Artist in Residence or Project Lockdown #2...

Happy Saturday Evening Tando-ettes,

Hope all you artists in residence are keeping well.  We are all keeping safe in the Tando Underground Bunker for the Creatively Insane, but I must admit, this week, I've had a mind numbing migraine that eased to a simple blinding headache by Wednesday, but that threw my creativity to the ground and gave it a damn good smothering! It was not nice! However I did get a couple of deliveries that cheered me up enough to get my act together and helped me finish a couple of W.I.P. The problem with migraines is that they affect your eyes (light, focus, concentration all get slammed), so you cant do much for long, and forget looking at a screen!

So, my deliveries were... some squares of textured wallpaper for mark making, from my teamie and fellow Seth Apter groupie, Celia. We use them like stamps and were an unexpected treat. Believe me, for textured stamping they work brilliantly!

The other delivery was some acrylic inks that I've been wanting to try for ages. Here's the colours I got... they are soooooo gorgeous...

I mentioned finished projects: I'm a fan of crochet. Ive taught myself with the aid of youtube videos, and can sit and crochet for hours. I've just finished this buff, just in time for the drop in temperature today. So easy to make (let me know if you want me to link this really easy to follow pattern).

The second project I finished is a lesson from LifeBook 2020 run by Willowing.org. LifeBook is a year long project that has lots of tutorials, some in depth and some more a guide to creating, in lots of different areas of art. I can highly recommend it. Its been perfect for this lockdown year. Here was my piece (taught by Lisa Oxley).  Di posted that we'll be running a new '24 Technique Tags' in the new year, and I'll be adapting what I've learned here in to one of those tag sessions (this one is made on a big piece of Tando Greyboard), because we all love a fb live session right?

Well thats me done for this week. Now my head has cleared I can get back to the million and one ideas I have floating round in there! Is it any wonder I'm forever starting projects but am terrible at finishing them!

Stay safe my friends, and keep checking the blog and the Tando fb pages for inspiration, and please don't be shy to join in with the Artists In Residence shinanigans. Lets keep each other inspired.

Cheerio 

x

‘Goth Box’ by Jan

Hello, were you a Tando 'Jarma Llama' last month? What a fantastic creative time we had 💜. If you didn't join in this year, maybe you'd like to join us for the next one? Keep tuning in to the Tando fb group to be the first to see dates and booking details...

This weeks colour theme really appealed to me. Purple and all it’s tones, however as I sat and thought about my project something completely different began to emerge! Hopefully you’ll of seen the matchboxes that Di launched on Hocahanda last week and from Celia’s project on the amazing 'Comfy Pyjamas Retreat’... I couldn't wait to have a play with the smallest one...

I assembled the matchbox and gave it a dark coat of chalk paint, then rubbed on some resist paint and then a top coat in a paler colour of the chalk paint. When it dried I rubbed back where I'd put the resist medium, so that it gave a worn paint look. I did the same with the drawer and one of the thin greyboard pages. Stamping a Chocolate Baroque background stamp with some versafine ink I heat embossed some powder and let that all cool and dry properly, covered everything in some crackle glaze and when dried rubbed in some white antiquing cream, which was also rubbed back before using crackle paste for the word. Phew!

The wings and the little bird skull are resin from my stash, painted (inspiratation from The fabulous Natassa Blazaki https://www.facebook.com/natassablazaki) and grunged up with waxes and some stippled paint, some scraps of fabric and a metal embellie were all added to some scrap greyboard (to give it height) and stuck on with some heavy duty goo.

Here's what i was supposed to be working towards! Creativity sometimes takes you down a completely different track doesn't it 😅

What I used:

Matchboxes: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/MTCHBXBNDLE.html

Decoart Chalk Paint: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/category-103.html

Decoart Antiquing Cream: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/CLDADMM153.html

Decoart Crackle Glaze: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/CLDADMM16.html

Decoart Crackle Paste: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/search/for/crackle+paste/

from my stash:

Chocolate Baroque texture stamp: https://www.chocolatebaroque.com/gothic-fragments-unmounted-rubber-stamp-sheet-a4.html

Resin and metal pieces, pieces of fabric, beads.

Embossing Powder: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/cs-andy-skinner-mixed-media-embossing-powder-granite.html

Thanks for stopping by 👍

 

Autumn Beauty

Hello creative souls,

It’s nearly two weeks since our holidays and I don't seem to be able to keep pace with everything! It's a weird year isn't it?

I decided to take a bit of a 'time out' to get my thoughts, and diary, sorted out, and to get back in to our usual routine and to stop feeling so overwhelmed!  I've got a very exciting October, and I want to enjoy every bit of it.

Firstly we've taken up wild swimming (swimming in lakes and rivers - add 'freezing' anywhere in this sentence!) and Stand Up Paddle Boarding (surfboard type thing, but you use a paddle and its done more on rivers and lakes, although it can be fun in the sea too), and lessons and practice are at the weekends until we are a bit more confident.

The other Firstly (because it really doesn't come second place) is, I've got my first tutor spot on an art retreat - The Comfy Pyjamas Online Retreat sponsored by Tando Creative and Chocolate Baroque, and I need to do a little bit of prep for that, and make sure I'm going to give a good class.

Anyway, down time is always create time for me. It lets my mind relax, and it was time to do something with the mackeral tin I'd saved from recycling... and use all those leaves I gathered last autumn...

I'd recently done a fab online workshop with Di Oliver called 'Toadstall Village in a Frame', and the class  had lots of elements I wanted to use in the tin.

