Art Journaling: Life The Life Art Journal Page Video Tutorial

May 9, 2012 By 5 Comments

Today I thought I’d pop in and share an art journal page I created for my personal blog www.andreawalford.com – my place to share my mixed-media work. I use my art journals for a lot of different things – exploration, experimentation, reflection….The beauty of art journaling is that you don’t really need many special supplies above and beyond what you likely already have if you’re a paper crafter who enjoys working with different materials and mediums.

I’ve filmed a video tutorial that you can watch from www.andreawalford.com that shows you how I created this page. Now keep in mind, this is a relatively simple page- I usually like to add more layers, more 3D elements, more texture, but those types of pages are hard to film because they take way longer to create. 

Filed Under: Andrea's Artwork, Art Journaling

“She Followed Her Dreams” Mixed Media Canvas

April 26, 2011 By 3 Comments

Today I wanted to share with you another of my mixed-media canvases that is part of the same series I’ve shared with you over the last few weeks.  You can see the first on HERE, and the second one HERE. You can click on any of the pictures to get a close-up.

Of all three of my “girls”, I would probably have to say that this is the one that I hold closest to my heart.  It’s “me” so to speak.  First off, I’m kind of short LOL – and she’s shorter than the others, and I love pink.  But more so, I finally feel like I’ve reached a place in my art where I am moving beyond my fears, my reservations, my insecurities, and following my dreams. Really, when I stop to think about it - all that I do - my blogs, my traditional and online classes and Paper Crafter’s Library - are the embodiment of my dreams. The ability to pursue a passion of mine not just for fun and not just for fulfillment, but as a business  as well.

As with the other two canvases, they are inspired by Christy Tomlinson’s “She Art” girls. The techniques I used in creating them are an amalgamation of what I learned in her class plus what I learned from a bunch of other books and classes and simple experimentation.  The pattern for the girl and her clothes are ones that I hand-sketched myself. 

Filed Under: Andrea's Artwork, Mixed-Media

“Promise of Spring” Mixed Media Canvas by Andrea & “Playing Catch” Mixed Media Canvas by Julia Walford (Age 8)

April 20, 2011 By 13 Comments

For months now, my just-turned-8 year old daughter Julia has been begging and pleading with me to teach her how I create my Mixed Media pieces.  Now don’t get me wrong – Julia  has pretty free access to many of the supplies in my studio and already really enjoys making cards. In fact she’s been crafting with me and making cards for years.  Just to give you an example of her enthusiasm - at age 4 she was already teaching one of her little classmates how to use the Big Shot (I had no idea at the time she knew how to use it – she told me later she had learned by watching me LOL).  But mixed media is a bit of a different ballgame. 

An average 6″ x12″ or 8″ x 8″ mixed media canvas usually takes me about 5 hours to complete – and it can be really hard to teach, since a lot of the time, I’m just going with the flow and letting the creative process lead me.  I do a little of this, and try a little of that.  While I start with a general idea in mind, I don’t really plan it out, and a lot of the time, by the time I’m finished, I’ve incorporated so many different techniques and materials and products, that it’s hard to remember exactly what I did or what I used.

At the same time, I knew I had to try – because it was important to her.  She’s a very artistic child – she loves to draw, paint, color, sew, cook, do pottery etc.

So, a few weeks ago, I brought her down to my studio one Saturday evening, and set us both up with an 8″ x 8″ canvase, some paint and a variety of other materials.  Initially she was insistent that she wanted to do exactly what I was going to do (even though I didn’t really know what I was going to do LOL) - so I showed her my basic process of putting together the foundation of a mixed-media piece. 

By the time we had finished with the base and the stamping on the base, she suddenly decided that she wanted to have a dog on hers. So with a little encouragement to follow her own muse, she started branching out – she used some of the techniques and products I was using, but did it totally in her own way. 

The fun and spring-y project you see above is the one that I created, the project you see below is her masterpiece.

When I started mine I had originally planned on creating a birdhouse sitting on a tree branch.  By the time I got my tree branch finished, I didn’t feel like making a birdhouse anymore – instead I felt like making a little bird. To create the branch – I hand-sketched the main trunk, and then collaged on some branches which I had die cut with the Birds and Branches Sizzix die. I then used acrylic paints over the branches and leaves.

The flowers were cut out of a piece of patterned paper by My Mind’s Eye: Stella Rose Gertie collection. 

“Playing Catch” Mixed Media Canvas by Julia Walford, Age 8

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“She let go of her fears” Mixed Media Canvas

April 5, 2011 By 12 Comments

As I reflect on my life, I can’t help but notice how often I’ve let my fears stand in the way of me doing or trying something that deep down inside I’m longing to do.  It’s not so much that I’m actually afraid, as in feeling scared, but rather, I think, feelings of inadequacy.  For example, for the last 20 years I’ve dreamt about being a mixed media artist – I could see myself creating, I could even see the beautiful works of art I created. I bought supplies (LOTS of supplies), I bought books and magazines and I took classes where I copied EXACTLY what the instructor taught – but I would never let my own creativity loose, and follow my own inspirations, or delve into my own possibilities…..because I was afraid…..I was afraid that if/when I did, I would discover that what I had pictured all these years really was just a dream, and that no matter how hard I tried I would never make my dreams a reality or become what I aspired to be. 

