Crafty Musings by Hagit

Painting with Julie's stencils

I'm a big fan of Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's, and I was recently gifted with her fantastic girl stencils.
At first I thought they would be very limiting, because they're actual faces, and wouldn't that be boring if everyone suddenly started drawing identical faces?

But as I began using them, I realized the opposite is true! |The stencils are actually wonderful tools, which are actually quite freeing for someone like me, who is still afraid of drawing faces. When I'm using these stencils, I am free to enjoy the process and try out a million of ideas and techniques- I've painted with pens, used collage, altered their features, tried out different backgrounds, and they never look the same! They're so versatile and fun! Can you tell how much I'm enjoying them?

Here are a few of the paintings I've made, using the Summer and Edith and Maude templates:

This was my first try. I didn't have a canvas, and I drew it on a shoebox (do you also keep those?:)

Some collage and some painting, but I wasn't very happy with the result. This is the whole picture:

As I was painting on the shoebox, my almost-3-year-old son came along and wanted to join, and he wouldn't paint on paper. He insisted getting his own shoebox, and he also used the stencils! And then took a lovely dip of the brush inside black paint and went over it all. He enjoyed it so much! :)

This is the opposite side of the same shoebox, which I'm really happy with:

I love her wonky eyes, and how the bird fit perfectly in there!

And this is just some fun I was having tryig out Sakura Glaze pens:

And finally - a painting from this morning, that has many many layers of paint.
At this stage I was really in love with her: 

And then somehow I thought she needed more paint and generously put on some purple. I still like her, but it's no longer a love story!

 

So... which one is your favorite? :)

2013 DIY Postcard Swap

After a long pause in swapping, I recently joined ihanna's postcard swap, and had so much fun making serendipity postcards.

I learned about serendipity blocks a few years ago, when inchies were all the rage, and I participated in a serendipity inchie swap. The idea is to work on a large collage, then turn it around to the back/blank side, and cut it up to pieces blindly, not knowing how the inchies would turn out.

In this picture, on the left, you can see the collage I made back in 2008, and on the right are the inchies that resulted:

I really like working this way, completely unattached and unaware of the outcome! Of course, once you've cut up the collage and have all the pieces, you can work on them seperately, until you reach a satisfactory outcome.

So this is how I started my postcard swap. I worked on a very large piece of cardstock, collaging it with many bits and pieces - maps, tissue paper, tags, scrapbookig paper, and so much more. When I was done collaging I added some stamping:

After the collaging and stamping, I liked my collage so much, that I just couldn't bear the thought of cutting it up! So I let it rest for a few days.

And after that, I took another look, and added more stamping, I also made marks with pastels, pencil and ink, and stencils as well:

I then turned it around, and marked squares for my postcards, and cut them up, without looking:

I then had all my postcards, and I started giving them some final touches, mainly adding some washi tape and doodling, and I also framed each postcard with acrylic paint.

I have to say I really enjoyed the process, and I love the outcome, although I must admit there were a few stages along the way where I just wanted to throw it all away! It's hard working this way, it's challenging, and I love it! Just go on and on until you're happy, so what if you feel unsatisfied along the way, right?!

Here are some closeups of my completed poscards:

So what about you? have you ever done this serendipty block technique? participated in a postcard swap? please leave a link in the comments section, I'd love to see what you made! :)

 

In My Art Journal

I have two more pages left in my current art journal. I'm so happy to be able to work in it more. I find it challenging and enjoyable, and it's a great opportunity for me to actually try all those paints/techniques/ideas I've been wanting to try! I love working in smaller journals, because seeing them filled up is great, but I'm also starting to feel the need for a thicker journal, which will also document my process. I wonder whether thinking about my next journal isn't just an excuse for me to feed my addiction to notebooks!

Anyway, here are some recent pages. This is one I really liked, and I loved working on it.

 

It stated out as a collage: 

 

 The reason I have a picture of the unfinished page is that I sometimes have such a hard time getting over the "oh, it's so beautiful" stage, that I like to keep a picture of it - just in case it gets totally ruined under all those layers! :)

The next page is one that took just a few minutes. I didn't have much time, but decided to work in my journal anyway, and I'm happy I did. It was a chance to use some colors and inks I'd been wanting to try out, and to doodle a really quick face - which is also great for me, because I'm always so afraid of faces! It so happens, that the time limit was great here, because I'm really happy with this pleasing guy. Nothing deep, nothing too meaningful, just play, really. 

This is another very quick page. I was painting with my 2-year-old (he's actually going to be 3 in only 4 months!!), he picked out the colors, and I squished them out onto our palette, and quickly brsuhed them on my page, before he muddied them! 

Over here, I decided to use a picture I had taken some months ago, of a giraffe in the Safari.
I'm quite happy with the outcome, but she sure taught me some lessons! There are so many layers going on here, so many trials and places where I was about to trash her! 

 This is how it started out- with a photo, printed black/white on regular printer paper. I then outlined her with pencil:

Painted gesso over her, and stuck on a background I had prepared in my journal: 

As I said, she taught me many lessons, one of which was how to use watercolors, and how much water to use so the color doesn't bleed as much as this:

And this is my last page, or rather, two pages, because I just didn't manage to blend them into one coherent layout: 

 I love both pages separately, but not both as one layout.
However, out of all the above pages, this one is probably the most personal one, where I actually wrote out some things that were on my mind, and tried to put them down.

Sooo... what did you think? was this too long? I love reading about processes, so I thought I'd share mine! Thanks for reading :)

 

Yet another mixed media girl

WIP Monday

Mixed media on canvas.

Not quite finished. 
Setting it aside until I decide how to continue :) 

WIP Monday

My Magic Place

Last week, I talked to a friend about that special place art leads us to.
A private place where I can disconnect from the outer world and enter my realm, full of magic (paint and color!).

I'm so thankful for having this magic place.
A place where I can dream
and experiment
cut, paint, sew, use my hands,
get dirty,
think things over and out,
be inspired 
and enjoy every minute of it all! 

That's what I had in mind when I made this canvas.
I transferred a picture of a door I took some time ago (one of many I have. I love doors!), and from there on, some more transfers, gesso, many layers of papers and medium, and a few lines from a song in Hebrew, translated to something along the lines of, "I'll give you the key (to the magic door), come in and be my guest".

I love the way that little heart turned out, all red and shiny and alive, as opposed to the muted transfers.

And I absolutely love all the texture:

 

 

 

 Doesn't it make you want to touch and feel all those bumps and curves? :-)

New painting

It started with this exercise, inspired by Cynthia Shaffer (I love her blog, and LOVE the energy in that last post :)).
I drew this tiny doll I once bought at a flea market:

This is what it looked like at the beginning:

And I'm thrilled with the result! I played and played with paper and glue and pencils and crayons and paints, and I'm so happy I plan to hang it! Very exciting for me, because I have absolutely nothing I made decorating my home.

Last, but not least - food for thought.
I made this canvas after a whole week in which I stayed away from the computer. Hmmm...