Baby Mermaid Library Bag

My Baby Mermaid Library Bag (although you could could use it for many purposes) actually began because I didn't want to waste the left over Pebeo Setacolor paint I had been using on another project. Here's what happened...

• I had left over Pebeo Setacolor Opaque fabric paint in Oriental Blue, Light Green and Butter Cup
• I grabbed a piece of washed (without fabric softeners) and ironed cotton "Homespun" craft fabric
• I added some water and swished it on randomly - just to see what would happen.

•  I was happy with this result, and it reminded me of a water scene, and of course MERMAIDS
• So I grabbed a Pebeo SetaSkrib marker pen and marked in the basic shapes of my baby mermaid.
• The basic shapes to draw to start off your mermaid are a circle for the face, a football shape for the body, and a triangle for the tail - it can be that simple.
• Once you have drawn in your shapes with the marker, begin to fill them in with Pebeo Setacolor Fabric paint. I mixed together White and Bengal Pink to make the face and Used the Bengal pink on its own for the body and tail.

I used a heat dryer to spend up the paint trying so I could move on to the next layer.

• Next I used a stencil and white fabric paint to add a pattern on the body. I used a Princeton Stencil brush at first, then a finer brush to make the white paint thicker around some edges to add shading and dimension

• Add some detail on the tail with white paint

• I used a mixture of Pebeo Setacolor in Parma Violet and White, with a fine brush and wavy strokes to create the hair (imagine hair floating about in water). I started the beginnings of my face as you can see. The neck is just a small line and the arms are simple stick arms and hands.

• I love to add dots so I added swirls of white dots in the hair

Note how I have also added some Parma violet shading on the tail. You can also go over any of the colours as they dry to increase their intensity.

The finished Baby Mermaid

• Use a fine brush and/or Setaskrib markers to create facial details. Don't forget to add a dot of white paint for a hi-light in the pupil to give a "starry-eyed" look. Note also how I haven't outlined the bottom of the eye, this adds youth and whimsy to the face.

DON'T FORGET TO IRON YOUR DESIGN AS PER INSTRUCTION ON THE BOTTLE TO SET THE PAINT

Although my design had started just as a play on a piece of fabric, I ended up really liking it and wanting to use it in some way so I decided to make a simple children's library bag. Here's how I did it:

• Cut a piece of cotton fabric to required size, mine is 35cm X 40 cm finished. My fabric is a remnant of uncoated curtain fabric.

• As you can see in the above photo I cut a long piece of fabric so the bottom or the bag has a folded edge. BEFORE stitching up the side seams I have finished the top edge of my bag with my overlocker, and folded over a seam of about 3cm. This will create a casing to thread through a cord. You can see I have marked in a button hole. I actually did not sew the button hole in this position, as the hole would have ended up on the inside of the bag and I wanted it to be on the outside.

Note the button hole is only sewn through one thickness of fabric (before the top edge is folded over)

• Once you have sewn in your button hole, sew up your side seams, then fold over your casing and stitch in place. Press with your iron.
• Next you will need to adhere your design to your bag. To do this you need a double sided adhesive web which you will be able to buy from a fabric and craft store. There are many varieties available but I used Heat - n -Bond Ultrahold. Follow the instructions on your product.

Here I have peeled off the backing on one side of the adhesive web and ironed it to the wrong side of my design. Next I will cut around the design, then I will peel off the paper backing and iron it to my bag while it is till out flat.

As a final touch I've used a bit of Dimensional Fabric Paint 

• Once you have adhered your design, attach a safety pin to a piece of cord and thread through the casing. Going the cord together with your sewing machine and you are done.

An Artist's Tool - Keep a sketchbook.

As an artist, we sometimes get stuck in a rut, where we feel that we are not growing or just churning out the same art, I would know this as a few weeks ago I felt just that, I felt that my art wasn't getting any better or worse but I was making and drawing the same things over and over, and it made me slump.
The push to make wonderful finished pages has burnt me out a little, and I decided to start embracing a daily sketchbook. To push myself artistically and to challenge my hands to start drawing new things., create new ideas. Instead of trying hard to put together full finished pages, I focused on learning new things!

A sketchbook is a tool, and a very valuable one at that, a sacred place where nothing is judge, pages are plenty. You can create, explore and test your skills daily between the pages of a sketchbook.
Nothing needs to be pristine, finished or perfect, it is a haven for growth.

 Even before this design team, I worked in canson Sketchbooks, I have many, and if I felt that I didn't want a generic one I could buy from the art supply store, I made my own, using various papers, a little bit of everything to satisfy my want for custom made. Every signature a different paper, to keep things interesting.

But when I want to just draw and not worry, I turn to my big sketchbook that is heavy and thick with pages, and I draw and draw each day to progress in my art. I do not judge my work in my sketchbook for it is just practice, and we all know the saying practice makes perfect.

I paste images that inspire me, reference photos of things I want to try and draw later, tutorials letter guides all for the art of practice.

I implore you to buy a sketchbook, or make your own to start your daily drawing practice. Or even if you are a beginner and say you 'can't draw' I insist you buy a sketchbook and just put pencil to paper daily in some way shape or form, for you will see as the days go on that you will improve. Art is a learned skill, anyone can learn it, you just have to have the drive to keep going.

Enjoy your sketchbooks
Courtney

Guest Design Team- Anita Bownds

Meet Anita.....

