Transcripts
1. Introduction: Welcome to the studio. It's frail here. I'm so
glad you've joined me. I've been painting
and exhibiting for over 30 years and I have
two passions in life, La. First is to create absolutely beautiful mixed media art works. And the second passion is to
help you to create the same. Creating art has a way
of healing the soul, inspiring your mind and encouraging your
sense of self worth. Creating art really is the best thing that you
can do for yourself. I'm really excited about this art class because we're
starting an epic journey. This is the most comprehensive
mixed media art class that I've ever designed. Celebrate your creative self. Mixed media art class, 100 days of college is all about you exploring your creativity. I want to give you
an opportunity to have the freedom to find
your own creative voice, to really explore
your artistic vision, and to have the
freedom to really dig deep into who you are
and how you want to create. I have incorporated
teaching skills of mixed media techniques
with the intimacy and personal approach of
an art journaling class. The purpose of the
art journal is so you have the
freedom to experiment, to play, to mess up, and to truly develop
your creativity. There's no pressure
in an art journal. You can't get it wrong. He, you don't have to exhibit, you don't have to show anybody. There's no pressure
with an art journal to perform or produce. There's no perfectionism needed. So that creates an
incredible environment to really develop
your creativity With a sense of freedom. I really want the real
you to come out and play, to explore your creativity. To experiment with new art
skills, new techniques, new materials,
perhaps new subjects, new themes you've
never tried before. Because that's when
we really stretch ourselves and we
grow as an artist, and that's how you really
find your creative voice. Welcome to week one
on this epic journey. Over the course of this class, you'll embark on
artistic adventure with a unique collage project. For each lesson, there
are seven lessons and we will delve into
seven exciting topics. First of all, we're
going to start with a brief history of collage. Then we'll journey through the endless possibilities
and diversity of paper. We'll explore color
combinations, and we'll discuss
shapes and composition. There's going to be
a lesson pulling out the drawing materials
and having a lot of fun with mixed
media techniques. And I've also included a basic
lesson on jelly printing. I love jelly printing. This class is a foundational
introduction class to the incredible
world of college. And I'm so excited because
there's so much to explore. Every project you
undertake will reflect your own individual style
and interpretation. My primary objective
for this class is to nurture your creative
growth within a relaxed, fun, and enjoyable environment. You'll find my teaching style to be informative, but
conversational. You're going to feel like
you're right here with me in the studio
right next to me. And we're creating together. This series consists of
a total of 14 classes, and it's bound to be a
life changing experience. We'll venture through
the hundred days of collage together and I'm
right here with you. Showing you the way
and cheering you on. I've even created a treasure map just so you don't get lost and you know
where we're headed. It's going to be so much fun. This class is suitable for
anyone wanting to really develop their creativity in a fun and friendly environment. There's so much to learn,
so many techniques. As you can imagine, over
100 days, there's a lot. And we're going to take the class step by step
through each technique, each skill, and each
theme, and prompt. This is perfect for beginners
because I will take you step by step
through each technique, showing you exactly
how to achieve the same results and the
materials that I'm using. And if you're more advanced
in your creativity, then you're going to
really enjoy prompts, the themes, and the new techniques that you're
going to learn. You're going to be able to add more skills to your
artistic tool belt. I'm so excited to begin. There's so much to do, there's so much to learn, There's so much fun to be had, and there's so many fabulous, beautiful artworks to create. So let's get going. Let's gather round materials, let's make art, and let's head off on this fantastic adventure.
2. Getting Started: Right? So let's get started. I'm so excited for
this art class. It's going to be
an epic journey, like Lord of the Rings
type epic journey. The way you begin is not
where you're going to finish. And what's so
exciting about taking this epic journey is
your development. The way you start is not the same place you're going
to be when you finish, in yourself and in your
creative expression as well. And that's the beauty
of making art, it really is so personal, it's so deeply connected to your identity and just
sense of self worth. So taking on an epic journey in something of this magnitude really does develop you on the inside where
it really counts. And I'm so excited that you're beginning on
this adventure with me. So what is the goal? The goal of this art class
is to inspire creativity, to improve artistic skills, and foster self expression through the medium of
mixed media college. Each lesson is an
opportunity to create one art journal page with
the prompt or theme, or discussion that I'm
going to lead you into. I'm going to be creating right
alongside you right here. And we're going to be looking
at different techniques. We're going to be using
different prompts. And then as the
course progresses, we're going to be going
a little bit deeper into what really motivates
you as an artist, or a creative person, or even as an absolute beginner. How do you start? How do
you express what you want to put onto that paper or
that canvas or any medium? Really? How do you
finish a painting? Where does your
inspiration come from? And how do you really create
your own artistic voice? These are all the
elements that we're going to cover over the entire course. This is part one week one
of a 14 week journey. And I know it sounds like a lot, 100 days of collage, but truly it's going to be
absolutely life changing. Why is this an art
journal class? Well, the purpose of using an art journal is to
allow you the freedom to really create without the stress of having to
perform the collage. Doesn't have to be a
finished work of art, ready to frame or to hang, or even to exhibit. You don't have to sell it La. That's what I love about
an art journal process, is that it can be so personal, so experimental, and you don't
even have to show anybody. Using an art journal
really is just all about you developing
your creativity, unleashing your
expression onto the page, and really feeling free to
explore and to experiment, and to learn different
artistic techniques, and to try your new skills
and to have a lot of fun. Now, if you don't want
to use an art journal, you don't have to if you
want to put works on watercolor paper or if you
even want to use canvas, you can go ahead and use
whatever substrate you want to. There really are no hard and
fast rules for this class. There's not one way
to rule them all. It's about you developing
your creativity. And I'm here as your coach to help you achieve
your artistic goals. The beauty of using an
art journal is the real. You can come out and play
without fearing what anybody else is going to say
about what you're creating. Now if you don't want to use a commercial art journal,
you can make your own. You can even work on paper and bind them
together at the end. It really will be
such an epic journey. You'll have so many beautiful
artworks by the end of the complete class that I know you're really going to want
to keep them to look back on. Not just for the skills
that you're going to learn, but to look back at the
journey that you've taken as a creative person and see how much you've
grown and developed. I like using an art journal because I can do exactly that. I can look back in the years
time and go, oh my gosh, that was a good idea, why
don't I try that again. I can look back and
see how I began using a particular technique that now might be a real stable
in what I'm creating. But like I said, there's
no hard and fast rules. You don't have to do it
one way or the other. The best way to approach the
art class is the way that you feel most comfortable
and how you want to create. What is the duration
of the class? Well actually this is the development of
100 days of collage. I know it does
sound like a bunch. I developed the class
on the premise of one collage a day for 100 days. That seven collages in a week, that would be 14 weeks To get all through
the hundred days, I've divided up the huge epic, Celebrate your creative self. Our class into 14 lessons. And each lesson we'll have seven classes being
our seven collages. It's going to be so much fun. Don't feel overwhelmed by it. Each week or each class is
going to be a specific topic. And we'll have seven
beautiful collages within that specific topic. If you don't want to
do the whole massive, huge undertaking, you can pick and choose on what
topics suit you best. But the classes
will progressively develop in the beginning,
the introduction, and then we'll go through different stages and
different themes and prompts that will develop your creative expression
and your artistic skills. So if you jump to the end. Hmm. And you're a beginner, that
might not be the best idea. I'm thinking the introduction is a really good place to start. You can, of course, do one
prompt or one lesson a week. It doesn't have to be every day. It could be every few days, or every few weeks,
or once a month. There's no hard and fast rules, there's no time limit. It really depends on your own creative expression and what you want to achieve. But I'm pretty sure
if you're having fun and learning
lots along the way, you're going to want
to stick to it. Preparing your art journal. Now I'm going to use this
commercial art journal. It's a Dilusions
creative journal. I particularly like this brand because it's hardy,
it works well. It's got mixed media
pages and I just love the way it handles all of
the paint and the inks, and the acrylic mediums that I personally like to
use with collage. This is a really nice size, it's roughly 20
centimeters or 8 " square. So one of these
pages per collage is a pretty easy goal to achieve. And I really like the
square format now, these commercial journals do
get a little fat and thick, especially when
you're doing collage. And they can sometimes
break in the binding. So if you don't like that, you could create on loose pages and bind them together yourself. I mean this is how it starts. All beautiful and neat and this is pretty much
how it's going to finish. Very fat and very full. A beautiful journey
and collection of fabulous inspiration and
collages and techniques. And sometimes it does
bust the binding. But this particular brand of
art journal has this section where cover is kind of separated from that part
of the journal page. Which means that when it does get very fat and
thick like this one, it has come off
the binding there. I could glue that
on. But it does handle it really well and
it still stays together. I love having this whole
collection in a book like this. Like I said, I can
look back over the pages and I can think
about the choices that I made and the techniques that I learnt and the journey
along the way. Why choose collage? What is it about
the collage medium that I'm so passionate about? Well, really anything goes. You can put anything
together on the page. You can use paints, you can use papers, you can use found objects, You can use, oh, it's endless. And in this first class, this introduction to collage, I'm going to show you just how endless the
beautiful expression of this mixed media
technique really is. I absolutely love collage. I think it's my favorite
medium and expression, and I think that's because
it's unrestricted. We're not confined
by any one element. And the freedom of expression. Oh, it's absolutely fantastic. You're going to love this
by the end of the class. You're going to love
collage as much as I do. The best preparation that
you can do for yourself when thinking about undertaking
this fabulous adventure is to find a creative space. Now, if you don't have a
designated studio space, what about the corner
of your garage or spare room or even your bedroom somewhere that you
can carve out? That can just be your area
where you can have all of your materials laid
out and you can sit down and just
start creating. If you're on the
dining room table and you have to pull out
all your art supplies, create a single page and
then pack them all up. You're just not going to do it. It's going to be way
too much trouble. It's going to really
restrict your creativity, and it's going to inhibit
what you can really create, find yourself a creative space. It doesn't have to be huge, but it has to be dedicated
to where you can leave your art materials laid out and you can
create your pages. Some days you're
going to feel like sitting down and
absolutely going for it, and other days
you're going to feel like you don't even want to try. But if you've got
a dedicated space, it's going to encourage you more to actually at least begin. At least try and have a little play because you can get up and walk away from it. It's going to serve
you best to have a dedicated space
where you can really create and enjoy
the whole process. And creating art
really is a process. It takes time and it takes dedication to
allocate that time, to even buy the art materials, and to allow yourself the permission to
really create freely, especially if you're
not going to exhibit, you're not going to sell. Sometimes people feel
guilty about having the time that it takes to create something that
doesn't have a return. But trust me, it's really
important for your soul. It's so important for your heart to allow yourself and
give yourself permission to create freely without having that pressure to
have to perform or produce. The whole creative
process really does benefit your life in so
many different levels. Sometimes we really just
don't appreciate how much art really contributes
to who we are as humans.
3. Material List: So, what do we need
for a material list? Well, of course, first of all, you need your art journal. And as I've explained, it doesn't have to
be a commercial one. You can make your own or you can work on loose pages and
bind them together. I love using this particular
commercial art journal because it holds up under
the pressure and I can look back in a year's time and see the journey
that I was on and really appreciate
the development of both my art and
the techniques, the skills that I've
learned in just creating. Next we're going to use a
selection of acrylic paints. Now, I love acrylic paints. I love the water
based application. We won't be using any
oil based products in this particular art
class because I love to be able to clean
up easy and quick. And I like things simple, so I'll be using a selection
of acrylic paints. I do like the Liquitex basics
because they're affordable. But then there's also the beautiful golden ones as well that I
just have to have. Now, you don't have to
use the colors I use. And hopefully you've
already got a selection of acrylic paints or you might
like to use water colors. Using watercolors is
also really simple, especially for art
journal pages. You can use whatever
paints you've already got. For each class and each lesson, there will be a material list. I'll be telling you
exactly what colors I use every time I
create something, just in case you want to
achieve similar results. But just know you don't have to use the products
that I'm using. I will give you a list.
