Friday 4 August 2017

A city at night for AJJ, Donna's stamps & carved nibs

Hello

I am excited that the lovely Jo from 'Lets Art Journal'  is hosting this months challenge over at AJJ where the theme is 'Poetry in motion'   We have been invited to use a favourite poem, quote or saying on our artwork. I collect quotes so this is right up my street - isn't that a funny saying?

 
I used a Rupert Brooke quote on this page which seemed quite apt.
I started with a watercolour painting I did the other day..
I was just playing with a couple of colours at first but then it started taking shape looking like a skyline and then grew - as most skylines do!
Then of course I needed to find a cat - luckily I had already painted one before and have this is in my 'digi-stash' along with the rest of the items I added.
I blended a digital paper over the top to give it a more dramatic and night feel.
My original painting

And next..........
my first play with great some stamps I won from (and designed by)

 
I can see these stamps are going to be really useful for Art Journaling, Mixed media and for my greeting cards projects..and as I needed some more cards - I made one... probably not what you would expect from these stamps - and not obvious at first.
 
 
I did a little rough sketch first, trying to work out how to fit the stamps and make it work.. I used 4 of the stamps and sketched the rest in by pencil a first, then when everything was painted/coloured went over my lines with a permanent marker.


And finally....
do you remember those Himalayan Honeysuckle canes I was drying..

 
they came from this plant


The idea was to see if possible to make wind chimes and pen nibs from the canes.
So Dave cut them up for me in to various lengths.

 
And then he used my mini hobby drill to put the holes
in for the thread to be able to hang up the wind chimes.

 
 I had not realised that the canes were solid in places and not completely hollow, so it wasn't always possible you get the varied lengths I required. So I need to cut some more canes and bare that in mind when choosing which ones to use.
For now my wind chimes project is on hold and the bits I threaded up can dry some more in the meantime.
I've also found a circular metal hanging thing (not shown here) - I don't know what to call it - but it should be useful to dangle the canes from.
 
 
 Most of the canes weren't thin enough to make into nibs (and possibly needed drying more before cutting) but there were two thinner ones, Dave (once again) cut and then
 shaped the end for me and I tried one with some ink.

 
       Well - not brilliant but it sort of worked

 
 
 That's all for today but if you are interested in what else is in my garden
 there is a post from yesterday on
 
thanks for stopping by,
hope you have a great weekend.
 
Gill x

16 comments:

  1. Gorgeous, atmospheric art. Glad you are having fun with your new stamps. Love the nibs. Have a nice weekend, hugs Valerie

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  2. who ooo great watercolour painting, fab wind chimes Hope you have an interesting weekend

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  3. The way you changed the artwork page is amazing. A meaningful piece for sure

    Love the way you used the stamp

    I have that plant in the garden as well. Just shown Vic your idea and would love to do the same..thank you for the inspiration

    Love Chrissie xx

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  4. Your original watercolour is so pretty, it has such a lovely softness to it and the sunset colours glow with light 😀. Your digital page is amazing too, the vibrant colours and image additions reveal a totally different world just like the quote says and your cat looks very happy to be there too ...purr-fect! (sorry I just couldn't stop myself... lol 😉). Talking of "digi-stash", I hope you managed to download all your artwork and materials from the site that was closing, I bet that's been keeping you busy. The card you made is fab, I like the way you used the hill stamp, very inventive ... lol 😁. I loved seeing your work with the honeysuckle canes too, and you made a good start on your windchime project and the quills worked well. I'm off to look at your garden now 😁. Thank you for joining in the fun at Art Journal Journey and wishing you a lovely weekend! J 😊

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  5. Your cityscape page is just amazing! Love the original painting and what you made digital to it! Great to see you at Art Journal Joureny dear Gill! A fantastic page! Thank you!
    Amazing - your imagination is fantastic - I love how special you used Donna's stampset! Gorgeous! Great experiments and use of this Himalayan Honeysuckle canes! Your ideas are super!
    Have a happy weekend dear Gill
    oxo Susi

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  6. A fantastic post to read Gill. The colours on your City at night page looked awesome and the cat looks quite content and sleeps through the noise.
    Its a great card you made with the new stamps, I would never of thought to use the hills the way you did.
    Good to see you have begun using the canes, the pen nib seems a good result. Experimenting is fun.
    Yvonne xx

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  7. Where to start?! Well first I must say I love your painting, great sentiment and of course I love the little cat. Secondly your wind chimes and pen nibs are just amazing. Right do you want my comment on your creation with my stamps.......LOVE LOVE LOVE. This is amazing, even I wouldn't have thought of something like that!! Soooooo clever, loving the way your arty brain works.
    Could you please share that picture on FB and tag me so I can show how awesome it is?
    Biggest hugs
    Donna xxx

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  8. Very creative use of those hollow canes. How do the wind chimes sound? I'm loving both your art pieces too. That's an interesting quote and comparison. but you really made a great page based on the quote. :) Cats do know about the night, don't they? Hope all is well. Hugs and happy weekend. Erika

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    1. don't know how to describe the wind chimes sounds - I would imagine they probably sound like the real bamboo ones :)

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  9. WOW! I am very impressed by how you used the stamps Donna designed for us at Rubber Dance! It's such a clever and unusal way to use our Whimsical Summer stamps. Super cool!!!
    Love your city scene, too, and the nibs you made look fun. Thanks for sharing! xx

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  10. First, I adore the beauty of the first art project. Your AJJ page is wonderful. I absolutely LOVE it. You draw SO well, and when you add your digital magic, it turns into wonderful art. I adore it.

    I am STILL laughing at how you used the stamps you won. That took a very clever mind to come up with how you used the "hills." I was truly impressed with how you used these, and loved your drawing, too.

    I have some bamboo that reminds me of your Himalayan honeysuckle canes, in that you have to be careful where you cut it, or you get solid areas where you cut it. It can be a real challenge unless you get the bamboo (in my case, at least) when it is quite young and green. At that point it hasn't had a chance to get those "nodes" of hardened areas.

    Hope you have a super weekend, dear Gill.

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  11. A truly lovely nightscape. I love the detail of the little ginger cat! Bamboo pens are wonderful for mark making with ink! Interesting as you wouldn't really think a piece of bamboo would be so good for drawing!

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  12. What fabulous colours on your City scene, Gill! A creative design! Love how you used the new stamps, your sketch looks fantastic.
    Mar x:)

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  13. First - I love your original watercolor painting very much! But what you did with the digital paper over the top to give it a more dramatic and night feel, to add the quote and that cute cat, is gorgeous!
    Haha, what you did with the stamps is fantastic!! The best use ever!
    Cool ideas for those canes! I like the idea to draw with ink filled canes.
    Liebe Grüße, Rike

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  14. The wind chime idea is fabulous and so interesting - good luck with it. You could always use a cog type thingie for the top if you want to make another - am sure there are some that would do.
    Love the journal page - what a gorgeous background - so evocative with that pinky purple colour.
    Hugs, Neet xx

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  15. Your skyline is fantastic and I really like your original painting but you have made it so dramatic with the helicopters and barbed wire and the cat who doesn't seem bothered at all.
    How very clever the way you used the stamps, especially the "bumpy bit", and to make the little flowers into earring was very inventive too.
    Interesting about the canes. Dave is a treasure to try to make them into pen nibs and they do give a different sort of mark which art teachers who always want you to do mark-making would get very excited about.

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