Hi everyone,super excited thanks for amazing opportunity... I'm a wife to a wonderful man who I've been with since I was 16 and SHAM of 3 beautiful girls. ages 18, 13 and 10 but soon to be just 2 as my oldest is off to uni at the end of the month .we live in maryborough Queensland on 12 acres surrounded by cane fields and cows we have a few pets a horse , 2 cats ,a cheeky corella and 2 hens the girls raised oh and a possum who has become part of our family..I've been scrapbooking since 2001 totally love it !!

Hi

Today I'm sharing a video tutorial of how I made these watercolour flowers

Using 

75112097 Akademie® Aquarell Compact Metal Set 12

9999815  200 Watercolour Pad, 15 sheets, A4

1781301  Glassine Paper

9170  Synthetic-Golden Taklon Set 5 - Round - brush 8

Here is a look at my finished flowers

I hope you enjoy my video tutorial 

Thanks for watching 

Anita :-)

Letter Journals with Peta, Pebeo paints and Mepxy Markers

Hello Peta here again today. I though today I would introduce you all to a project I created last year called the Letter Journal Project. It's a small art journal swap where the emphasis is on 'lightweight' and it fits into a standard business size envelope. Traditionally we use copier paper in these journals to keep the weight down. This then present it's own challenges. How do we work on thin paper and also keep our heavy collage and no lumpy bumpy out of the picture?

That being said, I have found the Letter Journal Project to be extremely rewarding this last year. I have a full journal, where each letter journal is a signature. Here's my Letter Journal book for 2014.

So today I'm working in a letter journal that had a few blank pages in it that I wanted to have some fun with. I'm using pebeo acrylic paints with glazing medium and some old book pages and mepxy markers for a little contrast. 

Have lots of fun with the video, I did making it!

Canson Art Book 180

Canson Art Book 180

Today I wanted to share with you some of my "unfinished" projects :)

Recently, I have been thinking about, all the glorious joys that the internet holds we can sometimes get into a comparison trap where we feel like our art, our life "should" be like all the lovely finished works and photos of friends we see online. The reality that sometimes life/creativity isn't all polished and finished and that's ok.

Coloured Pencil

One thing I have also discovered as a creative person, it's very VERY important that you have time for creative play, you don't have to take your ideas all the way everytime. It's ok to play dressups with your materials and ideas and try them on for a while, and when you don't feel like it anymore you can take them off :)

Play with your materials and see how they pan out, just being in that zone of play this is an important part of  fullfilling your creative side and you should be enjoying this time rather than being frustrated about it not working, sometimes I find I have to remind myself of that.

I try to everyday, just randomly sketch in my sketchbook, lately I have been using the Canson Art Book 180 and just playing with a  variety of materials, pen,  pencil, Mepxy Markers, Watercolour & Coloured Pencils, just for the joy of doing something creative but also for the experience of seeing how the materials behave for me.

This sketch book has a lovely hard cover and the bindings just feel lovely, this makes for good sketching when you are relaxing on the lounge and you need a solid surface to work on.

Light watercolour washes

The paper whilst this is not a mixed media book, i found stands up ok with a light wash of watercolour with my waterbrush.

One of the joys just having a open book like this is that you can just pull out whatever you feel like doing at the time and being in a book you don't have to worry about
not always having a completed work. Its ok to come back later.

Unlike an art journal, which i also love to do i find just having a plan sketchbook can help with my ideas, as my art journals are more about expressing feeling and a story where this for me is just about play. 


So whilst this isn't a completed project for you all to finish I hope you still enjoyed this post, I just wanted to share the book which I highly recommend and encourage you to just create. Even if its just a couple of scribbles in a book like I have shown here, its all still being creative, each drawing will take you to another drawing and another. Its not about always finishing a glorious piece its just about doing.

Pen

Mepxy Markers & Pen

Mepxy Max 5th Edition

MEPXY MAX 5TH EDITION

Stay Hungry

BY Ash Chain

Created with Canson Drawing 220 paper and Mepxy Markers

Hello all! First off let me apologise for my absence. Secondly I'm so glad to be back. I hope you enjoy this itty bitty quick cute. I don't know about you guys but I love food! and so does this lil guy!

As you can see this is only a very quick little tutorial. This lil guy took about 20 minutes and you can see he's only as big as a Mepxy marker. I try and use a light and dark version of one colour/shade that way I can achieve enough contrast to create depth in my drawing.

I do apologise how brief this tutorial is but I do hope you like it.

STAY HUNGRY EVERYBODY!

Colours used: N03,N51, N05, N53, N18, N27, N25, W31, W23, W37, L67, L24, G99, O27, R00, R32, Y19, Y38, CG09, CG07.

Mepxy Marker Drawing - Elsa from Frozen

Elsa Mepxy Marker Drawing

By Natalie Wyatt

Hey all! Natalie here!

So I've got for you today a video tutorial of this Elsa Mepxy marker drawing. 

I completed this drawing for experimentation as I wanted to try layering colours to create a semi-realistic piece. As often I would mainly use the markers for cartoon cell shading.

I learnt heaps while making this and I hope you do too, or you feel inspired watching!

The video gives you steps and tips to drawing as well as listing the different colours I used to shade this drawing. I used a combination of the Brush markers (white casing) and Design markers (grey casing) for this drawing but all the colours can be bought in either range. :)

Below is a grid with all the Mepxy colours available.  

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Please send us your work or anything that you create! Thanks for watching!

 

Natalie Wyatt

Natalie's Facebook Page