love of each other.
We need a strong shoulder to lean on at times.
These types of relationships and support systems are built at this retreat.

It's a great place to learn a new technique or make a great project but it's an even better place to add to your self confidence and build your tribe.

Next years dates are already booked even though I can't remember them right now.
I do know that it will go back to the Sept. date next year. I'll post it as soon as I can find out.

I do have some photos but I'll have to find my camera first.
Now where did I put that new indigo shibori tee shirt at...?

First Friday Video

My husband was playing around with the new Flip Video at a "First Friday" art crawl event.
This was last Friday at Pendleton Street in Greenville SC.

The building is a newly refashioned space with several rooms.
The walls are just beautiful!
They look like fresco paintings.

I was invited, along with four other artists, to show work that evening.
There was food, adult beverages, wonderful art and lots of chatter!
We all had a great time and I met so many great people.

My husband took this short video of a portion of my table.
I am hoping to record more videos now since I am finding out it's not as difficult as I thought it was.

I'm leaving for Colorado Springs soon. I've sent ahead class supplies and lots of book samples.
I am so excited about teaching at the retreat again this year!

I am also hoping that I can schedule another book class next month at AGGG in Greenville SC.
The first class there went so well and I absolutely love the space for teaching small groups!
It was super inspiring to create in the gallery surrounded by such fabulous work.

Class Update

We had a great first day of class in Greenville! I truly love working in the gallery space.
All of the beautiful artwork surrounding us was such an inspiration. I can see scheduling another class there soon.
I'll try to remember to get photos on the next day of class! I had my camera with me but it stayed in my purse...
We were so busy that I forgot all about it (as seems to be my habit!).

I'm busy unpacking and repacking supplies, class kits and other necessary items (like, um...clothes?!).

I'm SO excited about teaching at Textile Evolution again this year!
I'm excited to be spending time with my peeps Liz Kettle, Judy Gula, Tama Brooks and Laura Cater Woods also!
Maybe someone there will be more diligent at posting photos than I was last year. I just get so busy that I forget! And I have never developed the "Facebook" habit...

Okay, break time over...
back to packing.
Um, I mean unpacking and repacking.

Whew...

What a crazy couple of weeks it's been...
I have talked about the Big League World Series that my husband and I volunteer at, right?

Yup, last year.
Well, what we call "the circus" was in town the last week.
It's a lot of fun but man oh man, what a lot of work too!
It was just as busy as ever and very, very hot.
And very humid.
Typical SC weather.
If you're interested, you can go to the web link above and read all about it.
It's a great opportunity to volunteer if you're interested.
We have ESPN coverage of the final game every year so that's fun.

I am also busy making the final preparations for a run of fall classes coming up.

I'm heading to my fiber group tomorrow to teach them the second day of making a cool little book.

Next week (August 8 & 11), I'll be teaching my "Bound by Heart, Made by Hand" class.
We make a beautiful book using all sorts of acrylic mediums, paints, cool papers, fabrics, inks and vintage goodies.
This two day class will be at Artists Guild Gallery of Greenville in downtown Greenville SC.
There are two (maybe three) spots left in this class.
Email me if you're interested.

The week after that, I'll be in Colorado Springs, Colorado with my buddy Liz Kettle at her retreat, Textile Evolution.
If you're love mixed media or mixed media fiber work, want to try your hand a mixed media or love hanging out with a bunch of wild and crazy mixed media fiber lovin' women - this is THE retreat for you!
There are several classes that I would love to take if I weren't teaching!
Check it out!

Elements of My Drawing

When I begin a new piece of artwork, I never really consider what I am going to put into it.
I don't think about where I will start or where I will finish...
I typically start from the "Hey, that would be a great idea!" point of view.
I tend to jump right in, worrying about running out of things (like room on the page) when it actually happens.
Like this piece of artwork.
It's called "The Dancing Elephant"

I love this silly, happy little elephant.
But when I drew her, she kicked her back foot up so high that it went right off that page!
Of course, since I (usually) never sketch things in pencil first I couldn't go back and re-configure the entire drawing.
Or convince her to drop that back foot a little.
But you really can't do anything with a happy elephant anyway- they're going to kick up their heels no matter what you try to make them do...
Instead of trashing the entire drawing, I decided to just draw her tail going off the page as well.
I figured that, in the grand scheme of things, no one would really notice that she was falling off the page.
Or dancing in to it.

That is - until I told all of you...

