Simple Definition of INSPIRATION
Something that makes someone want to do something or that gives someone and idea about what to do or create; a force or influence that inspires someone.

Living a creative life by discovering my artistic inner self
18 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in Art, Inspiration, Watercolour, watercolour painting Tags: inspiration, masking fluid, pam carriker, portraits, rubber cement, techniques, watercolor crayons, whimsical, whimsy
Something that makes someone want to do something or that gives someone and idea about what to do or create; a force or influence that inspires someone.
18 Apr 2012 Leave a comment
in Altered pages, Art Journalling, Collage, recycled, Uncategorized Tags: charcoal drawings, collage, conte crayon, oil pastels, pam carriker, pan pastels, tutorials
I love creating art pages, it is a great way to practice various art techniques and if you do something you don’t particularly like or mess up then you can either gesso over it or start a whole new page. It allows me the space to be fearless and develop my skills as I go along. The last couple of weeks I have been practicing a lot of face drawing which is one of the skills I want to develop – I have to really work at trying to get proportion right even though I am not trying to create a life-like face but a more whimsical one. I find I have trouble with eyes so I decided to just draw some faces with the eyes closed and practice shading and see what developed. Still need to work on face shapes as sometimes they look a little weird but I am a work in progress and if I continue to practice I will soon find it easier and will be able to create faces with more ease that I can incorporate into my mixed-media collages.
Here are a few of my recent whimsical type faces I have done in the past few days.
Afterwards I decided to add some collage ephemera to the pages and then added som pan pastels. I was so excited when I went to Opus the other day and found that they now have pan pastels in the store so I could not resist buying a few new bright colours. Next photos are how the pages progressed into a collage. I recently watched Pam Carriker`s tutorials on recycle art journal pages which were a big influence in my face drawings. http://pamcarriker.com/
Til next time, happy creating
Michelle
30 Dec 2011 2 Comments
in altered art, Art, art books, Creativity, Inspiration, on-line workshops, workshops Tags: art, creativity, donna downey, pam carriker, pan pastels, pitt pens, shades of grey
My Christmas wish list this year was mainly art supplies and I received the majority of them under the tree. I was so excited to get the Pan Pastel Starter kit, which included a few sponges, Shades of Grey pitt pens, pit artists pens, mini canvases, a How to Draw for the Mixed Media Artist and art magazines. I have been playing around with my new supplies the last couple of days now that things have settled down from Christmas celebrations and have been having fun experimenting.
Still have lots to learn about pan pastels, so think I will try Donna Downey’s Pan Pastel 101 on-line workshop http://www.donnadowney.com/shop/product.php?productid=2587&cat=16&page=1 so that I can hone some techniques and make the most out of my pan pastels.
These picture to the left is my first attempts trying out my new Shades of Grey Pitt Pens, and following a Pam Carriker Tutorial http://pamcarriker.com/tutorials/….still need lots of practice learning how to shade. The one to the right is done with pan pastels and watercolours and some charcoal pencil to add more depth.
I am so grateful for these mixed media artists sharing their talents and providing such great tutorials so that others can become better artists too.
17 Aug 2011 Leave a comment
in altered art, Altered pages, Art, art books, Creativity, Retirement Tags: acrylics, Art at the Speed of Life, collage, creativity, dollar strore, pam carriker, paper mache
‘Being creative – means trusting your own purpose and having an attitude of unbending intent in your daily thoughts and activities.’
I have been busy the last little while trying some new techniques to incorporate into my collage art. One of the techniques that really intrigued me was making little fun foam forms covering them paper mache toilet paper using diluted soft medium gel with water. I learned this technique from Pam Carriker’s book ‘Art at the Speed of Life’. It was really fun to do, I designed my little dresses and cut them out in sticky back fun foam and then attached some detail to the top of the forms attaching them to another larger piece of foam to keep them from moving around. I then took sheets of toilet paper and separated them so they were single-ply placing each sheet individually on the forms spraying them with the diluted gel medium to adhere together. Approximately 8 – 10 layers – as I added each layer I gently pushed out bubbles forming the paper around the details and shapes of the dresses. You have to let them dry for at least 24 hours and then it easily lifts of the form – gently and carefully tear off any excess along the edges.
I had painted and collaged a 8 x 10 flat canvas that I had purchased at the Dollar Store and when I finally got it to the point where I liked how it looked I added a little clothes line to attach the dresses to. Before attaching the dresses I used some distress inks to add a little more detail and depth to the paper mache dresses and attached with these little clothes pegs I found at the Dollar Store. The Dollar Store is a great place to find items to use in your collages! I also glued the dresses to the canvas with some gel medium and I am going to attach a saying of some sort to it to finish it off – there is a temporary one in place in the pic in the post. I am very happy with how it all turned out. The border outline I did with black paint and tar gel to just give it a bit more pop.
So this was an experiment that turned out the way I hoped it would and I am excited to try it again very soon.
Stay tuned for more on my collage adventures shortly.
Til next time happy creating!
Michelle
24 May 2011 Leave a comment
in altered art, Altered pages, Art, art books, Art Journalling, Artist workshops, Collage, Creativity, Inspiration, Magazine pages, on-line workshops, Retirement, Uncategorized Tags: art, art magazines, art techniques, artists, creative, creativity, inspiration, pam carriker, re-cycled art, somerset studio, strathmore, techniques
It’s funny how you come across great magazines when you least expect it and they are treasures just filled with wonderful creative ideas, resources and new venues to develop your art. One magazine in particular that I am really falling in love with is Somerset Studio it is chalked full of wonderful artists sharing their art and techniques. These are definitely magazines that you keep on your bookshelf close at hand to refer back to off and on when you are needing a creative boost or looking for an idea. Their website is also an interesting and informative place to check out where you will find free how-to videos, project ideas and new products and more http://somersetstudio.com/.
While reading one of the articles in the latest issue of Somerset Studio I discovered a link for learning more about using moulding paste in collage and art pages – the link was http://PamCarriker.com – well what an exciting find this site has been and I have found myself returning many times this past week to continue to soak up all her fun techniques. Pam Carriker is an amazing multi-media artist and she has done some videos on how to use your art pages again by making copies of them and then cutting, tearing, etc. different pieces of the previous art page copy and giving it a whole new life on a new page. Pam’s site also led me to a link to Stratmore’s Artist free on-line workshops another great find http://www.strathmoreartist.com/vjworkshop2011.html . I have enjoyed watching all of Pam’s workshop videos – she is an incredible teacher and her techniques are really something I want to incorporate into my art pages and collages as I continue to learn and grow as an artist (still got those training wheels on). I would be remiss not to mention that there are two other artists – Linda Blinn and Roz Stendahl also teaching Strathmore Artists Workshops on art pages and they are both really informative.
I have scanned some of my pages, printed them off and have been having fun trying out Pam’s techniques while creating a totally different art page. I am still working on my first page not quite finished…..but soon.
So if you are looking for some inspiration and to learn some more techniques for your art page do check out the links I have shared in my post, well worth exploring.
Til next time happy creating
Michelle