I'll even give you links to those products
if you want to find them. But don't feel pressured at
all at any stage that you have to rush out and buy new materials or
use what I'm using, you don't have to at all. So make sure you know
that I don't want you to feel pressured to
have to buy art supplies, especially if you've
already got a heap. We're going to use a selection
of drawing materials. So maybe some pencils or even some watercolor pencils
or water soluble crowns. You might have some
markers like these. Posca pens, these are actually paint pens or even
just some sharpies. Some pencils. Whatever
you've got to actually use, you're going to be pulling
them out of the cupboard. You're also going to need
some basic supplies, like some scissors, different
sizes, some paint brushes. Now, what are you going
to use for an adhesive? We are doing collage. I like to use a matt gel
medium for collage because I find it's great adhesive and it works well
with most papers. If things get a
little too heavy, I like to use the VA, but you don't have to use
these particular adhesives. If you've got a glue stick
and you don't want to use the matte medium or
the PVA, not a problem. Use the adhesive that you already have or that
you want to use. I just find that these particular mediums
work really well. I like to brush it on. I come from a
painter's background, so brushing on the page is
just so natural for me. It makes me happy.
I really like it. So that's what I use
all the time for my collages and because I
use a variety of papers, it helps to adhere the
really thick pieces. Talking about papers, we're
going to use a selection of all sorts of papers and we're going to create
some along the way. Now, don't rush out
and think you have to buy a whole heap of
specialty art papers because you're going to
find a selection from around your home and we're
going to be making our own. Which brings me to the last
point on my material list. Do you have a gel plate? This is my 108 gel plate. And I'll put all the details in your material list which you'll find in the note
section of the class. So we're going to use the gel plate and
the Brayer and we're going to be creating some beautiful collage
pages along the way. Now if you don't
have a gel plate, don't rush out and get one unless you've
always wanted to. It's not mandatory,
but it is really fun. And we're going to
do a basic lesson of jelly printing in this
particular class. This printing method creates an incredible amount of papers. Very easy, very fast, very experimental, a lot of fun. And I use it a lot for
my collage papers. So of course, it had to
be included in the class. But like I said, if
you don't want to, you don't have to get one if
you don't have one, right? So that basically sums
up the art materials, but I will give you a
comprehensive list each time I do a lesson with
particular materials. I'll tell you the
colors, what I'm using, and don't forget to use what you've already got
at home first. I'm so excited that you're
on this journey with me. I really hope you're
going to stick around till the end of the adventure, and we'll both see where we are after 100 days of college.
4. A Brief History of Collage: Day one. How exciting. Now I've been painting and
exhibiting for over 30 years, and I've found mixed
media collage to be my absolutely
favorite medium. Why? Because collage can
be as simple or as complicated as
you want to make it, it's totally
achievable for anyone, even absolute beginners,
virgin artists, to turn their hands to making collage with limited amount of art supplies and
skills and to be able to achieve something
really beautiful. You're not restricted by conventional forms
of art making. You can't get it wrong. Anyone can do this. And you can develop your skills on the go as you're learning. Having fun and creating art. You just need a sense
of adventure and a willingness to explore
your creative boundaries. Now, collage is a French
word which comes from Cole, meaning to stick or to glue. So really anything
that is stuck or pasted onto a substrate
is technically a collage. How many pieces do you need in that artwork to
make it a collage? Well, it can be one. It can be the whole collage. It can be a little bit. Or it can be completely created from pieces
of paper entirely, which I love doing through our creative expression
of this art class. We're going to be using
paints with our collage. We're going to be using a huge
range of different papers, and we're going to be creating
from different styles. So let's just have a little
look at the history of colas, so you get a little
bit of a foundation of where it comes from
and where we are now. Pablo Picasso and George
Bark launched coals into the mainstream art scene in the early part of
the 20th century, which of course, made this
a new and popular art form. Picasso still live
with chair canning, featured oilcloth
glued to canvas, and he even added rope
around the image. Barrack's fruit dish and glass incorporated pattern
wallpaper into his design. I love using wallpaper. It's definitely one of the papers that I
personally like to use, but it really wasn't a new art form just because
the big boys started to play. It had been around
for quite some time. The earliest paper collages
are believed to have been made by 12th century
Japanese calligraphers who prepared surfaces
for their poems by gluing bits of paper and fabric to create background
for brushstrokes. Artists in medieval times often enhanced religious
images with gemstones, elegant fibers, relics
and precious metals. During the 17th and
18th centuries, nuns used cut and
colored papers to decorate bookmarks for
their prayer books. So collage has been around as an art form for a
really long time. Craftsmen in many parts
of the world use seeds, shells, feathers, and butterfly wings
as collage materials. During the 19th century, collage developed as a hobby
rather than an art form. People pasted family photos into arrangements
and framed them, glued postage stamps into
albums and covered screens and lamp shades with magazine illustrations
and art reproductions. You can still find 19th century scrapbooks in antique shops. Although most of
these objects began as mementos and
family heirlooms, not necessarily as art objects. You know the earliest
square booking was a really long time ago. In the 1890s, graphic
artists arranged tape and bold cut out shapes to create theater posters
and illustrations. The introduction of photography
led to photo montage, combining photos into
artistic compositions. And in time, the photos and posters became college
materials themselves. So when Pablo Pacaso glued
oilcloth onto his painting, he really wasn't
inventing anything new. He was joining in a long
history and journey of the expression of
collage that had started pretty soon after
paper was invented. The modern artists
infuriated the critics with the foreign materials they
began adding to the paintings. But the revolution took hold, and the wildfires of collage as a fine art application
are still burning. The avant guard adopted the new approach and
quickly branched out. Cubist used mostly
paper and paint, with the occasional realistic
object added to support a pictorial concept or a
philosophical viewpoint. Futurists incorporated topography for
political commentary. And added, found objects to connect art with the real world. Dadaris found collage an ideal means of expressing
anti art nonsense, bringing together
outrageous combinations of materials of a shock value. When Kurt Schwitters
began working on collage, his artworks were
made from paper and constructed with rubbish that
he had found on the street. His aim within his collage art was to create works that were able to embrace all different
types of styles of art. He used an assortment of items, such as envelopes, postcards, discarded packaging,
bus tickets, combined with words from newspapers and dabbed
with splashes of paint. The Surrealists used
collage to unleash the unconscious thoughts through the random selection and
placement of material. The European artists
carried collage to the frontier of American
abstract expressionism, where Robert Motherwell,
Lee Krasner, Robert Rochenberg, and others were turning
their hand to collage. Even Jackson *******
created collage before. Of course, he became famous
with his drip painting style. Early 20th century collage represented a radical break with artistic tradition
through the addition of a few scraps of
paper to the painting. By the end of the century, artists had become aware of this tremendous potential of the medium for creative
artistic expression. What I love about collage and especially looking at the
history of the expression, is there isn't one way to create this artistic expression. The artists started with
every day pieces of paper found around the home and incorporated them
into the paintings. The art form developed to such a stage that the
paintings themselves became low relief sculptures o
some of the artists were sticking so much material onto the painting that it
became sculptural forms. So there really is a wide road that we can travel in our
expression of collage. And I think that's what I really wanted to show you by looking at this short history and
looking at the other artists. You can't get it wrong. You may want to stick one
piece of paper on your page, or you might want to fill up the whole entire some straight. There's no right or wrong in this kind of application of art. So have courage. Don't be afraid of
breaking any rules or getting it wrong
because you just can't. How you want to create your art will be completely up to you. Lee Krasner, who was married to Jackson ******* was
having a few tough years. She was living in his shadow. And being a woman in
1951 was pretty hard, let alone when you're
married to a famous artist. Critics didn't want to
look at her paintings, they only wanted to
talk about *******. And it was quite
an uphill battle. After one of her
unsuccessful exhibitions, she came home and tore some
of her paintings into shreds, ripped them to pieces, and threw them in the air, and then stormed
out of her studio. She came back three weeks later, and when she opened the door
of a studio and walked in, she was absolutely amazed at the beautiful artwork that
she found on the floor. She had completely
forgotten about the tantrum that she
had and how she ripped some of her paintings
to streets and what she saw was a new way
to express her art. And this is how she actually
began started collaging. She tore up her old
paintings and started putting them together
on new canvases, creating collage out
of the previous works. I absolutely love that idea. Oh, that reminds me, this is our prompt for day one, day one, week one. Your prompt is, choose a favorite artist or
a famous artist to be inspired by and create your art journal page from
that inspiration for me, I'm looking at Lee Krasner. Not so much that I think
her collages are stunning, although they're pretty cool. But I love her courage and
her strength to push on. I've had exhibitions that
haven't turned out so great, so I completely understand
that kind of frustration. Tearing old works to
pieces and making new collages out of them just sounds absolutely
fabulous to me. She pushed forward with
this technique and the next exhibition she had
was far more successful. And it was reviewed far
better by the critics. It goes to show you,
you just can't give up. You've got to on, you've
got to try new things. And at the end of the day, if it gets that frustrating, tear it to pieces. You don't know what
you're going to achieve out of the results. So that's my inspiration for our first day and
our first colors. Hm. What am I going to
choose to work with?
5. Day 1: Project: Right. My brand new art
journal, how very exciting. It's always exciting to
start a new project. Yeah, this one is going
to be an epic journey. Now, today I'm probably going
to the two page spread. I won't do it all the time, but today I just feel like
I'm excited to get started. I'm going to do both pages. I think most days I'll
probably do one page, but today I want to do two now. I like to use baking
paper under my pages, so it keeps the next one
from getting all messed up. You might notice when I opened my art journal
from last year, it has some little pieces
of baking paper in it. I found that is just
the easiest way to keep the page from sticking. I've tried different mediums and different waxes on the page, but for me, I just
think putting in a little piece of baking
paper is the simplest option. I use it also while
I'm creating, then I'll put a
little piece in when I close up the page
after it's dry. Now as Lee Krasner is
my inspiration today, I'm going to use some digital collage papers of previous collages
that I've done. Just loved the story of how
she tore up her artworks and used them for
collage and then kept pursuing and developing
her painting style. I absolutely love that. I'm going to start by
putting an image from previous collages onto my page and then I'll probably
change it from there. It's definitely not
going to stay this way. I'm going to add some
more texture papers and some other pieces to it, but I think it's a really
good place to start. You just need to get yourself
moving off and running, and then the
creativity kicks in. You can be away. Just
getting the first marks on the paper can get you
moving in a direction. Then you build your
ideas on top of that. It doesn't even
matter if you cover over the initial inspiration. If I cover over
this whole piece, it's really not going to matter. It's the inspiration
that got me moving, it got me sitting
down and creating something really sometimes that can be what it's all about. Now I've got my medium
in a little pot here. That's what I like
to use all the time. Because I like to brush it on. As I've said, you don't
have to use medium. You can use other adhesives
for your collage. This is just what I
like to do, right? The first papers are on
easy Pz lemon squeeze. Now these are my
digital collage papers that I have designed
from my other artworks. You might find a particular
artist's work that you like, a famous artist or just
a favorite artist. You could print out
a copy of the image, put it on your page,
and start that way. Or you can use your
own paintings, take a photo out, and use that as your
inspiration to kick start your first pages, right. Next I'm going to put some
jelly prints on this page. I'm really liking this one. I'm just going to grab my scrap box of textured papers and
add a few to the page. I decided I'm going to
put the other half of this paper on this side
because I really like it. I think it looks beautiful. It's a great jelly print. I love the strength
of the crosses and the colors are working
beautiful these particular Collage papers that
I've printed out of my own are laser copy prints. They're not going to bleed when I'm using matt medium on them. Now, if you're printing
from your ink jet and you're plastering matt medium all over it like I'm doing here, you might find your papers
are going to bleed. The ink might run, you
can just give them a spray with a matt varnish. Just give them a light
quick spray and then that really helps to stop
the ink from bleeding. I do it quite often, especially when I'm using spray inks because they
tend to bleed a lot. I'm loving that. This is the other shape
from this shape here, the other side of the paper, and I think that
looks beautiful. I'm not going to add
too much more to it because I'm just really enjoying these patterns and
colors and textures. Yeah, maybe just a
little something over here or maybe
there, I don't know. I think I'll look
in my scrap bag and see what I can find. What I like about using white tissue with stamps on it like this is that it
goes quite transparent. Once it's dry, it's adding
another texture and shape. It's just creating layers. I like lots of layers
with the collage. I think it's a lot
more interesting. Remember, if you put something
on that you don't like, you can always just
pull it back off again or put something
else over it. You can't get it wrong. Use colors, textures and shapes
that you personally like. Have a lot of fun.
