How to Create a Storybook Garden

Stamping and colouring to create a whimsical storybook garden is a relaxing, simple process but does require a little planning to work out placement, plus flexibility for when it doesn't quite go to plan. Collage elements are perfect for covering up these glitches!

The first step is to gather your favourite stamps together. For this scene I used a variety of Dyan Reaveley's Dylusions rubber stamps that feature leaves, roses, toadstools and bees with the ladybeetle from "Entomology" stamp set by Tim Holtz.

Next (presuming you've placed the stamp on the acrylic block), apply the Archival Black Soot Ink Pad to the group of leaves stamp in the Dylusions "Oodles of Foliage" set and press to print along the base of the page. Repeat 2-3 times (less or more, depending on your page size and how far you overlap the image).

Also stamp this same image twice on a piece of plain scrap paper. Cut out both with fine scissors. No need to cut out every detail, these are your masks for when printing the background elements.

I've used Dylusions "Crown of Roses" girl with the rosy hat and deer... place the masks over the matching leaves on the page where you want the flowers to go. They will stay in place as long as the fan is not on! Apply ink to your stamp and print the roses onto the page. Lift off the masks. It should leave the impression that the roses are behind the leaves.

Move the masks around as you print other designs onto your page that you wish to be in the background. 

Draw on wings, any flower stems, thorns and trace lines you may have missed using a black fine tipped marker. Now colour in your picture! When I am working on a brown kraft carstock, I start colouring with white, enhancing wings and eyes, then I move onto yellows and greens, then all the other colours. Add colour your way, using colours that make you smile.

Stamp out extra images, add colour and cut out with fine sharp scissors. Glue onto your page using matte gel medium or Dylsuions glue stick. Use an Action Wobble ready-made self-adhesive spring to attach a head to your page for a fun bobble head. It presses flat when the book is closed, not much thicker than a bookmark.

This photo is a closeup showing the finished art journal page, colourful and full of life! I hope this artwork makes you smile and inspires you to have a go. Stamp, colour, cut out, create and repeat... and enjoy every arty crafty moment!

Have a creative Happy day!

:)

Jenny

Arty treasures used ...

- Dina Wakley MEdia (6"x6") Art Kraft Journal

... or Dylusions Creative Art Journals (small, large, black, white or kraft).

- sheet of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper (white, black, tan, grey or blue)

... or Tim Holtz Distress Heavystock Mixed Media Paper

... or Dylusions Mixed Media Paper (maybe from a cut up page in your journal).

- Tim Holtz Distress Archival Black Soot Ink Pad

... or Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink Pad.

- Dylusions Journaling Block

... or any clear acrylic stamping blocks in sizes to suit your stamps.

- scrap plain paper

- Dyan Reaveley's Dylusions Creative Dy Cuts (ready to use die cut images).

- Posca Colouring Pencils

- Black marker for doodling and drawing details.

- Tim Holtz (Tonic Studio) 5" Mini Snips (fine sharp micro serrated scissors)

... if you like large handles, try the Tim Holtz 7" Scissors.

- Tim Holtz Distress Collage Matte Medium (bottle as it has a fine tip for easy application).

- Dyan Reaveley's Dylsuions Glue Stick.

Dylusions stamps sets used : A Head Start, Toadstool Town, Crown of Roses, Cat Among the Pigeons, Star Struck, Oodles of Foliage, Doodle Parts, Everythings Rosy, Stripy Curlicues.

Archival Ink by Ranger is a waterproof, fade resistant permanent ink on porous surfaces, giving you flexibility to colour with dry mediums like pencils or wet mediums like Dylusions Ink Sprays (as a spray, with a brush or in waterbrushes), watercolour paints and Distress inks. 

Colouring over Archival Ink with solvent markers may make the ink blur, therefore if you wish to colour in with Copics or Chameleon Pens, stamp your illustration with a watersoluble ink like a Distress Ink Pad.

All arty treasures used in this blog post are available at the 'Art by Jenny Online Shop' at www.shop.artbyjenny.com.au.

Color Me Fearless - The Opening and a Review

Usually when I create a video, I over analyse it, starting over a few times... but today, I didn't plan a thing - I simply opened it while recording, meaning I hadn't gone any further than the groovy lime green inner cover beforehand.

This video is of an over-excited Jenny opening the newest book by Angela Porter and Lacy Mucklow - Color Me Fearless! Its beautifully drawn, well written and gorgeous from cover to cover :D Even has a dragon!

