Art Journal
Bible Journaling: John 20

Posted on 24th March 2017 by Neil

I’m developing my bible journaling techniques – this time, I’ve worked in my NIV Journaling Bible. This has cream pages, with wide unruled margins. The paper is as thin, and has a little more bleed-through that the NLT bible I reviewed at the beginning of the week. That aside, the performance is just as good in all other aspects. I chose the same passage as before to illustrate, but this time have read around the main verse to add to the drawing. Initially it was just black and white, and I hemmed and hawed about adding colour before taking the plunge.

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Art Journal
Bible Journaling: John 20 v27

Posted on 21st March 2017 by Neil

I’ve recently bought a new Bible specifically to journal in – actually I’ve purchased two (NIV & NLT). There are probably some people who think that drawing in a Bible is sacrilegious, but I see it as creative worship, and an extension of my sermon sketchnotes. As a pastime, it seems to have become very popular and perhaps a spin off from the adult colouring trend. Some journaling bibles even have illustrations waiting to be coloured. I christened my new NLT bible this evening:

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Art Journal
Art Journal Pages: Colours

Posted on 19th March 2017 by Neil

Regular readers won’t be surprised to learn that I have been spending quite a lot of time making samples and prepping demos for my shows on Hochanda last Friday. It’s one reason that there have been very few blog updates recently, as there’s always a media embargo on sharing things before the shows go out. Now that they’re over though, here is one of the 8×8″ journals I decorated for the occasion.

Each spread uses the Pentart Matt Acrylic Paints in a baby-wipe swiped layer, stamped and stencilled, to give a tone-on-tone effect. Some worked well (purple and orange), others not so well (mentioning no names, green). The fine applicator nib is great for painting outlines and letters, as I demonstrated on air.

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3D printing
Art Journal Page: ATC Art Gallery

Posted on 4th March 2017 by Neil

It’s my monthly Art Journal Session on Monday evening, and for this month’s theme we’re tackling ‘ATC art’. I’m not one for making artist trending cards most of the time – for the uninitiated, ATCs are 3½” x 2½” pieces of artwork that are designed to be swapped between crafters – and I thought it was time to revisit the format. I’ve sneaked them into my art journal timetable, and here’s the sample page. BTW – the frames are one of my first forays into the world of 3D design and printed here in The Studio.

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Dare [for That’s Crafty]

Posted on 26th February 2017 by Neil

I think I’ve said it before, but one of the benefits of being on a design team is that you get to play with new kit before it is available to everyone else. So – spoiler alert – it was exciting to see in yesterday’s post some of the new That’s Crafty! journals, stencils and stamps that I will be using on my TV shows on Hochanda on 17th March (7am & 11am). This will be the only sneak peek I’ll be doing until the shows, so see what you can spot will be on sale!

There’s so much potential with the new kit for layering, building texture and depth, and so many new elements to add to a page. I hope you can join me either live, or on the catch up on the Hochanda website (or on record if you’re not up and watching TV already at 7am!). The first hour is going to be live in the Netherlands – my first live international audience 🙂

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Original Designs
Memory Quilt: two more appliqué panels

Posted on 25th February 2017 by Neil

I’ve completed two more panels for my appliqué memory quilt, recording our journeys in the USA over Christmas. These flank the first panel I made, completing the bottom row. I’ve started on the second row – the first row is the most tricky from a conceptual point of view, so I’m leaving that until last! I think my satin stitch has improved, and I’ve definitely got the hang of transferring my sketches to make fabric images.

Still to do: fabric interpretations of Trinity Church, Boston; The Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center and World Trade One. All of those are going to take a bit of work to choose from the fabrics to get the best sense of depth with such a limited palette of colours. That said, I’m rather pleased with how the Mayflower turned out – the stripes on the side were part of the fabric, with careful positioning of the cutout of course…

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Workshops
All Counties Craft Challenge

Posted on 16th February 2017 by Neil

I’m delighted to be hosting John Bloodworth, The Gentleman Crafter, at the Studio on Tuesday 4th April, 10am to 3:30pm for a day of card making. John has spent the last 10 months touring the country in an attempt to do a workshop in every county, raising money for Mind mental health charity.

You can book your place here, and if you can’t make the day, I would urge you to support him by donating to his challenge here. It’s a fantastic charity endeavour, a great charity, and as someone with mental health issues (me) I’d really love for you to support and encourage John as he comes toward the end of his epic year.

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Deep Waters

Posted on 7th February 2017 by Neil

It was a ‘watersolubles’ theme at Art Journaling last night. In between diagnosing a broken Mac (it was one of the RAM cards that died) and having the car serviced (it was a VW diesel engine…), I grabbed an hour or so to do an inspiration page:

It reminded me that all watersolubles are not created equal, with some water-soluble wax crayons barely moving when wetted, even on watercolour paper, and others wandering off and doing their own thing quite happily. It also is worth noting that, to get best effects, you should gesso or otherwise seal your journal page unless working in a watercolour paper journal.

In the above example, I used the blues on watercolour paper before drying and cutting out the letters on my Silhouette Cameo. The background is a combination of colour and graphite watersolubles over gesso, overprinted with acrylic paint. Handwritten text and outlines finished off the layout.

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3D Projects
Bas Relief Roses

Posted on 4th February 2017 by Neil

At today’s bas relief cards workshop, I did the unthinkable (for me at least) – worked on a technique and a sample alongside a workshop guest, without trying it first weeks before. And despite the gung-ho attitude, we both ended up with, even if we do say so ourselves, a cracking outcome. There was something rather pleasing about making a 2D stamped image a little more 3D, smudging and smoothing paper clay into place before letting the stains and paint do their thing.

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Original Designs
Memory Quilt: Block No. 8

Posted on 30th January 2017 by Neil

No, you haven’t missed seven previous instalments – this is the first of nine blocks that I’ve tackled for a new memory quilt. I wanted to make a quilt as a ‘souvenir’ of our trip to the USA over Christmas – in addition to my travel journal which is yet to be finished…

We chose the fabric whilst away, in a lovely quilting shop, Stowe Fabric & Yarn, in Stowe, Vermont, and once I got home and had five minutes to myself, I started designing. It’s the first quilt I have made that uses appliqué techniques – and I’m going to need a bit more practice on my satin stitches I think. The quilt is going to feature nine appliqué panels, and here’s the first. No guesses as to which tourist venue this panel refers to…

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