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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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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Pebble Painting: Christmas and Easter

Posted on 25th February 2024 by perfectly4med

It seems (on a quick search through my posts and pics) that I have been remiss and have failed to share a project I designed, completed and taught last year. I’ve created another version this month – hence this post. May I introduce my Christmas and Easter pebble painting…

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Art Journaling: Brasso

Posted on 5th February 2024 by perfectly4med

Welcome to the first art journaling post of the new year! February’s session was based on a technique I picked up from somewhere years ago that I remembered using when I was on the WOW! Embossing Powders design team. I found my original post here, from 2012! It uses Brasso metal polish wadding and heat embossing to create an effect that is hard to replicate any other way. I remembered to take step-by-step photos as I created the layout, so another tutorial follows…

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Art Journal: Maps

Posted on 26th September 2023 by perfectly4med

It has been a little while since I have shared one of my art journal spreads, so I thought I would do so today as a plug for next week’s art journaling session here at The Studio. I’m also sharing the stages the layout went through to get from where I started to the finished article. ‘Maps’ is the theme this month and you’re very welcome to join us on Monday at 7:30pm for the session where you will create your own take on the theme. All materials are provided, and you can get a suitable journal from me for just £2 if you don’t have one already. Just let me know if you’d like to attend. Here’s my finished layout:

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LIM DT: Photo inspiration – one layer card

Posted on 5th August 2023 by perfectly4med

You have a fortnight to join in the latest Less is More clean and simple card challenge. It’s a photo inspiration theme – take whatever elements you like from the provided photo prompt, whether it be colours, shapes, theme, words and so on. Oh, it’s also a one-layer card challenge – no embellishments, matting, die-cuts… Everything has to be on the card blank. Scroll down for the inspiration photo and description of how I made this design team card:

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LIM DT: Under the sea (#488)

Posted on 22nd July 2023 by perfectly4med

Less is More challenge blog is following up their ‘B is for Beach’ theme with a new seashore-related subject: ‘under the sea’. Just enter your clean and simple card designs in the next two weeks featuring the theme for the chance to have the accolade of being shortlisted for our favourite card. I’ve not got any ocean-related stamps, so have created this panel card to fit the theme:

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Last minute commissions

Posted on 11th July 2023 by perfectly4med

It turns out that commissions seem to come like stereotypical buses – none for ages and then two at once. I had the pleasure of accepting two very different commissions last week. The only thing was – they were both last minute with a very short time constraint. I did some juggling and evening work but fit them in and delivered both on time. Here’re pics of the projects:

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Arts in Worship: Be Still

Posted on 15th March 2023 by perfectly4med

I was asked to run a craft table at a recent ‘Be Still’ community event at my church. The aim of the evening was to take the chance for attendees to have some ‘me’ time with massages, facials, mindfulness sessions as well as the craft table. I looked for all sorts of inspiration and didn’t really find any. I then stumbled on some photos of retro signage and decided to go with the theme. I created six different laser-cut wood signs, each with a typical self-affirming phrase often linked to mindfulness sessions. For each, I spent a long time finding a relevant Bible verse or passage to move it from self-centred to God-centred.