Slightly different



 

This spread is made a bit different from the others. 

There is still a circle and patterns but I also allowed some squares and some patterns to run out of their space. In fact that was a must on this one. When I had finished doing the patterns I started doing the surroundings, this time I used some females to stretch around the circle. After doing them I saw how unfortunate it was with patterns ending at their butts. One thing to do about it, stretch the patterns out onto their bodies. Do you often end up like that too? I think it's a result of not planning. If I had been sketching it first, I would have seen it before it was done. Well, no big deal after all. But I had a good laugh when I discovered it.

 

 

 

Now I want to try my hands on some collaging, I saw Julie did some and that led me to believe I can do it too. At least it was done in a way I can relate to. I have difficulties to understand all that random pasting of different papers and stuff. Nothing wrong by doing it like that, it's just me that can't find it meaningful. Perhaps I just need some practice.
Another fun thing I think of doing this week is to make my very first haiku.  Madde has been asking her readers to partisipate making a tiny poem or a haiku, and I will have a go.
I have never done it before so I don't know how good it will be, but it looked so tempting.

Have a beautiful day. 

Airy

 

 I simply love this one.



You know, I'm in the middle of exploring some of the patterns I have collected. The ones used here are airy and with white ink it became excactly what I was hoping for. Oh, don't you just love to play like this?

I now see that it's the black ink that make some patterns a bit too dark/muddy/solid for me. The white ink does the oppopsite and I love it. This spread is made using a tiny nib. A drawback using ink is to have to dip the nib and some times one get a bit too much ink at the first lines.

It had to be a ballet dress, and a person wearing it. I had much fun adding her arms and the one foot.

 

 

I so much like to use a limited space when creating and see how I can use it in different ways. The circle is in focus in one way or other, but I find it's enjoyable to challange myself to break down the limits of my idea and see how it could expand without loosing the main goal. How much variation is it possible to obtain with A : circle in focus and B : collecting patterns.



 

So far I've made mostly flowers, but each one felt new to me while I made them. Always trying something new. I've also seen that it's good to focus on other things beside this journal. I think I'm such a person that needs variation to get the ideas flowing. Right now I'm knitting a couple of shawls in addition to journaling, and of course the daily cores.

 

 

Abowe you see the tiny nib I used to create these patterns. The Micronpen is there just for comparison. I love that tiny nib, it came with its own penholder because of the size.

Enough for today, enjoy!

More patterns

 

First of all, no wet evening yesterday.

I'm still collecting patterns, and even have tried to make some of my own. Nothing successful yet, but I think it's just a matter of practicing.

This flower is amongst the finest so far, I kind of like the transparency. To give the in between spaces a hint of a black edge makes a huge difference, like the flower does change into something else.

 

 

 

My friend celebrated her birthday yesterday and she liked the cats. Several days ago I asked her to have a look and she was thrilled, so now they live with her. She told me she is going to frame them and make something special out of the frame. I'm looking forward to see what she come up with.

Another month gone, where does time fly? Around new year everybody talked about the long month of January and now the second one is over too.

One of the teachers in school always talked about how fast time went, let me put it this way, I now understand what he meant 45 years ago. Slow learner, me?? Pfffft........

 

First flowers in our garden have shown up, yay! The eranthis, small yellow balls.

 

Have a creative day! 

A Russian again

 

 Do you remember my russian dolls?

This is a new but different one. I really like to play using this shape, and while doing this one, several new ideas popped up. The clue is that the outer lines makes the shape of a russian doll. To make it look a bit more like a human being I have given her shoes/feet instead of the usual stand, the original shape is still there though. A fun thing with this one is that I can't stop wondering how she looks in front. I have no intention to turn her around, but still, I feel drawn to do it.

 

 

 

As you see I'm still into patterns trying out how they can be used. Learning still.

What kind of attitude do you think this one have? The complete image I mean.

