Art Practice

 Hi y'all,

I don't push myself to paint every single day because that is unreasonable.  You won't find my in my studio on Christmas Day, days that I'm drowning in tasks, or if I have a migraine or on an adventure with Joe.  That being said I'm in my studio almost every day. Just ten minutes of gluing stuff I find on my desk into a collage restores my artist soul.  

It takes roughly 200 hours to drastically improve your skill in any field according to many sources on the internet.  That sounds like a lot.  One thing I do to get art practice in my schedule is set time aside every week just for that.  My family knows that on Wednesday afternoon I paint.  You might not have a whole afternoon, but maybe you can find your 15 minutes in your week to do a little bit of art.  

Here are a few things that can be accomplished in 15 minutes:

1.  Gesso your art journal spread or pages.

2.  Make marks on a variety of papers (book pages, copy paper, junk mail.

3. Spray ink on your papers through a stencil.

4. Glue odds and ends togeter for a collage.

5. Put a few strokes of your favorite color paint across your papers.

If you can do this when you're busy, when you do get a time to create you'll have a lot to start with.

Below is an art journal flip through of my art practice.

And for fun--here's my latest painting.  It took a surprising whimsical turn.

Practice doesn't make perfect, but it certainly makes growth.

Artist quote of the month:  "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."--Anais Nin

Here's to your growth!

Warmly,

Carolyn

You can find me on Instagram @carolyn_herring_studio or on Etsy by clicking here.

Making a Vertical Collage

 

Hi y'all,

Before I share how to make vertical collages, I'd like to introduce Henry our new kitty.

We found him after Thanksgiving behind our downtown shop--a tiny starving thing.  My son fed him and acclimated him to people, and then I took him home.  

It isn't easy adopting a feral cat.  He was a bit rough sometime and tried to eat your dinner for you, but now he's enjoying the life of a house cat.  We thought he was a kitten, but he's full grown and and no longer undernourished.

Now let's get back to those vertical collages which are great for beginners.  A vertical collage has pieces running vertically or top to bottom instead of side to side.  I believe that vertical collages look better if they have an odd numer of pieces.  The one above has 5 background pieces plus two focal point pieces which gives you seven pieces in all.  So consider every element you lay down for your collage.  If something looks off count the pieces.  Chances are you have an even number of things and need to add one more.

I like to choose a few colors and perhaps and marker or two and paint my own paper for tearing or cutting into collage papers.  A gelli print is also excellent for these types of collages.  You can read about how I do that here. Mother boards

As for focal points some of my favorites are stamps colored with dampened Dina Wakley Media Scribble Stick likr the moth below..  Black inked stamp impressions would be great.  Words cut from a magazine or handwritten finish a collage nicely. I like digging through odds and ends to see what I can find.  I used an old key once.

You can watch the basic process here.

Vertical Collages

Here are a few more examples that are a bit more complicated:

I save my coolest scraps in a box so vertical collages come together easily.   I love making these, and I hope you try.

Warmly,

Carolyn

I don't use sponsor links for products, but if you are curious about any supplies I've used I'll share where they came from.

My art quote of the month--"Everything is hard before it is easy." Goethe

You can find me on Instagram @carolyn_herring_studio or on Etsy by clicking here.

Extra Paint

 Hi y'all,

Are you like me?  Do you always have extra paint on your brush or pallette? My pallette is a tacky plastic Halloween plate from bygone times, and there is always paint on it.  Beatiful, beautiful paint that I hate to waste. I'm going to share three simple ways to use up your paint quickly for your next project or page.

Number one: Simply swipe paint on a blank art journal page.  Now you aren't starting with an empty page,you have color and expressive strokes to work from.

Do you see the orange paint in the background?  That was left over from another day.

Number two: make circles, squares, or other simple shape on book paper or other interesting paper you might have.  One of my favorite papers for this technique is wet strentgh tissue paper because on a pale background the tissue becomes sheer if covered front and back with gel medium.

