I'm a winner!! Thanks to Featuring Magazine

I meant to write that post 3 months ago, but well, better late than never, right?

I mentioned in my last post that I used some patterned paper I had won in a give away. Three months ago, a big envelope from Gauche Alchemy appeared in my post box, filled with all kinds of goodies perfect for art journaling and mixed media projects. And it was a really uplifting surprise, because that day hadn't been a very good one. But that really made my day. Well, where had I won these goodies? I hadn't entered any competitions or anything. But I had pre-ordered the latest issue of Featuring Magazine, by which I automatically qualified for the give away draw.

If you don't know it yet, Featuring is a printed magazine filled with inspiration from all kinds of artists all over the world. The first issue appeared in spring 2012 and so far, four issues have appeared. There's so much inspiration to be found online, but it is really nice to lie down on the sofa with a beautifully made magazine in your hand and flip through the glossy pages filled with creativity. I like the fact that it combines different media, and that it is based in Europe, which makes shipping rates affordable.

Thank you, Gauche Alchemy and Featuring Magazine for a lovely surprise! And I hope that there will be many more issues of Featuring.

DIY Postcard Swap: Getting Started

Fuelled with new creative energy after having signed up for the DIY Postcard Swap, I sat down on my desk on Saturday afternoon to get started. I wanted to make collages using (up) some patterned paper and stamps - both things that I have loads of but hardly ever use.

Me and white glue have never been friends, I just can't manage without making a complete mess all over the place. Especially when having two pieces of paper the same size, that need to be stuck together. But the result wasn't too bad.

The patterned paper are from a give away I won a few weeks back. I meant to blog about that, but somehow never got round to it. The past few weeks/months haven't been very good blogwise, but I hope to make up for it again.

Some collage bits added to the backgrounds.

The back sides needed a bit of colour too. The mess I made with the glue added some nice effects.

A postcard swap to help the creative juices flow again

As I mentioned in my last post earlier today, I'm feeling a bit uninspired at the moment. So today, when I came across a postcard swap, I spontaneously decided to sign up for it, in the hope that having to produce 10 postcards over the next couple of weeks will help me get back into the creative mood.

While I'm a little bit intimidated about it all (will I be able to come up with 10 decent postcards?), I'm also quite excited about it. It's the first swap I'm taking part in. I've tried to take part in one before, with an online class I was taking, but it took me so long to sign up with the internet site were we had to register our addresses, that by the time I finally managed it, I was too late. So all I got from that attempt is being registered with and receiving a steady flow of e-mails from a website I'm not even sure what service they actually provide.

The swap I'm taking part in is the DIY Postcard Swap, organised by Hanna of iHanna's Blog. In this swap, you have to create 10 postcards and send them out to the 10 addresses you receive by November 14 at the latest. And in return, you'll (hopefully) receive 10 postcards from all over the world. It's not too late to take part, registration is still open Sunday, November 3.

So, that's my weekend sorted...

Project 365 | October 2013

Another month gone, and only two left 'til the end of the year. Doesn't time just fly this year? But I enjoyed October, it was a nice month, with the leaves starting to change colour, the nights getting longer, and the days foggier. After the heat of summer, I can finally breath again, come to life again, feel the fresh cool air on my face when going for a long walk in the forest. With October, my favourite seasons start, autumn and winter. Yes, I prefer dark evenings to long summer nights, and fog and cloudy skies to endless sunshine, and I'm already hoping that we will get lots of snow this winter. October also brought another trip to lovely Dorset, with long walks on the cliffs, spectacular waves in the sea after a night of heavy storms, and a trip to the historical town of Bath. So here's my October in pictures:

I haven't been present in this spot very much this October. I haven't really had anything to show. I'm afraid I'm having a bit of a creative low at the moment. I don't think I've picked up a paint brush even once this past month. I've been spending a lot of time with learning about Lightroom and Photoshop CS6, and I've started doing some more extensive photo editing again, but I'm still waiting for the spark to get me going with painting again. I hope that November will bring inspiration back.

A walk in the woods

I've somehow lost my motivation to pick up a paintbrush the moment. So I've picked up my camera again, and, having recently purchased Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CS6, I'm spending quite some time learning how to use them. Which has inspired me to do some processing using textures again.

I've also started uploading photos to my 500px account. It's a photo sharing comunity that focuses more on the quality of the photography than the comunity, although you can also follow other members, and leave comments etc. I've signed up there at least two years ago, but haven't uploaded an awful lot. The quality of the photography there is just mindblowing, and I was really intimidated to add my amateurish experiments. But if you want to learn and improve, you best learn from the best, and 500px is a great source to get inspired, and see how the pros do it.

I've also created an account at Ipernity, which is sort of the new Flickr. I got tired with Flickr some time ago, and with their new layout and everything that they've introduced recently, I can't even find my way around there anymore. Ipernity sort of is what Flickr used to be before it got too popular and redesigned. And for old Flickr users, there's really a lot that looks very familiar. Unfortunately, there also seems to be all, or at least a lot, of what I came to dislike about Flickr. But I'll give it a try for a while, and see how I like it.

So I'm going to take a little break from painting, and with autumn finally arrived, I hope to get out with my camera for long walks in the autumnal woods, dive deeper into Lightroom and Photoshop, do lots of processing, and hopefully find my inspritation for painting again.

Now, who's going to pour the tea?

September just flew by, and last week was so busy that I had to give Paint Party Friday a miss. I had actually managed to finish a painting the weekend before, but I just never got round to edit the photos, and put it all into a blog post. But this week, things are back to normal again, and I'm very happy to finally share the painting, made after the sketch in my art journal page that I made first.

Again I kept it simple, with just a little bit of collage bits added. Instead of the map, I used some book paper here to give the table cloth some texture. The photo below also has my favourite, handmade tea cup in it. It really was just the perfect cup. But unfortunately, I've smashed it to pieces in the mean time, by droping a full jar of honey on it, and splashing the freshly made Sencha tea in it all over my kitchen.

Talking about photo editing. Taking photos of my paintings really drives me mad. Getting the right light is a challenge, and reproducing the exact colours seems simply impossible. Even with tweaking everything in Lightroom and Photoshop. Well, this is what the whole painting looks like...

40x40cm, acrylic, no title yet

... but these are more like the actual colours. It's not such a great difference, but you can still see it clearly in the shades of the tea pot (let alone in comparison to the actual colours in the original painting), and it really drives me mad. I'll have to keep working on that.

I'm thinking about going through my kitchen cupboards and cabinets to get all my tea pots out, and to turn them into a little series. And I've got some other ideas for tea paintings too. It's going to be a proper tea party.

But now it's time for a nice cup of tea, while having a look at what everyone else has been

 busy with over at the wonderful  

Paint Party Friday.

Project 365 | September 2013

Whathever happened to September gone?? It was only just the end of August, after the summer heat waves I was ready to enjoy the more agreeable temperatures of late summer at the fullest, and here we are, at the beginning of October. September really just whizzed past this year. Apart from the first four days of the months, which I did enjoy to the fullest in mild and sunny Dorset, the rest of the month has been quite uninspiring - proof of which are also the many photos of food and tea this month, the things to take a photo of it there just isn't anything else.

After having "missed" September, I'm now determined to make the most of October and autumn. Let's hope it'll be a nice one.