I'm happy with that. I'm going to leave
it now to let it dry and see if I'm as happy once it's dried or if there's anything else that
I might want to add to it. Okay, one more piece. I found this number
one and seeing is it's day one of this incredible journey
that I'm so excited about. I'm going to put a
number one right here, our first college in our first week of this
incredibly epic journey. All right, now I'm finished. What do you think
about my pages? They've all dried up. They're looking beautiful. I really enjoyed using
my digital collage paper as the background and to jump
start these two collages. This is really interesting here. What this has done is that it has soaked through
this particular paper. This jelly print had a
background of spray. Yes, when I put the tissue with the numbers
on it in this section here, it has literally sucked the
ink into it, making it this. Isn't that so interesting? It's done it there too. Now the way to stop that thing, if you're not happy with
the way it's doing that, is you can use at spray varnish or any
particular varnish really. I just like to use
a matt varnish. Give your papers your
jelly prints a spray, and then that will seal
them and stop the inks bleeding through when you
use them in your collage. I'm not minding that color. I think it goes all
right with the brass or the gold that I've used in the background of
both these sections. There's a little bit
there too, but it's okay. I can live with it now. This is the first day of our fabulous epic adventure
and it's really exciting. I'm going to put in to your notes one of my
digital collage papers. If you need a little inspiration or you want to jump start your pages on any of the days it doesn't have to
be used for today. Have a look there
and you can just download it and put
it in your collage. That's really exciting, the
pages are all finished, we're often running
onto the next lesson.
6. Diversity of Paper: Day two of 100 days
of collage and we're often running today. We're going to look
at the diversity of paper in today's project. Your challenge is to collect at least five different papers. They can be just from
around your home or from your studio
or your craft box, maybe they are
papers that you've already painted or jelly prints or old works on paper
or photocopies. There's so many
different types of paper that we can
use for collage. If you really stop
and think about it, I think you're going to
be amazed how many you can find just within your
own home environment. Now, I'd suggest you put
some of this collection into a box so you can easily find your materials
when you want them. We're going to be
using paper a lot with these collages as you find different papers
from around your house, or you start to collect things, or you start to find
things out and about. Put them in a box and put them where you're
going to be easily able to find them to keep creating your
beautiful collages. So have a look at this
list and see how many from this list you can find
within your own space. I pulled these out of my studio. I know this list
is not extensive. I know you can
probably find some more and add some
more to this list, but it's a great place to start when you're finding
your different papers. Think about what's the texture, what's the shape of the paper, what's the pattern,
And allow this to be your inspiration and guide you as you're creating
your college today. How does it feel?
What color is it? Are you going to leave a plane or are you going to paint it? Will you add textures? The paper, maybe
stamps or stencils or do you like it just how you
found it? I know, right? So many questions you could
add paint to your page. It really is limitless
the possibilities, especially once you get started. So that's the goal,
that's the project, let's get creating right. So I set the challenge at five
different types of paper. Let's see, I've got
some jelly prints, book pages, some beautiful
texture specialty papers. There's a few of those.
What else have I got? All handmade paper.
Look at that. That is just beautiful. I also have some music
sheet and some craft paper. I think that covers the scope
of five different papers. This is going to be so much fun. I love using different papers, especially that are tactile. I like the feel of them. I like creating layers. I might even pull out some of my stamps that
I've printed onto white tissue because I do like putting some transparent
layers on top. Don't know, we'll see
where we're head, but we'll start with this lot and then we'll decide
once we get moving, what papers have you
found around your home? What are you going to use
in your college today? Yes. I'm going to
do two pages again. I know. I know. I said I wouldn't, but oh man, I've just got so many
beautiful papers. I want to use them now. Where am I going to start? I think I'll start
with the jelly print. This one fits nicely here. I might just put it on this side like that,
something like that. Give that a snip on that
side, such glorious colors. Then I'm thinking maybe one
of the book pages might go, well, that, yes, I'm
liking that color. That color would work
well under that. And then we could add
something else on top of here, and we'll put a little
something down there as well. And then on this side, this jelly print or some of it. Anyway, maybe we'll tear
it there like that. I'd really like to put in this craft paper because I
just like the turquoise color. I might put that on there
and put that paper with it. And then something
else to go over it. Maybe some of the black. Yes, that would
look really nice. Maybe some of the white. That would be quite
fresh as well. And I have to add some of the beautiful notes
maybe across the bottom. Oh man. I think I'll just start sticking some stuff down and
see where we end up. That's the good thing
about using Matt medium. You can lift pieces up
while they are still wet and put other pieces
of paper underneath it. I really do like that. I like that I can
move it around. It has a little bit of
drying time to enable me to shift different pieces
on top or underneath. Because it just might change your mind halfway
through doing something. Right. I like those colors
against the turquoise. I think that looks really nice. Happy with this beautiful color against those papers there. What are we going to do next? I'm thinking it just needs something that's going
to be a little more transparent so we don't lose all of the beautiful papers
that we've just put down. I wouldn't mind a
little piece of this beautiful handmade
paper that could go maybe on this side over here because you'll still probably see through
it a little bit. As it dries, it will go
probably more transparent. I might put a piece over
here, something like that. Yeah, I like that shape now. I think I just need
something for a focal point. It's looking pretty nice. See how transparent that
goes when you glue it on? I like that, I like creating the different layers
like that of textures. And it's a different color over that piece of paper than it
is over that piece of paper. I do like tactile. I like What about some white? Do you think that's too stark? I do like it on there. Oh man. What about we put some on and
then if we don't like it, we can always change it. Okay. That's the thing. You can't be scared to try. Because you can change it. You can go over it again,
or you can paint it, or you can add some other
textures or papers to it. Don't be afraid to try an idea. And if it doesn't work,
you can change it again. It will go quite
transparent as it dries. It's just such a beautiful
fibrous paper, right? What about we add some
black over this side? This is pretty nice
to this paper. It's just going to be
a matter of working out how much of it I
want to put on the page. Now, you don't want
to put these kind of papers on your
collage until you're sure that you're not
going to want to add anything else under it. Am I sure? I'm not sure. What about some of the gold? I really liked the gold too. I could sneak a little
piece of that in under it. Oh man. Such stents. Okay. Yes I did. I added a little piece of the beautiful textured
gold marble paper because it's just glorious. I had to, now I'm going to
put the black over the top. I love all of the layers. I love that you can see the papers through
all of the layers. That makes me really happy. I think I'm just
going to put it on like that, something like that. Then I'm going to have to
think about focal point, because it needs,
as a focal point, what color do I want
that focal point to be? Yes, that's a good question. What type of paper,
what texture? These are all the questions
you're going to have to ask yourself when you're
creating your collage. What papers are
you going to use? What colors, what textures? Right, we've got some
Matt medium on that. Now I'm thinking, I want
to circle right there. I'm really loving this
beautiful jelly print. So I'm figuring, why don't I cut a circle out of
this and put it on there, but what size do I want? That's the next question. I pulled out this bowl. I was going to draw around it, but I actually think
might be a bit big, maybe my tape might be
a bit smaller. I know. Right. You just got
to use what you have. I'm thinking that could be a better size use
what you have in the studio or your art room or your area that you've
designated your art space. You can have a look in the notes section on
the material list. If you want to see where I do source my papers and paints
from, have a look there. There's lots of notes in
your class description. It's just there to
help you if you want to find out where to get
certain things from. But remember, use what you have first and see what you can create with the papers from
around your own home radio. Beautiful Circle.
Thank you to my tape. Let's see if it's
the right size. Yes, I'm loving it.
That's a good size. It's not too big. It just needs a good trim. And of course it needs to dry, but I'm pretty happy
with how it's looking, loving all my different
textures and layers of papers. That just makes me happy.
7. Finishing Project 2: What are we going to
add to this side? I have this, which
is really fun. It's actually wrapping paper. I just visited my son in
Shanghai a few weeks ago. Yes, I did come back with quite a lot of different papers. I'm thinking I might tear off
a strip of the characters. This is actually a poem, let's use some of this. Do I want two rows or
do I just want one? I think I could probably
get away with two. What do you think? You could
tear it maybe across here. Let's tear the top section. Give the side a little trim. What do you think? What do you think? What do
you think? Is it too big? Might be a bit big. It's
taking up too much of my page. Oh man, it down some more. Right? What about that? I think that's a bit better. It's not so big and
taking up all of my page. Pretty happy with that. You might need a bit
of gold on this side, so I might have to put a bit
of a stencil of some gold. Something needs to go there or I could go and have a look
through the jelly print. Right, I'll do that then. What about now? This is a music sheet like one of these and then
I've painted on it and jelly printed with
the similar stencil as that shape, that's
going to work. It's got the music notes that connect and it's got
the similar shape. This color is beautiful, champagne, gold and stencil. But we can only win
with that glamour. I'm thinking a little piece of this on the page
would be beautiful. Just add a little
bit of glamour. I think we should use that
section where you can see the notes and then it
connects with that side. It just puts a little bit
of bling onto the page. How much do we want,
is the question. Maybe three rows. We definitely want the section
with the music notes so it connects to the other side of the page because
that's pretty fun. We could put it like
that or like that. Maybe give it a
little trim because I do really like a raw edge. What about something like that
little torn edge on there? We put it on there like that. That's pretty cool.
That's pretty nice. I'm that I'm liking the gold. What do we think about that with the beautiful stencil butter on our music page
that's being printed? I think that's pretty cool. I think we should do it
now to finish it off. I'd really like a little bit of this turquoise color just to connect with the
other side of the page. Rummage through my scrap box, I've got this piece of craft paper which is
a similar turquoise. I'm thinking that we could put a nice circle shape right on the edge there with one look, I've stamped with it before, one of my secret circle makers. I'm just going to
cut a circle out of this craft paper and
see how that looks. Of course, I wanted
the section right in the middle because it had
the best pattern on it. It's not the most
perfect circle, but I'm thinking it's
going to be all right. Right. What do we
think about that idea? Yes, I'm thinking
that's going to work. Right. I'm going to
stick all of that down and then I'll show
you when it's dry. What do you think of
my finished collage? I'm pretty happy with the
colors and the textures. I like the different
papers that I chose. I think they're working
well in combination. Now remember, if you don't like something,
you can change it, you can cover it, you can
put another piece over it, you can add some different
textures or different colors. Don't let it stress you if something's not worked
exactly how you want. Because you can change a collage and you can
develop your ideas. This is your creative journey, this is your adventure. You set your own rules. If you want to come
back next week or the week after and add an
extra piece or change a piece, you're so free to do that, especially if you're
working in an art journal. You can add another piece or
change anything at any time. This art class is all about having the freedom
to make mistakes, to grow, to develop, and to see where your
creative ideas can lead You. Allow yourself that time to experiment and to
try different things. Even to make a mess
or to get it wrong, or to swap things around. Right? I'm pretty excited about how these
pages turned out. What are we going to do next?
