Author: Clare at CatsEatDogs

Get Messy Art Journal Season of Freedom Beginnings

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The new season in the art journaling community of Get Messy is the Season of Freedom.  What a perfect way to end the year and begin the next, the freedom to create and create what you want! Of course there will be prompts and tutorials to keep us all inspired and working in our art journals, but they will all be freeing (see what I did there!) and full of ideas. I have made my little journal using book rings which hold together a variety of vintage envelopes, recipe cards and plain postcards.  It is higgledy piggledy and that is how I like it. Some pages have been started and maybe finished, I will see where the season takes me. More information on Get Messy can be found here. Happy Friday x

Taking Stock on my Birthday November 2018

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A stock take on my birthday, my 49th year, last one before I make half a century.  Bloody hell, that makes me sound like an ancient relic!  Ha ha, good job I don’t feel like one! Credit to Pip at Meet me at Mikes for the Taking Stock concept, thanks Pip. Here is what I am up to tonight and today. Making : Christmas cake Cooking : Nothing, it’s my birthday! Drinking : Gin and tonic Reading: ‘Unsheltered’ by Barbara Kingsolver Wanting: More reading time Looking: At the light disappear as the sun goes down Playing: The ‘La La Land’ soundtrack, I can’t help myself! Deciding: Which ramen to order for dinner Wishing: I could visit all of my family for my birthday and eat cake with them Enjoying: Wearing scarves, I like winter clothes Waiting: To go the the gym, yes, on my birthday I still go to class Liking: Trying new art supplies Wondering: If I will get used to the massive sumi brushes I just got Loving: Learning all the new things …

Super Saturday – The Creating Edition.

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Are you a creative person? I bet you are.  Creativity is in the air at this time of year, from baking a batch of cookies to choosing Christmas cards all the way to making the cards yourself featuring your own art or photography.  All creative and all satisfying. Currently I have a loaf of bread in the oven with 15 minutes to go until it is baked and I am all ready to go to a sweaty cardio/strength class at the gym, the bread I created (ok, mixed up and baked, which counts right?) and the gym session will dust my cobwebs off and get my brain moving as much as my body.   Later I need to work on my Christmas cards and make a new art journal for a December daily project and make a Christmas cake!   This month in the creative department, I have been hand carving some stamps, I have a small collection of little Christmas trees which I am using on my cards.  I also made a very simple …

Daily Moleskine 2018. October pages

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I thought I had missed a lot of pages in October, so I was pleasantly surprised that most pages are filled as they should be. I did drop the ball for a couple of days and they are as blank as unfilled pages!  Nevermind, I carried on regardless. Lots of pages are covered with inspiration and instruction from Lisa Congdon’s October daily class at Creative Bug which helped keep me going. October saw lots of piles of rocks once I had made some pebble stamps along with botanicals and some stickers and postcards from my Portland trip. Happy Thursday x

A day of indigo dyeing.

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I was invited to a day of indigo and shibori dyeing and I jumped at the chance as I have always wanted to try shibori with an authentic indigo dye vat.  I got a little over enthusiastic with my dye victims and ended up with a length of voile, 2 yards of light jersey, watercolour paper, natural finish wood beads and an old dictionary.  All heading to the dye pot to see what effect it would have! First up was the voile which I folded and scrunched and tied around a plastic tube to hopefully end up with a successful shibori dye pattern.  I had two yards of wide fabric so it took a minute to prepare, then into the pot! First it went this colour Then it went this colour.  The transitions of the dye as it develops are absolutely beautiful.  I could imagine a watercolour paint set in the colours of indigo dye from almost chartreuse to a deep deep blue. I gave it a quick swish in some clean water and cut …

Frames and mini poems. Get Messy Season of Ubuntu Week 5.

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I have now filled a mini sketchbook and we are only at week 5 of the Season of Ubuntu over at Get Messy Art Journal.  Not too difficult really as my little book is only four and a half inches by three and a half! These last pages incorporate prompts and tutorials from the current season and I really enjoyed making them. I will be making another mini journal to carry on this season of art journaling! Happy creating and happy Thursday x

Practicing with my sumi brush and ink in an accordion journal

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  I wanted to practice using my sumi brush and my sumi ink with no pressure but on nice paper and in a small journal so that I wasn’t worried about having to fill a whole book. So, I folded a piece of Arches hot press watercolour paper into an accordion journal, grabbed some ink and a cup of water and got to work.  I filled the little book really quickly in fact it was only waiting for the ink to dry which slowed me down. Talking of slowing down, I also made a conscious effort to go slow as I used my brush. I experimented with adding water to the ink and using it full strength.  I am often guilty of rushing through any artistic endeavour and I am aware that if I slow down I do much better. Because of this I made sure I used the brush to it’s full potential (and my ability), with just one brush you can get nice thin lines and juicy fat strokes too.  Add some water …