 

I'm so sick and tired of all the focus on a slim body, and that everyone needs to lose weight. There is not a single photo in any magazine that tells the truth. Why do we let us fool like this? The industry want us to believe in something un natural. If one have a health problem, I do understand the necessity of losing weight, but for all the rest......... 

 

I think my girl today shows a healthy attitude, almost like saying, I love my body and I'm proud of it. In my head she's on her way to go shoping, probably some more fancy clothes.

 

Beautiful, sunny weather here the last couple of days and I love it.

A little Sunday experiment.

 

With this spread, I wanted to test nature itself. 

 

The center of the circle was supposed to peak up, that wasn't as successful as I had hoped for. I do see what I was trying to make, but it seems to be hard for others to see it. ( have been testing some friends) Also, on purpose, I wanted to make the flower hang an inch or so abowe the spread. You remember some of the previous spreads I made, had that effect. To gain a result as close to nature as possible I did a tiny experiment.

With the flower done and cut out, I put it on top of a cake dish with the light coming from top right corner. That gave me the chance to see excactly how the shadow would appear. I did make a test with the center too, cut a cross and rolled each "triangle" back. With that in front of me, I drew what I saw. It's pretty cool experimenting like this, in addition I learn  things too. Below is how it looked like on the cake dish. 

 

 

 

The final result is good, but I'm not quite sure that the shadow do the job alone. On a previous spread, without me thinking of it, the flower popped off  by itself. This time I consciously avoid using glittering paint in the background. Earlier I've noticed that glittering paint tend to have an" uplifting" effect, and here I aimed to see if nature would do it alone. What do you think?
Do you clearly see the opened center with the flips curled back?

What did I learn from this? I learnt that by copying nature one will lose some of the magic happening during the process of making. One will get a close to nature product, but some of the excitement is gone. The result can be planned though, which isn't the same when things just happens.


 

 

I could of course have done alot more to the background, but after having a party here Saturday night, my head was empty. I might add something later though. It's much fun making these little things and discover new ways of seeing/thinking. On Sunday I also fell into reading about illusions, and I might want to show you some pretty cool things.

Have fun! 

A super exciting collaboration.

 

I had a special coworker when I did this spread.

 

After making the ballet dancers I had no idea what to make next. I was pleased with these patterns but couldn't decide what to do. As I often do, I spoke out loud to myself something like : Well Laila what to do with these ones? I also answered the question myself, cut them apart and make some bumblebees. I and myself did collaborate during the whole process, I asking questions and the inner me answering. Weird? For any outsider it probably sounds weird, especially since I was talking out loud with no other person present, but isn't that what we do all the time each one of us? Discussing with ourselves, loud or not?

This time I kept noticing the feedback and did what I was "told". Outer me even almost ended up arguing because of a color choice. The pale yellow part of the bee, I have never seen anything like it but inner me insisted. After all it dosen't matter, but my logical approach tend to lead a bit too often. I did search the internett and found a bumblebee like this. Overwhelming, nothing less!  Below you see who probably was my coworker in this project. And I have to say, she was a stubborn one. It was a very special experience to do it like this, I never did it before. I think it's all about listening, ask a question and the inner self/child will answer.
 

 

And below is what we did create together. It was so much fun to play this way, I would like to challenge you to explore it yourself. It's so much fun, I promise.

 

As you see there are two photos showing my work, the one below was shot late night with my worklight as light source, and the bottom one with pure daylight. The truth lies somewhere between the two. Which one do you prefere?



I always ment to tell you from where I picked my patterns, I just forgot it till now. Mainly I have used two sites to pick from, here and here. Some patterns are combinations and others were just there from way back, and obviously, I can't tell where they came from.

 

The upper wing on the lower left bee, do you see peaks or hallways? I see hallways, but handyman sees peaks.

