Anyone who’s ever taken a walk with me will know I usually come home with a few ‘finds’ in my pocket which I use either as inspiration for a drawing, digital sketch or just to photograph and scan into Illustrator. These were my finds from last week, a collection of seeds, nuts and berries gathered during a long walk in the forest with my dog.
I love this time of year especially for the seed heads which are everywhere. I find them just as fascinating as the flowers they started out as. Sometimes they’re even better and more interesting. This collection made a perfect study for drawings and photos.
By the middle of the week I had a few images ready to work on in Illustrator.
After a bit more work plus finding a suitable colour palette to work from I came up with a few designs I really love. I’ve turned these into greetings cards which are now in my Etsy shop.
I’m super happy with how they turned out and so glad I walk everywhere with my eyes on the ground and a little net bag in my pocket.
It’s easy to fall into a habit of doing or not doing something, especially the not doing something! At the beginning of the year I realised I’d lost the habit of sketching or painting which I used to thoroughly enjoy. As well as practicing more abstract work I wanted to practice more drawing and sketching skills. I don’t think I’d actually drawn anything for a long long time especially if it wasn’t for an end goal like designing a stamp or stencil or a design for a christmas card. I gathered a few books together from my studio, none of them new. They’d either been started and abandoned or bought and not started at all.
MY CURRENT SKETCH BOOKS
Each one has a different use which is why I have six on the go. Firstly from the bottom up I have my inspiration journal. I’ve had this for a while now and I’ve even blogged about it more than once. I use this more like a collage book sticking in magazine images of things I like, patterns, colours or ideas I might be able to use in other work. I really do find it a very useful tool. It helps to choose colour combinations, ideas for a sketch or painting, layouts or even to simply remind me of what I have in my studio. It’s such a simple concept of cutting and sticking then adding in some paint or ink.
TWO PAGES OF MY INSPIRATION COLLAGE JOURNAL
Next up is my watercolour sketchbook. I call it a sketchbook when in fact I like to keep it neat and clean and draw realistic images which I colour with watercolour and pencils. This type of thing does take time which I don’t always have so this is why I only do this occasionally. It gets me into a habit of looking closely so I notice things I didn’t actually see before.
DRAWN FROM THINGS COLLECTED ON MY WALKS
My mixed media journal is next, I’ve had this for a few years now and dip in and out of it. It has everything from drawings and collage to gel prints I really like and mixed media pages. It’s a bit of an anything goes type of book in which I just enjoy the process of trying things out. As I’m passed the middle and I’ve glued alot of papers in there, the pages are getting a bit bent but I don’t mind that at all. It’s a Ranger mixed media journal so the pages are good and strong.
JOURNAL PAGES
Then I have my new accordion watercolour sketchbook which I’ve shown you here before. This large one I’m using to test it out as I’ll be selling these at KUKI but I’ve made myself two smaller ones which I’ll use to take with me if we go away anywhere.
I’m also using a really nice A5 sketchbook as an abstract testing book. Inside its pages I’m mainly trying out composition and testing out ideas. It might be using watercolour, acrylic or collage, whatever I fancy at the time. The pages are not particularly good quality as it’s a sketchbook but this hasn’t put me off using all sorts of materials including ink which I was surprised and pleased to find didn’t bleed through as much as I thought it might. This is a new book for me this year and I’m finding it very useful so far as I decide what I like and don’t like.
Finally on the top of my stack is my actual sketchbook. This is a much more loose style, including quick sketches of things with less details. This is the one I’ll most likely use if I need a quick arty fix. I plan to take this one out and about once the good weather is here possibly into the forest when I go out for a walk with Cooper.
AS YOU CAN SEE THESE ARE NOT IN THE LEAST DETAILED OR ACCURATE
So that’s a look at my collection of sketchbooks and why I’m using more than one.
I’ll be back next week but in the meantime have a good weekend and stay safe.
One of my favourite things to do in the studio is the designing and cutting of stencils, especially the mini stencils which Clare from Paper Pen and Plan asks me to cut to go in her monthly subscription boxes. These are 10 x 7cm so are quite small, but even so based on a brief from Clare I try to pack as much on there as possible. This month’s stencil is a lavander trio and as a bonus I also included the mask part too.
This afternoon I had a chance to play with this new stencil myself and I thought I’d share a few handy tips along the way. The first thing I like to do is extend the edges by adding some painters tape. I’ll also mask off parts of the stencil I don’t want to include with a bit of washi. The second way I like to use these small stencils is by using a finger dauber with ink. You can get a much better finish with one of these and, it makes the whole job so much easier and by pouncing rather than swirling it stops ink from spreading underneath.
This particular stencil is great for layering with several different colours to create more depth. I also used texture paste on a piece of card and dry brushed over some gold acrylic once it was dry. The texture paste picks up the paint beautifully.
Layered with Distress Inks
I don’t think this card needs much more to be honest. A few inky splatters and a delicate butterfly are enough.
Impasto paint
Impasto paint is very thick and works like texture paste using a knife. I decided to just add a small collage to the front with a splash of colour from some fabric.
Texture paste and gold acrylic paint
I love how the texture paste and gold worked out on the tag.
If you want to know more about the subscription boxes from Paper Pen and Plan go here to the Etsy shop. If you’re interested in having stencils designed and made by me then you can contact me here jaine@basementstudio.lu and I’ll give you a quote.
Next week I’ll show you how I used the other part of this stencil, the masks. That’s a whole other world of possibilities.
Our weather here in Luxembourg this Summer has been a bit up and down to put it mildly. We’ve had stunning sunshine prompting pool parties in the back garden to heavy rain and flooding on a scale not seen for ages. I’ve even resorted to putting on the heating a couple of times! So we were pleased to spend some time away in Sicily. It was roastingly hot even for the locals but like all mad dogs and Englishmen it didn’t stop us from getting out and enjoying some sight seeing. It’s always lovely to recharge and get a new perspective on things by getting away. I think the different culture, food, scenery and colours have freshened up my crafting which lately had started to become a bit stale.
I couldn’t help but be inspired by the colours around me but even though I took my sketch book with good intentions, sadly it didn’t come out once.
Coming home again had me all fired up to stop procrastinating and get on with something productive. As I have a workshop coming up in the Autumn I need to make a mockup for, I thought I’d sieze the opportunity to get started on it.
Gel prints with leaves
The workshop is based around gel printing with botanicals so I thought I’d have another go at gel printing with leaves and ended up with this little lot. I’m much more confident with how they’re turning out, I think I seem to have mastered it at last. I actually like what I’m managing to print. The idea is to make a small journal out of them ending up with all of these colourful backgrounds.
While I was out with the dog I found this pretty feather on the path, so tiny but it gave me an idea for the cover of the journal.
A little collage of scraps from my bit box and the tiny feather looks lovely againsed the calico cover and the little bird rub-on was a lost treasure from an old pile of forgotten rub-ons. Does anyone use rub-ons anymore?
Enjoy the weather and the end of the Summer where you are and find some new inspiration in the changing of the seasons.
