Bible Journaling: Revelation (BJ-28)

Posted on 17th June 2024 by perfectly4med

Here are five new illustrations for verses from Revelation. They were the templates/samples for this evening’s Bible Journaling Session at the Studio. You’re welcome to book in for this monthly session, usually held on the second Monday of the month and open to beginners or confident artists. For more details, see my workshops page. As normal, the templates are available as a free download for you to use (but not share!). Scroll down for further information about how I completed each illustration.

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Commission: new bedroom artwork

Posted on 11th June 2024 by perfectly4med

It was time for a bedroom refresh… The turquoise feature wall (read chimney breast) needed updating due to a change in bed linens and their warm grey no longer complemented the blue-green paint tones. I was given free rein to choose a replacement bedspread and create a new art piece above the bed. That didn’t quite work out (see below), so this was the final(ish) outcome:

A new commissioned artwork for a bedroom

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Bible Journaling: more pee-pulpit verses

Posted on 5th June 2024 by perfectly4med

If you recall, I recently was asked to help design posters to be displayed in the toilets at my church. They are particularly prominently placed front and centre for the urinals, hence me dubbing them the pee pulpit. My first is shown here. Since then I have moved to digital creation, mainly for speed, but also for a little more impact. Herewith a gallery of the last few months of posters…

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Art Journaling Session: Shiny Distractions

Posted on 3rd June 2024 by perfectly4med

Today’s Art Journaling Session at the Studio revisited working on aluminium foil. Last time, we used thinned acrylic paints to cover the foil with multilayer colour. This time, we played with alcohol inks. The inks are designed to stick to shiny surfaces and really pop against the reflective metallic background. There are various ways to add depth and texture, take ink off and add other inks on to make a very shiny and interesting collaged background for a suitable saying. I’ve included making notes below, along with a video of the techniques.

A very shiny colourful textured foiled background for an art journal layout

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Card making: Online Card Classes – Extraordinary Embossing Folders Day 2

Posted on 28th May 2024 by perfectly4med

I’ve been playing with more dry embossing for Day 2 of the Online Card Class; Extraordinary Embossing Folders. For these cards, I have used inks in different ways with the folders, playing with contrast and the debossed and embossed sides. There was also a technique using shadow word dies, but I don’t have any of those. Instead, I created the same effect with my Silhouette Cameo and laser cutter using cardstock and an offset set of text:

Burgundy and gold embossed debossed card

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Card making: Online Card Classes – Extraordinary Embossing Folders Day 1

Posted on 26th May 2024 by perfectly4med

In the first of a series of posts, I am going to update you on what I have been doing during my blog’s radio silence… Several groups have been postponed for various reasons, so I have not posted about them, and I have spent the time on a number of projects. This week has been a new Online Card Class; Extraordinary Embossing Folders. For five days there were two videos per day with techniques to expand your use of embossing folders. It’s been a while since I did any card making, so it was good to do some today based on the first day of class:

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Art Journal Session: PanPastels

Posted on 29th April 2024 by perfectly4med

Next week’s Art Journal Session at The Studio will still take place on Monday (6th May) at 7:30pm, despite it being a bank holiday. We’ll learn about PanPastels and use them with rubber stamps to create our spreads. There’s no online tutorial this month as capturing the techniques is tricky as a step-by-step (and I didn’t have a chance to do a video), so you’ll have to book in and come and try for yourself! Here’s my sample page:

Art journal page using rubber stamps and PanPastels

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Art Journaling Session: Pink, turquoise and gold

Posted on 1st April 2024 by perfectly4med

This evening’s session was all sparkly with gold leaf dust! We spent our time working on a colour theme of pink, turquoise and gold, throwing in some dry embossing and distress oxides along the way. The main focus was on techniques for layering acrylic paint to build a background and the incorporation of imitation gold leaf for a very shiny bit of bling:

Pink, turquoise and gold dry embossed blocks forming a background to an art journal spread.

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Bible Journaling: some Old Testament goodies (BJ-27)

Posted on 11th March 2024 by perfectly4med

Well, this evening’s Bible Journaling Session was due to take its inspiration from some Old Testament verses. Unfortunately, not enough people could attend today and the session has been postponed to Monday, 8th April. For those unfamiliar with Bible Journaling, using the provided templates and examples participants trace and colour into their own wide-margin Bibles, reflecting on the verse as they do so. There’s also a lot of space for chat, catching up and not forgetting a cup of tea/coffee/hot chocolate. The sessions are monthly, cost £5, and are suitable for artists and non-artists alike. More details are on my workshops page or by getting in touch with me. This month’s choice of illustrations are pictured below, and the templates are available as a free download from my online shop.

Old Testament verse Bible journaling illustration: Deuteronomy 4:39

Old Testament verse Bible journaling illustration: Exodus 6:7

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Art Journaling: Heat mouldable foam stamps

Posted on 4th March 2024 by perfectly4med

As I post, we’re having fun with thermoplastic memory foam here at The Studio. I have some heat mouldable foam blocks that once warmed with a heat tool and then pressed onto a textured surface will retain the texture once cool until they’re reheated. Using water-based inks, you can use the stamps to print a background in your art journal before a quick wipe clean and repeat the process with a new texture. I’ve got out all my pre-printed die-cut ephemera for a bit of decoration and came up with this sample layout to inspire attendees at the monthly art journal session: