Monthly Explorations

   It's been an interesting year so far to say the least. I've been taking some time to reboot and work on some new projects over the winter and just when I am ready to get back to doing some workshops the world has turned upside down. Now it's time to rethink the next  steps to take.
   Being an introvert makes the social distancing an easy thing to do for me. So I'm choosing to take advantage of my extra time alone in the studio to play and catch up on things. I hope you're able to make the best of the situation and give yourself permission to play.

   One of the things that has kept me busy this year is my Monthly Explorations Themes over on my FB group. In January the theme was Doodling, Mark Making and Drawing. What's not to like about that!

8"x5" journal page on Bristol Smooth

9"x11.5" Dylusions journal page.

In February the theme was Stencils. I love my stencils and use them often. There are so many ways to use them. Here are just a few.

Since it was February I had to do a few heart cards. I made my own heart stencil with a heart die I have and then layered other stencils on top of it for the patterns. I used Distress Inks and Oxides for the colours along with some light modeling paste and Finnabair Icing Paste for the texture through stencils.

Multiple layered stencils.

This page was done with a lot of layers of collage material, paints and stencils. The mushrooms were a new stencil I got recently from Stencil Girl. I used Nuvo Expanding Mousse through the stencil. This was an new product for me and I loved the way it puffs up when heated. Once dried I coloured the mushrooms with Finnabair waxes.

9.5"x8" double page in small Dylusions journal.

This is another page done with lots of layers and even more stencils. But here the stencils are used mostly in the background instead of the focal point as the mushrooms were. 

9.5"x8" double page in small Dylusions journal.

  And now in March the theme is Watercolour. This is not a medium that I play with much or know much about so it really is about exploring and learning. 

  I made myself a small book with 5.5"x5.5" watercolour paper pages to do my playing/experimenting in. It is a nice size to try out something new.

   I did a few pages of rocks. They were great for practicing some mixing and layering of colours.

Watercolour rocks.

   These little swatch doodles were inspired by a fun Canadian Artist, Cee Cee's Creations. You can find many of her videos on Youtube. They were very fun to do. I'm sure I will be doing more of them this month. 

Watercolour swatch doodles.

  If you'd like to see more come over and take a look at Dragonfly Dreamers Monthly Exploration Themes. And of course you are always welcome to join the group.

Keep Creating!

Wendy

Still challenging myself

   I haven't kept you posted here about my monthly challenges but I have been continuing to do them most months with the exception of a little break in October. A few months things got busy so I didn't get the challenge done every day of the month but I kept going and did what I could. 
   In November my challenge was to draw or doodle every day. This was a fun a easy one to do. I made a small book to work in so even though I was away for a few weeks I could bring it along to work in. 
   I'd like to get better at drawing so I thought doing it everyday would be a good idea. I probably didn't draw as much as I doodled so I might have to do another month of drawing next year. 
   Here are a few of my drawings and doodles:

Day 4 Whimsy

Day 6 Layers

Day 7 Remembrance

Day 11 Chinese wine glass

Day 18 Museum of Anthropology UBC

Day 10 Whimsy with dangles

If you'd like to see more you can go the facebook group page Dragonfly Dreamers Monthly Challenges. 

For the month of December the challenge is more of a theme. I'm going to try to do something seasonally creative each day. This is leaving it pretty open ended so I hope you can join me in this challenge. You can share your seasonal creativity here or on the facebook group.

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Zentangle ATC's

I must admit that this months ATC theme was probably one of my favourite. As you probably already know I love to doodle or Zentangle, however you like to call it. Lately it's what I do most often when watching TV. I have a book just for this purpose. If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you have most likely seen some of my pages from it. It was so fun to see how the others in the group did their Zentangle ATC.

Kathy

Lucie

Marie

Veronica

Wendy

Are you a doodler!? Have you got into the Zentangle craze?

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Gratitude journal workshop.

Sheila's page

 For years I have kept some kind of daily or monthly journal. I have tried different kinds and methods but when Sheila Cain-Sample introduced me to her journals I found a way that works best for me. Or better yet I could create it to work best for me. Sheila creates different sections for the journals to chose from and then you can configure it to suit your needs and decorate it in your own style. On Sunday Sheila was here in the studio teaching techniques for decorating journal pages. I wasn't really sure at first what I wanted to do, so I ended up just adding some colour here and there on different pages. But once I got going I couldn't stop and I have been colouring and doodling away in it the last couple of days. As you can see my main focus is a monthly calendar. As I was working through the months I decided to leave space for further doodling throughout the year. 

   It was so fun to be able to participate in a workshop in the studio for a change that I forgot to take pics of what everyone else was creating!

   You can find more information about Sheila's journals on her blog. If you are interested in taking this workshop, let Sheila or myself know and you will be put on a wait list for the next available one. As soon as we get enough interest we will add another date for it.

Keep Creating!

Wendy