 

I had no idea this project would be so much fun, I even had no idea it should become a project. And playing with my inner self/child topped it all. The whole spread might be a bit too busy in my opinion, but I didn't decide it all by myself. Life never stops surprising me.

 

Go for it!

Ballet dancers.

 



Meet the girls.

 

This spread was created with alot of mixed feelings. At one point I was sure I had to paint over the whole spread. You know, at that stage when things change from good to not good at all. Instead of reacting instantly, I put it aside  and did other stuff instead. Many times I did that. And now I'm pleased with how it came out 

I think it was a fun way of doing it this time, I cut the flower in two and made these little girls. Notice how they look right at you, and what a difference their hairstyles make. I love doing 3-D patterns, and the blue eyed girl has a pattern on her dress that is amazing. Even in person it's hard to believe that it's a flat sheet of paper. It's lots of fun to explore patterns like that.

I also forgot myself and added the red dots on one pattern, that wasn't ment to be. I used a marker which will bleed through the gesso if I paint over it so I chose to let it be. 

 

 

I made the all over pattern on this spread because I love that pattern and also because it need more space than a petal. Left side almost ruined it all. Far too much going on there, but it's a good excample on what not to do.

The fact that the flowers (girls on this spread) seem to hang abowe the background is something that happens during the photographing process. In person it's not like that at all. It does make the process even more intriguing though, I always ask myself how it  will be at the end.

I still love to play in this journal, but I'm a bit concerned about the binding of the book. I didn't make the spine wide enough when I created the book, and now that I'm adding to it......... perhaps I'll have a rescue job in my hands soon. That will be a new experience as well.

Happy Valentines Day Folks!!

My own pattern journal.

 

Journals dosen't always turn out as we think.

Once in 2010 I made a journal and I didn't use it for anything specific. Now, on the other hand, I found it suitable to hold my pattern library.

There's a strange thing about journals, some becomes favorites and others dont. Why is that? My very first art journal was a good friend and very good working in. It measured 8 x 11 inches. My present art journal measures 9.5 x 12 inches and is far from as good as my first one. When I was about to start working in it, I thought it would be even better than my first one but I was wrong. I really don't understand why.

Back to the journal from 2010, at my first attempt I felt how good it was to work in. This journal measures 6.25 x 9.25 inches. I always thought, the bigger the better but that isn't true. What kind of experience do you have with your journals?

 

Below you see my second pattern flower, glued into the journal. I soon understood I had to add colors, otherwise it all looked dull. Now, it's a pleasure to open it and search for patterns.

 

 

I made the flower on a fairly thick watercolor paper, so I had to make a solid mark to get it well folded. I used the papercutter, not with the knife but another more rounded tool. I used Matt medium to glue it down, and it sits well.

For awhile I thought of coloring the flower itself, but decided on leaving it white. I think it will be easier to clearly see the patterns this way.

 

 

The decorations are made by using acrylics, twinks and different markers. I'm so surprised to notice how good this journal is to work in. It might very soon become my favorite journal. I almost can't wait to start my next flower and work in the journal again, just to see if it still feels good.

 

 

That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Patterns

 

I did something relaxing yesterday.

After some days reading and trying to understand  stuff that really dosen't interest me, it was wonderful to just sit down and draw some patterns. For a long time I have thought of making my own pattern library, and this could be a fun way of doing it.

Flowers with different patterns on each petal instead of just a pattern sample square. I might cut it out and glue it into a sampler book.  How cool it would be to have filled a book with patterned flowers, and how easy to choose when in need of a nice pattern.

 

 

Do you find it relaxing to make patterns too?

See, I've left my mark on the photo, not the best placement perhaps but I didn't want to ruin the  patterns for you? Finally I understood something, and now, after nearly three years of blogging I do it completely the other way around. I think I'll allow myself a couple of days break from reading and just enjoy drawing patterns. It's much more fun and creative. Yesterday I also remembered to buy myself a good crafting knife, which I have thought of for yrars. I have been using my  leather knife, but it's a bit too large in some cases.