Love it alot I do! I think it rivals Color Me Happy... its amazing. You will love it too! Enjoy my video :)

You too can have a copy of this beautiful book - Click here or go to https://www.shop.artbyjenny.com.au/collections/featured/products/color-me-fearless - only $28.50 including postage Australia wide. I've also updated my overseas postage prices too, to include a fee for a non-tracking service (not that I like sending overseas without tracking but some don't mind).

Of course, you may also find it soon at your local bookstores so as long as you get a copy somewhere, it will be fine by me :) Just enjoy every single moment!

Happy Creative Day!
:)
Jenny

Wildscapes ... A Journey Through Australia's Natural World

Wildscapes is an amazing book illustrated by Stephanie Holm, an actual botanical illustrator who not only loves drawing but adores our Australian wildlife and plants.

The cover of Wildscapes by Stephanie Holm

This book is not just a colouring book or art therapy, its a book of discovery and wonder! Wildscapes includes everything in this book - well, nearly everything. Sadly, there isn't a wombat or galah but hopefully this means Stephanie is working on another book :)

With so much to choose from, it can be hard to decide where to start. I started with the Tassie devil and then coloured in the page of honey possums before going back to the Tassie devil's page to colour the owl and scenery.

There are frogs (yay! I love frogs!), birds, a thorny devil, Boyd's forest dragon, platypus, feathertail glider, a Tasmanian devil and so much more - plus a wide variation of beautiful Aussie flowers and trees including yakka, gum trees and fungi.

Colouring WIP by me :) I do love this frog!

I've coloured using regular pencils but you can use watercolours in this book without worrying about the water wrinkling the page. Its nice sturdy smooth paper.  The wrinkles will smooth out on their own, but if you need them flattened more, leave it somewhere under a phone book. The weight of the book will soon smooth out the page again.

Adorable honey possums eating gumnut flowers

Tasmanian Devil and his friend the green owl :)

I've nearly finished the frog's page - it has a pink tree trunk, blue-green leaves, green lizard, red toadstools and so far, a white background. I'm thinking a mix of orange and yellow for that but I'll see what happens when I get back to it, probably will end up being pale blue-grey - coloured using the "scribble on a scrap of paper and smooth over the page" technique.

Hope you're all enjoying colouring and creating art as often as you can. The more you do, the better your heart and mind feel :)

Happy Creative Day!

:)

Jenny

PS... The following are linked back to my shop. Until midnight 22nd Feb 2016, there is a 25% discount for orders of $50 or more - storewide! You'll need a code, so visit www.shop.artbyjenny.com.au/collections/amazing-specials for details.

   

   

Skintones in Pencil

Are you struggling to find the perfect colour of pencils for your portraits? Don't worry anymore!

Skin throughout our Universe is made up of so many different tones of pink, brown, grey, green, purple and yellow. And orange, blue and red! Red? Well, of course... maybe your portrait is sunburnt? You never know! Besides, its art :) People can be any colour you wish, even lime green!

Other than go back to the shops to buy even more pencils, check out what you already have. Whether you have a set of 12 or 150, you're sure to have something; its just a matter of layering, blending and mixing! 

You only need a few basics to get started :)

I suggest getting a big piece of blank paper and colouring little tall rectangles, one for every single pencil you have.

Use a white to lighten the bottom half of each square, then a dark grey (black will cover too much of the base colour) for the top part, leaving the original colour in the middle :)

In my example, the middle of each is the original with the tops and bottoms overlayed with another colour. It will take some time if you have dozens of pencils, but it will help dig out the colours you need and maybe show you ones you hadn't noticed before :)

Then using the colours you like, create more samples, mixing and layering as you go. 

Pressing lightly with the pencil will give you paler colours - keep layering lightly to darken your colours.

You can also use the white to blend. You'll find the more layers you add, the greater the depth of light and contrast you will achieve, which brings your art to life.

My photos are just examples and may look different on different screens. Experiment and have fun discovering even more colours to use in your colouring!

Sing out if you need help or have questions. 

Happy Creative Day!

:)

Jenny

Colouring with Polychromos ... Tassie Devil in Wildscapes

So many things to colour, paint and create... not enough time! I think most of us feel this way. There's always been amazing books to colour over the years... Pixar, The Muppets, Winnie the Pooh, Tarzan and flowers, fairies, wildlife and mermaids! But now there are even more! This time promoted towards the adults that look after our inner child... more mermaids and fairies but also mandalas, zentangles, doodles, animals, flowers, gardens, forests and geometric anythings! 

The list of newly published books is almost endless... so I've limited my shop to just thise I truly love and think we'll gain the most therapeutic colouring time. Our time is precious, so its all about quality colouring time, not quantity. 

One of the newest books is "Wildscapes" by Stephanie Holm. Australian unique and diverse animals, plants and insects themed by habitat - from desert to rainforest to heathland. Its simply gorgeous. I love every page!

