Happy Mail

To give and to receive

it is one of the real joys of living, 

I get real pleasure in creating art for other people and getting happy mail in the post in among the bills and junk mail flyers is such a treat.

We recently had a lovely fun swap over at the
Australian Art Swap Group 

It was a supplies and ephemera swap,
we needed to fill and envelope with things we wanted to share
then our packages were sent all over Australia 

to bring joy and inspiration to each other.

It is amazing just how much can fit in one of these envelopes
and how much fun it is

 to include some art from our online friends in our own work.

We have lots of different swaps and not just for the big kids,
these ATCs were made by my 11 yo son and I,

Making your own Stamps

I really enjoy creating my own stamps and stencils to use in my art,

I love that it is another layer made from my hand 

and that I have repeating elements used in many ways in my work.

 

I use various different materials to make my stamps,

the owl is carved from a commercial stamp carving block and 

the chevrons above were drawn and carved by my 11 yo son

using a giant eraser from the supermarket bought for $2. 50

These stamps were made using layers of craft foam,

these stamps can be made very simply by drawing directly onto the foam with a heavy hand, I do periodically redraw the designs on my growing collection of these stamps as they get filled with paint but they are also very easy to repair in this way and a pack of 100 sheets of craft foam enables you to make a huge amount of stamps. I love using these for printmaking.

Birds are a perennial theme with me and I have loads of bird stamps

they can really make a journal page pop,

using them just with some ink of paint

or using them as a base (I stamp with white gesso)

then painting your bird as elaborately as you desire.

Favorite Art Materials

Someone asked me the other day what are my favorite art materials to use and oh my goodness, what a question, that is like who is your favorite child- I love them all.

Deeper pondering and a look at the desk in my bedroom corner studio revealed my favorites, the ones I use the most right now. Acrylic paints, spray inks, inca gold, modelling paste, impasto gel, gesso, posca pint pens, stamp pads, stencils and gelli plates- and a realisation I can pack a whole lot of stuff into a little space and still work here.

I also have collage elements, paint brushes and pallet knives, baby wipes, paper towel, art journals, tapes and oil pastels on my desk right now and my laptop. 

My top drawer in my desk has a selection of my favorite pens. Right now I can not get enough of Sakura Souffle, Glaze and Metallic gelly roll pens- I love them. My other absolute favorite pen of the moment are the posca paint pens- they write on anything and come in a great selection of sizes and colours.

Next drawer down has a selection of handy tools.
Brayers, scissors, pencil sharpeners, tweezers, knives, stapler etc. Other drawers hold receipts and paperwork, stationary etc.  Embellishments, paper cutter, corner cutter and assorted other cutters.

In close reach I have a stack of drawers filled with spare pens and pencils, pastels, scissors, glue and book binding supplies. Other drawers hold needle felting equipment, beads and jewelry making gear. The box on top hold a good supply of gelli prints, some odds and ends and the essential radio so I can listen to RN.

I have a wonderful set of shelves right beside my desk jam packed with all sorts of goodies. It has a shelf of art journals I am working in and books I am making. A shelf of stamping stuff- ink pads, stamps and my hand made stamps.

This box is one filled with my hand made stamps.

These shelves also house lots of paints and my larger stencils, paper and magazines I keep. 

I also have this lovely big shelf filled finished Art Journals and other supplies I use less often.