Creative Life Round Up

Hello Creatives,

Time for a creative life round up I think!

All of these photos have appeared over on Insta, where I am most active. So come join in the fun over there :)

Recently I've been trying to finish a lot of paintings that are lying around my studio, to make way for the brain-space that is needed to undergo some BIG canvas paintings! They are big for me anyway. You can see my stretcher bars in my (new) studio that are awaiting canvas.

Below is a section of one of my paintings I've recently finished.

I'm working on 6 new large scale paintings. If you'd like to be notified when they're realised, sign up to my newsletter which you can find in the sidebar of this blog.

I have also completely moved my studio into a new room. You can see my new painting desk (table) that I bought second hand. It was an ex-display table in a shop, so it's a bit dinged up, which is fine because it will get no special treatment in my hands! I'm also painting a bit of a mural in the studio which you can see I started already in the corner. Proper studio photos in the near future.

Sometimes being a creative takes you in all sorts of directions. I painted a backdrop for a photographer friend of mine. I learnt a lot of things whilst painting this backdrop! I learned they are not as easy as they look, and that I do not want to start up a business painting photography backdrops in a hurry! Lol. Hands up if you'd like to see my process and hear about that project.

I finished my short ceramics course, and these are a few things I made from out of that class. I'm now working on a collection... when I don't get sidetracked by other little items that I can make out of clay.

I have been gifted a kiln by a very generous person who I'm sure mega good karma is coming her way. How nice is that!? Some people are so nice. Let's hope I don't melt everything in the new kiln.

Let's pop this photo in below just for fun. I'm stitching this Anna Maria Horner embroidery. Sometimes I like to work on projects that aren't my own designs so I can switch off and just create for the joy of it and not have to feel like I'm working. This project is 99% finished now and it has plans to be in the master bedroom when I finally get around to that project. (Do any of you creatives feel like you have an overwhelming amount of projects going on!?)

And here's me being colourful. Hashtag wear your joy. Just so you feel like an actual real-life-person is talking to you. Which I am.

Ooh! Our graffiti wall got a bit of love over the school holidays! Here's a snippet. Check out this post to get more mural/ graffiti wall inspo, or to read the story behind it.

Ok! I feel like I've sufficiently caught up here with creative happenings. 

I love feedback, so please do leave a comment or tell me what you love about the blog, or what you'd like to see here so I can keep posts relevant to YOU and what you'd like to see! 

Cheers!

Jules :)

Last Minute DIY Christmas Craft!

Can I squeeze in another DIY Christmas craft!?

These ornaments are made from air dry clay using stamps, acrylic paint, acrylic gloss, fine glitter, and shimmery thread.

Air dry clay is the next best thing to using actual real clay; but much more accessible and there are some really good ones out there on the market now, so play around with different brands to find the one you like best because they all have different qualities. They are getting the mixes of these air dry clays better and better, and some of them feel as though you are using real clay.

I rolled out the clay first then cut out shapes using Christmas cookie cutters as my guide. I traced around them as I wanted them bigger than the cutters I had, but you could also just use the cutters to cut the shapes if the are the size you want.

I used Christmas-themed stamps and various high-tech-tools like a knitting needle and wooden skewer to make impressions into the clay, then I left them to dry.

Once dry, I coated them with gesso and dried that using a hair dryer. Then a coat of acrylic gloss. You want something shiny that will enable paint to wipe away from later. Dry the gloss. Then use some acrylic paint in you choice of colour and paint all over, getting in all the indents of the decorative elements. Wipe back with a damp rag to reveal the texture and bring out contrast. 

Then once the acrylic paint was dry, I painted a final coat of gloss and sprinkled some fine glitter into the gloss while it was still wet.

Make personalised ornaments using an alphabet stamp set

Add some pretty thread to the top for a hanger, and you're done! 

Check out the video below to see in detail how I made this Christmas decoration craft:

And if you're feeling extra crafty, I also recently made this fox Christmas decoration craft into a tutorial for Alisa Burke. You can find that tutorial here.

Really, I want Christmas to go for a bit longer this year, as I haven't made all the decorations I wanted to! Lucky (!?) the years go fast so next Christmas will be here before I know it!

I hope you enjoyed my last minute DIY Christmas craft!