8. Colour Combinations: Day three, how very
exciting today we're going to be exploring
color combinations. What's your favorite color? Do you have a particular
color combination that you lean towards? I tend to use a lot of warm tones and I use a
lot of metallic colors. I just love me a bit of bling U. Whenever I'm putting
collage together, it usually has to have a
little bit of bronze or gold because that's just what
I like. What do you like? What colors do you
like to work with? Warm colors or cool colors, or do you like a mix of both? Do you like your colors to
be bright or more subdued, or do you like more vintage
tones or contemporary colors? I know there's so much
to think about today. We're thinking about colors. What do you personally like? That's the challenge, right? Moving on to our next
fabulous collage. We're looking at
color combinations. Now, I had a bit
of a bright idea. I'm thinking I want to put some white textured paper on my page before I start
putting the paint on. Just for fun, it creates a
nice texture and I think that it'll look really cool now this one's a
little bit thicker, but it could really be fun
putting the paint on top of it and seeing what
textured marks we can get. This one has a bit of a leaf
pattern that's pretty nice. Not that I'm going to do it
in leaf colors for sure. Now I'm putting the
white textured paper on. I'm going to let that
dry while that dries. I'm going to pull out
some paints and we're deciding on what colors
we're going to work with. Have you had a little think about what colors do you like? Because you know you're going to have to make some choices. Right? Let's leave
these two pages to dry and pull out some paints. Now, this is one of my
favorite color schemes. I love the paints. Gray. The quinaqidone,
magenta, unbleached titanium. Of course, you've got to have white and iridescent bronze. Now what I love about this
color combination is the pains gray is so dark that it could almost be
black, but it's not. It's a beautiful smoky,
deep bluey undertone. And the Quinacridome magenta
mixes so well with it, you get these beautiful
purple tones. The more magenta you add, the more red violet it becomes. And you can create so many
different variations of color. From a beautiful red
violet to a really deep, dark purple color. I just think it's just glorious. Now if we add the white
to the paints gray, it paints out to a
beautiful gray blue color, which is just fabulous. It works really well, the glorious purple tones. And then the unbleached titanium mixes up to a nice warm gray. Now within this small
amount of colors, you can create such an
incredible variety. And that's what I love
about this exercise. Pick three colors,
then add white. And I always add iridescent
bronze or copper. Because I like metallic bling. You don't have to do that. If you don't want to add
metallic to your colors, then you just don't
have to bother. Also, these colors don't have
to just work in the paint. You can add extra pieces of collars and papers
and textures on top of your beautiful paint in similar color tones that really contribute to the
overall artwork. I just love this color scheme. I've used it quite a few times. I just think there's so much possibility and scope for where you
can take the colors. Now if you're not
in the mood for purple and you
don't the magenta, you could switch
out to the blues, beautiful, ultramarine
blue, cobalt blue, and gray blue mix well together with the pines
gray and the white, you can also put in some thalo turquoise that really adds such a
great combination. The blues mix really
well together. They work well with the white. They create all sorts
of fabulous shades, different hues of
the different blues. And when you add white to it and lighten them, it's
quite endless. Adding the panes, gray
will make the deep tones. They'll all sit really well together because they're
all happy with each other. Blues will play well together. Even the turquoise will look fabulous with all of
these combinations. If you're feeling more
blue than purple, have a think about this
particular combination. If you've got something
else you prefer and you want to use
that, that's fine too. Black and white. Oh my gosh. I love black and white, especially with a little
splash of silver. I've created quite a few
black and white collages. Absolutely love the
dramatic contrast. Today I'm feeling like a bit
of a warm, earthy palette. I've got my paints gray, it's my darkest value. Titanium white as the light. Now in between that,
I'm going to have some raw sienna and some
unbleached titanium, beautiful, earthy toned colors that will work really
well together. And I'm going to be
mixing it on the page, so you want to use colors that's going to
work well together. If you're mixing
them wet and wet, of course, I need a
little bit of bling. I'm probably going to add
some iridescent copper. These colors will mix
out beautiful because we've got the
fabulous panes gray, which mixes out to a
beautiful blue gray color. Then adding in the
raw sienna dark is just going to add some beautiful earthy
tones to the page. See how well they're
going to work together. A little bit of iridescent
copper and white. Oh man, it's going
to be fabulous. Now remember I add
the beautiful, white textured
paper to the pages. I've got my baking paper
underneath because I know I'm going to make a
mess, no problem at all. I've got some baby wipes, my paint brush, and
we're all set to go. The texture that we've
put down already is going to create quite
an interesting pattern. Why does collage always
have to be on top? It doesn't, it can
be underneath. Have a little water spray bottle that I'm just going
to spray some water on to get the paint
moving around so it's not so stiff
and easier to blend. Adding some of the
paints gray now, I don't really have a plan. I'm just going to
create on the page, see where it heads and
see how it makes me feel really is a very intuitive abstract expressionist approach. No fear you can't get it wrong and you can
always change it if you don't like it as I'm
adding the other colors, they're going to blend
and mix on the page. I'm basically just
going to cover all of the areas and see
where this takes me. I'm really loving
these earthy tones and they work really
well with the blue gray. If we wanted a bit liner, we can just mix in some white. That's quite a
nice gray up here. And it mixes a little
bit differently with the unbleached titanium than it does with the straight white. You need to have a little play. Remember, you can go over it
if you don't like something. Yes, I'm going on
to the second page. Look at that beautiful
iridescent copper color. Yes. Just love it.
Had to put it in. Right. I think I'm about ready to leave the
first layer to dry and then I can
do some touch ups on some areas that I
might not be happy with. I do really love
the mix of color. I think I need a bit of
copper on this side. I really need to stop now, back away from the
pages and let it so I can do a few touch
ups on another layer. And then we'll look at
what we might want to add. But it's looking pretty cool. I'm very happy with
the color choice and the combination of tones. I just need to let
it dry, right? The pages are mostly dry. A little damp, but they're
looking pretty good. Now you can see the impact
of the different paper. This paper is a more
absorbent paper that I put on the page, and this one was more synthetic. That one, the paint has absorbed more into
it than this one. But they're both
looking really good. And I think it's fun to experiment with different
types of paper. Put it on your page first
and then paint on it. Now that the pages
are nice and dry, we can get a stiff bristle brass and do a little
bit of scumbling. Scumbling basically is just
dragging some color across the surface of the
page and adding a little bit of broken
color and texture to it. Just like that, adding
a little bit on top. If the page is nice and dry, then it shouldn't
blend in too much, it should sit on the top and
just add another texture. That copper is just beautiful. What I like to do is
add some contrast. I'm adding a lighter
color paint on top of this section because that deeper
tone is underneath. And it's going to
pick up the line and the texture of the paper
that I've put on the page. A little bit of scumbling, creating another layer,
highlighting some textured areas. It really can create
such a beautiful look. You can put the same color over the top because
it will pick up and highlight
the textured paper that you put on underneath. Then you also might
just want to leave some areas with the first layer of paint because they just
might look beautiful. You can switch back
to the soft brush and add some more
paint blended in more. Just move around your
page and see which areas you like and which
areas you need to fix. Adding a little bit
of a lighter tone of the same color just to highlight the texture
of the paper. Every time you experiment
with another idea, you'll learn more about what you like and what
you don't like. That's what we're investigating
in this art class, finding out what
you like to create. I really could play
with this all day, just adding a little bit of
highlight with the copper, scraping it across
the textured paper to pick up those beautiful
lines and marks. The next question is, are we going to add
a focal point or are we going to leave it
as an overall pattern? I love the overall pattern. It's very abstract
expressionist. It doesn't phase me at all to have it completely abstract. But we want to think about, do we want to add something as a focal point or an area
of interest on the page? If we do, what is
that going to be?
9. Finishing Project 3: If I'm going to add something
to the Beautiful Pages, I think I'm going to
put something here. I'm going to leave this
one completely unchanged, with the beautiful, painterly effect from the glorious
paper underneath. Because I just
absolutely love it. Now I want to focal point, just to give the
pages some interest, I'm thinking it needs
to be something very tactile because that's
what's already there, natural in coloring
to blend in with our beautiful color
combinations. It's just going to be
now trying to work out what particular shape
I might like on the page. It can't be too big
because I don't want it to take over my
beautiful painted page. But it just needs to be some organic natural tile that's going to work
for my focal point. That's not a bad idea. That looks all right, but we're going to need
something else in the middle, maybe some from this page. This was a jelly print
that I did recently. It is on rice paper, so it could dissolve quite
nicely into the background. And it's a really soft shade of the beautiful iridescent bronze that could work with our colors. It really is all just
a bit of a trial, trying different ideas, putting different shapes down to see if you like them or you
don't like them. It all depends on what mood
you're in at the time, whether you like this
color or that color, or how you're feeling
about your artwork today, I'm absolutely loving
the painterly effect. I love the tactile papers that
I put down to start with, but I just want to give it
a little bit of interest. I could put that onto that
paper that works really well. Do we want less of them? Maybe a smaller piece, maybe we'll cut it
down a little bit. You really don't
know till you try something if it's
going to work or not. Don't be afraid to try. That's how you'll find out
if you actually like it. I could put that size,
that's a bit better. It's not so big on there. That's not too bad of an idea. Definitely leaving
that one like that. Maybe I might just trim this down a little bit so it's not so big then I think that will
probably be a good answer. I think that size is better. Yes, I do like that size better. The color is working well. The tactile quality of
the paper looks good. And I'm going to
put that on there. Okay. I'm going to do it. I think it's a great addition to the pages without taking
away too much so I can appreciate the beautiful
colors and textures of the paint down it goes. What do you think
about this decision? I think it looks beautiful. The colors work really well. The texture and quality
of the paper really suits what's already there with the paint the paper underneath. So I'm pretty happy with that. I'll give you a close
up when it's dry. That was a whole lot of fun and there's so many ways you can create collage like this using the different
color combinations. Putting down paper
first or adding paper after having a beautiful
painterly expression. So make sure you
explore the colors. You have a little play. Allow yourself to experiment. Don't get stressed out. If it doesn't work
exactly how you want, let it dry and then paint
another layer over the top. You won't know until
you try what colors you prefer or how you want your
college pages to look. Have some fun and experiment, and see where the creative
adventure takes you.
10. Shapes & Composition: Day four and we're on a roll, today we're looking at
shape and composition. Do you have a favorite shape? Have you really thought about what shapes you personally like? Do you see a repetition of shapes in your artwork
or in your collages, or your crafting pages
or your art journal? I tend to use a lot of circles. I really like, I think it's the completeness of the shape. Sometimes I'll use squares, But if I'm using paper
that's a square shape, I often tear the edge because
I really like a torn edge. I like that rough surface more than I like sharp or hard edges. There isn't any wrong way to do this or to create
your collars. It's a matter of stopping and thinking about what
you actually like. I didn't really notice I used so many circles until people started to tell me that
I use a lot of circles. And then I started
to look and go, oh yeah, I do, but
I really like that. So today's challenge is to stop and think about what
shapes you really like. And your prompt
today is to create a page using at least
three different shapes. I know it might be
a challenge for me because the circle
is only one jape. So I'm going to have to
pull out some other shapes. Put your composition together, looking at what shapes you like, and see where it leads you. Start the page with the prompt and allow yourself to create. Intuitively, Putting
each piece of paper down in the response to
what you put on your page. Trust yourself, you can do this. Allow yourself to create freely and ask yourself
the questions, what shapes do I like? What do I not like? What do I
not want to see on my page? And why is that? I know, right? We're going to be
digging deeper and deeper into what you
really like to create. Just remember, you
can't get it wrong. What are you going
to create today? What shapes are you
going to highlight? And you have to use
at least three. Right? To start my shapes theme, I've got a piece of
watercolor paper. It's a medium surface, 300 GSM from one of these watercolor pads.
