FUNKY LAYOUT WITH STENCIL & STAMP Creative Team Thursday with Marit Barentsen

I don’t care a lot for holidays. Easter, my birthday, "(Dutch) Sinterklaas"… I don’t pay much attention to it and I don’t celebrate. Even Christmas used to go by like any other day – but that changed in 2009 when I started my "Top 2000 Creative and Musical blog party."

The "top 2000" is a big, annual event in the Netherlands on radio and television. From Christmas right to the New Year, the radio in the Netherlands presents the 2000 favorite songs of the listeners. One week, 24 hours a day: a musical marathon.

In the slipstream of the broadcasting I decided to create something inspired by a song from the list, every day during the time 'the list' was on the radio, and publish it on my blog daily. In no-time, many of my followers joined me and the party was born. And the really fun thing is: it is not "Dutchies only"… the party brings together artists and crafters from all over the world, making art inspired by the songs on the Top 2000 list.

How special my international blog party has become is proven by the fact that the Dutch media picked up my initiative and sent a television crew to film and interview me in 2011.

When December arrives, the Top 2000 virus starts rearing its head. On the radio, people are called to vote for their favorite songs and I can't wait for the event to start. What better to do then, than create a 'Countdown' layout to get in the mood... and Jesscia Sporn's stencils & stamps are just perfect for creating such a layout.

Put some funky music on and GO...!

I hope that you enjoy this video!  You can watch it on YouTube and while you’re there, go and have a peek at the other creative team members fabulous tutorials. 

Used Stencils

Retro Flowers and Circles

Used Stamp

(Build-A-Cosmos) Meculiar Mercury

Other used materials

·         White scrapbook paper 12x12"

·         Dylusions Ink Spray: Pure Sunshine, Bubblegum Pink, London Blue, Cut Grass, Postbox Red

·         Some funny photos (printed)

·         Glue

·         Sand paper

·         Black stamping ink

·         Black acrylic marker

·         Colored brush pen

Have fun creating!
Love from the Netherlands,
Marit

Marit Barentsen is a passionate art journaler, mixed media artist, art instructor and creative writer from the Netherlands. Marit inherited a passion for words from her mother, who is a writer. Her father taught her to not only “look “ but also “see.”  That combination led Marit to become an art teacher and her art always showed images and words. After art school, she worked as a graphic designer. Years later, she re-discovered the  combination of words and images in art journaling and her art took flight.  Marit's art has been published in various magazines and art books. 

Find Marit on her website, Facebook page, and  blog.
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THANK YOU MARIT for an awesome post! 

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Fun With Stencils & A Giveaway!

Remember this art journal page? 

 

Many people loved this woman, opening her arms with abandon to embrace the rain.    She's making a repeat appearance on this design I did for Scrapping the Music's newest challenge.  The song is Try Everyday by Transistor Rodeo, who approached Michelle Rydell and asked if STM would use his song!  How exciting to collaborate with a new artist.  The song has the lyric: "Nobody can stop the rain."  And I knew this woman would play a role in my response.

 

Now she has two other companions, all finding their own way in the rain.  All three are available on this new stencil I designed for Stencil Girl Products!  It's called ...

Embrace the Rain:

And who doesn't love fun borders?  How about 5 on one stencil! I used the checkerboard on my Scrapping the Music design.

Coming in December -  a stencil test drive/blog hop, with -- fasten your seatbelts --

Seth Apter, Jane Davies, Carolyn Dube, Kristin Dudish, Corinne Gilman, Nathalie Kalbach, Marjie Kemper, Michelle LaPoint, Maggie of The Fanciful Magpie, Natasha May, Ronda Palazzari,  Judy Shea, Revlie Schuit, Roben-Marie Smith,  Christy Tomlinson, and Diana Trout!  Details to come! (This logo is a work in progress -- comments welcome!)

Leave a comment on this post by Sunday night and I will send you one of my new stencils! And each time we do a stencil test drive, I will give away the stencil we're "driving."  Get extra chances to win by letting me know you follow my blog!

Thank you for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.

