Art Studio Tour

I always find myself so intrigued and inspired by looking through other people's creative spaces. I'm a bit of a sticky beak with that kind of thing! So I thought I'd show you around, or should I say 'in', my art studio. It's not exactly a room, rather, it's a cupboard, in our lounge room. And I just love it!

We've not long been in our first ever own home & we've been having so much fun adding things here & there & setting it up how we like it! As there was not a spare room for me to claim as my art zone, I had to get creative and come up with another solution. I mean, I quite like art supplies strewn across the home, but I don't think the rest of my family does!

So enter my solution ...

Now for inside ...

Each container holds a different supply on the top shelf. The clear rectangle ones are actually bathroom organisers that I bought from a cheap shop, they're perfect for holding my washi tape! The blue garden tin holds my chalk pastels, the silver tin behind them holds my Gelato's, behind that the pottery vase holds my oil pastels. The round timber container at the front holds charcoal, the timber box behind that all my coloured pens that I use for journaling. 

The books are a mixture of painting books, journals, colouring books, and art journals. I keep these up here, as these are the books I access most often.

The shelf below the top one, holds a mixture of scrap booking albums, a timber drawer full of chalk pastels, a white basket of colouring pencils, a film SLR camera, and a vase full of paint brushes ... this cupboard makes me smile every time I open it! 

The two drawers are for holding extra pens, pencils, tapes, cutters, gold and silver leaf, brushes, and a ridiculous amount of spare journals (that my two daughters are always trying to get their little hands on!)

So, that's it! 

I wanted to share my customised 'art studio' with you to show you that there isn't always a need for a whole room to let yourself enjoy your creativity. A small space, when organised well, works just fine (and is much easier to manage too!)

And you probably guessed that my designated working space is ... yep, the dining table!

Is there a cupboard in your home that you could customise for your 'art studio'?

Happy organising!

Let's Make Art!

I've been practicing abstract art in my abstract practice journal this past week. The funny thing is though, that I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. I mean, I've never been taught abstract art. I've actually not even started really appreciating this genre until about a year and a half ago. It was only when I really began to study the artworks of some incredible abstract artists on Pinterest, that I started being drawn into the beauty that is abstract art.

But am I doing it right? Are you doing it right? Are we all as artists doing it 'right'? 

The answer to all of this is YES!

I love this quote, 

"Just because it's not in a museum does not mean it's not art!"

I know I've fallen into the trap of thinking that because I've not studied art after high school, or sold many pieces, or don't have a huge social media platform, or have received comments like, "aaahhh, what is it?", that my art is unqualified, pointless and worthless.

This is such a lie!

"To live a creative life we must lose our fear of being wrong".

So I say to myself, I will make art. I will say to myself, my art has value and worth; my art makes me me. I say the same to all of you! Your art is different to mine, mine is different to yours; but it's all valid. It's all beautiful.

Henry Matisse reminds us that 

'creativity takes courage'.

How courageous will you be? How courageous will I be?

Forget everything negative and just make art! 

"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. 

So do it!"

Be courageous with me, let yourself be free to create. Share it with others, be confident in the art you create.

Ann Voskamp says it perfectly,

"when we stop fearing failure, 

we start being artists."

Let's be artists!

Mixed Media Art Journaling

The way of the artist makes room for rest, for inspiration, for freedom of expression. It's a reflection of the inner person, a chance to breathe, to connect, to focus. 

Art is an addiction, and today I was able to feed that addiction just a little. And gee was it nice. Just to stop. To relax, to get messy fingers. To free designs, colours and images that have been swirling around on the canvas of my mind.

I attended a local mixed media journal class, and while mixed media journaling isn't new to me, it has been a good few months since I've had the pleasure of enjoying it's creative freedoms.

Today Gelato's and spray ink held my attention, and I found myself delighted with their ease of use, their colour vibrancy and their forgiving nature when I made mistakes! It's safe to say that mixed media journaling is something I'm definitely going to continue with!

Words are an important part of the mixed media journaling process for me, and I'm always needing to include something that is deep and holds a lot of personal meaning. I feel my work isn't complete until the right words are woven into each piece. 