It's pretty simple. I'm going to create some
shapes in watercolor. Then I'll cut them out of this and use it for my
art journal page. That sounds like a
fun place to start. I have some watercolors
that I brought from China when I was in
Shanghai visiting my son. I also have some
iridescent watercolors. I have a beautiful
range of colors. Where am I going to start? What am I going to go with? That's the question. They
all look so beautiful about. We give them a bit of a
spray, get them activated. Maybe I'll start with
the beautiful blue, some purples and
see where we go. I'm thinking to just create
some shapes real easy. Yes, I do like circles but
they don't have to be circles. I can add some other
shapes to them, they could bump into each other or they could be
standalone shapes. Then I think maybe I'll add some mark making
to my shapes. Then I'm going to
either cut them out the shape that they are or cut them out
as different shapes. I'm really not sure. I'm just going to have
a little play with the water color and
see where I end up, see what it is that I
feel like creating. I'm just going to keep
overlapping my circle shapes. I say circle is
because they're not perfect circles and I don't
really want them to be, but I just want to overlap the colors because
then I'm going to be overlapping shapes
on top of them and then cutting them out into
different shapes as well. It's a little bit of play, a little bit of fun. It's very therapeutic,
very relaxing. It's a great place to start. Beautiful colors, simple shapes, and a whole lot of fun. I decided to do a
second sheet of colors because then that will give me more
options to play with. And really, because it's
just a whole lot of fun, I didn't want to stop. Now I'm painting the
shapes in between my circle shapes and filling
up all of the holes. Right? So my beautiful
watercolor papers have dried. What I like about
this, it's so fun. And so therapeutic is putting the circle shapes
on with watercolor. Some of the edges are hard
and some of them are soft. They're blended into
the other colors, this one completely. But none of it
matters. It's all fun. And it looks great. And it creates beautiful
shapes, very organic. I really like it. I
had to do it twice. I think the combination
of the blended shapes, the smudgy lines, I really like. Now, I'm going to put
some more shapes on these papers using
a couple of stamps. I have this circle
one and this one. They're like scribbly lines, not full on precise circles, and I think that's what
I like about them. I've got some beautiful
golden, iridescent bronze. Fine. I'm just going to
stamp some of the shapes on the paper to create some
more circle type shapes. I'll say circle type because
they're not precise. I really like the way
they're not precise. None of my circle type shapes in this project are
going to be precise. They're all going to be a little odd and not That looks cool. How fabulous does it look
with the beautiful bronze? I'm just going to cover both these pages with these shapes and
then after it dries, I'm going to cut them out. That's going to work really
well for what I want to collage easy peasy, lemon squeezy. I'm going to do the other one. I am a bit of a perfectionist
Sometimes it is hard for me to let go of
making things perfect. That's why I liked using the water colors
because my shapes blended and ran into each
other and smudged about, they didn't hold
their exact form. And it's really
actually good for me to allow things
to be messy and to not be so precise and
so exact art really can develop areas of
your heart that need a little bit of
encouragement or adjustment. Why do I have to make things
perfect all the time? I know there's a
deeper issue there. Having a play and allowing
yourself to make it messy really is good for you if you
have issues like me, right? So they look beautiful. We'll let those dry and then we're going to
put them together on our page with a
few other shapes. Now my stamping is dry. I'm going to turn it over and cut out some
circular shapes. Because I don't want to create
them perfectly circular. I'm trying to overcome
my need for perfection. If I cut them from the back, then I won't be tempted just to cut around the shapes that I see on the page and then we'll see how good they look
once they're cut out. They're clearly
not great circles, but we'll head in that
direction and see how we go. Remember, if you
don't like something, you can just change it. There's no hard and fast rules. It doesn't have to
be any one thing. You can change it
as you go along to suit how you like
to create best. If something's not working, just modify the plan that you're happy with
what you're creating. Otherwise you're going to
defeat the whole purpose. You've got to be happy
with what you're creating, because the whole art class is about you developing
your creativity. And if you don't like
what you're doing, that's just not going to work. Make sure you're enjoying
what you're doing. If you don't like
it, change the idea. If it doesn't work,
try something else. The prompt is really easy. At least three different
shapes in your collage. That's going to be
fairly easy, right? Are we ready for the big reveal? Ta. Oh, yes, I like that. See now, if I had to
cut it from the front, I probably would have
been tempted to follow the lines instead of making
that kind of overly shape. Oh, that's really interesting. Yes, this is working
out just fine. I don't know why you
were so worried, so all that one's
really wonky, right? So I'm going to do the same with this other beautiful piece, and then we're going to have a whole heap ready to collapse. Look at all the fabulous
shapes. Ready to go. Right before we turn over and continue
in our art journal. I just want to show
you what I did here. When you use acrylic paint in your art journal and
you close it up, the pages tend to stick together because of
the acrylic paint. I like to put a piece of washi tape just down the
middle here because I find that crease where it tends to be the place
where it sticks the most. When you open your art journal, it pulls apart and
tears your page. It annoys me. I put a little piece of washi
tape down the middle there, Just so the two areas of the acrylic don't hit
together and become stuck. You can also spray a little
matt varnish over the page, which I also did. That also helps to prevent
the page from sticking. The last thing I like to
do to stop the page from sticking is put a piece
of baking paper in there. When I'm finished and
I'm closing it all up, that also helps to
stop it sticking. I'm using this piece
now to contain my mess. When I create the next page, then we're off running again.
11. Finishing Project 4: Right, I have a heap of
the beautiful circles. I also cut out some shapes
from some black card stock. I cut some shapes from some
other printed craft paper, which I thought could work
really well for backgrounds. I cut all sorts of
shapes just for fun to see what I might
want to add to it. And I also have
some jelly prints, which I might cut some
shapes out as well. Where are we going to start? Well, I think I might
put maybe one of the card stock pieces down first and some of
the jelly prints. Just so it gives us a
good base and foundation. Now when you're looking
at all of your shapes, you want to think about what's
going to be underneath, what's going to be on top, and what could be both. We could run a piece at
the bottom like this, and then you might want
another piece on top. But then if you want a
piece on top of that, do you want that on top or
do you want it underneath? I know right when you're looking at shapes and what
you're working with, you've got to think in terms of layers and how you want
your composition to be, as far as which is
going to sit on the top layer and which is
going to be underneath that. You might have two or three
layers to think about, Do I want these pieces? I find it's really
a lot easier to start with the background and get that down because
you can also change it if you want to down the
track and cover it up. But I find for me, it's easier to just get
the background done and then decide what other
shapes I might want to add. I think I'll start with that. I'll put this piece
here and I'm going to put this jelly
print on this side. Then that'll be a good place
to start and then I'll think about what are the
shapes I want on next. Right. My background
pages are down. I use the gel prints and a
piece of the craft paper. Now, what are we going to do? I've cut myself a whole
heap of different shapes. Had a lot of fun cutting them, but now I don't know if I
actually want to use them. They're pretty nice and it
would be really interesting. I'll have to think about that. I've got so many look
at these cool shapes, I guess I got to think
about what do I want next. I'd actually really
like to put some of this beautiful white
textured paper on this side to lighten up
that background color. We also still have
to think about how we're going to put the
beautiful circle shapes on. I think I did myself more damage by cutting
up so many shapes. It can actually be a little overwhelming when
you've got too much. It's worse than
not having enough. I'm going to put that
on there like that, and then I'm going
to think about which ones of these beautiful
circles I want to add next. Sometimes you really
don't know what you want to add until you
start creating, well, I find that anyway, I can prepare a
whole heap of papers thinking I'm going to do this
or I'm going to do that. But then in the creation of it, and when you sit
down to make it, sometimes you just don't
feel like what you thought you might want to
prepare and that's okay. You've got to go
with the flow with where your creativity
is taking you and what's inspiring you in the
moment of making it right. So I'm liking that. That's
a really nice texture. It's another shape. And went to, okay, if I look at these
beautiful shapes here that I want
to put on my page, I'm going to think about
where I want to put them. Do I want to put
the whole shape on? Do I want to clip
the edge of it? That's core. I don't
mind that idea. Do I want to have it
right to the top? Do I want it over there? It's just a matter
of asking yourself those questions of how you
want to see it on the page. Remember that? You
can't get it wrong. There isn't any wrong. It's just about
you having a play and seeing you want to put
your collage together. I could take some off the page, so it cuts the shape
on the edge there. That could be fun or I could just cut them
and make them smaller. This one I'm thinking I'm
going to cut like that. Now we've got a different shape. I'm going to put it
on the edge here. It's a half circle instead
of a hole. I like that idea. I think I'll do
the same up here. I'll just cut the edge like
that and put it along there. Yeah, I'm liking that. Now the thing is, do I want to add anything over
the top of these shapes? Especially from all
the copious amounts that I managed to chop up, maybe some of this
might work under it. Do we want to go under or over? There's just so
many possibilities. I want to add one of
the beautiful blue, purple ones over here. Yes, I definitely
think that I do. Maybe this one that
would look good. It's just a matter of
making up your mind, your decisions,
having a little play, and see how you feel now. Do I want to leave them like that or do I want to add more of the shapes on
top of those ones? Because that could look
quite good too. Well. Maybe I want to be really dramatic and put the
black in over here. On so many options,
it's not going to fit. It'll have to run off the page. But we could put the black piece in, create another shape. While you're thinking about what shapes you're going to use, there's the obvious shapes
that I'm putting on top, the circles, the cut
out pieces like this. But then there's also
the negative shapes. It's the shapes that are
in between. The shapes. You've got to think about what those colors and textures
are going to be. Are they contributing
to your collage or do you want to
put another shape? Them to change the
color or texture. There's the positive shapes
and the negative shapes. And it's really
all about thinking about your composition
in layers. What's going to sit on top? That means what's
going to be underneath and what's going to be
in the negative space. I know it's a lot
to think about, but it is a lot of
fun and you can move things around 100 times
until you're happy. What am I going
to put over here? I do like a little bit
of the black card stock. It's a little dramatic. I could take this
piece off the edge. Then if I brought in one of these beautiful blue pieces
that could work on top, and we're creating layers again, maybe one of these pieces could go off the edge like that. And perhaps another one over
here, something like that. Ma, or maybe another piece of the Card stock underneath
that could work too. Then there's always
these pieces. If I want to get
really dramatic, I actually like that, right? Well, I think I'll start
sticking some of these down because I often change things
as I'm gluing them down. I might even put
a little piece of the beautiful
textured white paper underneath this one here. I think that could look
really good underneath, because that negative space under there would
be really good. With a piece of that
textured paper, it would match the other side. Now, I'm not sure if
that's going to stay black or if we add
another color on it. I'll start sticking
those down and see where we end up, right? So what do you think about that? Everything's down
on this first side. I think it looks rather interesting now when I put
this particular shape on, I moved it back a
few millimeters from the edge of the page there because it
just makes it easier then when you're closing
your art journal. Otherwise, if you have
really thick papers right to the edge
of the fold there, sometimes it becomes
difficult to open and close. Just think about
that. When you're creating your art journal, you want to move your
thicker pieces because that is a watercolor paper that one, a few millimeters, not far, but just so it's not
right in that crack, your page has more movement
for opening and closing, right onto the other side. Now, I've forgotten
how I had my pieces. If you're doing something
like this and you're not good at remembering
your pieces, go, you can take a photo with your phone and then
you can refer to it. I usually just wing it. I usually just go with the flow of how I'm feeling in
the creation of it. I don't worry too
much about taking a photo and getting it
exactly right again. But if you do want to get your collage
exactly on the page, how you had it, make
sure you take a photo. If you're not one to remember I did it go
something like that. I don't know, but that looks
okay. I don't mind that. I'm still playing around with this strip because it
could look really, maybe if it goes across
there like that, if it's underneath this one. But on top of this one, that could be
really interesting. I might just do that. Okay, well, I'll stick
some of this down and then we'll see what we have
left on the page. Right? This piece is now going
on and we're almost there. I've got it stuck down. I did end up putting the black piece on
because it's just fun. I like the way the line
comes from over this side, and it crosses over
and it's down here. And that just looks
fun to me. I did it. It might be a little chaotic, but I'm having a
really good time now. I'm loving this piece
that looks great, but I'm feeling like
that perhaps is a little too much
big black there. We might have to put
another shape there. What shape shall we put there? Well, I've still
got a whole heap of different shapes
that I cut out. I could use this one,
the color would work. Yes. I'm thinking that maybe that much of it
will probably be enough. Let's cut we'll cut it there. Put it on this corner, and I think we're done. So I'll let all of that
dry and then I'll give you a when it's dried. But I'm pretty happy with it. That was a whole lot of fun. How many different shapes
can you see? Quite a few. There's definitely
more than three. So I fulfilled the prompt, had a great time
doing it and it's a really interesting
collage. Yeah.
12. Drawing Fun: Day five and it's drawing fun. Yeah, it's time to pull
out the drawing materials. Pens, pencils, maybe
watercolor, crayons. And let's have a little
bit of scribble time. What's your favorite
drawing material to use? Do you use drawing
materials in your artwork? I don't tend to use
drawing materials a lot. I tend to use a lot of paint. But recently I did get
ahold of some Poscopenes, so that could be a lot of fun. So what drawing materials
are you going to use today? I think I'm going to pull out some watercolor crowns because I like the way
they become fluid. Of course, right? Because
I tend to be a painter. So the fact that the watercolor crown becomes
paint is a bonus for me. But if you really like drawing, oh man, this is going
to be your day. So the prompt today is to use two different drawing materials and two different
types of paper, But don't get too serious. Scribble on the paper, have a lot of fun, and
see where that leads you. Make some lines,
draw some circles. Allow yourself to really loosen up and let that tension
go on the paper. With something to draw with, I know you might feel
like a three year old, but that could really
do you some good. Have a look here at Si
Twombley's paintings. This is a famous artist and
I look at that and just go, what the heck, Right? You might be thinking my three year old could
do better than that, and I would have
to agree with you. But this is one of the
abstract expressionist artists and he became really
famous for this, basically scribbling
on the canvas. See you can't get it wrong, so allow yourself
to create today, have a scribble and see
where the line takes you. Maybe you might actually
end up drawing something, or maybe you just might release the stress of your day by
having a really good scribble. You could paint in
those scribbling marks and you can color in
the negative areas. Anything's possible if you don't like it after you've
done a big scribble, then put paper over the top. It's collage after all, it covers a multitude of sins. It doesn't have to
stay scribbly lines. That's just the inspiration of where we're going to start. You can add anything else to your page and you can
create anything you like. Just get going. Sit
down at your space, Pick up a pencil or
a pen or a crayon. Touch the paper, make a mess. That's the point.