My point is this - one of the elements of my art is going with the flow.
Learning to work with what you're got in front of you...what you've already done.
I could have thrown this young girl away and look at all the smiles I would have trashed as well!
Instead, I stuck with it, added a few washes of acrylic paint and a ton of interesting tiny details and
introduced my Dancing Elephant to the world.

Maybe I should have called her "Tiny Dancer"...
.
These little details are things that we will be talking at my "Whimsical Mark Making" class I am teaching at Textile Evolution in Colorado Springs on August 20.
We'll also cover drawing on fabric as well as what tools to use when adding color to your drawings.
I'd love for you to join me!

Inspiration

I was reading a few blogs this week (I usually only read them once or twice a week) and got to Alisa Burke's.
Man - have you looked at her blog lately? She has got IT going on!
Launching a brand new shop with her mom, all those fantastic online classes, phenomenal artwork, a new book coming out soon AND a baby on the way!
She is one busy and talented lady.
One of the things that caught my eye on her blog was the photos of seahorses.
I love, love, love going to aquariums and watching the seahorses. They are so odd looking, so beautiful and quite whimsical also.
Alisa had drawn a few and painted them - look at her paintings here.
I loved the one that she didn't paint (or maybe she painted it but just didn't post it).
I just had to draw it!
I googled "images" and seahorse and found a similar photo for some more inspiration.
Here's my drawing -

I decided to go back and add a little water so the little guy wasn't just hanging in thin air...

I really needed to tie him to the background and I think that the water did just that.
Thanks Alisa for letting me post my rendition of your photo!

One of the classes that I'll be teaching at Textile Evolution (in about a month)is called "Whimsical Mark Making".
I'll cover some tips and tricks that I use to make my marks a little different than others, kinda like the seahorse above.

I'd love for you to join me in Colorado Springs for this class or my two day class called "Bound by Heart, Made by Hand".
This is a book making class that also incorporates my love of using items from loved ones in my artwork.
I love making books.
I took a class from DJ Pettit a couple of years ago that changed the way I make books.
I was so inspired by the techniques that she used!
I have since then made the techniques my own (by many, many hours in my studio working) but she was my initial inspiration.
If you ever have the opportunity to take a class from DJ, I'd suggest that you jump at the chance.

Book Making Classes

I have taken a couple of Mary Ann Moss's online classes,Remains of the Day and Full Tilt Boogie.

If you into book making, journaling and love scraps of paper and such - you should take them too...

I'll show you the latest book that I made from the binding technique that she teaches in the class.

I love the stitching technique!
If you don't read Mary Ann's blog -you should.
It's a good read.

Journal Work

I've been writing and drawing inside of one of my handmade books here lately.
I have written other posts about it (here, here and here). My "plan" is to use this as my everyday journal...just to draw in, write in, a place to hold all those things that elbow around in my head everyday.
And just like anything else, this requires a commitment or it does for me anyway.
Other things are habit for me - drawing, writing- but not in THIS book. I have been using a different book to write in and another one to draw in.
I have read in a few blogs how other people approach this issue. Some use totally separate books for each different practice. Others use the same book for all of it.
It really doesn't bother me if I mix it up. The only thing that I need to consider is the drawing part...if I draw something that I decide to make a thermofax screen from or use it in a different manner, I need to be able to scan or copy it. And that could prove to be difficult if it's in a book with other "things" on the pages around it...I'll just have to be aware of that and try to work around it.

Anyway - thought I'd share a couple of pages that I've been working on.

This is the first page in the journal (paper page that is...I have a couple of fabric based "pages" before that).

Now, who knows - I may choose to spread out some gesso on that page and re-do the entire thing.
That's one of the things that I love about journaling, about working in a book.
You can scrap it and start over...just like that.

This is a page that I had already done some stitching on. I had brushed some watered down acrylic paint on the background. Then later drew a couple of sketchy flowers...then added a thermofax flower screen over that. I still have more plans for this page.

This is a little painting (watercolor) that I did in preparation for my "Whimsical Drawing Class" at Textile Evolution next month.
I'll be showing everyone some tricks and short cuts that I use as well as sharing how I draw. It may not be the Correct Way but it's my way.
Run over to the retreat web site and sign up for that class! I would love to see you there.
Last year we had a blast...just a blast!
Judy Gula (from Artistic Artifacts) will be teaching there as well as vending (oh boy!). She and I are flying out a little early to spend a few days with Liz (we're supposed to be helping but I'm thinking we're going to be playing and laughing). Either way, it is sure to be fun.