After completing my artwork today, I realized that I'm actually not going to add it to my journal, but frame it instead. I don't think I could bare cutting it in half to stick it in my journal! 

I'm looking forward to next Friday (I hope I can wait that long!) for the next journal class ...

I wonder what we'll create?!

Art Journaling Fun!

I found a new technique on pinterest that I really wanted to try out in my journal. So I grabbed supplies and got started. It was easy, I only needed three things!

• Masking tape
• Coloured felt pens
• art journal

The steps were just as easy, but the results are very fun and colourful!

I taped up a section of my page with masking tape for journaling in later, then began to draw flower designs all around the edges of the tape. It doesn't matter if it goes on the tape at all. 

After you're satisfied with your sketching, simply peel off the tape and you're left with a white space for journaling and a very funky edging design ...

I'm not sure what journaling I'll be adding to this page yet, but that's half the fun. Letting something be a work in progress!

Another pinterest idea ... writing about all the things that I love ... it was fun and relaxing! Have you done this before too?

My daughter, 'Little Writer Girl', shared with you last Friday about a beautiful journal page that she created at an art journaling workshop. We went together and I created a page of my own as well. It's a weekly lesson and we hope to go as often as we can together! I really enjoyed seeing how the pages turned out differently from each other, even though the subject was the same ...

    

I really enjoyed all the layering processes that were involved in creating this piece. My fingers were covered in paint and glitter and ink ... bliss! This is the first time I have ever done techniques like this, and I'm looking forward to finding out what we're going to be doing this Thursday night!

What have you been creating lately?!

Confirmation Journal Continued

I've added some more art to my confirmation journal.

I really like reading the positive quotes that I wrote, they encourage me to keep creating art.

I was enjoying it so much that I sketched a camera on the opposite page, 

adding descriptive words about what photography means to me. 

 

I hope you've been enjoying your creativity this week!

10 Signs You Need To Invest In A Journal

I'm absolutely addicted to journals. Addicted.

Just the thought of a new journal, fresh and full of potential makes me so excited! I have a few favourite requirements when it comes to selecting them ... it must be pretty/funky; I much prefer spiral bound for art, and normal bound for writing; I only use A4 visual diaries for anything art related; I really find that having an A4 lined binder book for rough drafts of writing and blog posts an easy and essential part of my creativity (a post on that later).

So, how do you know if you're needing to start a

journal of your own?

Journals are fabulous in that they are so versatile and can be used to serve any purpose you desire; art journals, music journals, gardening journals, poetry/writing journals, cooking journals, wood working journals, photography journals, life experience journals, daily journals ... absolutely anything you like can be the subject of your journal! That's why I love it so much!

Here's a list of 10 signs I believe will tell you you're ready to begin a journaling adventure of your own! ...

1. You find yourself making lists and taking notes on all varieties of writeable surfaces (e.g.napkins, receipts, old bills, used envelopes, tissues!)
2. You're wanting to experiment with different art techniques and mediums
3. You always have brilliant ideas but can never remember them when you need to!
4. You have precious thoughts and memories that you're not wanting to forget
5. You're wanting to plan something ... be it a novel, an artwork, a birthday event, a song, a new garden, etc.
6. You have countless ideas for stories/poems swilling through your head that you can't work on/develop all at once
7. You're wanting to keep your creativity well practised
8. You have a desire to create a place of your own to enjoy and just be yourself
9. You're wanting to have a part of yourself to leave for future generations
10. You're wanting a documented record of the skills you've learned in the particular area of your interest.

I knew it was time for me to start journaling when I was a young girl who drove my mother crazy with endless snippets and scraps of paper, all of which were very important (of course!), covering a fairly large portion of my bedroom (she must love me!)

If you can relate to any or all of the 10 signs that I've given you ... it might be time for you to begin a journal of your own! Trust me, it's very fun, relaxing and satisfying!

I'll be doing some posts soon on my favourite journals that I use all the time ... like I said, I'm rather addicted so ...

stay tuned and happy journaling ... you know you want to!

P.S. I was planning on adding some photos to this post that I've taken, but after two whole days of attempting to add them without success, I figured I should just publish the post as it's been a bit since my last ... just imagine the photos for me, yes?!