More fun with Gelatos®

Just thought I would share some work done by some of my students at a recent Run with Scissors Play with Paint™ workshop I held at Sparks Studio of Creative Arts in Arlington, Texas. Love seeing what they can do with a little paper and a pair of scissors. Gelatos® by Faber Castell were used for the brilliant color.

   A fabulous journal page by Lynn Medlen, she added acrylic paint with stencils and punched paper.

                Suzanne McNeill used lots of great Gelato color and punched shapes to create the bird.

     Suzanne is planning a trip to Vietnam soon, I love her peaceful scene. Gelatos and black paper.
 

       Judy Evans used Gelatos and patterned paper to create her birds, complete with a nest of eggs.

Fun in the studio with the Grandgirls

One of my favorite things about art is how fun it is to share. A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to have 3 of my grandgirls together with me in the studio.

 Paula is about to go to college and wanted to create some art for the walls of her new apartment. She did some fabulous work. I introduced her to mid-century modern and she loved it. Here are her wonderful creations, they were inspired by Jenn Ski's books on Mid-Century Modern patterns.

 

16 x 20 canvas

                                      cardstock                                                              Watercolor paper 9 x 12

Sarah just loves, loves loves art in every medium. She also likes to do her own thing most of the time. Sarah also liked the mid-century modern style. She challenged me to create a piece featuring this fun bull (again from one of Jenn Ski's books). It was so enjoyable creating with her, choosing color combinations and paper punch outs for the embellishments on the bull. When she suggested putting a snail on the bull's back I was a little hesitant ...but we loved it!!

                                                           Sarah's bull and snail.

                                                                 My bull and snail.

                                          Sarah's abstract acrylic painting with paper cut-ups.
                                                                    16 x 20 canvas


Lyndsey has had a hard time of things lately, I had to talk her into just doing something...anything. She picked some favorite colors and painted stripes....beautiful in it's simplicity, and it made her happy! The black lines are drawn with oil pastel.

                                                                   8 x 8 Canvas

Share your art with someone, especially if you have children in your life. In fact I have decided anyone who walks into my studio must pick up a brush and apply paint to a canvas. Easel standing ready!!

Teaching at Bella Crafts Connections

Okay. it's kind of obvious I get to my blog about once a month. I have been longing for a website....I just didn't want to have to do it! One of my art friends is also a very knowledgeable computer/social media person. While I would have loved for her to do it....I bit the bullet and asked her advice on which one was the absolute easiest platform for me to use for a website. The winner Weebly, and it is fabulous, they have an hour video (I watched it 3 times), which covers everything you need. I recommend this site for everyone. Here is the link to cindyshepard.com....advice and comments welcome.

One of the reasons I really needed a website is because I have begun teaching more. I have classes in July and August at a local studio Sparks Creative Arts Studio, owned by my friend and fabulous artist Suzanne McNeill. In September I am teaching at Bella Crafts Connections at the Mall of America in Minnesota. Lots of other wonderful teachers will be there as well...so I will be teaching and of course taking some classes. Hope to see some of you there.

Journals, Gelatos and Paper Punches

I now have quite a collection of paper punches - circles in all sizes and a few squares too. I love using cut up and punched paper and have searched every nook and cranny in my studio to find all of my old paper. Using old paper for cut-ups in a junk journal is a fabulous way to repurpose paper you were never very fond of.

 

This pink paper with big lips has been in my stash a very long time, it works great for a dress for my paper doll and as a border on the adjacent page. The paper doll has been glued to an envelope in my junk journal that I stamped and colored with Gelatos. The sheet music page is actually a fold out with additional cut papers on the inside.

 

This is black cardstock and an old calender page in one of my junk journals. I love the simple beauty of the stark white and yellow on the black page. All I used was a few circle punches and a glue stick.

 The flower side of this journal page is a greeting card I gessoed, then used black paint to sponge on a stencil pattern and colored with Gelatos. The house journal page is a piece of poster board which had previously been used, I gessoed it - added a few stamps in Staz-On brown and colored with Gelatos. When I adhere paper to a surface which has been colored with Gelatos I use a liquid glue such as Elmer's Glue-All.

I have also been experimenting with cutting tools, next post I will give a few tips for how to use some of these tools to come up with fun and funky shapes.

Cut-ups for Cards

More cut-up fun. In May my family has a lot of birthdays, we get together and celebrate them along with Mother's Day. I don't usually make cards but was having such a good time with paper cut-outs I decided to make cards for the family. Especially since the price of a card is about $5.00, or more!!

These images were inspired by a fabulous artist, Mikel Casal from Spain. I have his book Drawing Words and love his illustrations.

My sister loves crosses and her last name is Cross...so thought this was a perfect card for her.

I used circle punches and decided to add the remnants from the black paper to the inside of the cards.

And why not decorate the envelopes as well. I am so obsessed I just ordered more circle punches in different sizes....can't wait to play. These are perfect designs for Zentangle® patterns.

Paper Cut-ups for Art Journals

 Loving the Mid-Century Modern Designs. I recently ordered the book Mid-Century Modern Patterns with artwork by Jenn Ski. These shapes are perfect for using up my scrap papers.
Just got out my scissors and hole punches and started making shapes. It was fun to build upon each page.

         I used black and brown cardstock as well as the inside of an envelope for paper cut-outs.

 Blue cardstock in one of my Smash journals, I cut shapes from the page itself then added cut and punched shapes with black, brown and turquoise paper.

The trick to building all the images and layers on each page is the glue....my oh my how I struggle with glues. I have tried glue sticks, Elmer's Glue-all, Modge Podge, Golden Matte Medium, spray glues, adhesive dots, double stick tape, Zip-Dry....everything I can get my hands on. There is no right glue to use for everything.....Zip-Dry is a favorite of mine for the heavier papers. Glue sticks are great for small images and lightweight papers. But to tell the truth I use them all at some point......the great experiment continues - still seeking the best all around glue!! Open to all suggestions.

Gelatos on a Paper Bag Journal Page

Rita Barakat is a fabulous Mixed Media artist.....she uses Gelatos by Faber Castell in a lot of her work... I love,love Gelatos. When you subscribe to Rita's newsletter she often includes an art video in which she demonstrates products and comes up with some cool things to do with them.

 This week she was using Gelatos....she made some beautiful cards.  I got out one of my Recycle/Smash Art Journals and turned to a fold out paper bag page to try Rita's technique using gesso, stamps and Gelatos.

 

Scribble Gelatos all over the page, add water and blend with a paint brush.

Rita painted one of her colorful girl characters to put on a card, I decided to paint a funny pocket watch to collage onto my journal page.

I love using cut paper shapes in my journals, this is the finished page...image from a magazine, black paper cut-outs, pocket watch painted on watercolor paper and gel pens.