After squishing down the sharp edge left by pulling the lid off, I covered it, inside and out, with modroc and let it dry, added some texture sand paste and painted it light blue, stippling some darker green on the inside. Cutting some thin greyboard I brayered some paint on and did a little stamping and cut out some basic tree shapes.Making a little toadstall (as per Di's instructions) was so much fun I made a whole village (for later use...). Then it was just a matter of choosing my favourite bits from all the autumn collecting last year: acorn cups, poppy seed heads, red leaves (with a little posca pen work), twigs, pressed  heather And a couple of pine cones. Phew! Hope you like it.

Thanks for popping by, stay well and safe, see you soon

Jan

Dis-con-bob-ulated!

Hello,

I've also gone with the Tando September Colour Theme this week. I find using limited colours really challenging (especially colours I don't use very much)!

As I'm typing this I realise the smaller sizes of hexies are being released on Mondays Hochanda show (don't tell Di I've given you a sneak peak...).

This is our colour palette:

I love the Hexi shape - it has so many possibilities, and I wanted a piece of wall art for a red brick wall - and then my inspiration thumbed a lift out of town and took the creative fairy with it, and I started finding the washing pile and hoovering insisting on my immediate attention... you know how it goes! So I moved some dust around, made another cup of tea and sat at my desk and stopped overthinking it and got some paint and a brayer out. Before I knew it the stencils, stamps, embossing powder and posca pens were all whirling around and making themselves useful. The sentiment really expresses how I was feeling before I started to create 👍

I hope you like the result...

Don't forget to watch the Hochanda shows on Monday for the new releases, some inspiration and some fab demos with Di.

I used:

Hexagons: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/CSTRSHEX.html

DecoArt paint: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/media-fluid-acrylics.html

Tando Stencils: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/4-x-4-stencils.html

I also used:

Andy Skinner Embossing Powder: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/andy-skinner-embossing-enamels.html

Posca pens in white and black
Various stamps and stencils from my stash

Hello people, 

In case you don't have access to the Tando Blog, here is my first post:

thanks for joining me on the Tando Blog.  How are you all doing? Still creating I hope! I've chosen the 'Anything Goes' week as my first post, as I need to dip my toe in gently to the incredible talent pot that is the Tando Design Team. Although they have all been wonderfully welcoming I still feel like a bit of an imposter...

On a greyboard base, I've used white tinting base (its smoother than gesso) as I wanted the black lines to show up on the 8"x8" greyboard sheet, then set to work on the birds. You can really let your imagination run riot on these (especially the legs 😅 ). Once you've painted up your birds,  get your background stamps out and go to town. The last layer to do is the doodling/posca pen touches. If you aren't comfortable with dooding, I've included a few simple ideas below, that look really effective when repeated in different areas (odd numbers work best).

Disclaimer: Any resemblance to the Design Team is purely co-incidental...😆

I've raised the birds up on spare bits of greyboard so the legs can tuck underneath them.

Some of my 'go to' doodles when a little 'something' is needed. 

Please come back during the week to see what the DT have been creating with the fab Tando products.
PS. have you signed up for the Comfy Pyjamas On line Retreat yet? Its going to be a fantastic creative weekend 👍 https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/retreats.html

I used:
Greyboard 8"x8" : https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/CS8X85PCK.html
Mini Birds : https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/MNTGSBIRDS.html
Decoart and other brand acrylics : https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/media-fluid-acrylics.html
Decorart Tinting base (gesso will also do) : https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/search/for/tinting+base/
Versafine Ink Pad: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/VFSGm.html

Other:

Andy Skinner Stencil : Usual Suspects
posca pens: black and white (or use a dotting tool in some paint)
Washi tape from my stash
Embossing powder

Exciting news...

I've been invited to be part of the Tando Design Team! I'm over the moon, and just a tad nervous... The team are extremely talented, and I feel like a bit of an imposter! I've never been interested in doing a DT before, but knowing the wonderful duo of Di and Tony Oliver, and their fab substrates and classes, I couldn't resist the call. I'll be learning just as much as anyone that attends classes and follows the blog from the team, and hope to bring my own style (very eclectic 😆) to the group.

Here's the link to the blog, website and fb page (if you want to see what we are about):

http://tando-creative.blogspot.com

https://www.tando-creative.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TandoCreativeZone/

There's an on-line  retreat coming up in October 2020 that will really get your creative juices going. (fb live, 10 projects, lifetime access) 💜

https://www.facebook.com/events/731677914041417/

Hope you'll be able to join me/us and let your creative juices do their 'thang' ...

Beginnings...

Hello, thanks for stopping by. Please excuse the mess, I don't know what I'm doing yet 👌

So why the blog? I guess I'm starting to miss people! I miss the freedom to do what I want, when I want. Yes its taken me 5 months, but we are pretty self reliant. My husband, cat and I like each others company, share a few hobbies, have our own hobbies, and then there's Facebook, FB lives, texting and Zoom.
Planning ahead to visit anywhere has taken the spontaneity that I live by, and i miss that. For example; I miss waking up with an urge to sketch in my local NT gardens, shoving my sketching stuff in to a bag and taking off.  Yes I can book it for a day or two ahead, but its unlikely I'll want to sketch at an allotted time. There, now I'm moaning, and I don't want to complain as there are people in much worse situations than not being able to draw when the whim takes them, but its hard not to have a little moan now and again, isn't it?

So this is me. Just hanging out and trying out this blogging business.

I'll have a play around in here, now I've started, and see where it goes...
Hope to see you around.
Jan