Anything from there is going to be a bonus and
have a lot of fun, right? I'm pretty excited to
start the next page. Today, as we're going to
be looking at drawing, I'm going to put a Esso primer on my art
journal page first. Now, Esso is a primer, You use it if you want to
prepare a surface for painting, especially if you're painting
on wood or cardboard, or surfaces that are going to leach through any kind of color. But I decided to put it on
today that my art journal, because we're going to be using drawing mediums and it creates more of a tooth or a
texture on the paper. The art journal page
is very smooth, it might not really be as effective for drawing
mediums. I'm thinking. I also want to add
paint to my page. It's better to seal it
with the Jessoprimerfirst. You don't have to,
of course, do this, but I'm going to start my
pages by sealing up with Jess just a light coat because I want to create more
texture on the page. I'm definitely going to be using some watercolor pencils
or watercolor crowns. I just want to give them a little bit more tooth
or texture to grab onto. It won't take long
for the gesso to dry and you only need
a really light coat. Already done? Yeah, of course you don't have to use this
particular brand. There's lots of gesso in
lots of different brands. Easy, Pz, Lemon, squeezy, use what you have first, right? So it didn't take very long for the Esso
to dry on the page. It's a very light covering, but it just gives the page a
little bit more texture and we'll see how well
it works, right? So I've got some fabulous
watercolor pencils and some water soluble
pastels, or crayons, really. And I'm just going to
have a little play, have a little scribble
that feels really nice and see what I
might come up with. So if you look at
tombs paintings, I mean, can you believe it? They sell for millions
and millions of dollars and it's truly just scribble. I know. What can I say? I don't understand it either. So you really can't get it wrong and it's
really therapeutic. Especially if your
days being stressed for this is just a dark gray and I've already
gone crazy with it. But we're going to create maybe a background or some
underneath textures. You could then add some
collage on top of it, add some more papers, even keep scribbling on those
papers. That's really fun. Seriously, you got to let it go and have a really
good scribble. Now, how do these wash
out into water colors? Let's just have a little look, if I add some water, look at that. Oh,
that's fabulous. Except that my whole page
is going to be gray, but that really does
become very fluid. Indeed. Absolutely, yes. I think I better add some
other colors to my page. Write about some light
blue that could help. Now, if you don't
add water to them, then they just feel
like wax pastels. And then when you do
add the water to them, oh man, they just
become like paint. I also have some of the pencils, which are pretty much going
to do the same thing. They're just a lot finer. They feel really good on
the gesso background. They work really well too. They become paint very easily. Oh man, that's
really impressive. Maybe I shouldn't have put so
much dark gray on my page. Well, it really is
a whole lot of fun. Both the pencils and the water soluble crowns
work really well. When you add the water,
they do become very washy, but you can still see
the lines underneath. That's a really cool
texture. I really like that. I'm just going to
let these pages dry and then I'm going to pull out the Posca pens and do
another layer over the top. It's very moody,
don't you think, a very stormy day
at sea on Berlin? Once the page starts
to dry a little, you can add some more of the beautiful water
soluble pastels. I'm just loving
that. It's so fun. You particularly like drawing
and you might want to put some actual picture
into your collars. I'm just really enjoying the scribbling feeling
at the moment. I might take it somewhere
but I might not too. The scribbly lines
really do make a fabulous texture
for a background. Now that it's touch dry, I'm going to add some bold
marks with the Posca pen. Look at that. That is
definitely very bold. I'm feeling confident
and courageous and no, I don't really know
what I'm doing. I'm just going to do it, don't think too much. Just create well
like those marks. What about some on this side? Oh, in a metallic copper kind
of a color. Look at that. Yes, I'm liking it. Yes I am. All right, What am
I going to do next? Oh man, look at me
getting real brave. Now, the prompt is to use two different types
of drawing material. So I've covered that. I've used water soluble crowns, water color pencils,
and Posca pens. Fantastic. The other part of the prop is two
different types of paper. Right. What am I going
to get from my collage? Got some of this beautiful
handmade rice paper, and I think the color is really going to work well with
the colors on my page. Now you can put your collage on your
page and then you can always scribble or
draw over the top. Again, it doesn't
have to be either, you don't have to do
drawing or collage. You can create anything
where your creativity takes. You don't be afraid
to try some ideas, maybe stretch yourself
out of your comfort zone. See where you end up now, That color is just beautiful. It's working with my
background colors. I'm going to go with it. I don't know if I want
all of it on there. I think I'm going to
take off some from here. That's the beauty about using the map medium because
it's still wet. You can easily tear your
papers, put them on, take them off while
you're gluing them down. I just wanted to tell
that I didn't want it such a big block shape and I think I might
find some more. That paper is just beautiful. I've got some of this
amazing gold paper. Well, I think it's
paper feels very fabric like going to add
some to this side as well, loving the color of this print. It's got some fabulous
texture on it. I think I'll put it
on the other side. One of my jelly prints, it is a stamp, script stamp. I think this one's off my
poem that's gonna work well.
13. Finishing Project 5: Remember, you can
change things through the development of your
artwork and your pages. If you're not happy, don't get stuck on something. If it's not working the way
you want, just keep going. Keep coming up with ideas, keep trying different things and see where the
journey leads you. I'm wanting to put
some mark making now on the page with my
beautiful Posca pens. I'm really not sure where
I want to head with this. I'm not sure even if I
like it at this stage. And that's okay. Sometimes you do get halfway through a
piece and you decide, no, that's actually not
what I wanted to do. But don't get discouraged by that because it just means
you need to push on, you need to try a new idea
or try something girls, or have a break,
have a cup of tea, walk away, go for a
walk in the garden. Just don't give up entirely. What do you think
about these marks? I think that's okay. Considering we are doing
drawing this week, perhaps a few more marks with the Posca pens
could be a bit of fun. It might work. It
might not work. It might look horrible. But I can always cover over it. If I don't like it, I'll just put some
collage over it. I don't like anything
at any stage. I'll just fix it. Don't get discouraged at any
stage if something's not going the way you want
because you can change it. That metallic blue
color is pretty nice. What about we add some white
to lighten some things up? Let's do some circles. Maybe these Posca pens
work really well. I've got some really
nice chisel tip ones and the paints flowing. It does take a while to get
the paint flowing, but man, I seem to be shaking forever to get the paint
to the bottom of the dip. Once you get them flowing, they work really well, right? What do I want to
put on this side? It definitely needs some white. Maybe we'll do that design with the line and the
strokes with the white. Well, maybe I should
carry the dots. Okay, let's continue
the dots over here. Just going to add a few more of these lines because I
really like this color. I'm going to add a
little bit more of this dramatic black and bronze on this side because I
just really like it. It's just a matter of
working your collage, putting things on,
seeing if you like them, and changing them if you don't. It's abstract expressionist
and in its fineness, it's all about the experience of the painting and
creating it in the moment. And let me tell you,
it's really liberating when you allow yourself
to create freely. Sometimes it doesn't work
out exactly how you want, but sometimes you end up
creating amazing artworks. It's all a matter of trusting yourself and letting
yourself just create. The journey is in the
creative process, you make a decision, you put down a mark, or a color, or a texture, and then you
move on to another idea. The development of the artwork. It's the process of creativity. It's the excitement of watching
your page come together. The more you trust yourself,
the more you learn, the more easier
it'll become to be intuitive with your
creative application. You've got nothing to lose. It's your own personal journey. It's your art journal page. You don't have to show anybody. Allow yourself to
really experiment, make a mess, have some fun, and see where the
creative adventure takes. You might like it,
you might not. Some of these pages throughout this whole journey are going to be your absolute favorites. But some of them you're going
to want to set fire to. That's how the
creating process goes, That's the development
of the art and allowing yourself to be
intuitive with the application. Don't worry about the
pages that you don't like. Finish them, be done with them, and then move on to the next
prompt or the next day. You can always come back at another stage and fix it
if you really want to, or else you could
just let it go. Right. Well, I'll let
that dry then I'll decide whether or
not I'm finished with it or if I want
to add anything else. Right, my pages are all dry. They're looking beautiful. Gura las dissolve nicely. I put a little bit of a spray of bronze shimmer on the page just to give it a
little bit of bling. Think I over sprayed it
onto this side as well. These are very abstract
expressionist overall patterning, totally abstract marks and
textures. I do like them. They're okay, but I don't know, man, I'm just not feeling it. I feel like they just need a focal point or something else. I'm just wanting
something else for them. I'm going to have a look through my scrap bags of textured papers and jelly
prints and see what I can find. Just need something. Okay. I've come up with these two pieces of
paper for this side. This is a beautiful, natural textured,
probably handmade paper. It's really nice. I'm going to put it right in the middle. I just feel like the pages
need a little something else. I'm not fully convinced
that I'm happy with them. If some of your
pages are not that great or you're not happy
with it, it's okay. We all have pages like that. Don't think that
it's just yours. You can't love absolutely
everything you do, and not everything works
out the way you want. But just know that is exactly the part of
the creative process. Allowing yourself to have
pages that you don't want really is very
liberating because you have to let go of
your perfectionism. Yes, I know, it's
one of my issues. Don't be too hard on yourself. Allow yourself to create, have a lot of fun and learn
from every experience. That just makes me
feel a little bit more satisfied with my college
adding those pieces. I'll show you how beautiful
that's going to look. Once all that is tried, what am I going to do
for the other side? Well, being the creature of
habit that I am going to, I'm going to put one of my favorite handmade
roses on this side. Can't help myself. I just love circles. What can I say that's going to make a beautiful focal
point there in the black. Very dramatic. That just makes me a lot happier
about the page. Then I'm going to finish
the page with this piece. Here I've used a
stencil to create the cross shapes with
a beautiful silver. Probably stencil butter,
I'd say on craft paper. I think that's just going
to finish that off. I'm a lot happier about it. I'll show you when it's
dry. I think they're okay. They're definitely not
my favorite pages, but I think we got
there in the end. They've got some nice textures. The colors are
pretty, sometimes. You just got to let it go.
