For my next trick! Digital scrapbook give away!!

Hello all
Ever thought of combining your art with somethng else? lets say drawing with fabrics or scrapbooking with painting or something from the kitchen and your canvas?
I'm sure you have this week will see me and my students fixing kitchen foil to canvas and using Acrylics/oils to create some new paintings. Questions is what would you paint..

I recently took a painting I had started in one of my classes, it was of Koi fish and painted in oils. I left it unfinished and let it dry for a few weeks until I was ready to continue (laymens terms for didnt have a glue what i wanted to with it) until I trying to photos of others things that I came across a slightly out of focus photo of  my "Cosmic Dancer" painting. Buddha that was what i wanted to do Buddha!
Out comes the gold leaf and I start applying it to the pre painted canvas and then coated with Shellac so I could use more Oil paint over the top. Result

cosmic dancer

Yes it's unfinished but at least I made a start. It's not as difficult to paint on metal foils as you may think

as long as they adhere to the surface properly and you use something like Shellac between the surface and the paint all will work well.  Try some yourself and post them to me to let us know what you've come up with.

On the list at the top I also mentioned draw & fabric heres something else you can try. Leather and drawing ink,
I have always draw on leather but using in gold and silver ink, which does come off if it's rubbed too often.

I did this with a scrap piece of leather I had - there is a little bit of stitching going on but the rest is all draw from imagination. I bet your wondering what it is aren't you.

It's my new brush roll I was in desperate need of a bigger one that took a few more of my brushes. I need to make another 3 I think!

In an earlier blog I showed you my little book I was making for Alice in Wonderland which primarily drawn in ink on trade cards. This is another project thats started but never finished, If you remember I added scrapbooking papers to the book leaves which will then take some of my art work

Ok why am I suggesting this well I was giving the opportunity to give away to one lucky winner a digital scrapbooking software kit.
 This is courtesy of My Memories who have given us one digital scarpbooking suite to give away free to one lucky winner!!! could that lucky person be you??
My Memories Suite is rated #1 by Amazon and TopTen Reviews. Using this software, anyone can create digital scrapbooks, photobooks, cards, calendars and gifts without having to buy expensive and complicated software programs.    
Check out this 10 minute video for the digital scrapbook software and see what it can do with all your photos or indeed Artwork - http://www.youtube.com/user/MyMemoriesSuite



http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software
JUST CLICK THIS LINK and take a look at the suite.
Once you've been there come to this blog and tell me which is your favourite designer, there loads to choose from, why not try some of the free samples. Then you can post  them here and on My Memories.
So to recap!!!!
To be in with a chance of winning this software all you have to do is click on the link above and find your favourite designer - post your comment here and names will drawn out the hat!
The winner will be drawn on the 14th November just in time to make some fantastic gifts for Christmas!

FOR EVERYONE ELSE there is a 10% discount from http://www.mymemories.com/ when buying the My Memories suite version 2 only
USE this unique discount code STMMMS90340 at the checkout!

hows it going?

Hi All
Has anyone started their story yet? anyone started doing sketches in their sketch books?
Well I have I started with some ideas that are based on the key elements of the story I remember. This is opposed to reading the story again just yet, because I wanted to let a little more imagination take place.
And as memories play tricks on us I thought it would interesting to see what I come up with.

As you know I chose Alice in Wonderland, while I was thinking about the things I remembered from the story - I realised that I could separate certain elements from "Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass".
So I have decided to continue with this for a little while longer until I feel it necessary to get the stories straight. I also thought about the original author and how he had come to write it. It was quite interesting to find out who Lewis Carroll was and what kind of life he would have had, and who was Alice? Alice Liddell that who she was, with this in mind I want to now do some drawings in ink of the real Alice - who by the way had short black bobbed hair. There's alot to play with in the history of the story so I'm going add some of the real life stuff into the drawings, such as the tiny door - which was the canon's garden gate at the cathederal where Alice and sibblings where not allowed to play, but could only look through the gate. The rabbit hole referred to the quick passage the deacon took to get home from the Cathederal to his home.

 Ooo theres so much to play with, this could take a great deal longer than I had antisipated, so I decided to start with little pen drawings which I have been doing on trading cards and postcards. This was in the hope it would take quite so long!!! Wrong...... it's just as long as I dont generally do things too small.
The next problem is where do you keep all these little cards so they dont get mucked up?

In a scrapbook! thats where - I had to construct this from board that you can buy from making little scrapbooks. I'm not sure which is taking more time?

Your turn!!! try combining some of the crafts you do with your drawing/painting and see what happens.

I've been using trading and postcards in watercolour paper all available from the SAA (society for all artists) which means I can add colour if I want to, at a later stage. remember you can have more fun in your sketch books where you can experiment with lots of different looks.