Tag: nature inspired

WATERCOLOUR FLORAL PAINTING

If someone was to ask me what my style of painting was, I’d be a bit stumped to be honest. I tend to flit about a lot but I do become a little bit obsessive when it comes to trying new things.

For example, I like to draw and paint from nature as near to realistic as possible and love to add the smallest details. Pen and ink, watercolour pencils and paints all add their bit to create something which I think looks fairly decent. However, this takes time and I don’t always have that much time to create. Right now I’m diving deeper into surface design and my goal is to paint first, scan then work on my designs on the computer with the aim of printing them onto cards for example. These detailed paintings don’t lend themselves that well to surface design anyway so I need to come up with something which does!

By contrast to the super detailed sketches I love abstract painting and design and admire the artists who effortlessly produce abstract floral designs in minutes. Recently I’ve been busy practicing loosening up my paintings and I love it. It’s nowhere near perfect yet but I’ve become a bit obsessed by this style. To some people it might look sloppy and a bit of a cop out compared to the detailed drawings I’ve done in the past but believe me it’s far harder than it looks to stop it from looking a bit cartoony.

These need quite a bit of work but that’s just what I intend to do. So it’s back to the desk and on with the practice.

See you soon,

Jaine x

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INSPIRATION JOURNALING

I think one of the most important tips I can pass on to anyone is that of keeping an inspiration journal. It helps creativity in so many ways from interior decorating to card making. It helps with choosing colour schemes, images, sketching ideas and looks pretty too. Go to page 2 to learn more.

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my journal inspiration

I think in a previous life I must have been a magpie or something because rarely do I come home from a walk without a few leaves, a stone, bit of rusty metal or stick in my pocket. I may be a little obsessive about it even to the point where I carry a little bag with me just for that purpose!

These things usually end up on my inspiration shelf until a time when I might use them in some project. Alot of the time I might photograph them or scan them into the computer to keep as collage images, especially if they’re fragile like leaves or obviously bulky like wood. I take lots and lots of photos when I’m out too, mainly of trees and things from the forest floor, or like here, mosses or rusty posts.

All of these things can become colour schemes or shapes and patterns.

I use these as inspiration for colours or themes in my journals and sketchbooks.

For example, I took the little collection above and created a colour palette with my watercolours.

Another thing I like to do is create collage papers to use in my journals too either using the scanned images or the colours as inspiration. The collage papers are made from tissue paper, brown paper, book page, anything really which I can paint on and is thin enough to use on a journal page. This idea isn’t mine I have to add, I’ve seen lots of people on the internet do the same thing so I can’t take the credit for this one! For example check out the work of Laura Horn on Instagram or Pinterest as I love what she does.

I really like the colours in these two mossy photos. When you look closely enough you don’t just see green but pinks and purples too. If I was smart I’d have a colour generator app on my phone perhaps to make the process faster. I’m sure it must exist?

I work abstractly most of the time and the journal page below is an example of how I’ve taken inspiration from the mossy photos above.

I decided to go with more of the pinky purple tones and use the green as accents which is the opposite of the photo. I added my collage of papers, cut some of the photo into thin strips and the washi tape ended up being a perfect match not only in colour but after tearing it up I found it almost looked like the moss, happy accident!

So inspiration is all around you, all you need to do is look.

Have a great weekend

Jaine x

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Spring Inspiration!

Happy Friday and hello spring? The end of February was glorious where we are, warm, sunny and dry. I think we got a little carried away with ourselves and started to imagine outdoor activities and ice-cream! I know, I’m guilty of pushing the woolly pullies to the back of the wardrobe.

However, March came in and whoops!! Stormy, wet and cold weather was back. My wardrobe is a mess, as the woollies have been dragged over the spring garments and scarves pulled out from under thin tops. Ah well, it was a bit bonkers to be honest not to mention worrying.

My morning walks with Cooper are a good opportunity to watch the season change however and gather some inspiration along the way.  The pine branch above will find its way into my sketch book and may even be used next Christmas.  The fern will be used in a print I think and already I’ve added a small piece in my Simple Stories planner layout. I touched it with a brayer and a little white ink to tone it down and help it blend into the page better.

It fitted perfectly with my spring like theme for March and the Simple Stories Spring Farmhouse collection ephemera from Paper Pen and Plan.

I also used a little on my WOW! Embossing Powder Facebook challenge piece. This month the challenge is all about foils and I was desparate to use mine in an abstract way. I love abstract backgrounds and using them this way over a smooshed ink layer was so much fun.

I’m declaring March Nature Inspiration month just because I can! Why not try including a little nature in your work?

Have a good weekend

Jaine x


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