Watercolor Technique, Ink Pads and Re-inkers

Artful Adventures Watercolor Flower

Flower colored with watercolor technique.

As scrapbookers, stampers, carmakers and just crafters in general, we are often looking for ways to use products in our stash!  Join me on another artful adventure this week at we explore some water color techniques. Today we’ll  look at ink pads and re-inkers and using a water brush.

This is an easy way to add a little different look to some of your projects.

Artful Adventures card with watercolor technique on flower card

Stamped flower colored with watercolor technique, cut out and applied to card.

Artful Adventures Podcast: EP 04, Everyday Artist, Linda Kittmer

Welcome to another episode of the podcast.  The interview with Linda Kittmer follows below this audio snippet, as it was submitted in written format. Please take time to read it and get to know a little about Linda, as she is delightful and I’m sure you will enjoy the interview.  There is a little more info in the audio with a preview of upcoming Artful Adventures.

I would like you to meet today’s featured guest, Linda Kittmer.

Linda Kittmer

Linda Kittmer

Kristie:  Linda, please tell us a little about yourself and your background.

Linda:  I grew up in a very traditional, hard working German family.  Being the youngest of five children, and the only girl, there were certain expectations and stereotypes that guided me on my path.  I’ve always loved art, and took art throughout high school but it was always seen as a filler among the ‘serious’ academic courses.  As such, pursuing art as a career choice was never a consideration.  I did take a few fine arts courses in university, but again they were electives that I managed to fit in around the study of child psychology, which was my major.  I then went on to get my Bachelor of Education, but it still did not occur to me that teaching art would be a viable choice.  Of course, in hindsight, I now wonder why I didn’t combine my love of teaching with my love of visual arts.

As a full time teacher, and later a wife and mother, life was busy and my art was put aside.  Then, in 1999 I decided to learn to quilt and that became my artistic outlet.  I began as a self taught traditional quilter and although I used some patterns, I quickly discovered that I preferred creating my own unique designs.   Being a prolific quilter, I quickly ran out of beds,  sofas and cribs to cover.   This was also the time when I decided that the traditional quilt guild to which I belonged was no longer meeting my creative needs.

In the spring of 2006 a friend and I started a fibre art group, ‘The Group of Eight Fibre Artists’ or GOE (rhymes with toe) as we refer to ourselves. In spite of the name, the group currently has nine members who meet monthly, encouraging and inspiring one another.  Our first group show was in January 2011 and we have  six shows and  a speaking engagement lined up for this year.

I went from using commercial fabric to creating much of my own hand dyed fabric and I create unique pieces using various surface design techniques such as mono-printing, marbling, rust dyeing, etc.  

Kristie: When did you realize you liked to be creative or express yourself through art?

Linda: I think on some level I’ve always know that I like to be creative, but it has certainly blossomed in the last year.  I have expanded my choice of media, incorporating art journalling and mixed media work into my repertoire and I’ve also taken a much greater interest in my photography and creating digitally altered photo art.  

Kristie:  Do you work outside the home?

Linda: I had been working as a special education teacher for the last ten years or so, but due to an accident I have been on long term disability for the last couple of years.  It has been during this time, while struggling with depression, that I turned back to my art in a much bigger way.

Kristie:  Linda, obviously, from what you’ve shared, art has become very important to you!  How much time do you devote to it daily, weekly..?

Linda: I made a conscious choice to spend time in my studio every day in an effort to work through the depression.  My art became my therapy and although at times it was extremely difficult to motivate myself, I found that I began to express some of my feelings about what I was going through and that started to make a difference.  It was during this time, when I didn’t always feel like working on my fibre art, that I began to sketch and doodle, revisiting some of the things I had enjoyed doing while I was a student in high school and university.

During the ‘darkest‘ time, I created a journal using an altered book.  Even now, over a year later, I wouldn’t dare let anyone actually see it…in it I expressed some of my deepest, darkest fears and feelings.  But, the exercise of doing that allowed me to get those things off my chest when I wasn’t ready to articulate them or share them with anyone.  

It was also during this time that I came upon Joanne Sharpe and her Letter Love 101 online class.  This made it easier to keep to my personal commitment to do art everyday since I didn’t have to necessarily be too creative, I just had to follow her lessons.