Thanks alot for visiting and for leaving a comment, It's much appreciated!

Make patterns and get peace.

Training ? Me?

Yesterday I had a phonecall from a good friend of mine, she was so caught up with a new year and new habits. Did I want to come along training, she had found a new GOOD trainingprogramme. We had been speaking of doing something for a while so I thought it would be reasonable to say yes.

Training, me??? It sounds like I'm telling myself a joke, but why not give it a try. We'll start with 4 weeks and then see. Could be something I enjoy doing...........
The programme tells that one in 4 weeks can reduce the size of our pants with 2 numbers. Easy to promise. Well, lets see. I'll keep you updated on the issue.

A new pattern.

This morning I made a new pattern. I love this kind of lines. I'm not sure that I like the white dots in the blue though. I very much like the "dry" expression of this one and am a bit unsure whether the white ruins that feeling a bit.

The differens between my two photos is a lightbulb. The one abowe is just like I see it in person, the one below is without the lightbulb close by.

The one above doe's not have any warmth in it, and the warmth makes the whole differens to me. I could easily have used this on one of my walls if I could find it as wallpaper.
Have you ever tried making patterns? It's so relaxing, peaceful.

How?
First I did a colourwash with watercolour, then I drew the pattern and coloured it with my pens. The white on the leaves is done with water and a tiny bit of acrylics.

Have a nice day everyone, and thanks for stopping by.

A creative Saturday.

Me making patterns continues......

I made some more patterns today. The first one is some of the elements from yesterday. I think I'll have to do them over again, because I'm not happy about how the colours came out and there is something else that don't fit either. Can't excactly nail it but something don't suit me.
I'll try it again, perhaps I can find a better combo, and the process is so fun that it don't bother me.


The next one I made reminds me of a wallpaper I once saw. The paper I use is not ment for watercolours so it's not the best. I think I'll have to use one of my selfmade books for my patterns, they are made with good papers.
I wasn't quite satisfied with this one either so I tried over again and the next one was born.



This one is starting to look how I wanted it to be. I would love the red to be a little brighter so I might try to change that. Isn't that a lovely black? By the way, this one is made using acrylics. I start with a layer of gold and black with a tiny bit of gold in it on top of that. In person you would see that the small dots are made with a copper glitterpen.
Even that I'm pleased I probably want to work a bit more on this pattern.



I will try to make it simpler without loosing the spirit of it. And I want to make it a bit more accurate. I have a niece that are making (gyldenlær) don't know what that will be in english but she is painting on leather. First layer is pure gold flakes and then colours. You know, the kind used for chairs and religious ikons.
Perhaps I should ask her to learn me the process of that.

Take good care everyone!

Today Christmas is over.

Quite a job.

It's quite a job to put all the Christmas stuff away, and I always feel so sad when I have to. But, today was the day and now it's all gone.
All my tablecloths have been changed, no more red. Now they are white/offwhite. The diningtable has a pink tablerunner on top of the offwhite and the coffeetable has a springgreen runner on top. That leaves me with some colours and I'm pleased. Now, when everything is back to normal it feels good.

I'm back in my studio too, and right now I'm hooked on making patterns. I've just started and I don't know how long it will last but it's fun and relaxing.
First I paint with watercolours and then pens. Below is the first one I made, I love the colours on this one but the patterns are a bit messy. (too many at the same sheet.) I really like some of the elements here so I'll have to try them out seperately.


This one is a bit more calm. I like the way it turned out and I like doing this. I think I'll experiment with different shapes and see where that will lead me.
As I told you I've not made any "promises" on what to do this year other than create a littlle every day, and so far I've done that.
I used a bit of white acrylics on this one. Made some "wide" white vertical stripes and then used my pens to add the new colour.


Have a nice weekend everyone, I will. It's my54th. Birthday on Sunday and birthdays always make me feel good.