Fun With A New Supply

I have been waiting for this small gelli plate to be available on Amazon. Its a bit overpriced so I wanted the free shipping.  I have been collecting plate sizes with the idea of teaching a class at some point.  I started with the 8 X 10, received the 6 x 6 as a gift and bought the circle plate awhile ago.  I won't buy the biggest one because it is way too much money.  I think if I want a big one I will make it myself.  This small one is great for tags and printing on small pieces of paper.

I went through a test the other day and made a bunch of prints. The green and red one was hardly blended.  It looked like balloons to me so I pulled a print right away. The dark blue one has its ghost print underneath it. I like how different they look.

Here is another group, some I like and some I didn't. The real gaggy ones I didn't show.

This one using a birch tree stencil is my favorite. The hardest thing with the small plate is not to keep running over it to the paper.  I need a lighter touch or a smaller brayer.  It is fun though, and its quick to make some backgrounds for tags or cards.

What fun supplies have you been playing with this week?


Kate

My Garden and Other Pages

I started this page with a piece of gelli printed paper.  The shapes on the right were a big rectangular piece.  Then I added the turquoise and red paint and the rest evolved as pages often due.

I bought myself a Dylusions Art Journal awhile back and had not used it yet.  I thought I would try some spray inks in it.  The paper is supposed to be good for that. So I sprayed through a stencil, some pink, yellow, orange and red dylusion inks. Then I thought what to do next. I painted around the stencil with black gesso.  Black gesso makes such a nice surface for writing on. I added the silhouette which I cut out of red cardstock. I looked through my stash of collage items for the rest of the page. the I added some journaling. My gelli roll white pen just flowed over the black gessoed surface.  It made the finishing touches on the page such fun.

Are you often surprised on how a page turns out? I always seem to get to a point where I don't like what I have done but sticking with it always brings me out the other end to a sense of satisfaction. That is how this page went.

What have your experiences been like?

All For The Love Of Owls

I have a love for Owls, especially the Great Horned owl.  Back in 2009 a pair nested in one of our trees.  We didn't know it until the Branchlings were pretty big. That is what a baby owl is called. Here is one of them out of the nest. Owls don't make their own nests, but commandeer one.  The nest they had used was falling apart, so they never nested there again.

We wanted to invite them back, so my husband made a nesting box. We modeled it off the ones that are used for the Great Grey Owl's in Oregon.  The problem for us was a way to get in mounted in the tree.

Here is my husband up the ladder in the tree they nested in before.

Here he is higher up, as the ladder was not tall enough.  He carried the nesting box, power screwdriver, and hammer with him. At one point he came down for a saw and nippers. My job was to hold the ladder steady. Those branches he was standing on looked so precarious. I had my phone in my pocket hoping I wouldn't soon be calling 911. There was no need, he managed to screw the box in the tree without falling out, which I greatly appreciated.

The nesting box is halfway up the tree. Its that brown spot in the middle. As you can see its a pretty big tree.

Here is a close up.  I sure hope the owls like it and decide to use it. We will have to wait awhile to know anything. Great Horned owls mate in February. So we'll be keeping our fingers crossed that they like their new nest. We have another nesting box on the property. Its for a kestrel and they have used it several times.  I like the idea of creating habitat for wildlife.

Do you have any interesting animals where you live?

Sunday Sketches

Decided that I could sketch during football games.   This a window at Coventry Cathedral in the UK. I discovered that these are really hard to draw.

Check out what other sketchers are doing this Sunday

I hope you are having a relaxing Sunday doing what you love.

Kate Robertson

Winner of 21 Secrets Fall Giveaway

The winner of my giveaway is .......  Number

That means you gma are my winner.  I'll contact you by email and let you know how to get into class on October 1. Thanks to everyone who entered, I wish I could have given away a spot for all of you. Don't forget you can still sign up by clicking on the link in the sidebar.


Kate

Art Journal Wisdom

I have been playing along with Connie Hozvicka's Art Journal Wisdom class. Its a free course for nine days. You can join in here

I started this page with lots of oranges, yellows and reds.  Then I did some journaling on a separate page and tore it up and glued it down with gel medium. More paint was added on top.

I first saw the lady on the right and then the other two ladies showed up.  While yesterdays work was about contrast todays has very little contrast. If I painted around the ladies in a darker color they would definitely pop more.

Here I am playing with circles and pastels, both soft and oil.  Its a fun way to play with color. Soft pastel is in the background and oil pastel in the circles. I was using a really cheap oil pastel and you can really tell.  The artist quality ones are so much better.

I am giving away another spot in 21Secrets Fall.  I am picking a winner on Saturday night. Go to this post and leave a comment to be considered for the drawing. To sign up for the course just click on the link in my sidebar.

Linking to Paint Party Friday Today.

Explorations In My Journals

I have been trying to make art every day this week. That can mean working on paintings or in my art journals. Yes I do have more than one. Sometimes I am called to a particular size or style to work in. I have been leaning to bigger and bigger journals. I still like to work in small ones though. Some of my journals were bought for classes I am taking, so I only work in them for the class. That is until the course is over with, but I like to continue using it with the concepts learned.  In today's post I show a few of my different journals and pages.






















This is an imaginary landscape. I used Inktense Blocks and colored pencils in the piece. I started with blocks of color which looked like a landscape scene so that is the route I took.  Colored pencils were used to highlight the river and grasses. I like the soft quality that resulted.

This Albino bird was the result of playing with colors. Napthol Red, Hansa yellow light, Titanium White and Quinacridone red.  This was an exercise where you paint for 2 minutes and cover half of it up and then repeat 4 times.  From Flora Bowley's bootcamp. It was fun to do. One I think I will explore again and again. Its a great exercise if you fear the blank page or are just feeling stuck.

In my sketchbook skool journal some crows came for a visit. Pencil, watercolor, a dip pen and acrylic ink were used. There is a new session of Sketchbook Skool starting next week. There are three different classes to choose from. I am doing Storytelling this time and I can't wait for it to begin.

I've been playing along with Connie Hozvicka's Art Journal Wisdom free e-course this week. This is my first page. I also incorporated Flora Bowley's idea of using strong contrast. It really made the image of the woman pop off the page. You can join in on Connies class here. This journal is one I made myself.  It has Fabriano paper in it and if you've ever worked with this paper you know what a dream it is to work with.

In what way are you expressing your creativity this week?

Kate

Filling Up The Cart

My cart all filled up. Haven't started using it yet and i have rearranged things already a coule of times. I could have filled up two carts easily.  What this is doing for me is getting supllies out of drawers where I forget about them.

Top has some golden fluid favorite colors, gelatos, high flow golden colors, 

sennelier oil pastels, acrylic ink. tools, paint brushes,

Second shelf has distress ink, dylusions sprays, reinkers, liquid watercolor, gesso
Third shelf has watercolor crayons, oil pastels, pens and markers, baby wipes, ATC gun

So now I can be at my table and wheel the cart right to me and have easy access to so much more. This cart is from IKEA and is made really well. So worth the 49.00 price. If I lived close to IKEA I would go buy another one. It will have to wait until my next trip to Utah which has the closest store.

Another excess paint painting.  This has been on my painting wall for a long time. I keep adding to it when I have excess paint but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I am trying to decided to whether take it down and roll it up for later or cut it up for art journaling use.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway in yesterdays post.

Kate