Inktoberfest

It's October, but for artists, we might know it as Inktober.  A 31 day art challenge where we strive to create new inked art every day for the entire month of October.

I'll be joining the challenge this year.  You can follow along on my Patreon, Facebook event or on Pinterest.  I've been preparing all week for this month long undertaking.  I have papers cut to size and an art journal being prepped for the arting to begin.  Here's a sneak peek onto my art table....

Papers cut to size, and an art journal being gesso'd for arting.

So many, many pens.  They've all been checked and ink is flowing!

Metallic and white gel pens for dark paper.

Let's do this!

Be sure to check out many great artists participating this year!  Facebook ---> #Inktober

Follow Gillian's board Inktober 2015 on Pinterest.

Infusions and Muses

I've had to quit drinking coffee.  It hurts my stomach, like many other things I love to ingest.  But tea helps.  I've been buying different teas almost every week.  I bought blueberry the other week and the tea bags were so pretty.  They would turn this vivid pinkish red color and they smell so good.  So I decided to save a few tea bags and make some Artist Trading Cards that have been colored with tea.  A few blueberry and a peppermint tea, right after I brewed myself a cup I put the bags on the paper.  With unexpected results.  The paper has blue instead of pink.  The tea is red, the bags turn red, the paper turned blue.  The peppermint has a lovely green shade.  I do like how they look together.

Well, I brewed up another blueberry and saturated the paper in very hot water with the tea bags.  It's all waiting to dry.  I took some process shots.  I haven't decided what I'll draw on them yet.  I might collage them a bit.  See if I can salvage the bags themselves to work in contrast with the bgs.  I'll definitely be scanning up the resulting texture before I art them all up to share on my Patreon.

Colors are a bit off due to my lighting, just couldn't get the white balance better.
The bags are red, but the stain is blue and the peppermint is green.

I'm thinking for my Patreon model I'll be doing funded creations as free public access and the Patrons will get bonus rewards of other stuff that didn't need to be funded.

I think I might art them with pretty illustrations.  I recently joined this gothy art group, Between Heaven and Hell (closed group), that shares all sorts of inspiring images.  Pretty girls with a dark aesthetic.  I'll have to decide after they're dry.  Maybe sketch up some ideas.

Art Journal - a Work in Progress

I had this old blank book, which I didn't like the cover.  So I tore it apart and repapered it in the Stardust cardstack from Die Cuts With a View.  I sealed the cover of the book with matte acrylic gel medium, and it works so wonderfully.  I love the finish and the texture.  The DCWV paper looks gorgeous and the golden metallics still shine through.  It was a lot of work to manage the paper, tape and glue and more glue.  Layers of paper...

The paper isn't as flexible as other cardstock I've owned, so it tore on the spine and folded edges.  The inner core is white, so it shows up quite a bit.  For all the edges of the book cover, I had to sand, go over with sharpie and then touch up with gold acrylic to hide the tears.  But it is gorgeous and did the job.  Perhaps it would have molded to the shape better if I had slightly dampened it.  Well, trial and error.

More error...  I bound the paper into the new cover, but the binding on the paper is stiff and pulls apart.  The pages are all wrinkled and the original binding isn't very good.  I hope that homemade gesso will help give them more stability.  But too my fail.  I would dry the gesso between coats with a hair dryer, this resulted in the glue binding to soften and come apart.  I tried gluing them back to the spine to no avail.  It kept getting worse and worse.

So, I've decided to rip it out of my beautiful cover and start over.  I'll need a new paper filling for it and I watched tutorials on the technique a bit more.  I'll be figuring out how to make this work.  In the meantime, I might have to switch gears.  I have an old date book from the late 90's when I was in high school, filled with boring budgets and such.  I think I might have to repurpose it.  Or perhaps an unloved old sketchbook that sits around in a box not getting any air.  I will start an art journal.  I'm feeling adamant.

Embellishments from the DCWV paper to add onto the corners.

And since I like to work on several projects at once, I'll also be working on tea infused artist trading cards.  I tend to do two or more things at once and work on them alternately.  This prevents me from getting burned out on one thing.  And ups my productivity level.  I have found I hurt my own creativity by committing to one project.  I struggle with commissions because of this.  I do not allow myself to work on anything else and this results in an art block.  I have a guilty commission sitting on my easel taking up my entire bedroom to remind me what a louse I am.  I am feeling inspired again by forcing myself to get back to arting.

I had hurt my wrist a while back and that was my excuse.  And now my excuse is, it's too late in the day....  Yada yada yada.  Why does artistic inspiration have to come at 2 in the morning?  My schedule gets messed up all on its own without me helping it.  My routine is blocking me as well.  Breakfast - homeschool - lunch - homeschool (granted much of this homeschool time is arguing with my kid to do his work) - dinner & dishes - then it's too late.  So I resign myself to online gaming and Facebooking and deviantARTing.  Maybe watching a show or two.  And no art gets done.  I feel very frustrated by this and I need time to myself to do the art.  When I do my art, I am skipping preparing meals or dishes, etc.  But I am so happy.  I feel accomplished.  Maybe I should just tell everyone to use plasticware and paper plates for a week.  Forever.

So, I've had this Gel Medium forever and am thinking of more uses for it.  I think I can extend my paints and add a bit of translucency to them.  And then I found this excellent tutorial for using them to make acrylic sprays.  They're permanent, not water soluble like the Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  So this is brilliant.  I'm quite against spending too much money on art supplies.  Especially if it is something you can make yourself.  I made myself some glimmer mist sprays and I have an ink sprayer from my printer overflow.  Waste not and all.  I cannot justify spending $10 on a 2 oz bottle of pigment mixed with water.  Nope.  I guess, it is convenient and premixed colors and all that, but I'm poor and cannot afford fancy art supplies.  I did spend my Christmas money on a Cuttlebug with accessories, but that was a splurge.  And it has been useful.  I can squish things in it!  Who doesn't want to squish things?  ;D  (note to self: squish flowers in it onto paper to make pretty stains)  Well, without further ado, here is the video tutorial I watched, which is also relevant to art journaling.  ImperfectImpulses has more art journaling videos and he demonstrates the stencil and negative print to reduce waste and have more premades readied for scraps or whatever. I subscribed to his channel.  Hopefully, I'll someday get a video camera and have something worth subscribing to as well.  Goals.