14. The Magic of Gelli Printing: Day six. I'm so
excited because today we're doing a basic
lesson of jelly printing. I absolutely love
jelly printing. It's such an easy, quick and experimental process
for creating mono prints. You'll see it becomes
really addictive. So we're just going
to do a basic lesson today just in case you haven't played with
this medium before. Because I tend to use a lot of jelly prints in my collage. Absolute. One of my
favorite ways of creating unique textured and
beautiful collage papers. Right? So I use jelly printing a lot with
my collage projects. I absolutely love the technique
because it's so easy, it's so fast, and there's minimal amount of art
supplies. Of course. First of all, you
need your gel plate. I have a ten x eight
Jelly Arts plate, A Bray out for
rolling the paint on and off a roll off
sheet for excess paint. And of course, a variety
of acrylic paints. Now I like to use
both full body and the fluid paints because I
like to interchange them. They just create a
different texture and it's a whole lot of fun. You will need some baby wipes to clean up your
hands and the plate. And of course, some paper. Now I'm going to be using
this Japanese rice paper. I'm also going to be using
some wet strength tissue. Now all of these materials, exactly what I'm
using today will be in the notes
section of your class. So have a look there if you want to know exactly what I'm using. Now, of course you don't have to do jelly printing
with this course. It's not an obligation,
it's not mandatory. But I do use a lot of
jelly prints when I'm collaging and you'll hear me say this is a jelly
print that I'm using. I thought if you
hadn't come across this particular medium
and application, you might want to know
what I'm on about. We're going to do just
a basic, simple lesson. The first thing we want to do is take some prints
with a plain color. I've just used
unbleached titanium. And I'm going to print a
solid color for a background. We're then going to add some
different colors and layers, maybe some stencils
and some stamps. The possibilities truly are
endless for jelly printing. It's also very fast to, we've taken our first print, our first layer, it's
that easy and that quick. Now, if you use similar tones of colors in your
printing application, you don't have to clean
the colors between prints. I'm going to just leave the
titanium on there and put some raw Siena dark on
the plate. Roll it off. Now if you don't really
blend your color in, you will get these
abstract marks left on your plate
from the paint. I really like that. Personally, I like
the abstract marks of not entirely
blending the paint in. But if you would prefer your
colors to be more blended, then just keep rolling on
the plate that will blend your colors together more easy. Peasy, lemon, squeezy. You see how there's a few
extra little marks on there. I really like that
abstract quality. It doesn't bother me at all. But like I said, if
you're concerned, just keep rolling and
blending your colors. You see, now that print took off more paint from the plate than
what was on there before. If I wanted to do like a green or a blue or a
different kind of a color, I would need to clean
the roller and the plate going to keep using warm tones
and make some more prints. You can of course, use baby wipes to clean off your
Brayer in between prints. That's really helpful. If you put on too much paint and it's oozing over the side, you can just roll it off
like a roll off sheet. I like to use paper
packaging because Hello, it's free for a star. Also it becomes amazing. Collage paper, Yes, you know, we use everything
for our collages. Paper packaging is one of the free resources that I
absolutely love to use. Beautiful metallic copper. One color straight on the paper. Easy. Yeah. You can use a few different colors on the plate and you'll find that if you don't
blend them altogether, you'll get those abstract
marks I was talking about, which I really like. Of course, you don't have
to just use plain paper. This one's a music sheet. They print really, really
well from the gel plate. I love using them in my collars. Paper is paper. Baby, remember that huge list of paper that we looked
at in a previous class? So many of those
different paper types you can print with
on the gel plate. Look how good that looks. If you use more of a
transparent paint, you'll see more of the
music notes coming through. You can add other
layers on top of this, some stencils or stands
that works really well too. You're not limited one type of application and there's not
one way to rule them all. You can't get it wrong. It's a matter of experimenting. Allowing yourself to play, being brave enough to
try different ideas, and to keep working
on the process. You will find it is a little addictive once you get going, especially creating
print after print. It's just so much fun and
there's so many possibilities. Now, stencils and stamps add a whole other dimension to
your beautiful jelly print. If you put the paint on first and then put
the stencil on, the paint that's trapped
under the stencil, it is called the
ghost print paint on. First, put a stencil on, put the paper on,
and pull the print. Step one, what you're
doing is picking up all the paint that's in
the stencil printing onto the paper. Just beautiful. This is the iridescent
bronze fine. There's still quite a bit of paint left on the plate there. This is called the ghost print. You can pull this
either straight away with a piece of paper, I'm going to use the
wet strength tissue, or you can wait and pull
it with another color. We'll pull it straight
away this time. Maybe we'll wait next time. Then this should pick up all of that beautiful paint
that's still on the plate. Now you can really
vary your prints by the different colors that you use for the first and
the second print. It really is quite endless. The beautiful marks
that you can create, look at that, you
never quite know what you're going to get until
you pull up the paper. Now this time the
beautiful marks through the stencil
stain on the plate. So I can pull that
with another color. Let's get dramatic and go with some permanent violet dark. And see if we can pull
the print up with that. Right? Let's have
a look and see if the beautiful violet deep pulled up our iridescent bronze. I've used the wet strength
tissue so it should hold with the paint amount all. Yes, it's looking beautiful. Have a look at that.
Little bit of bronze, little bit of purple.
What's not to love? Once you get comfortable with putting the
paint on the plate, pulling prints, it really is quite endless what you
can do and achieve. You just have to allow
yourself to experiment. Don't get discouraged if
something didn't work out the first time exactly
how you wanted it. And try multiple layers. Try different stencils,
try different stamps, and see what prints and
creations you can come up with. Even when they don't work. They all make fabulous
collage paper. This time I'm going to
put those cross shapes on one of our previous
prints with the music notes. Let's see how that looks. It really is just a
matter of having courage, trying different ideas, and using different
pieces of paper. Look at that. That's a whole lot of
fun that would look fabulous in a collage as an
element or a focal point. And you can still see the music notes behind
it in the background. Now we have this
particular ghost print that's left on the plate. It shouldn't take too long to dry because it's not
very thick paint. I'm going to put a
second layer with another stencil on top and
I'm going to put the paint, roll the beautiful
purple right over the top where the mask is
that won't have the paint. And the other layers will
receive this second layer of paint color that's
going to create another line and texture
on the print, right? We wait for that layer to dry
and then we pull the print. Sometimes waiting for the paint to dry is the hardest part. Now, if you previous
layer is not dry, it will blend in rather than being a separate
print on top. You do have to wait
between layers if you want your prints to turn out
nice and clear part. Don't let that stop you because it's always fun to experiment. Half the fun is not
knowing what you're going to get until you
pull up the paper. Right? Let's see how
that turned out. Look at the shades and colors in those prints. So much fun. Now the possibilities are
endless with jelly printing, you just need paper, paint, a gel plate,
and a brayer. Away you go, Try
different ideas, different color
combinations using different types of paper. The different types
of paper will create different response to
the paint and the prints. Also the layers that you put on. You can try some stencils
and some stamps. Stamps work really well. You can also try using
things from around your house if you haven't
got any commercial stencils. So many things in your
household will make beautiful texture or create fabulous marks on the gel plate. You just don't know
until you try.
15. Finishing Project 6: Right now, I've got all of
these fabulous jelly prints. And I'm just going to have to
decide which ones I want to use for my college pages because my pages
are pretty small. I'm really going to
have to narrow it down. Oh man, How am I
going to choose? I think I'll start with
a background color. I'm really leaning towards
this beautiful violet. Maybe I'll put some of
that as a background on there that I do like those
edges, they're pretty nice. And then I'll
choose a section of another print to put
as a focal point. And this side, oh man, it's just not easy. There's just too many nice ones. I really like this print on the music paper
with the crosses. That looks pretty good. I do like that one as well. Maybe I'll put that one on
the bottom and then I'll put some of this as a focal
point that could work. Perhaps. This one looks
pretty good to Oh man, and I really like this one. I know that's not helping. Okay, I'm going to
start with putting this one as a background and
this one as a background, and then we'll decide what we're going to add
for focal points. Isn't this one just
such a beautiful color? Right now, I think I
want to put some of this one on this page
because I really like it. Maybe half the page could be this one. Yeah, I'm thinking. So I think it worked really
well on the music paper. That's a great
paper to work with. When you're jelly
printing you can find it so affordably
at thrift shops. Ops, buying music books is
really an affordable resource, especially when you're
jelly printing. And you just want to
experiment without stressing too much about
using your good paper. I'm thinking I'm going to
tear this down the side. The music paper in the books
is quite sturdy so you can put quite thick paint on it or experiment with
some other mediums. Yeah, I'm liking this idea. We'll put this
along there, right? That looks great and
they're stuck down. What are we going to do next? I really like this one
with the beautiful bronze. I'm thinking, I
wonder if I could just tear a section out of this, make a focal point on top of
the beautiful violet color, something in some
shape and size. Not sure. Sometimes
you just have to try your ideas head in a particular direction and see if it works
and if it doesn't, you just try another idea. But you've got to at least be moving in a
particular direction. I'm thinking that I want some focal point is this beautiful piece
on top of that one. But I'm just not exactly
show the size that I want. We might try with this
size and see how it looks. What about something like that? That's pretty nice and dramatic. It's a little bit
wonky, but that's okay. I can do wonky. I might even then find one of my beautiful beehive
circles for the middle. That would look great. I'll have to have
a rummage through my scrap box and see what little treasure
I could come up with. Yeah, I'm happy
with that. Right. That needs a little
treasure in the middle. I'll have to go and have a look. Always good to have a box
full of bits and pieces. Small pieces of paper
or collage bits or things that you
see along the way. Collect them, put them in a box. And then when you
just need a little, you'll have somewhere to
look for it right now. This is called beehive paper. It's one of my
absolute favorite. It's handmade from Thailand. In your notes, you will
find the website and discount codes for
the papers that I absolutely love and
can't live without. Have a look there. If you want to find
the resources, they're real easy to use. You just tear off the little
piece like this and all of a sudden we have a beautiful
circle for a focal point, or you can use a whole
row or the whole piece. I have done all of the above. I also have it in white, one of my absolute favorites. I'm going to use one of these for my focal point
in the center, which I think my
beautiful design needs. Then I'm going to use this, which is a wax seal
from taperology. Again, you will find
the website and a discount code in your
notes. So have a look there. If you want to source some
of these beautiful pieces, I'm going to put that T right
in the middle like that, and that makes me happy. It looks very Moroccan,
don't you think? I'm thinking so. I think it's
the colors and the shapes. I'm loving that that's
going to work really well. Now, I think I'm
going to use just a little bit thicker
on this piece. I'm going to use some
PVA glue because I think being a little
bit thicker plasticky, I'm going to just put a bit on there on it goes beautiful. I love it. It suits the style. It's got the fabulous bronze. It finishes off that
page beautifully. I love jelly printing. You might be able to tell by how silly I get when I'm
printing because it's so creative and the possibilities
are just so endless. What you can make
with the papers and the colors and the textures
and how you use the prints, loving this, I think
it's beautiful. And that finishes the
page of wonderfully. Now, are we going to
leave this like that or shall we add something
down the middle? Let's have another look
through those prints. On this side, I've
pulled out a piece of this is called
Gossamer paper. It's also one of my
absolute favorites. It does look like fabric. I know, I just love it. I've pulled a piece of this out. I'm going to put this down the middle of these
two beautiful papers. Then I'll probably add something
just to finish it off. That's going to
look really nice. Just there, I think I'll leave all those tassels not glued down because
they just look better. That's a bit of fun. Have it
a little bit wild and free. The color works really well against these beautiful
copper tones. This is my box that I'm
talking about, my scrap box. It has copious amounts of
bits and pieces of paper and textures from doing
collages as I finish them. Or I've got little bits
leftover or pieces, I put them in this box here. And then when I want a little
something for my collage, I know where to find it. All the pieces in this box will be black and white
or earthy tones. And then I have another
box full of warm colors, oranges and reds, and a different box with
blues and greens. It helps me to find what I
want when I want to find it. It really is a fabulous
way to collate your different
textured papers or things that you might want
to add into your collage. It's fantastic to have
a rummage through when I want to find something
like this piece here. Specifically, I want
something in the earthy tones that's going to
add a lovely focal point on the page there. This box of fabulous textures and papers is most likely to have something that I want
having a rummage through here. Yes, the beautiful
iridescent bronze fine on this piece of tissue with a stamp from my palm script would work
really well on there. I think we shall
settle on that one. I love having a rummage through my scrap
boxes because you're bound to find something
that you want to use. It's just really easy when
I finish colleges or I find texture papers or I
make prints or whatever. It's just really easy to
put them in that box, in the colors associated
with the papers, because then it's really easy to find something
when I want it. I'm thinking maybe
a piece of this, I think it needs to go right to the edge, the color works. And I really like
the scribbly writing and texture that's on the paper. Maybe a piece of this
somehow on here, edge there, or
towards the middle. Thinking towards the middle now, I just have to decide
on size and shape, where I want to put it. I'm liking this idea, maybe something like that. Not all the way, Yeah. Perhaps all the
way to the edges. Something like that. I
think that could work. The bronze looks beautiful with the bronze on this
side of the page. Yeah, I'm pretty happy with
my beautiful jelly pricks. Just beautiful. I'll give you a close up when it's all dried.
16. Textures & Layers: Day seven and we got to
the end of our first week. It's so very exciting. In the last lesson
of each class, we're going to use a combination
of that week's prompts. Which ones did you
like the best? Which ones didn't you like La? There's always going to be some. So use two or three of this week's prompts in your
art journal page today, especially the ones that
you really enjoyed. Maybe you liked the scribbling, or maybe you were absolutely besotted with your
choice of shapes. Perhaps you found a new artist that you're absolutely inspired by and you really want to create a new collage from
that inspiration. I know I have a heap of jelly prints that
I'd like to use, so the options are
absolutely endless. Which prompts do you want to
use in your collage today? Don't forget, there's
notes for you to print out on the class
with a description of each lesson just in case
you forgot something or you want to go over something or
I'm talking just too fast. There'll also be a materialist
and more information for you to help your
creative adventure. Don't forget to post a pick in the project section of your favorite collage
from this week. I'd love to see it, right? So I'm going to use
some jelly prints. Of course, I love
my jelly print. I've just got to decide which
ones I want to use because I've got all sorts
of bits and pieces left over that I'm just loving. I'm also going to use some
of the water soluble crowns. I struggled with those pages and I didn't think I did
a very good job of them. I'm still loving the process of using those crowns.
