Coloring Pages for the Impatient Inspired by Matisse

Coloring in Cutouts Inspired by Matisse with Fantastix creating colorful patterned paper by Carolyn Dube

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 have done leaf rubbings in elementary school and this is the same idea only using a stencil instead of the leaf. Cut Outs Inspired by Matisse stencil was the stencil used to make these pages.

Watch Coloring with Fantastix on YouTube.

New to stencil crayon rubbings? You can see how I made a crayon rubbing with a different stencil directly on book text here.

What was the juicy “pen” used for coloring? Fantastix dipped in the colorful inks. The juicy tips allow me to cover a lot of area quickly since I am an impatient colorist. Okay, I’m impatient with almost everything. Just ask my kids.

The plan was to to color with only blues. It didn’t take me long to abandon that plan and bring in the green.

After all the blues and greens were filled in, I decided the background should pop so out came the orange. As large a space as it was to color, it went quickly thanks to being able to dip the Fantastix in the ink to keep is juicy.

Now I have colorful patterned papers to use next time I am art journaling, collaging, and making a card. If you had an eagle eye, near the beginning of the video when I show a couple of papers already colored in, you might have noticed the O.O.P.S., there is one shape on the colorful one that was left blank. I’d like to tell you that was an artistic statement, but it wasn’t. I just missed that one!

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps keep the free tutorials coming!

InLinkz.com

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The Good, The Bad, the Ugly…and the Hoarder

The journey of a mixed media canvas from the good, to the bad,and the ulgy by Carolyn Dube

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 call trash.

Watch The Good, the Bad, the Ugly…and the Hoarder on YouTube.

Many moons ago, this canvas began as random stencil play with my Iron Grates stencil. There were parts I loved, but it so needed something else.

So I took the big risk, and added lots of black paint with Flora Bowley’s Bloom True flower and my Use Your Words stencil. And it just sat at this layer. For months and months, or maybe even a year.

What got me playing with this canvas again? Leftover scraps of paper from die cutting that I had been hoarding as if they were made of platinum. Perhaps they were secret art platinum from the muse, because without those scraps, this canvas would have stayed ignored on the shelf.

Then came the color. Paint for the treasured squares went as I expected but the feel of the oil pastels in my hand was addictive. So I might have added a bit more of it than planned, but plans are flexible when it comes to art play.

All that black paint that made me cringe in the moment, but it turned out to be just the O.O.P.S. this canvas needed. It took a while too find the opportunity in it, but it finally ended up where it was meant to be. Good thing my muse is patient with me.

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps keep the free tutorials coming!

InLinkz.com

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Getting Lost in the Land of What If

Letting myself just play in my art journal by asking what if...and it went through some ugly layers in the video but in the end created a map of the Land of What If

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. Little did I know I was making a map as I was letting myself get lost in the play.

Watch Letting myself get lost in the art journal play on YouTube.

Building on an old background, I began smearing paint and adding pattern with stencils. That yellow paint was slow to dry, since there was so much of it, which led me to asking what if with a baby wipe. After all, I seem to have a subconscious need to avoid heat guns.

Oh, did it go through some ugly stages! But that didn’t matter because smearing paint around brought me joy. I even ended up with a bout of pink polka dot fever.

The word “what” was redone with my Ransom Alphabet stencil, and I am proud to let my first grade teacher know that it wasn’t because of misspelling (this time at least).

As I stenciled the 3 Cutouts Inspired by Matisse, I began to see a forest. I would love to visit a forest like that! This is when the idea of a map took control of the page.

Maps need towns, so I added castle towns with a mask from the Once Upon a Time stencil. There was one feature still missing from this land, and that was water. A great big ocean was needed.

What types of places are in the Land of What If? The Ocean of Inspiration and the City of Creativity of course!

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps keep the free tutorials coming!