Thursday, April 30, 2015

Art Journaling with Stamps, Stencils and Inventive Inks



Recently I stepped outside my comfort zone to take Marjie Kemper's online class at Craftsy.  Thank you for all the nice comments on that post.  I am please to announce that the winner of the 1/2 priced Inventive Inks class is:

Congratulations Suzie!  I've sent you the 1/2 price link and hope you enjoy the class nearly as much as I did!

I decided to take one of the tags I started in the class and build around it in my art journal.  Here's what happened:

I had stamped one of the Shiva faces from Rubbermoon and embossed it (thank you Marjie - Distress Inks are awesome for embossing!).  I also had left over from another project one of the hands from the Namaste stencil, which I had stenciled using embossing paste.  
These worked perfectly to embellish the tag I had created in the class, using a phrase from the Wall of Words and Flowers, Pomegranates and Leaves stencils from Stencil Girl.


I also used the distress inks mixed with water to tint a picture of myself from High School.  The white swirls and Lotus flowers are from one of the stencils from Stencil Club.


I know I will continue to be inspired by Marjie's class, and the techniques will reverberate in works to come.

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.


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Sunday, April 26, 2015

Stretching My Boundaries with Marjie Kemper and Inventive Inks


I'm more of a paint girl than an ink girl.  But I'll study anything with a great teacher, even if it's way outside my comfort zone.  So when Marjie Kemper revealed her new online class with Craftsy called "Inventive Ink; Colorful Mixed Media Effects," I knew I had to take it.



I took one of Marjie's classes last October at Art is You, and her knowledge, organization, and ability to put students at ease were just fantastic.

Here's what you get for your $29.99 class with Marjie at Craftsy: Seven detailed lessons, with just about every technique you can possibly imagine you could do with inks. Marjie's enthusiasm for the products and all you can do with them is infectious.  She creates projects before your eyes, and even makes some "mistakes," and shows you how you can fix them.  She shares what to do with your tags and other projects, and gives tips for how to take them to the next level.

I honestly would have felt that I'd gotten my money's worth at the end of the first lesson!  And then there were 6 more!  What an amazing deal!  (You know when you're watching a series on Netflix and you think you'll stop after an episode... but then a little timer says "your next episode will start in 15 seconds... and so you keep watching and watching?  Well that's what it was like for me with Marjie's classes.  They were so good, I just *had* to keep watching!)

Here's what my work table looked like as I prepared to start watching the lessons:


I decided to work on tags, and pulled out some of my stamps from RubberMoon, and stencils from Stencil Girl Products.     I was so involved in the lessons, that I neglected to take step out pictures beyond this:

But by the end of the 7 lessons, I had created three tags, all of which I am so pleased with (if I do say so myself!).



I will definitely be incorporating some of these fabulous techniques into my future work.  And I LOVE the fact that I can re-visit these classes again and again, as there's no expiration date for them. Plus, I know I will get so much more out of them in sessions to come.

AND BEST OF ALL: Marjie has offered a 1/2 price class to one lucky commenter on this blog!  So leave a comment below and make sure to include your email address if you want a chance to win a 1/2 price Inventive Ink class!

 Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.



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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Facing Faces Class ReCap


I had the honor of hosting 12 women in my studio during a recent Meetup class called "Facing Faces."  

We started class by talking about the "ins and outs" of faces, and did some loose sketching on color copy paper (which I like because the pencil moves very nicely on it).
We practiced using color with Portfolio Pastels on map pages from an old atlas. 
 And then we created backgrounds using acrylic paint and stencils, and created unique and whimsical portraits.
I love that no two faces were alike! 
 Here's the one I started in class, and finished the next day.


I used stencils by MaryBeth Shaw, Kae Pea, and Mary Nasser for the background and silver accents.  Here's a video of some of my process.



You can also watch "Facing Faces with Jessica Sporn on YouTube" here.

I'm still considering whether to add some text to her... what do you think?

I will be teaching some of these techniques in my upcoming class at Art is You called "Paint Your Perfect World."


I hope you will check out my class, and all of the other wonderful workshops at Art is You.

