Watch Art Is You workshops with Carolyn Dube on YouTube

Want to let go and just be in the moment having fun? Then join me the 6-8th of October at Art Is You! I’m teaching 3 full day workshops and all 3 are designed for maximum color and play while you get a hands-on understanding of the techniques and tools.

I’m a teacher at heart and seeing you grin from ear to ear when the play takes over is why I do what I do. Part of what will help you feel the freedom of making art is that along with the techniques you also get clear relatable explanations that build your understanding of the process and the tools.

Plus, and this is a big one, I’m right there to answer your question. In every workshop, there are students for whom one little thing is holding them back. That thing that gets in the way of their play. But when they can talk to me in person, when we find a personalized solution right there on the spot, the floodgates of fun open right up.

The theme for this year is Talk Story, and with Salllianne’s ability to build community and connection that is the perfect theme! She’s got a Facebook group full of information about the event here. Looking forward to seeing you at Art is You this October!

-Carolyn

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

Cloaked inside this ordinary looking book is a journal of creative play. Feel the excitement and experience the freedom of play as a hard back book is transformed into a lay flat journal.

During our day together you’ll be creating shimmering stucco effects, colorizing vintage photos, using StencilGirl stencils mixed media style, marbleizing papers, and more. Along with the techniques broken down step-by-step, you’ll also know how to open up to the moment, and ride the waves of color and play.

No sewing. No measuring. No precision needed. This is a let loose and play type of journal. Go wild with my suitcases of Marabu supplies, try different things, and harness the color wheel to give you the looks you love. As I’m sharing techniques, I’m also sharing the whys so you can apply the fun to any mixed media art play.

All you need to bring is a 6-7 of your favorite colors of acrylic paint, a craft knife & cutting mat, paper trimmer (or share mine), a pencil, scissors, glue stick, gel medium, paints brushes of various sizes, and an apron. All the rest is included so come prepared to immerse yourself in the freedom of play!

Dirty Little Secrets of Gel Printing

A rainbow of color and pattern mysteriously entangled in the layers of your gel print but never making mud? How is that possible? You’ll gasp with excitement as the first corner is pulled up giving you get a glimpse of the colorful magic about to be revealed. But it’s not magic.

Once you know the secrets then you can actually control when those prints are going to happen, even if you have never made a gel print before. It isn’t random and it isn’t some unexpected surprise, it’s about the dirty little secrets of gel printing.

Step-by-step, the techniques are broken down but fair warning, this is an addictive process so be prepared to make an abundance of prints you love. Once you know the secret, then you can dial it up or down, creating prints you love.

Carolyn’s bringing all the Gel Press plates, brayers, stacks of paper, a huge stash of StencilGirl Products stencils and the secret ingredients for you to use so you’ll only need to bring 6-8 of your favorite colors of acrylic paint plus a heavy body white paint and an apron.

The Artful T-Shirt

Transform average white shirts into colorful couture as we spend a day playing with pattern and the rainbow. As the techniques are broken down step-by-step, you’ll get helpful shortcuts on how to create wearables that are vibrant and one of a kind.

You’ll walk out the door with 4 uniquely you shirts and an understanding of the process and the materials.

Zero experience is required for this day of play with paint, StencilGirl stencils and Marabu fabric painting supplies. You’ll need to bring 4 white prewashed 100% cotton shirts, an empty spray bottle for water, 6-8 of your favorite colors of regular acrylic paint, paint brushes (some big some not so big), a container for water to clean brushes, scissors, and a sharpie marker. I’m bringing everything else you’ll need.

Washi tape is a great element to add to an art journal page, especially when you do it as one of the early layers.  Why?  Because then the color go right over it and make it fit right in with your style of journaling.  In the video, notice how much the tape stands out as tape at the start but as they layers are added to it, the washi tape becomes embedded in the page.

Watch Embedding Washi Tape in the Layers of an Art Journal on YouTube.

Starting an art journal page with journaling not only clears you head it also creates a great starting layer.

Place bits of the washi tape randomly around the page.  Each roll of the travel themed washi tape has images representing a different country, and it is the images I adore. The colors are bit subdued for my taste, but  that doesn’t matter one bit since I am about to add ample color to them.

The rainbow filled the page as acrylic paint was brushed around the washi tapes, mostly around them. Every now and then, I’d paint right on top of parts of the tape.  As long as it isn’t a super thick amount of paint, it will work to add color to the tape.

Naturally, you can use the ideas here on any size journal. This is a huge, giant, oversized journal that is 24″ across when open.  One perk of that is the paint is almost dry by the time you get the page finished.

Those ink splots were created with what I call Splotters.  You can see how the empty tubes were filled with Art Spray and turned into graffiti style markers here.

These allowed me to get splots, swipes of color, and puddles of color on the page.  Love that I can get 3 different looks with one bottle.

The puddles of Art Spray color don’t dry as quickly as paint. Is that a problem? Not at all because the color smearing in a step or two just adds to the vibe of the page.  Why didn’t I use a heat gun to speed it up?  That’s a reasonable question, and the answer’s coming up.

Art journal pages can always use more color. Art Crayons from Marabu added more color with some loose scribble journaling plus they are an easy way to add color to the washi tapes.

Celebrate with me, I spelled every word correctly with out a post it note cheat sheet as I stenciled the words that captured the feelings with Seth Apter’s Alpha Drips stencil!   This is huge for me, since I am known to misspell my own name.

In the video, you can see how some of the still wet puddles of color get moved around just by the stencil touching it. The big reason for me not using a heat gun to speed the drying?  I have an illogical aversion to them so I avoid them as much as possible. No big reason, no horrible story about them.  Just don’t like using them.

Here’s a close up of how the paint and Art Crayons colored one of the washi tapes.  No longer does it look like tape just stuck on a page, the tape is a part of the page.

If you’d like to know more about art journaling, join my free workshop Permission to Play.  In this free workshop, you’ll build a cardboard journal and get introduced to mixed media but most importantly, you’ll get specific things you can do to embrace the freedom of play.

Here are the supplies 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!