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.

Art Journaling when you are sick.

I am usually a pretty healthy and busy woman but have recently been sick for a couple of months, once I watched all the documentaries and art videos and music videos on my lap top in my endless days of being in bed I was bored and I needed to journal.

I was limited in what I could do though and lacking inspiration.

I didn't want to have paints and water jars in my bed 

and I didn't want to have to keep getting out of bed to clean things.

But I did want to exercise my little creativity I still had, 

art heals and it always makes me feel better.

So endless hours of worrying about the bush fires ravaging NSW and  looking at facebook turned up some words and quotes I wanted to play with and my waste paint journal has lots of yummy pages prepped and ready for the next step.

With just some paint pens, gel pens and markers I could write on my pages and I had all of these words so I didn't even have to think too much about things. Just play with freedom and it made me happy and distracted me. 

Some of my pages in this journal have had opening pages added and when I found a theme running through the words inspiring me I grouped them all together under post cards and opening pages.

I have so appreciated being able to just play, appreciated my already prepped pages, my lap top connecting me to the world and  the moments when I was up to sitting.

Art really is a healer.

Hand Made Stamps using kids craft foam

I love to use my own home made tools in my art work

I am inspired by many artists and by nature and I have various themes that come up regularly in my own works, and with these influences I have been making stamps to use in various mixed media applications.

I enjoy the different looking pieces I can create with the recurring themes.

This one uses simple triangles repeated

and has quickly become a favorite and inspired me to do the same with diamonds, circles and squares

I think I need to trim away the sides more to avoid the "frame" affect but in a way I like how it adds to the page anyway.

Birds and plants are perennial favorites with me 

I use them with paint or an ink pad and I also use them on my gelli plate. I think I will keep finding other ways to use them though and because they are flexible they work well over changing layers or around corners.

I made these stamps using kids craft foam, simply drawing into it with a pen or a pencil and adding as much or as little detain as I wanted.Then it is simply backed with a second sheet of foam using double sided sticky tape. If you feel inspired and make some as well I would love to see what you do please leave a link in the comments so we can all share.

Youth Art Classes with Louise Kirby ~ River Girl Art

I am a local artist offering my unique and fun art classes to Clarence Valley youth starting term 4 this year.

Making art is fun and relaxing and in a life where we can so often get it wrong, there are no wrongs in my art classes, just wonderful experiments we can learn from. 

I am offering a colourful,

 creative and nurturing space for kids from 7 up. 

 Classes will be limited to only 10 students so everyone will get lots of personal attention.

The materials we use we will play with, but they will learn as much from the art materials themselves as they will from me. 

I am aiming for your children to find success and pleasure in our art time and at the end of our 8 week terms they will have gained  new skills and ideas and come home with something uniquely their own.

Next term we will be focusing on printmaking, stamp making and book making and you can have a peek at me working with another young artist on my facebook page River Girl Art in the Art with Kids folder, these are the classes we will be doing this term. Please like my page to keep in touch with what I am doing and where I am.  I offer many different classes in different places locally and afar.

Classes will be held at the Grafton Art Club between 3:30 pm and 4:45 pm on Wednesday afternoons.
Dates for the next term are October 9^th and 6^th, November 6^th, 13^th, 20^th and 27^th and December 4^th and 11^th as I have prior teaching commitments in the Blue Mountains for the last couple of weeks in October.  

Cost for the full term is $150 per student this will cover all of your materials and hall fees, there is an additional cost for annual art club membership of $10.

I am also offering an earlier class for homeschooled children between 1 and 2:30 at the Grafton Art Club.

 If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me
email rivergirlart@bigpond.com
or message me on my River Girl Art facebook page.