Plus, if you live in the northern NJ area, check out my Meetup group for upcoming classes.  There are 6 people max, so it's a great way to get lots of individual attention!  And there's easy access from Manhattan too.

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

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Thursday, April 16, 2015

Facing Faces, Impressionistic Portraits


I'm teaching a "Facing Faces" class in my Meetup Group on Sunday.  I have some pretty amazing artists coming, so I figured I better do a little practicing myself!  Using an old photo of myself as a guide, I created a 9 x 12 canvas that went through lots of ugly stages, as most creations do.


The stencil on her top is the Paisley Floral Repeat from Stencil Girl.  


You can watch the whole process of Painting an Impressionistic Face on YouTube or right here!


Does painting faces scare you?  It used to scare me.  But thanks to lots of YouTube tutorials and classes, I can approach them with an explorers mind.

One of my classes at Art is You will expand on some of these techniques.  It's called "Paint Your Perfect World."  If you can make it in October, check out my classes and all the amazing offerings at Art is You!


Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

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Monday, April 13, 2015

Angels and the Eyes of Wisdom

Remember the art journal spread I shared last week?  It started like this:


On the left hand side of the spread, I started outlining some of the flowers from the April Stencil Club 9 x 12, and ... wouldn't you know it, an angel grew out of them.


 I began filling in the flowers with a mixture of paint and glazing medium...


And then worked on my angel...


I continued to work on her, adding some doodling to her halo.  The page sat like this for several days.  And then, one of my yoga teachers said something so beautiful in class:  "Through the eyes of wisdom, difficulties can become good fortune."  I added those words to the page, to remember.


Even though I designed the April Stencil Club Stencils with a "Feelin' Groovy" theme, I think they work nicely in more muted colors as well.  Do you agree?

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

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Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Integrating Photographs On An Art Journal Page


I had a spread in my journal where I had been using up excess paint.


I grabbed the 9 x 12 April Stencil Club Stencil, and my Circles and Squares stencil, and started playing around...


I had cut up some of my Guatemala photographs.  I started moving around three of the women from the families we sponsor, placing them on the right side of the spread.  I glazed over the stenciled background so that it wouldn't be so busy behind these beautiful ladies.  I felt like the women added so much depth to the page.


I had a shot of one of the streets in their village.  I fussy cut it, and adhered it behind them.  I added one of the trees from the Judy's Trees stencil to fill out the background.  Then I extended the path through the village with paint to integrate the background photo into the page.


I added journaling around the trees about our last visit to Guatemala.  I'm going back on May 4, and I can't wait!


Linking to Mix it Monthly, where the April challenge is "Villages," and to Art Journal Every Day.

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

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Thursday, April 2, 2015

Embroidery Using Stenciled Templates and Paisley Floral Repeat Video


I'm on the Stencil Girl Talk blog today talking about stenciling, stitching, and using your stencils to create embroidery templates.  

I hope you'll hop over and take a look!




AND......

Today is the last day to leave comments to be eligible to win one of my three new stencils from Stencil Girl.  On Tuesday, I shared a video showing a few different ways to use the Happy Birthday Stencil.  

Yesterday, I shared step-outs showing some different ways to use the Coffee Mugs and Love stencil.  
Today I want to share  how I created my own fabric using the Paisley Floral Repeat stencil.




I'll be giving away one of each of my three newest stencils!  So make sure to comment today, and hop back to the last two days, because all comments will be considered!

4/23 Update -The winners of these stencils are: 

The Birthday Stencil: Jean "Wow-this would be a wonderful stencil to own!!"

The Coffee Stencil: Robin Lorraine Williamson "Love the coffee stencil the best but they're all fun, can't wait to see your tutorials- have a great day." 

The Paisley Stencil: n56leiker "I have missed the paisley print! I enjoyed watching you work with the Derwent Inktense pencils. They are so vibrant! Thanks for the great tutorial."

And be sure to visit Stencil Girl Talk today for more inspiration about using your stencils with fabric!

Thanks for stopping by!

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you don't already, please sign-up for my newsletter HERE, and follow me on Facebook, PinterestBloglovin and YouTube, so that you never miss a giveaway, and always get the latest Jessica Sporn Designs News!  


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