Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Try Something New

Posted on 29th June 2016 by Neil

I love the translucency of a thin coat of gesso – pop that over a pointillistic background and I can almost imagine it’s a frosted glass panel. Reversing the stencil direction and moving it into the spaces of the previous colour developed the pattern over a sprayed page. I sealed the Distress Sprays with the solvent based spray varnish – it doesn’t move the water-reactive inks and stabilises them enough to work over them with waterbased media.

For this layout:

Frisk LayFlat Sketch Pad (small)
Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Sprays
DecoArt Americana Sealer/Finisher Spray: Matte
Royal Talens Amsterdam Standard acrylic paints (24 pack)
Dutch Doobadoo Stencil: Faded Dots
Royal Talens Amsterdam Gesso: White
Woodware Mask-It sheet

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: A Rose By Any Other Name

Posted on 28th June 2016 by Neil

I’m still trying to master the one-stroke folk art style roses. This was another practice page… and I did some brush-stroked text too.

For this layout:

Frisk LayFlat Sketch Pad (small)
Royal Talens Amsterdam Standard acrylic paints (24 pack)
Sakura Permapaque Markers (Basic)

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Be The Beacon

Posted on 25th June 2016 by Neil

It’s been a busy week in The Studio supervising Harry whilst he was here on work experience – a really worthwhile experience for both of us. I started this page last weekend, and finally finished it this morning. Interesting timing given the ructions going on in this minuscule corner of the world since Thursday’s vote…

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3D Projects
Work Experience: Wedding Favours

Posted on 24th June 2016 by Neil

Hi, my name is Harry and I am finishing a week’s work experience at Neil’s Studio. My commission was to design, make and blog 100 wedding favours. The wedding theme was liquorice allsorts. These favours are going to be collected by my client this afternoon and then used at her wedding in the summer. I was told to narrow down 10-15 initial ideas to three and then prototype and present them to my client on Tuesday evening. She chose her preferred favour and then was to return to the Studio in three days time to collect them. During that time, I had to make all hundred and blog about them.

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Other Art Pieces/Techniques
Summer of Creative Chemistry: Week 2

Posted on 14th June 2016 by Neil

I’ve snatched some ‘me’ time in the studio today and revisited some of the lessons on distress stains and markers from Creative Chemistry 101 – a staggering four years ago! It’s part of the Summer of Creative Chemistry from onlinecardclasses.com, in the lead up to the brand new Creative Chemistry 103 from Tim Holtz. These are three tags created for Week 2.

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Art Journal
Art Journal Pages: Stamping With Acrylics

Posted on 14th June 2016 by Neil

More sneak peeks of pages to be featured on my Hochanda shows on Thursday at 11am & 3pm. Don’t forget to tune in to, or catch up with, the shows which will be introducing art journals and art journaling.

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Art Journal
Art Journal Pages: Colour Or Black and White?

Posted on 13th June 2016 by Neil

I’m busy prepping for my next shows on Hochanda, which will be introducing art journaling, on 16th June. I’ve already shown you the test pages in the journals that will be available, but here are two sneaky peek pages featuring products available to buy during the shows. There will be more sneaky peeks on Hochanda’s social media feeds during the coming week.

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Arts in Worship
Arts in Worship: Sursum Corda

Posted on 12th June 2016 by Neil

Today, I went on retreat to Launde Abbey – a space to reflect, be out of contact with the outside world and to re-establish communication with God. The theme for the days reflection centred around Martha preparing the meal for Jesus, and the story of Brother Lawrence finding ways to worship God as he washed dishes for his entire monastic life. I took my iPad, so I could respond in creative worship, and as I reflected on things happening in my life at the moment, I drew on this quote from Brother Lawrence:

Lift your heart to Him during your meals and in company, the least little remembrance will always be most pleasing to Him.

And from this quote from Edmund Morgan, a Welsh Anglican bishop:

… to overcome the temptation to love the praise of men more than the glory of God, your life must be a continual sursum corda; you must ever be groping, fighting, leaping Godwards…

‘Lift up your hearts’ – Latin: sursum corda – is the opening dialogue to the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer. Rarely featured in Baptist tradition, it was a perfect illustration of what I took away with me from the retreat.

[created in Procreate and Inkpad Pro apps on iPad Pro with Apple Pencil]

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Glass Full Of Colour

Posted on 6th June 2016 by Neil

In tonight’s art journaling session, we’re going to be playing with paint films. This is my demo page – it’s one of those sort of pages that is inspired by the technique results rather than an artistic intent at the start. The glass is drawn round the paint film, which reminded me of sloshing Ribena and I went in search of a suitable quote. The full quote compares colour to be as essential as water, which is a great metaphor reflected in my layout.

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Altered Art
TV Debut: BTS [Behind The Scenes]

Posted on 30th May 2016 by Neil

It’s getting closer! My television debut is on Friday 3rd June, with live shows at 11am, 1pm and 5pm. I’m delighted to be showcasing DecoArt Media fluid acrylics and various mediums. Sneaky peaks will be up on the Hochanda Facebook page sometime in the next couple of days. It’s been a busy weekend for me as the products for the shows only arrived at The Studio on Friday morning, and promo pictures were requested about an hour later (to which I politely replied along the lines of ‘you must be joking’!). Want to know what The Studio looks like at the moment, with several concurrent projects on the go so that one is drying as I am working on the next?

That’s the sample boards done; two 12×12″ panels; ten different 3D papier mâché letters; at least ten different paint and decoupage techniques; at least ten different mediums and a heck of a lot of demo planning, cups of tea and drying time. Oh by the way, the art journal is for the next shows on Thursday 16th June…

I hope you can join me online, on Sky 663, Freeview 39 or FreeSat 817 or even catch-up up to a week after: Friday 3rd June: 11am, 1pm, 5pm.

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