I now spend most of my day in my studio, while my husband, a woodworker, plays in his workshop. And often, even when I’m not in the studio I’m still working on beading or hand stitching while ‘listening to’ TV with my husband in the evenings.

 

Kristie: Tell us about your art journey, and how you make art.

Linda: My art journey seems to be ever evolving.  I can’t imagine being without the Internet since I love to learn from others and due to various issues online classes are far easier for me to do.  I find that I am often inspired by things I see but I like to put my own spin on them.  The best thing I think that I have going for myself is a constant need to know “what if”.  I love to experiment and think outside the box.  I don’t worry about something not turning out.  I just jump in and try things and figure out where to take it depending on what happens.

By simply doing Google searches on various topics, checking out Pinterest and visiting other blogs, I’ve found all sorts of free tutorials which I’ve used to learn and expand my repertoire.    YouTube is another great source for short videos that demonstrate various techniques and ideas.  I’m currently revisiting the Creative Jumpstart 2013 videos and finding new ideas for using things I already have in my stash.  Who knew all the cool things you could do with rubber stamps, stencils, etc.  

Kristie: Do you create your work with intent and an end result already in mind, or is it more playful and develops as you go along?

Linda: I usually work very intuitively, seldom having an end result in mind.  I just finished a piece which began as a wipe up rag my friend used when she was doing some silk dying.  It was a piece of white silk, roughly 12” x 16”, with pretty coloured stains on it, but it spoke to me and fortunately she let me have it.  I started to hand stitch into it, and after hours and hours of hand stitching, with still no idea where I was going with it, I took it to the sewing machine and did an extensive amount of free motion stitching in the areas that were still white, between the now heavily hand stitched stains.  It was only at this point that I started to see something develop.  After having spend literally weeks on it…I’m guessing that I had already put at least 20 hours of work into it, I was finally beginning to see where it was taking me.

Sometimes I’ll have some idea of what I want to do, but seldom does a piece end up looking like what I might have first imagined.  I know it sounds silly, but I let the piece guide me and I’m open to changing direction as something develops.  I never get frustrated if something doesn’t work as I expected because I don’t have an end result in mind, and I therefore just see it as a fork in the road.

Kristie: People are always curious to find out something about where the magic happens.  Tell us about your art space!  Do you have a little nook, a whole room….?

Linda: I’m very fortunate to have a wonderful studio in our home.  The room is 15′ 8″ X 11″ (12′ on the left side with the larger window) and it has one large window and two smaller windows facing the front of our house.  Rather than elaborate here, I’ll direct anyone interested to visit my blog and click on the Studio Tour tab where they can read all about my studio and see lots of pictures of it.  Suffice it to say for now that I am a very lucky woman.

Kristie: What are some ways you think people can try to expand creativity and not put it into little boxes, which can stifle creativity?  (Such as this is home decor, this is scrapbooking, this is card making, this is photography, etc., when in reality we are using design, color, balance… things that are all related?)

Linda: It’s all about keeping an open mind I think.  As you say, we use the foundations of design, colour theory, etc. in so much of what we do.  It makes me smile when I hear someone say they don’t have an artistic bone in their body, yet they’re dressed beautifully or their home is nicely decorated or whatever.  They’ve put basic art principles to work in putting together the outfit or deciding on the organization and colours they’ve used in their home but they don’t think that counts.  I used to be in total awe of some of the art I saw and now realize that I’m creating work that I once never imagined that I could.  It’s by keeping an open mind and being willing to learn from others that we grow and develop ourselves.  I recently created some mixed media canvases that I’m thrilled with, and yet  a couple of years ago, my first attempt at putting paint to canvas was a total disaster.  You just have to get in there and not be afraid to try!  

Kristie: What advice would you offer someone who finds it difficult to work creative time into a busy schedule, like so many of us have?

Linda: I truly believe that we can make time for things if we really want to.  This is where some people may say, “Sure, easy for her to say. She’s at home and not working so she has lots of time.” But, as someone who got her Masters of Education while teaching full-time and raising a young son by myself (my first husband had passed away when my son was not yet three), while still keeping summers free to go camping and traveling with my son, I say again that I believe we make time for things that we really want.