Jules :)

Creative Life Round Up!

Hello creative friends! What have I been up to?

Sorry it's been a while, I think I'm way overdue for a catch-up :)

I have started a ceramics class, which actually only has two weeks left for the term. I am totally smitten by working with clay. I really felt I wanted to learn, as I couldn't remember all the clay joining rules and techniques that I've learned in the past, and wanted to make sure I didn't make something and have my work explode along with blowing up other people's work that might happen to be sitting next to mine in the kiln.

I've done one class per week so far and it's given me enough knowledge of the basics to start creating.  I can see you could study pottery for years and still be learning.

I've purchased some of my own supplies so I can carry on learning ceramics at home (thank you, youtube!)

I also think it's a perfect craft for holding my attention. As I suffer from craft- attention- deficit- disorder (alongside many of you I'm sure) and struggle to commit to any one thing, I think that the excitement of opening a kiln and getting to see what comes out might just be enough to keep me coming back for more. I am really into it. I even dreamt about glazing last night!

So yesterday I got to pick up my first two finished pieces! A little mini pinch pot, and this texture-decorated tea light holder. I played around with the tea light holder to see if I could add pieces on that didn't fall off in the kiln, and they didn't, hooray!

A new DIY craft tutorial I've been working on involves cement & creating something for the garden, oooh! *rubs hands together* :)

Some table bling... from a while ago, but I love the photo!

This illustrated quote available as a print in the shop. "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working." Drawn using coloured pencils and acrylic paint. A reminder to myself that sometimes I need to stop thinking about what projects I'm working on and just get working! This would look great in a plain frame, but if you're over-the-top like me and feel more is more, an ornate frame would work just as well.

And an image from my sketchbook, just to pretty up the post a bit more :) 

I'm also running a weekly after school kids art class, which has taken up a fair bit of my time too, planning and getting things ready for that through the week. And researching how to teach and manage a kids class room! I get all the art stuff, that is covered, but class room management!? Holy moly..

So, I'll have some more clay stuff soon. Who knows where I'm going with this! I'm also entering into the Illustrators Australia & New Zealand 2018 Awards, with an unpublished illustration (pictures to come). Also- a chook pen reno coming up! Hopefully with the arrival of spring, sunnier days and longer light hours, I'll be less tired and more motived to create more.

Hope you've enjoyed my update, 

Jules :)

Some Ceramics Inspiration

Hello!

Yesterday saw me going into one of my daughter's art class in school, not to show or help or anything, but to be one of the students. How lucky am I!?

They are working with clay at the moment, and they're making clay birds. I don't have any photos to show you yet, unfortunately, but they will come I'm sure! I'm going to sit in the class and refresh myself on some joining and constructing techniques. With the kids! I really love sculpting with clay and in my earlier years I nearly started a diploma in ceramics, right after I'd finished my diploma in illustration. But, fate did not dictate that I attend, but never say never. Maybe one day. Maybe I can become a ceramic artist! Haha. I have a very short attention span :)

For now I want to show you some images of some ceramic work that inspires me.

Jenny Orchard's work is amazing. I was stopped in my tracks when I came across this photo on her instagram. I just cannot tell you how much I love her work.

These crazy, colour loaded works, with a 'bits n pieces' look really appeal to me. Fantastical creatures, that look like they've been born straight from her imagination with perfect translation on the journey from mind to reality. 

Wonderful, crazy fantastical ceramic creatures

I am also a fan of Cathy Kiffney's beautiful colourful ceramic work. They have such a naive folk art quality to them which appeals to me. I love her work! How nice would a cluster of these ceramic birds look on a wall?

You can find Cathy's Etsy shop here

And Nathalie Lete turns anything into the art equivalent of gold that she touches. Just like Kaffe Fassett, this lady is multi talented and I just don't know how she creates so much work. She's amazing.

So can you see a common theme here for my ceramic inspiration? There's that handmade quality, that shows some roughness and naivety; bold colours, quirkiness and maximalist decoration. Yes! I wonder what sort of clay work I will produce. I'm so excited.

For now I'll keep collecting inspiration over on Pinterest. I just created a clay board to keep all my inspiration in one place.

See you soon,

Jules :)