Making patterns for printing with hot glue and cardboard is a time honored way to play. But how do you get the hot glue uniformly smooth for the best printing? What’s the no fumble way to use them when printing? How can you stamp a good impression in an art journal using regular acrylic paint [...]
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What do I do when I want to play but don’t want to tackle a blank page? I flip through my art journals and see which page calls to me. That’s one of the perks of having random backgrounds and pages in progress sprinkled throughout. The page that called to me was loaded with brown, which usually affects me [...]
Treasures were used to create this art journal page. Were these expensive treasures? Nope. Would they be considered trash by many? Yes! These treasures were a bag of scraps of paper that I had been saving in my studio for a very long time that I decided was time to use them or lose them courtesy [...]
What are the dos and don’ts for gel printing? The most important is Do have fun and Don’t worry about doing it the “right” way because there is no right way…just the way you enjoy! Do use a gel plate with the squish factor, like the Gel Press plates. Don’t use a hard plate, they don’t [...]
Why do I get so excited about caps and lids that are about to be thrown away? It’s not because it means everyone has been taking their vitamins. Although that is a good thing. It is because caps are perfectly round and come in a variety of sizes to make an easy pattern tool for [...]
Patience is a virtue that I have not mastered, especially when coloring and pattern making. However, I really enjoy exploring colors and patterns. The solution for me is to use a crayon rubbing and an extremely juicy “pen” that can cover a lot of area quickly hence minimal patience is required. What are stencil crayon rubbings? You might [...]
There was a collision of the good, the bad, and the ugly in today’s play as I dealt with one of my hoarding tendencies. This canvas began long ago, and it just sat. That is until today, when I realized the opportunity in the O.O.P.S. was to use up a hoarded treasure…one that other people might [...]
What if? This is the question that I asked in my art journal today. This page went through a lot, including some very ugly layers. Since this was what if play, it didn’t matter if a layer was ugly. It didn’t matter if it had no direction. It only mattered that I asked what if. [...]
What happens when I start with an old dried up paint palette, then start thinking about high school lit class, then make a series of OOPSies? An art journal page! You can find the video of the play in my guest post at StencilGirl Talk! Be sure to check out the end of video where [...]
It’s always fun to have visitors in the studio, especially if they are as silly and happy as this guy! He’s Norbert and just popped out of the Spark of Art-spiration I used to start playing in my art journal. Originally, I saw 3 people on a hill in the Spark, but you can tell I [...]
