TV Debut: BTS [Behind The Scenes]

Posted on 30th May 2016 by perfectly4med

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.

Continue reading →

Art Journal Page: Kind Words

Posted on 18th May 2016 by perfectly4med

I’ve done faux leather, faux weathered wood and faux brass – here’s a fresh-from-the-desk journal page featuring a faux galvanised steel paint effect with faux rust. The sentiment is apparently a Turkish proverb. Is it immodest to say I’ve surprised myself again with another successful experiment? Next time though, I’ll not leave the studs until last, which somewhat annoyingly overlapped the end of ‘unlock’ – tI added the wording whilst I was waiting for the image transfer to dry, and I needed the image transfer uncovered to get the perspective right for the door studs.

Continue reading →

Art Journal Page: What I see in the mirror [Wanderlust Prompt #5]

Posted on 10th May 2016 by perfectly4med

I decided yesterday that I would catch up with some of the Wanderlust 2016 class activities, and watched Birgit Koopsen’s class as she demonstrated her signature style. This is my response to the fifth journal prompt from the beginning of March (‘what I see in the mirror’) using her techniques, albeit in a slightly different order! And it’s probably more of a reminder of what I should be seeing in the mirror rather than what I do… Anyhow, I wanted the background to show through the white layer (given I’d spent so long working on it!), so used I used thinned gesso for its translucency. I think the colours certainly zing against the white mask.

Continue reading →

Colour Journal

Posted on 5th May 2016 by perfectly4med

Avid readers may remember a week or so ago I made a couple of handmade journals. I’ve taken this one further, and created a ‘colour journal’. With an unashamed plug for all things DecoArt Media, I have used my own photos of their products as a page background, before adding glazes of colour fluid acrylics using various techniques including ragging, baby wipes, brushes and paper towel. Headings used the same colour, just undiluted. Add gesso, pen work and a smidge of gloss and the book is complete.

Continue reading →

Handmade Art Journal III

Posted on 30th April 2016 by perfectly4med

I came across this wallet-type 4×6″ journal when I was looking through my Silhouette cut files. I have just been given a pile of kraft card file dividers, and thought they would be a perfect place to start. The mini album design is by Lori Whitlock and available via the Silhouette design store. I’ve added the band for the closure, and rather than six pages, I’ve added five due to the thickness of the card. The journal card inserts are a smidge smaller than 4×6″ and I’ve used a corner rounder so they slide in more easily.

As for the decoration, this journal is a practice piece for one stroke folk art flowers. I watched how a friend’s mother painted her canal boat accessories when I was nine or ten, and the fascination with the way a shaded flower developed with so few brush strokes. These are my first attempts, with a little extra shading added with water-soluble pencils. The backgrounds are a mix of distress paints, whilst the flowers are painted with DecoArt Media fluid acrylics. I’ve edged the journaling cards with Frayed Burlap distress ink – and I’ve no idea at this stage what will go on them! There’s a few more pages to decorate, so stay tuned for updates 🙂

Continue reading →

Handmade Journal II: Part 2

Posted on 29th April 2016 by perfectly4med

In my last post, I showed the start of my hand-bound art journal in response to Wanderlust Course Week 10. I promised some more pics of the inside pages… and here they are. The scrap pages allowed for some overlapping designs across spreads, and the different colour backgrounds inspired some of the colour choices.

I’ve had fun doing various different techniques and experiments, varying my style and choice of media – there is something about the informal scrappy pages that releases a more creative side than normal. Just two and a bit more signature bundles to go to complete this particular journal, but in the meantime, I have another two more formal ones on the go 🙂

Continue reading →

Handmade Art Journals I

Posted on 22nd April 2016 by perfectly4med

Over the last two days I thought I’d construct my own art journals. I’ve adapted a slot-and-tab technique to make the inside pages from 160gsm white card. Each journal is A6 in size. The brown has a grungepaper cover with greyboard support behind, coloured with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Sprays and sealed with DecoArt Media Soft Touch Varnish. The grey has a wrap around cover in the same card, decorated with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics and with a grungepaper and baker’s twine closure. Now all I have to do is fill them 🙂

Continue reading →

Matchbook Art Journal: Life Experiences

Posted on 14th April 2016 by perfectly4med

Though I’ve not posted in a little while, as before, a quiet period online often hides a frenetic few days in the studio. Crafting took a small back step last week as a party loomed and the house had to be cleaned and beds prepared, and clobber hidden away from the seventy or so guests! This week I’ve been working on a couple of differently styled art journals, and this is the first to be ready to share.

Inspired by an article in this month’s Art Journaling magazine by Stampington, I’ve created my own matchbook journal (3×3″) with six pages. Unfortunately the supplier listed has discontinued the matchbook used in the article, so of course that didn’t deter me and I created and cut my own using my Silhouette Cameo. I’m going to add more quotes and cuttings as I find suitable ones, but you get the idea from the first page.

Continue reading →

A Graffiti Journal

Posted on 5th April 2016 by perfectly4med

I’ve been fascinated with ‘proper’ graffiti since a child – I love the colour, the vibrancy, the illegality of the hobby and the absolute control of the medium and the application. I’ve also owned a ‘how-to’ book for a number of years, well-thumbed but never used. That all changed when I made a journal from corrugated cardboard and once I’d started tearing off the surface layer, the idea developed to make faux rusty corrugated iron complete with requisite graffiti. I’ve tried different styles and colouring methods, starting with Sharpie pens, trying an image transfer, then Pitt Artist Pens. Then I had a sudden thought of how to replicate the aerosol can at this small scale – I got out my LetraJet air brush attachment for my Promarkers and thus smooth blends appeared. Lots of Posca pen use as well to finish things off.

Continue reading →

Art Journal Page: Easter Roses

Posted on 27th March 2016 by perfectly4med

Like Christmas, Easter has a real meaning to me that far surpasses chocolate eggs and fluffy bunnies. I started this page without really knowing where it would end up. I had a wonderful magazine photo of roses which I really wanted to use, so in that went. After colouring the facing page and adding a gesso vignette, I searched online for a longer piece of text than a trite quote extolling the ‘romance’ of the flower.

I stumbled on this poem, which I’ve not come across before, by George Eliot. Nothing trite or romantic here as she explores the colour, thorns and fragrance in a stunning metaphor so in keeping with the true Easter story:

I went to gather roses and twine them in a ring,
For I would make a posy, a posy for the King.

I got an hundred roses, the loveliest there be,
From the white rose vine and the pink rose bush and from the red rose tree.

But when I took my posy and laid it at His feet
I found He had His roses a million times more sweet.

There was a scarlet blossom upon each foot and hand,
And a great pink rose bloomed from His side for the healing of the land.

Now of this fair and awful King there is this marvel told,
That He wears a crown of linked thorns instead of one of gold.

Where there are thorns are roses, and I saw a line of red,
A little wreath of roses around His radiant head.

A red rose is His Sacred Heart, a white rose is His face,
And His breath has turned the barren world to a rich and flowery place.

He is the Rose of Sharon, His gardener am I,
And I shall drink His fragrance in Heaven when I die.