Green and white blended circles with leftover paint on bookpaper.

Thirdly, if you have a variety of colors on your pallette, its fun to make simple flowers.  Simple flowers can be circles or lines.  One the page below you'll see flowers made from painting a v and then adding an extra line.  They look quite nice all together. I've even used brown, but in a mass of flowers it fades into shadow.

V flowers

Those are my three simiple ways to use up extra paint.  Of course there are many more.  Let me know if you'd like a few more or share some cool ones you have.

Warmly,

Carolyn

I don't use sponsor links for products, but if you are curious about any supplies I've used I'll share where they came from.

My art quote of the month--"There is no must in art because art is free" Wassily Kandinsky

You can find me on Instagram @carolyn_herring_studio or on Etsy by clicking here.

Stencil Twist

Make a cool flower

 Hi y'all,

I have a little video about playing with the new Dina Wakley Media Sunshine Stencil.  This stencil is everything right now.  It would be hard to describe the technique, so I'm going to pop in the video now.

I used the stencil with acrylic paints. This won't work with every stencil, but circular stencils work.  If you find a better medium, please let me know.

Really focus on your focal point.

I'd love to see what you came up with.

Meanwhile I'm wrestling with a new puppy who takes so much of my time.  Wow!

Enjoy your summer!

Warmly,

Carolyn

Here's a link to my Etsy shop: Pink Bunkadoo

Making a toned background.

 Hi y'all,

Did March fly by for you?  I blinked and it's almost April.  Hopefully April brings rain.  We're in a serious drought in my home town.

Do you mind if I share a few adventures?  I volunteered to help paint a mural in one of our parks by a basketball court.  I met some kindred spirits and we had so much fun.  Here's where we left it.

Here's a bit that I worked on.

The lovely event coordinator gave me some extra paint.  Half of the items in my studio are leftovers from other people.  I'm happy to use them.  The paint was so lovely, I was inspired to create this landscape. It took three days for me to get it right.  Now it just needs a frame.

If it wasn't wonderful enough, Anat Ronen the muralist came to town. Her instagram account is absolutely amazing.  Lucky me, I'm taking a master class from her this evening.

Now for today's video.  You can watch it here.

Unfortunately, my phone is so old and I had so much trouble uploading it that there is no voice over. So I'll type through it.  I wanted to make a subtle but colorful background.  I started by dipping Scribble Sticks in water (Stabilo Woodies or Gelatos and other water soluable medium would work) and drew some rough rectanges.  Then I went around it with a warm gray paint.  A neutral gray would be beautiful, too. After it dried, I used white paint through a stencil.  Then I used the gray through a different stencil.  You can see me sketch a simple face thinking of that snippet of scripture -I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  If you'd like a lesson on drawing a face, Tam from Willowing and Dina Wakely both have videos on YouTube that really helped me.

By next month, I should have a new phone and maybe voice over on the video.  Mine is an iPhone 8.  Ancient.  

I wish you happy arting.  Here's your art quote of the month:

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life - Pablo Picasso

My advice:  Art is for everyone.

Warm wishes,

Carolyn

 Hi y'all,

Today I have an art journal flip through to share.  I'm sharing it for a couple of reasons.  One big reason is part of being an artist is sharing.  I've been blessed.  Most people have been kind.  The artist community on Instagram is supportive.  I'm also a supporter of Dina Wakely.  Everyone in her group is especially lovely.  I'd like to challenge you to share your art.  If you tag me @pinkbunkadoo, I'll be able to see what you created.  Another big reason is practice.  In my art journal, I'm not looking for perfection which is way over rated.  I'm trying things out.  

Below is the quick flip through.

Here are some pieces that it inspired.  These pieces were in my recent art show.

During the flip through you might spot some inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by!

Warmly,

Carolyn

Links:

Instagram: @pinkbunkadoo

Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PinkBunkadoo