Perhaps more importantly, as women, we need to make time for ourselves.  Whether right or wrong, we take on a lot of responsibility and we often sacrifice ourselves in the process.  I learned early on that if I didn’t take care of myself I was no good to my son or the kids I taught.  If you love art, then you owe it to yourself to make time for it in your life.  It doesn’t have to always be a lot of time, but schedule in some time everyday for your art.  

If you’ve got young kids, set up a little table and chairs in your work area where the kids can create along side you.  Set boundaries so they know it is your special time and that they have to work on their activity independently while you’re doing yours.  Even the really little ones understand this for short periods of time.  If you’re lucky enough to still have little ones who nap, take that time as yours.  You can clean house or do laundry when they’re awake!  Be creative in finding time.  I got Walt Disney to babysit while I worked on my Master’s thesis.  I’m sure he wouldn’t mind thirty minutes here or there while you did some art.

Kristie: How important do you think it is to find art friends – others who are willing to explore techniques, products, ideas, their work…?

Linda: I think finding art friends is incredibly important.  I guess that’s why my friend and I started our fibre art group.  The ability to share ideas, challenge one another, inspire each other, etc. is invaluable.  I think that is one of the reasons that Joanne Sharpe has such a cult following.  Yes, she’s an incredibly talented artist and a great teacher, but she also had the wisdom to bring her students together in the Facebook groups.  And in doing so, she’s opened us up to an endless supply of inspiration and examples of the lessons.  As a teacher, I know how important it is for people to learn from others and to use another’s ideas as a springboard for our own unique take on something.  It’s the ongoing networking, sharing and encouragement that keeps the learning going.  

If you can find a group in your area, or find enough interested people to start one, great, but if that’s not possible for whatever reason, social media is fabulous.  I said earlier how fortunate we are to have the Internet and I’ll say it again.  How incredible is it that regardless of where we live, whether on an isolated farm in the prairies or in a high rise in a big city, we can sit down at our computer and chat and network, at our convenience, with like minded artists from around the world!  In addition to the diversity provided by the international scope of Facebook, these groups are comprised of people at varying levels of experience and skill so that we’ve got regular folks networking and sharing with established and well known artists. Honestly, how cool is that!

Remember, art is the answer…no matter what the question!  

Linda’s Blog:  http://lindakittmer.blogspot.ca/

Linda on Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/lindakittmer/

A sampling of Linda’s work!

Linda Kittmer Sample Images

Turn a Printable Download into Gift Wrap

printable download small gift wrapThis week we have been on a tour of ways to use or jazz up a printable digital download.  Today I’ve got a quick idea for a bit of gift wrap for a very small gift!  Print out a printable and ta-dah! you have a little piece of gift wrap.  Now, if you are thinking, ‘Why on earth would I do that?’ consider this.

Have you ever had someone give you a little unexpected gift?  Maybe it really wasn’t expensive, but it just made you feel good to know they had been thinking about you, right?  Okay, and isn’t it always nice to have a gift that is wrapped — as if it was actually planned?  Maybe you don’t agree, but that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!  Well, you may be like a lot of people and not have a fully appointed and just for wrapping area of your home.  Little gifts don’t need a whole roll of paper, and why not just print something from your printer? You may have a big roll of green, shamrock, March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day holiday related gift wrap, but I did not.

printable download gift wrap

Small project, small group of supplies!

Here is just a little gift and I went ahead and used the same Lucky printable I used earlier this week.  I like the fact that it has a limited color palette, and uses the subway art look that is popular.  I would normally select a much smaller print for a small gift, but I kind of liked the fact that it was more about the lettering and fonts than it was about the words.  If you’re wondering, the gift has nothing to do with the holiday, it was just a cute paper that was seasonally related!  Added bonus, a sheet of paper coming out of my printer was a lot easier to deal with than a big roll of wrapping paper!

top printable download gift wrapped

A peek of the top of the little gift.

One thing you may want to note, is the fact that your regular white printer paper is usually VERY white!  Notice that the ribbon, which looks white on anything else I’ve ever used it on, appears a little more cream color against the stark white.  That’s OKAY, I’m only pointing it out so you don’t write to me and let me know it doesn’t really “match” well.