And one last page with a whimsical tree on it. I actually left a space to journal on this one! I used Derwent Inkense Watercolor Pencils on it along with my trusty Pitt Pen.
Don't forget to check out the Sketchbook Challenge blog site for this month's theme. Lyric Kinard is the featured artist this month and she had chosen the theme if
"Element".
There are already a lot of great posts illustrating that.

And I am going to be teaching a book class in Greenville SC next month!
I am SO excited about this!
Artists Guild Gallery of Greenville has asked me to teach there. I'll be sending out a newsletter to all of the local people about this class.
I'll put details on the side bar but you can email me at carolbsloan@yahoo.com if you have any questions.
The quick rundown is this -

"Bound by Heart, Made by Hand"
Aug. 8 & 11, 2011 from 10:00am-3:00pm
$135 for both days, an optional $20 kit from instructor
At Artists Guild Gallery of Greenville (AGGG)

864-239-3882

200 N Main Street
Suite 104 Ivey Square
Greenville, SC. 29601 (inside the lobby at Atlanta Bread Company) 

You can see samples inside the gallery (beginning tomorrow) and may sign up there.
You may also email me to sign up.
If you are considering taking the class, better call or email quick as the size is very limited!
The space is smaller but I wanted to keep the class small so I can give everyone lots of attention.

Have a great day everyone!

Sourcebooks

There are times that I want to sit and draw but can't really think of what to draw.
Or I'm just not in the mood to draw what I see around me.
Sometimes I just can't draw very well at all.
Other times, I'm looking for a particular shape that I'm not familiar with and I need to look at a 2D rendering of it to help me draw it.

That's when I turn to sourcebooks or pattern books.
You can find several of them online.
Some of them say they are copyright free.
Some are not.
Be sure to read the reviews as this is usually where you find out this type of information (on Amazon that is).
If you just want to use the book for ideas to draw in your personal sketchbook then you won't have to worry about the copyright issue.

When I first began drawing again, after years (really decades) of not drawing, I turned to sourcebooks from the library.
They quickly became my "go to" for ideas.
It's a great way to churn out a few warm up sketches without having to concentrate too much.
And it's a great help to the person who says/thinks that they can't draw.

Here is an example of a quick sketch that I did last night (while watching a Harry Potter marathon) (again).
I love the shapes in the design and couldn't help but grab my Pitt Pen to sketch it out.

(you can see the head of the wonky kitty at the bottom of my sketch) (her tail also)

Here's the  design from the book that I was thumbing through.

The book is called "Patterns" (editor Macarena San Martin) and it's a compilation of motifs from different designers.
The designer of the particular pattern above is Labolaululintu. There was only an email address given (labolaululintu@gmail.com). I suppose that it's okay to post it since it was posted in the book. I tried to locate a website but couldn't find one with Google search.

It's a smaller book with 479 pages in it! Wow! Lots of beautiful motifs and colors to be seen.

So, if you're looking for some inspiration with patterns or of making patterns from a single motif, check this book out.
You're in for a visual treat to be sure.
But if you're looking for copyright free images, this is not the book for you.
It would be fine for you to copy them into the pages of your personal journal though.
So, all of you visual journalers that are looking for some design help on your pages - this could be the help that you seek.

I love to use my book to inspire different designs and shapes to paint inside of my visual journal and sketchbook.

Etsy Update

I am wondering why time seems to pass so quickly these days?
Or perhaps it's just me, being in a fog...allowing the days to slip by me...

Either way, I've looked up and it's July 7 already!

I am posting original works of art in my Etsy shop.
If you see anything that you're interested in, let me know!
I am also beginning to work on another series of these wonky little houses based on buildings in Greenville SC (I live near there).
I'd love to do some of Charleston SC as well!

Here's a photo of the first one that I have listed in the "It Takes A Village" series.

I paint them first and then add a ton of tiny little details with India Ink.
Most of them are painted on scraps of different pieces of wood or laminate but the last two have been painted on MDF board as it's resistant to warping or splintering...plus it's a recycled product as well.
I love painting these pieces! They are so fun and everyone seems to really like them.
They would be really cute in a kids room...but I've sold several to women that want to put them where they can see them - they say the work makes them smile.

And I do like to make people smile.

Hope you're having a lovely day.
I think I'll go out and ride my new (used) bike today!