The paper lends itself to pencils, paints, crayons, gel pens or markers... anything at all :) but bear in mind if you use too much ink, they may bleed through the page. 

But there is good news for colouring with textas (markers, Chameleon Pens, Copics, etc)... if you spray a light coating of fixative on the page first, it helps stop the bleed through. 

I've yet to test it, but in theory it makes perfect sense. My can of fixative is solvent based so only suitable for waterbased pens. An acrylic fixative or sealer should be used for solvent based markers.

Tbis adorable Tassie Devil was coloured this morning using Faber Castell Polychromos coloured pencils. Its a small tin of 12 so its  was good to stick to the basics and mix my own colours. 

I even did a video :) http://youtu.be/nqYnOBnWJ9I

I've the rest of the pic to do now, but it will need to wait for another time. Thanks for reading my blog :)

Have a happy creative day!

:)

Jenny

Colouring Challenge - Masks with Only Five Colours

In Facebook there are just oodles and oodles of groups... networking, selling, swapping and now colouring. 

A friend started a group for those of us in southern Adelaide... some are even meeting in cafes, drink lattes and colouring in :) Its a fabulous life!

Once a month there are challenges as well. This month (July) is to colour this image using only 5 colours. 

I don't know where she got the picture from but it is copyright to somebody... thank you to whoever designed this drawing :) Its interesting to colour. 

I'm using my faves, the Inktense pencils by Derwent, in sun yellow, apple green, cherry, iris blue and violet. From these basics, I'm able to get a variety of other colours including orange, gold, greens, turquoise, purple and brown. I love mixing colours :)

Haven't decided if I'll add water yet. I'm liking all the grainy pencil marks so might just leave it as pencil.

Why not join us? Look for "Southern Colouring" in Facebook. A few have uploaded a pic of their version and they look fab!

(edit) I've just found out that the groups I love on FB are a little hard to find, so I've added a few links here grin emoticon 

Colouring Pages for Aust n NZ https://www.facebook.com/groups/PAA.ColouringCrew/ 

The Color Me Colorers https://www.facebook.com/groups/338320733043463/ 

Aussie Art Swap https://www.facebook.com/groups/563420300456646/

Southern Colouring n Friendship https://www.facebook.com/groups/1688155794745745/ 

Dyan Reaveley Society https://www.facebook.com/groups/428904110507360/ 

Ornation Creation https://www.facebook.com/groups/171809746345318/ 

Focus on Gratitude https://www.facebook.com/groups/focusongratitude/ 

Its fun and relaxing to colour plus it helps encourage the brain to mess about with different colour combos.

Have fun and happy creative day!

:)

Jenny

Color Me Calm, Color Me Happy - Colouring Fun for Everyone

Two incredible books have taken off here in Australia, actually, they've taken off all over the world. Its amazing that something so simple has gotten the media's attention - colouring in for adults.

It's new and exciting for those who haven't coloured in since they were a child - just as it is for the rest of us who have never stopped (like myself)... because its always exciting to find new treasures!

Color Me Happy and Color Me Calm are two books from the "A Zen Colouring Book" series. Third in the series, Color Me Stress-Free will be published in September 2015.

Written by Art Therapist Lacy Mucklow and illustrated by Angela Porter, these books are a must have for every home. Do you already have one?

Check out Lacy's Facebook group for colourists and join in the fun - www.facebook.com/groups/338320733043463

The paper is gorgeous and suits all mediums including pencils, paints and markers. The covers feel fantastic, are so beautifully designed and finished with a strong but soft cover that protects the artwork inside.

There are over 100 pages in each book divided into chapters, filled cover to cover with beautiful drawings as well as useful information on using colouring for therapy, tips on colour and how to get the most out of each book.

Each chapter has a theme including landscapes and scenes, music, animals, flowers, whimsical illustrations and intricate mandalas.

Cactus Sunrise... I coloured this using Chameleon Pens.

A tangled garden... also coloured with Chameleon Pens.

No need to have hundreds of markers to created hundreds of colours

- simply colour and blend and use multiple layers.

The design of the book is thoughtful, with templates to colour only on one side of each page and a pretty monotone design on the back. Great for markers! Unless you want to colour both sides, then solvent based markers aren't the best choice as they tend to go through the paper.

I think everyone should have at least one of these two books (but I highly recommend both), not because I sell them, but because they're so good for you - each book and chapter taps into different parts of the heart and mind.

I love these two books, they are just gorgeous through and through. I've posted links below in case you need to buy the books and or colouring supplies. Just click the picture :)

Happy Creative Day!
:)
Jenny