Art journal play....

These days, I've been enjoying playing in my art journal. Like this abstract page...lots of masking and misting and stamping.

I  always begin by putting down colours in shapes to get my creative juices flowing... For this particular page, I was thinking of a multi-coloured quilt...so I started adding coloured blocks with water-soluble crayons.

Of course, after one page, I got tired..*winks* so I carefully blended the colours with water, closed my journal pages together and ......[victorious music plays in the background], two pages done! *high five all around*

Then I used The Crafter's Workshop TCW 470 Geometric Art Layers with Dylusions mists. So much fun! :)

Hope you find time to have fun this weekend my friends! :)

A salad and cake....

Sometimes I order a salad for lunch just so I can totally indulge in dessert feeling a little less guilty. You know, mix something good with something bad and it balances out right? *winks*

I love this French-style patisserie in Manila for their huge assortment of yummy cakes. I intend to try each and every one of those...I mean eventually of course. *LOL*

I've decided that hoarding map papers are a thing of the past [you know,,,,the whole new year, new resolution thing...*winks*]

I'm slowly getting those travel photos scrapped. I'm officially behind by 18 months or so..wish me luck! 

Playing along with Let's Get Sketchy.

Teaching aid magnets with Xyron

Photo of magnets in use in the classroom taken by my mother

This month, the Xyron design team got to pick their fave Xyron product and create with it. Mine is my trusty 9" Creative Station. I turned my mother's food teaching aids into magnets. [My mother teaches Home Economics in case you were wondering...]

It's a relatively simple project albeit time-consuming. I started with these food picture aids which I fussy cut.

Then I ran them through the Xyron 9" Creative Station with the magnetic cartridge. The magnetic cartridge laminates the front of your feed and adds a magnetic sticker to the back. You could create teaching aid magnets with letters or pictures for young kids.

P/s: My mother is eyeing my magnetic cartridge for some other projects...she says I should order more of them. *LOL*

Bold colours on a mixed media canvas

This year, I've been working on canvas panels so that I can frame them in shadow boxes. Even though I've been a little distracted of late by pastels and pretty flowers, I decided to go back to my roots and work with some bold colours. :)

I started with The Crafter's Workshop stencil and Liquitex ceramic stucco. I love experimenting with different textured gels/mediums to get different textural effect on my pieces. 

Then I painted the whole canvas red before adding other paint colours using my fingers. Can you see the cool ceramic stucco texture? Yeah, plain old modeling paste is so passé...try others! *winks*

Playing along with The Mirror Crack'd.

The five-minute CAS card

Sometimes when I don't feel like pulling out my art supplies for a simple project, I turn to my trusty stack of residual misted backgrounds....

I choose one that I like...

Add in some sequins to fit a sketch challenge I could possibly enter the card into....and I'm done in 5 minutes! *high fives all around* 

Playing along with CAS(E) this sketch.

The journey to pocket page scrapbooking....

So the key to getting started on pocket page scrapbooking is really in the album. Love this Simple Stories SN@P! 6x8 burlap binder that I got as part of my design team assignment for my LSS Made With Love . I couldn't bear to cover up the chevron design so I decided to "alter" the spine instead [modeling paste with The Crafter's Workshop, black gesso, burlap, bloom, leather strap from an old shoe].

You can tell that I haven't quite gotten the sizing of the photos quite right...*LOL* 

I didn't have any Project Life Cards so I had to dig into my scrap stash. Yeah, and the corner rounder was tooooooooo far away! *winks*

I love the Basic Pages that came with the album though. Because I could add more dimensional items. I didn't have any reinforcement rings so I added a strip of washi tape on both sides. 

I have to say that pocket page scrapbooking wasn't that easy for me because I had to pare down my embellishments and think "smaller". But it's been a fun journey. :)

If you reside in Singapore, you can get this awesome binder and the supplies for this project at Made With Love Singapore. You can also view this album later this week at the store. 

An abstract piece...

This year, my challenge to myself is to make art that isn't bounded by a fixed display stance. You can rotate it and view it from different angles. Like this abstract canvas featuring old computer parts. 

I started with scrunched up wrapping tissue and canvas which I painted blue. Then I adhered the computer cables with lots of gel medium.

Next I went in with some Maya mists, letting the colours drip between the cables. Then I added some Liquitex ceramic stucco using The Crafter's Workshop stencil.

After that, I used my fingers to apply Art Anthology paints to the piece for some shimmer and random texture.

And then finished with gesso applied with the palm of my hand.

I was inspired by the colours at the ARTastic challenge.

P/s: Happy weekend friends! :)

6 ways to make your composition more dynamic

Ever wonder why some layouts seem to "come to life" and somehow guide your eye to the important elements on them? When you have flow and movement, your compositions tend to be a little more dynamic and far more interesting to look at. Here are some tips to make your compositions a little more dynamic.

Posing on the new slide

1. Employ the zig and zag method.

Lines and shapes within an image that "zig and zag" through the picture create a feeling of movement  like in this super large photo of The Gangster Gang [aka nephews + niece] on the slide. One is naturally gravitated to the curves on the slides.

You can easily achieve the dynamism through a well-composed photo. But you can also fake it by placing embellishments in strategic positions to emulate the zig and zag method.

Totally girly girl

2. Add props to create the illusion of movement.

I added props that suggest movement in the layout by letting my niece hold balloons and pom pons. Note that the strings attached to the balloons are not straight but slightly curved to create the illusion of movement. The wavy textures on the pom poms add to the whole movement illusion.

A fishy tale

3. Play with proportions and light to create dynamic movement.

You can also play with size and light to suggest movement. On this canvas, the largest fish is right up front which suggests that that particular fish is closest to the viewer. The background on the top is darker which suggests that those fishes there are further away.

Self-expression

 4. Harness the power of the consecutive.

I'm a huge fan of consecutive shots to convey dynamism. Help guide the brain by including consecutive numbers too and you are right there watching my niece change expressions. *winks*

Mixed media canvas

5.  Extend the patterns and shapes with textures.

Our eyes naturally gravitate towards textural objects so extend the patterns and shapes of your background with a variety of harmonious textures.

Great outdoors photo display

6. Create a "scene" that suggests dynamic movement.

It can be super fun to create a "scene"...I added some "prey" in the cheetah's line of vision and coloured in shadows to suggest that the cheetah is about to "attack" its unsuspecting prey!

There you have it. 6 ways to make your composition more dynamic and interesting. Which one will you use?

Afternoon tea

Last week, I had afternoon tea with my sister to celebrate her birthday. She could have her pick of venue and she chose Equinox, a restaurant located on the 70th floor of Swissotel where one could have breathtaking views of downtown Singapore.

Check out the spread we had...plus free-flow of TWG tea. :)

I really really really wanted to use the Chevron cork paper so I went with a neutral colour palette.

Playing along with Stuck?!  and Studio 75.