They felt good. I like the watery
application for my third element from
this week's collages. I may even put some
of these shapes on because they turned
out rather beautiful. Don't you think I might
use up some of these? They are my three
elements that I'm using from this week's
class. I love that. This is the final
one of the class for our very first week of
100 days of collage. I mean, I know that's a bunch. Do you know how much
we're going to learn? And I say we because I'm here right along with you
in the whole process. This is really stretching
for my creativity as well. And you're going to hear me complain when things
don't work out. And you're going to see
how I have to handle it because we're in this
journey together now, I'm going to start with, oh man, I cut it a bit short.
I'm so good for that. I so often cut things too
short. What is it with me? Anyway, I'm going to use this particular piece
of the gel print, that's going to be a really
good place to start. Then I'm going to put
something else on the bottom bit because I
managed to cut it too short. I could attach that
to the bottom, but that's a bit boring anyway, seeing as we have to
put something there, mails will make it interesting. I think I'll add this piece I like to this piece that I
used on the other page. All right, I'm going to
add that right there. I really hope you're
going to continue to join me in this
fabulous journey. Because when we get to
the end of 100 collages, we'll be able to look back
and see how much we've grown, how much we've learned, and we'll have an
incredible collection of amazing artworks. I love that aspect of it. Yep, that's going there. And what we're doing
next, I'm not sure. I'm going to stick that down and then that's
going to have to dry before I put some of the I really liked
this blue color. I'm going to start with that,
put that on the background. Now on this side, I'm a little partial to
these fabulous crosses. I know that's a little intense, but I'm going to glue that down and then I'm going to find a white print to put over the top to create
some more layers. Now that's a great
place to start now don't forget as you're going along with
this art class to put a photo of your project
in the project section, because I really want
to see how you're responding to the prompts
or what you're working on. I really find it absolutely fascinating how
different everybody is. And what you've
got to work with. How did your jelly
prints turn out? Did you even do jelly
prints? Man, I love it. It's just the best look at that beautiful
texture and pattern. Jelly printing is the best. I'd really like to
know how you're going, how your collages
are turning out, and how you're finding
the fabulous adventure. What prompts do you
like, What do you hate? You know, it's going
to get a little bit deeper and more intense
as we travel along. Just saying we're going
to know each other really well by time we get
through all 100 collages. Yes, I do have the whole
course already planned out. I'm really excited for it. Through all of the subjects of the classes that we're
going to be doing. It is going to get
a bit personal, but you don't have to
show anyone your colors. You don't even have to tell me. You don't have to tell anyone. You will, however, hear my own personal stories
and watch my agony. But if you don't want to show me yours or tell me your
stories, that's okay. Just know that you can. Right. I'm going to put a little bit of these crosses on the side there because I love
these textures. Turned out beautiful on
my wet strength tissue. Yeah, a few more for the
bottom section here, just like that and that's
going to look great. Look at all those beautiful, rich metallic tones.
Just fabulous. It's a little damp still, but what about if we have a little play with
the water soluble crown? I just want to add some of that beautiful blue texture
onto the jelly print. Such a nice color, it's actually
really therapeutic. I, I just really enjoyed the scribbling process
and it's so easy to put the color on with
these water soluble crowns. They're so immediate, right? So what will it look like
when we add some water? I love the bronze background
of the texture jelly print. We'll just smudge
it around a little. Loving this plan.
Now the question is, am I going to put some of those circle shapes on the page? I think they would go
really well because they've got that lovely
blue color in it. I think we should
have a little play with putting those on the paper. Right. I'm liking that now. I just have to let that dry. Then we're going to
decide if we're putting those shapes on. Looks good. While this one dries
a little more, I'm going to put a
white jelly print over the top of these ones. Now I have found when I've
used jelly prints that have some sprayed eyes
on them or in them, then they reconstitute
and they soak through the white textured or rice
paper that I put on top. Now I know that's going to
happen and I'm okay with that. It will come through, it will reconstitute through, and it will probably be a little bit yellow, I'm thinking. That's okay. Long as you
know what's going to happen, you can handle it a bit better. Now, I just want to
put a piece of this. I'm not sure how much. It's a fabulous print.
I really like it. It's just white rice
paper and then it has some painted elements
of white on top. I love white on white. It always looks so
fresh and beautiful and when you put it
over other colors, it just adds another
textured layer. I'm going to put this piece here just tearing
the edge because I like a torn rough organic edge more than I like the cut edges. Right. I'm going
to put that there. That way or that way
maybe that way. Right. I'll put that there and
we'll see how it goes. We'll see what bleeds through. I'll find something
for a focal point. You know, I'm going to
lean towards a circle, but maybe I'll surprise you. It just needs a little
something there I'm figuring. Or maybe I'll put
one of the circles, ooh, they are going
on that side. So I could possibly
put one on this side. All right. We'll get this on
and then we'll have a look. See, I love the
way the rice paper dissolves and you see all the textured colors
underneath coming through. Love it absolutely do. Well, I'm quite happy and surprised that it hasn't
bled through at all. It would be bleeding through
by now if it was going to. Maybe these papers didn't
have any sprays on them. Well, you never quite know. Now look, I've got a
half circle there. Are we going to put these beautiful cut out
circle shapes on here? If we are. How are they
going to actually go? Man, that is the question. That one's really nice. It's got the right colors, it's got the bronze. This one looks good.
Might be a bit big. We could always put
half it on like that, seeing as we've got a half
that side that could work. Got a few small
ones here, maybe. Baby, what do you think? What do we want? The one with the bright
color in it. Pretty nice. Maybe we want that one
there instead. Maybe we do. I know it's decision time. Are we going to use any over
here in the focal point? Not sure about that, although
that is a very nice one. Why don't mind the oval shape of it too? Yeah, that
could be. All right. Let's leave that one there. We want that size
or the bigger size? Yeah. No, I think we need that. We might even put
something else behind it. A little bit of textured paper? Maybe, baby. Yeah, something like that.
17. Finishing Project 7: Although I'm thinking that
I might want to put some white underneath it to
make it a bit more. I'm going to pull out a stamp, and stamp that background
with some white, just so it pops out
a little bit more. It's a very risky move, but you always good for
a risky move, right? I've got some white paint, I've got this stamp, which I absolutely love. It's really pretty.
And a baby wipe in case it all goes to custard
and I have to wipe it off. Yes, it's a risky move, I don't want too much on it. But I some think, oh, you see you have to make risky
moves, you have to try. I was getting ready to wipe
it off if I didn't like it. Now, I don't want it
on the bottom section. I just want it on that section
just to brighten it up a little because it was
looking a bit flat, right? Yes. That makes
me a lot happier. Now, we have to consider
again, our fabulous circles. Yes, I think that worked to
brighten up the background. Now, back to the circles. Which ones are we going to use? Are they going to be the
top and the bottom section? Do we want some big ones? Do we want to take them
off the edge? Oh man. So many questions. Right?
There's my half one. I still like that idea of
taking that one to the edge. Don't mind that one up there. Do we want the one
with the red in it? That's pretty nice.
Might just need to maybe fix the shape a
little, a little wonky. Or there's that one or
the blue one. Oh man. The bigger one or the smaller
one with the blue in it. Both those work. These
little ones are rather cute. They're a little wonky
too, but does that matter? Now? That doesn't matter. I still like this one over here, my little egg shape. See, it's not even round. Yeah, I think I'll put them into the bottom section as well. Maybe down like that,
something like that. At either that one or that one. That's a bit singing, don't you think that one? That
looks good too. Okay, I finally
settled on a plan, but that was not
an easy decision. I'll stick all these
down then we need to decide if we're
doing anything else with my egg on the other side. It did take some chopping and changing my
mind and a little bit of maneuvering because it could have gone 100
different ways, I could have put it in 50
different designs on the page. It really doesn't
matter too much. It really could have been
created so differently. I could have put them here
or there or somewhere else. In the end, you have
to trust yourself. I just decided this
is the way it felt, right to me, these feel like moons with the planet
surrounding them. I liked this placement best. On top of the beautiful white
stamp design underneath, I just felt the little
cluster of them, like this felt good to me. That's how you have to think when you're creating the page. How does it feel to you? Do you like it? Do you
want to change it? Do you think everyone else is
going to think it's weird? Well, don't worry about that. That's why the art
journal is so incredibly liberating because you don't
even have to show anybody. You can create your art in your own space and have a
beautiful time doing that. Of course, if you want to show everybody that's not
a problem either. But just know your decisions
are going to be right. Trust yourself, be led
by intuition as you go. You're going to find that
it's going to get easier with the more experience that
you have in creating these beautiful art works.
I'm happy with that. It's all stuck down now. I think it's rather
beautiful now. This side, my egg,
needs something. At the moment, I'm a little
stuck on these wax seals, so I'm going to put one of these right
in the middle there. Because that makes me happy. I just love it. Right?
It's just for me. But then I'm thinking
maybe I want a little bit of texture
underneath my egg shape. Perhaps. I'm not sure until I put it under there if
this is what I want. But what about if I put
something under there? Is it taking away from my egg? I think it might be. What
about if I cut it in half? I just really like
layers with the collage. And I love tactile. I love the touchy
feeling of the paper, and I love to see all sorts of interesting shapes on top of
each other. What about that? That looks better if
I trimmed it down. Yeah, I don't mind
that. What about if I take that off
the bottom there? We could put it right in
the middle like that. And then we could put that
there and that there. What do you think? Right.
That's going on like that. I'm going to glue that down. That's all done. I'm loving it. The pages are beautiful. It's a great collection
of the weeks collages. I'll give you a
close up when it's dried and that was
a whole lot of fun. Okay. So I was all prepared to walk away
and leave it alone, but it was just bothering me. I don't know. I think
it's the egg shape. I'm just I can't el with it. I just can't. I've pulled the
center out of one of my fabulous handmade
roses and I'm going to put it on like that. That just makes me feel
a whole lot better. I know I've got problems,
I've got issues. I'm just, I'm just
circle obsessed. What can I say? I don't know, Maybe I'll get over it one day. But right now, yes, it is definitely an obsession. But this does make me
feel a whole lot better. So what can I say? You just have to make the art that makes you feel good, right? I'm putting it on like
that because I don't know. It just feels better. It just feels more complete. I think that's what
it is that I know. I know we're all a little weird. That's all I can
say. There it is. Now it's complete and now I
feel a whole lot happier.
18. Let's Celebrate: Well, here we are. Congratulations. We finished our first week
of 100 days of college. And how did you go? Which
prompts did you like? Which did you not like? Which of the art materials
did you like using the best? It really was so much fun. I was challenged on
one of the pages, and that's how it's going to
be for the whole adventure. Some of the days you're
absolutely going to love. And some of them seriously, you will want to
set fire to them. Not everything works out the way you want
with creativity. And that really is
part of the process because sometimes when you
find something you don't like, it helps you to
understand what you do Like we've just started on
this mighty fine adventure. I'd love to see your colleges, so don't forget to post a
pick in the project section. And don't forget in
your class notes, you'll have a list
of the art supplies if you want to find anything. There's also my information there if you need to reach out, if you have questions
or you need help, my e mails there, you
can contact me directly. In the notes, you'll find one of my digital collage
papers for you to use. You'll also find the
fabulous treasure maps. They're really fun. Have a look. You can see where we're headed. All of the class titles are listed there for our
fabulous adventure, if you have lots of photos
you want to show me, you can always join
my Facebook group, Creative Adventures, Making Art. And you could hashtag
celebrate your creative self. So I know that you've come
from this fabulous class. I'd love to see your collages. I'd love to know how you
responded to the prompts. That would be just so cool. Well, I guess you deserve
a week off to regroup it, restore your strength,
because then we're going to be off
again on week two. And I'm so excited
because in week two we're going to be
exploring, found objects. I know it's going
to be so much fun, I can't wait to create
with you again. I really look forward to
seeing you in the next class. So I really hope you're
going to join me then.
Froyle Davies, Mixed Media Artist
