So many things have happened over the last year. I have been blogging over at kkmixedmedia.blogspot.com.au and kkjournaljounrey.blogspot.com.au and neglecting Prettye Junque. The Kreative Koncepts shop has closed and with it goes my Design Team duties. I will continue teaching Journal Journey, and once the mixed media blog has been closed down I will re-publish all of my content here.
I am still working my way through Lifebook 2014, in chunks mostly. I signed up in March or April 2014, so technically my year isn’t done yet. This is a batch of pages I scanned yesterday. I have put the teacher’s name next to my finished page.
We moved into our house 2 years ago. I unpacked my room and have never had it quite right. The furniture from the old room didn’t work the same, I always seemed to be tripping over things, I could never keep the floor clear, but I had more storage! A giant built in robe and a brand new stand up desk with shelves AND a big cube bookcase.
Turns out the problem was TOO MUCH STORAGE. I had culled supplies you see, but not the storage furniture that held it. It was very very hard to let go of that storage. It’s so USEFUL! I might NEED it!
I should have taken “before” photos, but I didn’t. But I made a video explaining the main organising tricks I used to get the chaos under control.
Summary of tips:
Create a hierarchy of accessibility: Put things you use often closer to your work area and within easy reach. Spare supplies and things I don’t use are in less accessible places. Colouring mediums (paints, pencils, pastels, gelatos) are all near my desk and on one shelf.
Create safe resting places: When I first started monoprinting (with a gelatine plate), the most frustrating thing was getting paint on things I didn’t want paint on because I had to put the prints somewhere to dry. I also have a feline companion who likes to “inspect” artwork while it is still wet. A string run from one side of the room to the other, a few paper clips and bulldog clips, and I have a handy dandy drying line for the prints to hang from safely. I also hang my stencils to dry after I have washed them.
Make stuff easy to put away: Personally I like the ‘toss and go’ method, so open containers are my preference. I also love my plastic drawers that come all the way out.
Don’t make it too complicated: Do flowers really need to to sorted by colour AND type? I have two flower categories: flat and dimensional. Buttons all go into the button jar (well button jarS if I’m honest).
Visibility is key: The old “out of Sight, Out of Mind” problem. I used to have a very organised scrap paper file. The paper went into its neatly labelled colour category… and never came out again. Now I have a large basket and everything goes in together. When it gets full, I empty some of it out and donate it to the local child care centre.
Teacher: Cat Geller. I found the composition notebooks at Officeworks here in regional QLD. They are the only exercise book I could find that has the sewn binding. I wonder how our normal stapled exercise books would hold up, especially with the ribbons tied in to help keep the spine intact.
The front cover is the piece I made for Serena Bridgeman’s Week 20 class, altered to replace the lotus flower with a heart and the background pushed back a bit with aqua paint and gesso. Yes the title of my book is Brave Heart. The back cover is a page I did recently and is based on a piece of Diane Duda’s art. I am completely in love with my book, especially the ‘gilded edges’. I can’t stop touching it! I think I will use it as an ongoing ‘grumpy dumping ground’, a la, Micki Wilde’s Week 32 Lesson.
The first time I tried one of Marieke Blokland’s Cotton Candy Diva’s, it didn’t turn out very well. This lady came out much closer to the inspiration piece, although I couldn’t make the ears look right, so left them off. The background is very layered, and I should have been a bit more light handed with the acrylic paint so more of the lower layers could peek through.
Teacher is Serena Bridgeman. I found it hard to shade the face back to front (the light areas around the edges and on the cheeks and forehead). The blue didn’t respond in the same way as I am used to either, so I had to work the layers a lot more than I usually do.
Texturising with Punchinella, Distress Ink in Dusty Concord and Vintage Photo, alphabet stencil and irResistible spray in Rose Bud, gesso and cardboard tube.
Flick watercolour over
Artistic Director Princess Isabella.
Gel medium to glue down the words.
Watercolour to incorporate the words.
Stamp over the butterfly again with Colorbox white pigment ink.
Tamara Laporte: 
Watercolours
Prettye Junque 