The latest delight is the opportunity to win one of Pam Carriker’s new DVD’s “Art Journaling Fast and Easy” . . . → Read More: Another Art Journaling Giveaway!]]>

WOW, we have such a generous community in the Art Journaling world, it seems I have been posting mostly about free workshops and giveaways recently!

The latest delight is the opportunity to win one of Pam Carriker’s new DVD’s “Art Journaling Fast and Easy” – how’s that for an encouraging title!  Having completed several of Pam’s online workshops I can say she is a very thorough and encouraging teacher.

To be in with a chance to win – simply pop over to Pam’s blog and leave a comment on what Art Journaling means to you.

Save Your Paint Water Save the Environment

Acrylic paint is AWESOME because it’s soap and water clean up. However, that doesn’t mean you should pour it down the sink. Chemicals . . . → Read More: Save money and help the environment when using paint]]>

Tee over at Green Isle Crafts recently posted a very important article which she has kindly given me permission to reproduce here -

Save Your Paint Water Save the Environment

Acrylic paint is AWESOME because it’s soap and water clean up. However, that doesn’t mean you should pour it down the sink. Chemicals in the paint are not always good for you so we should try to avoid getting them in the ground water as much as possible.

“Great Tee. How am I supposed to clean my brushes??”

Rethink, Reuse and Evaporate.

Rethink the way you clean your brushes. I have two systems and the first is the one I’ve been using the longest… and most often.

Tee’s Tip: Clean your brush less often. You don’t have to clean between each color, work those colors together and blend them into your page for exciting and unexpected results

Tee’s Two Jar Brush Cleaning System:

Dirty Water – this jar has about 1/2” water and two drops of gentle dish soap
Clean Water – this is plain water with about 3/4 to 1” of water

Four steps to clean brushes with Tee’s Two Jar Brush System:

1. Before swishing the brush in the jar of water, wipe off the excess on another page in your journal, inside a phone book and then on a paper towel (or scrap of fabric like I do).
2. Then swish the brush in the dirty jar
3. Squeeze out the dirty water on the paper towel or rag
4. Swish in the clean water

Done! Your brushes are clean. Less paint goes into the jar because you took most of it off before you cleaned your brush. And at the end of the day:

1. Use the dirty water (see below) or dispose of in the Evaporative Bucket (also below).
2. Pour the “clean water” into your “dirty water” jar, add two drops of gentle dish soap
3. Add a small amount of water to your clean water jar

Now you are all set for tomorrow~

Tee’s Color Coded Brush Cleaning:

1. Get several jars and fill all of them with 1/2” water
2. Before swishing the brush in the jar of water, wipe off the excess on another page in your journal, inside a phone book and then on a paper towel (or scrap of fabric like I do).
3. Clean blue paint in one, red in another, yellow in another.. etc..
4. Rinse the brush in a separate jar of “clean” water

That’s it. You have jars filled with color washes. Use them, see below. (I only use this one when I want a special colored wash)

“Ok… Great Tee.. but you said not to pour the water down the drain. What do I ‘do’ with the leftover?”

Oh yes.. now the good bits~ Reuse the paint.

Color Washes – Use the washes to get rid of the dreaded white page syndrome. You know.. the book is new, the page is blank and I can’t do anything to it because of that. Swish those washes of color on there and boom~ No more white pages.
Shadows – use the dark, every-color-imaginable one in a waterbrush for making shadows
Color Mist – pour into spray bottles to spritz color onto your page. You just made your own. Add perfect pearls for Glimmer Mist.