Next time you have a small gift, think about printing a wee bit of gift wrap from your printer, and try out using a printable download, ready to go!

Please join me on next week’s Artful Adventures as we explore some watercolor techniques using markers and ink pads!  Until then,

Cheers to YOUR creativity!

Kristie

Using a Printable Download for a Scrapbook Page

Cants Into Cans printable download Many printable downloads have a quote or a thought that would be appropriate to use on a scrapbook page.  By using one for a page, you are able to use a great deal of space on your page without having to think about it too much. Just think, someone else has done all the design work on the printable!  They have selected the colors, the fonts, the layout, the phrase … ALL of it!   If you like the way the printable looks, you are ready to go!

Have you seen this saying before?  “She turned her can’ts into can’s, and her dreams into plans.” What a powerful reminder of determination!  As many daughters as I have, and as many women as I know, I thought this would be a great one to use for today’s Artful Adventures project!

One of the first things that came to mind, when thinking of what scrapbook page to use this on, was my daughter’s college graduation.  She decided to go back to school and earn her college degree. She did so while working full time.  It was a lot of work, but she did it anyway.  I had just a few pictures that turned out well and I still had never done anything with them.  Actually, instead of looking at the pictures and only feeling happy about her achievement, I would look at them and become irritated about how awful they turned out. The pictures were a reminder to see about a new camera that would take better pictures in low light!

Cants Cans Printable Download Scrapbook PageYou will notice that the page is rather simple.  It includes:

  • 2 Photos
  • 1 Printable digital download
  • Background Cardstock
  • Partial sheet of print paper
  • Journaling strip
  • 3 Brads

Such a little effort to finally have a wonderful memory on a page!

This example uses the printable as it was.  However, this particular one from Stampin’Up! comes with stamp/brushes that can be used in any program and the colors can be changes as you like.  You have the option of using the file as is, or you can change the colors in appropriate software.

Artful Adventures

 

I have one more idea for this weeks’ Artful Adventures in printable digital downloads!  Until next time, Cheers to YOUR creativity!

–Kristie

Doodling on a Printable Download

Artful Adventures Digital Printables We continue our Artful Adventures today as we look at another way to use a printable download.  How do you like the picture for our adventure this week?

My definition of a printable download is one which is ready to print and could be plopped in a frame as is, except for perhaps trimming it.  The ones I am using this week are from Stampin’Up!, and come with not only the printable .jpg image, but have the digital stamps/brushes so that you customize colors of elements, change them around or use them on any of your digital projects.  Yesterday we worked on one for St. Patrick’s Day, and today we have one that is not just word art, but has a sweet little picture.

Let’s take a look at what we are starting with today.  Earth Laughs digital printable

This is a very sweet piece which is certainly framable as is.  However, around here, we like to kick it up a notch!  So let’s grab a fine tip black pen and just add some doodles on this piece after we print it!  We are only going to add a little definition to the larger elements, and let the more fine line work stay in the background, kind of like a piece of background paper on a card or scrapbook page.

Artful Adventures Earth Laughs digital printable with doodles

Once again, I want to stress that it doesn’t have to be perfect! Like our friend Joanne Sharpe says, “Perfectly imperfect!”  If it needed it to stay perfect you would just leave it as it came off the printer.  Just try your hand on a little bit of doodling, if you haven’t.  If you have, you may not have thought of giving yourself a headstart by using something straight off the printer!

Next, I just added a bit of a shadow to some of the lettering with a light, warm gray marker.  I wish I would have used a smaller tip marker, but…. it’s done.  Nobody is really going to be up close and examining it with a magnifying glass.  If they are, and they don’t like it, they should just make one of their own to admire their own self-imposed perfection!

Artful Adventures Earth Laughs digital download with highlights

This next photo is up close and personal.  Take a look and notice how imperfect it is.  (I have to say, I never in a million years would have dreamed I would be telling people to take a close look at something I did to take special note of how imperfect it was!)  There are finer tipped pens that may have been more appropriate for the doodling on this, yet they weren’t handy at the moment I wanted to work on this.  Remember when you were young and liked to color and doodle?  It’s still fun!

Earth Laughs digital doodles closeup

Try your hand at a project like this and come post it on the Artful Adventures Facebook Group!  We would love to see what you are up to!