After a thoroughly enjoyable interview (my first!) with the delightful Liz Constable from @bookartstudios on FB live and having a lovely supportive and friendly audience tuning in, I was inspired to finally get back on the proverbial (writing) horse again and do a blog post. It’s been a while as you can see!
I am always interested to hear about what inspires other artists, how they learn and what materials they use, and after the interview, I realised that others may too. So here are some more thoughts to build on the interview with Liz and to document some of the people and techniques that I mentioned. I hope you will find it of interest. Also there is a Giveaway surprise at the end, so read on!
Creative Challenges
Firstly, to get the creative juices flowing, if you are stuck, or you don't know where to start, I have found that doing creative challenges is a superb way to help give you a focus and a goal. Signing up to a challenge is a great reason to have permission to keep on task and take out your materials to create, day after day.
So here is a list of some of the challenges that have helped me grow my artsy habits.
- 100 day project - do something creative every day for one hundred days. Anything goes, it could be a piece of writing, a poem, knitting or any medium of art you like or want to try. Choose a theme or medium that is achievable on a daily basis, otherwise you will make it too hard for yourself.
[My reflection on doing the New Zealand 100 days project is here if you want to read more about why these challenges are so helpful.]
- Inktober with Jake Parker. Practice your ink drawing style, drawing everyday for the month of October.
- Are you book enough with Sarah Maker from @inkandawl. Each month Sarah has a theme to which you make a book. And when I say ‘book’ don’t think conventional turning-pages-type-of-books necessarily. Check out #areyoubookenough.
- icad- index card a day for 61 days introduced by Tammy of daisyyellowart.com or @gyspy999 on IG #icad2020
- #7vignettes by @interiorsaddict -sadly Jen's challenge doesn’t run anymore, but at the time, it helped me learn to style a table to photograph my creations and fed my guilty pleasure - STYLING! ;)
- Tune into what’s happening around you or in the world and be inspired by events or causes and interpret what's going on creatively e.g. the bread tag project by Shani Nottingham @thebreadtagproject on IG.
- Look out for challenges like Sara Tasker’s @me_and_orla #15minutemagic - great if you only have a few minutes to spend taking photographs and only need to post once a week.
- The Sketch Book Project - buy a sketch book from the Sketch Book Project and have it stored in the Brooklyn Art Library. You can even have it digitised as I did mine.
- Creatively Squared is a whole community creating content and earning through the endeavours of co-founders Ruth Stephenson and Scott Thomas. There are monthly challenges and they have content creators that share amazing tips on taking and editing photographs @creativelysquared on IG.
I have found that that there is so much support from the creative community on Instagram that you will never feel a failure! And anyway, failing is just an opportunity to learn.
Learning
Speaking of learning... some online courses that have inspired my development and encouraged me to try different mediums and styles, were taken with the following astonishingly clever and warm people.
- Mati Rose McDonough who inspired me to take "daring adventures in painting" and to "show the world my magic"
- Jeanne Oliver jeanneoliver.com @jeanneoliver IG / FB who helped me "answer my creative calling".
- Liz Constable @bookartstudios who has the most amazing workshops on offer and who generously shares free tips and techniques for bookmaking. Visit Liz's FB site for her videos and the Book Art Studios website for products and workshops.
Something I have noticed is that private Facebook groups are often created by teachers during these courses and this channel provides a safe space to share your newly discovered techniques.
Materials
Some favourite materials I use are:
- Stick charcoal to draw with and size 3 brush and water to move the charcoal around the outline and create water colour effects
- Strips of unwaxed sandwich wrap used in collages or to draw on, or scrunch up and flatten to add texture
- Old library index cards covered with gesso or torn and cut pieces for collage or used for blackout poetry
- Bits of fabric with torn threads dyed naturally with beetroot or coffee
- My kids' old water colour set, a Windsor and Newton travel palette I bought more than 20 years ago and more recently some new metallic watercolours I picked up, called "Watercolor Confections"
In her Studio publication
I was very fortunate to have an article published in a Stampington publication, The Artful Blogger a few years ago and gave away copies in a giveaway. During the recent lockdown in New Zealand, the publisher notified me the same article would be appearing in their sister magazine called In her studio in their summer 2020 issue.
Do look out for the issue in your local stores or online and if you find a copy please do tag me and #inherstudiomagazine as the copy they sent me sadly, never arrived.
Giveaway
In celebration of my first ever interview, I have a little giveaway.
I made a ceramic ring cone (with a botanical impression of course!) and which is one part of the giveaway. There is also a small handmade notebook made with original paintings.
I learned the notebook making technique from Liz @bookartstudios during a live tutorial that Liz so generously offered for free on Zoom, during lockdown.
(Note the ring and other paraphernalia are not included . The ring is my mother's (Adi) wedding ring and now mine, so if you got that you will have to take the husband too!)
(Note the ring and other paraphernalia are not included . The ring is my mother's (Adi) wedding ring and now mine, so if you got that you will have to take the husband too!)
If you'd like to be in the draw, please
2. Post an image of your favourite book, handmade or not, tagging it to the above handles and to the hashtag #the_book_series.
The draw will be made on Sunday the 12 July.
Enjoy your gathering of books and taking photographs - its a wonderful way to unwind!
(This giveaway is in no way linked with Instagram or facebook)
Next Time
In my next blog post I will give a shout out to some amazing artists on Instagram who have and continue to inspire me and some of whom, I have made wonderful, long lasting connections.
Have a joyous July, stay safe and keep creating.
Claudia x