It wasn’t until I finally gave myself permission to fail, that I was able to let go of my fears.  The last mixed media canvas I shared with you represented my connection with the artist within me – the artist that I thought only lived in my dreams. 

Today’s mixed media canvas represents my process of letting go of my fears (in this area anyways LOL) – and it’s deeply meaningful to me.  While the colors are “happy” colors, the girl is in a pose of deep reflection. Which is where I’m at right now.  I can’t help but feel a deep sadness at all the time I lost, where I could have been doing something I really love, and all because of unfounded fears.  Yet at the same time, I’m also filled with anticipation at the new and exciting world that’s opened up to  me.

Supplies:

Stamps: S4878 Old Letter Writing, S5216 Grid Pattern (Hero Arts); SMP1435 Doilies Stamp Sheet (Maya Road); Butterfly Garden Collection Impressions No. 14 (Pink Paislee); Music Notes Standard Wheel (Stampin’ Up!)
Mediums: Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Medium Matte, Stickles (Ranger); Fluid acrylics, glaze, heavy body paints, modeling paste (Golden); Pitt Big Brush Pens, Pitt Artist Pen Black Fineliner (Faber-Castell); professional acrylic ink (Liquitex); Sharpie white poster paint pen (Sharpie)
Paper: old book paper (antique store); Newsprint DP (Stampin’ Up!), sewing pattern tissue paper (thrift store); Marrakech 6″ x 6″ pad (Basic Gray);  Reflections 6″ x 6″ pad (Prima); paper doily (other)
Accessories: brown pearls (dollar store); lace (unknown), rub-ons from Stampin’ Up! and Kaiser Craft; flower (Prima)

Filed Under: Andrea's Artwork, Mixed-Media

“She found her inner artist” Mixed Media Canvas

March 21, 2011 By 22 Comments

Every since becoming a blogger – the side of me that you’ve known and seen has been my paper crafting side – card making, scrapbooking, and 3D projects.  I think that today, I’m finally ready to start sharing with you all an aspect of my art that up until now I’ve kept on the private side – and that’s my work in mixed media and art journalling (click on any of the pictures for a close-up view).

When Soph and I lauched our Artist in You online class this past fall, one of the things I shared was my lifelong yearning to be creative and artistic. One of my biggest personal struggles – in pretty much all areas of my life – has been this intense need for perfection. To the point of putting myself down, doubting my abilities, criticizing my accomplishments, and sometimes not even trying something I really wanted to do, for fear of failure, or simply because I felt as though I just wouldn’t be “good enough”.

Despite spending years involved in sewing and tole painting (folk art painting), scrapbooking and card making…despite dabbling in pottery and clay art, I was always reluctant to call myself an “artist” – for a lot of reasons, but I think the biggest being that I didn’t see my work as being up to the same caliber as the work of others that call themselves Artists. 

It wasn’t until I started getting involved in mixed media work that that perception of myself really started to change.  Over the last year and half to two years I’ve been reading books and taking traditional and online art and mixed media classes and just playing around with my stuff.  It’s been so fun, and so freeing – but at the same time, it’s been a very personal and very intense journey as well.  It’s really been about the evolution of my self-perception and finding my inner artist, so to speak.

Because it’s been so intensely personal, I’ve been really reluctant to put my work “out there”.  So I’m starting with baby steps. 

Today’s project is based on Christy Tomlinson’s She Art Girls.  The techniques I use to create the background are ones that I’ve learned from a variety of different sources (so not specific to one place), but the style of the girl is totally based on Christy’s She Art Girls – which I’m so in love with.  So you’ll probably see a few of these before I start showing you some of my mixed media work that is totally my own take (that’s why I told you I’m taking baby steps LOL).

I’ve put together a list of the supplies I’ve used and tried to be as comprehensive as possible – as you’ll see I used so many different things that it’s hard to remember them all:

Stamps: CL383 Antique Engravings, S4878 Old Letter Writing (Hero Arts); Pattern Pieces stamp, Nursery Letters Jumbo Wheel (Stampin’ Up!)
Color & Mediums: Jet Black Staz On ink (Tsukineko); Fluid Acrylics, Heavy body acrylics, Glaze, modeling paste (Golden); Tim Holtz Distress Stickles, Claudine Hellmuth Acrylic Paint, Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Medium Matte, Adirondack Paint dabbers, Matte Accents (Ranger), professional acrylic ink (Liquitex), Stampin’ Pastels (Stampin’ Up!), Pitt Brush Pens (Faber-Castell) Red Copic Marker (Copic)
Paper: heavy weight chipboard (Stampion’ Up! – from the specialty DP packs), Newsprint DP (Stampin’ Up!); vintage book pages, sewing pattern tissue paper (other); red patterned paper (Papertrey Ink); Lemonade collection DP (Basic Gray)
Accessories: Summer Love & Hidden Garden Rub-ons, White Pearls (Stampin’ Up!); brown wool felt (Giant Dwarf Etsy Shop); Lace, sequin flower center (Prima marketing), silver punchinella (Len’s Mills fabric store), shelf liner (dollar store); paint brushes

 

Filed Under: Andrea's Artwork, Mixed-Media Tagged With: ,