Ok, so may be they don’t look exactly like sardines, but I thought the carrot or dibber shapes were packed in like sardines! This is another pattern based on the ceiling stonework in another of the niche tombs in Norwich Cathedral. As you can see from the inspiration photo below, the pattern can be mirrored along the top horizontal axis. That said, there are lots of ways to break this one apart to get different variations.
There seems to be one common theme amongst those attending my art journaling session each month – they don’t like their own handwriting. Or don’t think they can do hand lettering on their pages. Well, they’re in for a shock in September’s session… this is the project! Starting on an acrylic paint background (it wipes clean!) I’ve gridded off the page, free-drawn my letters and then gone mad with the paint and black and white pens. It’s an exercise in drawing and embellishing, and hopefully will give my class a little more confidence to do their own thing on their pages. Or put them off completely. I’ll let you know.
I’ve been asked to review this book by the publishers, Design Originals, and have been provided with a preview copy. Other than that, this review is independent and I haven’t been paid for it.
Florabunda Style is billed as the next generation of zentangle, and the author should know, as she has written more than 200 craft and hobby books including the popular Zentangle series. With the rapid rise in popularity of colouring books for adults, this book seems ideal for those that are looking to create their own illustrations to colour and benefit from the relaxation that that affords.
The FloraBunda aesthetic is based on simple nature inspired doodles. The book is printed on high quality artist paper, and readers are actively encouraged to draw in the book with plenty of white space to practice in around the examples. The paper is of a sufficient quality to decorate with markers, pens, coloured pencils, watercolours and more. As well as providing more than 200 different designs the book also includes a selection of craft projects with step-by-step instructions. The reader is actively encouraged to experiment, have some fun, be eclectic, be whimsical and above all have some fun.
The book opens with a chapter on the various tools that you can use to draw the elements as well as colour them in. The following chapters follow a similar pattern, opening with a preview of all the designs, step-by-step instructions to draw them and examples of finished artwork by other zentangling experts. There’s a basic guide to plant anatomy, and every element of a typical plant is included, including stems, vines, tendrils, flowers and seed heads. There are tips and tricks scattered throughout the text, as well as snippets of encouragement to develop your own style and creativity. The book finishes with both a visual and written index of all the designs and projects. The author has a chatty style of writing, and even if you don’t dare draw in it, the book is well worth the read in it’s own right.
It’s been six months since I last sat and designed some tangle patterns… but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about them! I went to visit Norwich Cathedral in May, and took plenty of pictures of the interior patterns ready to work them into step-by-step tangle patterns. Here’s the first – lots of teardrops, with mirrored Ss in step 3. There’ll be another next week. I think it will go well with Liberty. The carving was on the ceiling in one of the tomb niches on the side of the nave:
At the beginning of the year I decided to join in one of these ‘pay it forward’ type of messages that flew round Facebook during January. I don’t know if any of the five that are about to receive the actual versions of the following works follow my blog – if they do, their surprise will be lessened, but hopefully the anticipation heightened! I’ve spent roughly 2-3 hours on each of the Strathmore Tiles 4″X4″(Toned Gray), drawing each with Pigma Micron pens, Signo white gel pens and shading with Stabilo Aquarellable white and black pencils. The style was inspired by the book, Zenspirations by Joanne Fink.
Last weekend I went to a craft show, and amongst the ridiculous amounts of dies I noticed a dip pen and wax seal stand. Wax seals have a sense of class, of authenticity, of originality, even in the electronic age. And I’ve wanted my own for ages (my faux ones still didn’t quite hit the mark), along with some of the gorgeous pens. But where would be the originality be in a mass produced metal wax seal stamp? It was at that point I thought – I could make my own, couldn’t I? Thus started another steep learning curve (in between doing all the glass etching).
I have learnt three things on this little project:
All that’s left to do is the rest of my glasses!
It’s the final day over at the Background Check class, aside from the wrap up day. It’s another design break to allow us to make cards using the background techniques we’ve learnt over the previous two days. I’ve snuck into the studio and made my Day 5 backgrounds into cards:
For these cards, they’ve only needed the addition of a little sparkle to accentuate elements on the background, with the sentiments done on my trusty Dymo machine. Again, that’s not been out for a while, and it was the letter press (get it?) technique that prompted its use. It’s been a great course, well worth the sign up fee – if only to have had the impetus to use some loved, but forgotten, techniques and refill my card drawer!
I’m a bit behind on my classwork as I’ve been meeting other deadlines, looking after my nephews (one of whom has been helping me make paper beads), but here’s my highlights for day five of my Background Check samples – which are all about texture.
Loving the faux letterpress technique, and going to have to experiment more with it. It’s great not having all the confetti after using the die! Again, nothing new here, but great exercise of techniques and reminders of what can make a clean and simple card really quite special.
Yesterday’s class was all about die cutting and how to use them in backgrounds. Now I’m not that much of a fan of die cuts, especially the confetti that covers everything with the really intricate ones. I decided to use a different approach, and cut out my cards using my Silhouette Cameo and designed my own shapes inspired by the dies used in the class.
The first is coloured with ProMarkers, and the second shaded with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. The third is just the white cut out on a cream card – I think it’s a rather classy clean and simple design.