Evaporative Bucket:

And.. when all is said and done and you still have dirty water to rid yourself of.. Evaporate it… Pour it into an Evaporative Bucket. (this tip came from Kevin Tobin of Golden)

Take a bucket and put some sand in there. Put it in your garage, on your back porch.. or under a low hanging eve. You want to avoid rain getting into your bucket. When you pour your dirty water in, the sand traps the paint and the water evaporates. Good for the environment and easy as can be. (no washing the sink after you’ve poured the paint water in)

So, thank you Tee for such an informative article. If you have enjoyed these ideas, please let your fellow artists know by sharing a link to this post – it is important information to get out there…

This project combines several techniques from my fourth book, Creative Wildfire. Examples of the book and the flaps . . . → Read More: Free journal making online workshop from L.K.Ludwig]]>

I’m delighted to share another free treat with you today. L.K. Ludwig is offering an online workshop in creating and binding a journal from free materials. See what she says about the class -

This project combines several techniques from my fourth book, Creative Wildfire. Examples of the book and the flaps can be see on pages 6, 30, 46, and 47. The page painting technique can be found beginning on page 32, and the binding technique can be found beginning on page 20.

I want to stress that YOU ABSOLUTELY DO NOT NEED THE BOOK to take class, get the most out of the class, understand the class, or enjoy the class. I have all the techniques videotaped for you. If you do have the book, you may find making notes in the book margins helpful for future reference.

So head on over to Lori’s blog and join in…

From Kate’s blog -

DVD 1 – ‘Art Journaling – Right from a blank page’ – you see me discussing colour theory, demonstrating equipment, and then preparing several backgrounds in my journal in real time. Because this is in . . . → Read More: Art Journaling DVD’s available]]>

Kate Crane has produced two DVD’s on Art Journaling available from Traplet Publications

From Kate’s blog -

DVD 1 – ‘Art Journaling – Right from a blank page’ – you see me discussing colour theory, demonstrating equipment, and then preparing several backgrounds in my journal in real time. Because this is in real time it means that you can play along at home, and then rewind and play along as many times as you want to! I show you several different ways to make backgrounds including finger painting (my fave!), blending colours with a brush, scraping colour with a credit card, and spraying with ink sprays. You know how much I love colour and layers? Well, it’s all here in this DVD.

In DVD 2 – ‘Art Journaling – There are no mistakes in Art’ – I complete the pages that I prepared in DVD 1, again all in real time. I show you how to look for images on the internet, ideas for placing them on the page, how to use stamped images on your pages, and lots more!! I feature lots of fabulous collage artists and stamp manufacturers including Stampotique, Tumblefish Studios, Crowabout Studio B, Itkupilli, Rian Designs, Lisa’s Altered Arts amongst others (links to all of these can be found in my sidebar). You see me painting with Dylusions, Golden Fluid Acrylics, and spraying with Dylusions ink sprays and Adirondack colorwash. You even see me journaling on the pages Lots of ideas for journaling and all my background secrets revealed!!

You can buy DVD1 and DVD 2 singly, or as a box set.

But hurry, the opportunity closes on June 28th – here’s the link again Green Isles Crafts: Grid Prompt Page and Book Giveaway

Good . . . → Read More: Chance to Win a great Journaling book]]>

If you pop on over to Green Isles Crafts, Tee is offering one lucky reader a chance to win a copy of Cathy Johnson’s new book Artists Journal Workshop.

But hurry, the opportunity closes on June 28th – here’s the link again Green Isles Crafts: Grid Prompt Page and Book Giveaway

Good Luck!

Some of the prompts have video tutorials such as this one on a Monochrome page. I . . . → Read More: Daily Art Journal prompts from Green Isles Crafts]]>

Well, I can’t believe it is nearly the end of May and I have only just discovered the wonderful daily (well 6 days per week) art journal prompts being posted by Tee over at Green Isles Crafts.

Some of the prompts have video tutorials such as this one on a Monochrome page. I love the way Tee shows her thought process behind producing the page in this video.

Visit Tees blog here

From the journal of Elaine Magliacane

(Click on the image to view original) Image copyright of the artist

If you have enjoyed this post please leave a comment for the artist

Happy Thanksgiving . . . → Read More: Happy Thanksgiving]]>

I love how Elaine captures the spirit of her day in her journal, and always includes a little weather symbol.

From the journal of Elaine Magliacane

(Click on the image to view original)
Image copyright of the artist

If you have enjoyed this post please leave a comment for the artist

Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers from the USA