ArtyFartyAnnie

Hi everyone, This year I really REALLY want to keep up the Tags of 2016 over on the Tim Holtz blog - Tim is one of my artyfarty heroes and I find his work so inspiring. Here is his tag for January ... This year, he's going to revisit techniques from previous series and combine them to create something new - brilliant idea! For this one, he used foil tape, a Texture Fade embossing folder and one of his fab Blueprint stamps to give this industrial look combined with a chalkboard effect and I LOVE it!!  I didn't have all of the supplies Tim used, so had to improvise quite a bit, but I think that's half the fun of it. Here's my version ... o

Hello Fellow Deskers, Long time no see, I've been MIA for a little while, but I'm back in my craft room again and I've been very busy over the last couple of weeks making a very happy mess of it! Here's how my desk looks this morning ... Flowers aren't my "thing" really and I couldn't make this come out like the picture I had in my head - but I guess that was my first mistake - I should have just let it happen rather than try to make it come out a certain way. I can't decide whether to work on it some more, abandon it and start again or leave it as is, accept it as part of my Life Book journey and move on. Hmmmmmm ...... I'm thoroughly loving LB so far and even though this one's a bit of a "fail" for me - it isn't really, because I had so much fun playing with all my paints and pens and stuff I've never used before. Anyway, time to link up over at Julia's Stamping Ground and see what everyone else has on th...

Hi Everyone, Okay, so it turns out that wasn't my last Life Book related post of the week - but this definitely will be! I just had time to finish one last picture before the new lesson comes out tomorrow for Week Four of Life Book 2016  with Tamara Laporte. This one was inspired by a lesson with the lovely Melody Ross, who encouraged us to appreciate the wisdom we have learned from our life experiences, and to represent this in a painting of a woman holding a box full of wisdom. Here's my version ... Starting with a sheet of watercolour paper, I used acrylic paints, white gesso, matte multi medium, Neocolour II water-soluble crayons, Inktense pencils, Faber Castell Pitt Pens and Posca Paint Pens to build up layers and add shading and detail. I had great fun using a napkin to give some interesting pattern and colour to the background, her dress and even in her hair ... My words of wisdom were typed on my old Gabrielle typewriter onto scraps of paper. Once thes...

Hi everyone, My last post about Life Book projects for this week ... probably!! This was another bonus lesson with Tamara Laporte, talented artist, gentle teacher and creator of Life Book - it was all about letting go of negativity and bringing in the positive for the year ahead. We started with a "simple inky background" (not quite so simple for me, but I enjoyed the process and got there in the end) and then doodled a butterfly. Here's my version ... The butterfly trail is made up of all the negative words and the butterfly is flying towards the circle of light which contains all the positive words. I used Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pens for the doodling and writing. Thanks for visiting my ArtyFarty blog today, see you again soon.

Hi Everyone, Here's my effort inspired by a bonus lesson with Ivy Newport for week two of Life Book 2016  ... ... mine is absolutely nothing like the beautiful painting which Ivy made, but I really enjoyed this, and I learned a few lessons and picked up some ideas along the way, and that's what matters. Inspired by Ivy's painting, I started by collaging a picture of a girl from a magazine and some paper butterflies, then used my fingers to add paint. Ivy used lots of metallic elements - I chose metallic paints, giltflakes and rub-ons. They really catch the light, although it doesn't show in the photo. Final details and shading were added with Inktense water-soluble pencils and Pitt pens. We started by writing our negative thoughts to leave behind into the background, and finished by adding positive words to take into the new year. I knew I was going to love Life Book, but I didn't realise quite how MUCH I was going to love it! :o) Thanks for checking ou...

Hi Everyone, Here's my painting inspired by the first "proper" lesson of Life Book 2016 with Tamara Laporte. I chose a cat and an owl as my travel companions - for their wisdom and ability to "be in the moment" ... With Tamara's gentle guidance and encouragement, I had my first go at drawing whimsical animals and I really enjoyed it. Although my owl looks more bemused than wise perhaps!! I started with a pencil sketch on a collaged background and then worked with Neocolour II crayons and Faber Castell Pitt Pens. It's a long way from perfect, but the important thing is to enjoy the journey - and learn as I go. Thanks for popping in, see you again soon :o) Annie xxx

Hi Everyone, Life Book 2016 started only a couple of weeks ago and I've had SO much fun and learned such a lot already. There hasn't been so much time to play in my room just lately, let alone blog about it, but whenever I get the chance, that's where you'll find me - in my happy place, up to my elbows in paint and ink! My iPad is covered in splatters of paint, as it sits on the side of my desk so I can watch all the amazing videos as I'm working (or rather playing). Life Book creator Tamara Laporte of Willowing Arts is such a talented artist and I am blown away by her warmth and generosity of spirit. Check out her website for more information about Lifem Book and other online classes - she also offers some free tasters which are a real inspiration. At the end of the year, Tam will be showing us how to bind all of our work into a book. Here's my first piece, inspired by the Week One Warm-up lesson ... Tam showed us how to use hand-cut masks and then...