Related articles

• more stencils!
• Art Journal Every Day: Tutorial: Cut Your Own Stencils

Good to Grow!

I met many amazing people at Art is You, and will be telling more about them as weeks go on.  One of them is Mary Beth Shaw, a mixed media artist and founder of the company StencilGirl.  Although I wasn't able to take a class with Mary Beth, I really admired her work and loved her stencils.  One of the coolest things about them is that they are designed by artists for artists.  We talked a bit about my licensing work, and when I got home, I sent her some patterns I had created and ... YES! I am going to be a StencilGirl designer!  THANK YOU to my roommate, Judy Shea, who brought me down to the Art is You trunk show after dinner and introduced me to Mary Beth.

Stay tuned, and I will give my readers a first peek at the new line as soon as it is ready, and also a giveaway of one or more of them. 

This great news prompted this journal page yesterday.  It started out with the lettering on white card stock because I was thinking about Julie's and Nathalie's second floor challenge.  I ended up cutting the lettering out, and then creating this page in my journal.  Here were my steps:

• Use my own handwriting to write "I'm Good to Grow."  To do so, I used Joanne Sharpe's "thick it" technique;
• use spray inks through several stencils and then mush the colors around with some water;
• tear stems and flowers and circles from old dictionary pages to create the beginnings of flowers;
• make some colorful collage pages -- reds & pinks, and greens -- using Jane Davies' scribble paint techniques;
• cut up these papers to make petals, leaves, and hearts;
• glue it all down with my favorite adhesive these days: Elmer's art paste - thanks to Cindy Wunsch for that tip!;
• Stamp around the page with a hand carved stamp from Julie Balzer's class at CREATE;
• Doodle around the flowers, leaves, and rest of the page with white and black fluid acrylics and a teeny brush;
• more doodling with white and black gel pens.

So happy to memorialize another chance to grow!

SCRAPPING THE MUSIC:

I hope you're still with me because Scrapping the Music has two amazing prompts up on it's page.  I blogged about the first prompt here.  The second prompt is to make art around a song that brings out the rebel in you.  After thinking about a bunch of my favorites, like "Devil with the Blue Dress," "Honky Tonk Woman," and Parliament's "Give Up the Funk," I chose Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca."  I love the latin beat of this song, the combination of Spanish and English, and the lyrics -- the describe a sassy, devil may care, lady.  It's fun to pretend sometimes!  I hope you'll join in this fun challenge!

We're almost at the end of the first week of the second Fall Fearless & Fly challenge.  Check out the links at Artists in Blogland -- the work is amazing! 

Linking up with Paint Party Friday and Creative Everyday, as well as the links above!

Thank you for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.

Why I Love Where I Live

I never EVER thought I would say I like living in New Jersey.  I was a New York City kid.  Born and bred in Brooklyn, New York.  I went to high school in Manhattan (to the High School of Performing Arts, or the "Fame" school), and then lived in Manhattan through college and law school.  When I got married at 28 and moved to New Jersey, I didn't even have a driver's license!  For months I rode around on a bicycle like Elmira Gulch in the Wizard of Oz.  But then, winter came, it snowed, and I had to learn how to drive!

But I've come to love where I live, and here's why:

• I'm only 15 miles from New York - so I can go "home" anytime I want to.;
• Glen Ridge is small -- only around 6000 people.  Everyone knows everyone's business, which is sometimes what I don't like.  However when something bad happens, everyone comes together;
•  the town is very pretty -- many different styles of homes, wide sidewalks, pretty gardens;
• both of my daughters were born here;
• my block is great -- wonderful families and I love my house and garden;
• it's only one hour to our lake community, Pine Lake;
• we're only 20 minutes from Newark International Airport so traveling is very easy;
• we're 1 hour from the beach -- the Jersey Shore!;
• I'm less than one hour from all of my immediate family;
• the neighboring towns have great restaurants;
• I've made wonderful friends here.
• great parks, nearby hiking; fun town events, lots of trees, and my town is famous for its gas lamps!

An example of the town banding together - sadly:  Last Tuesday, a high school senior died of an accident.  The town has come together for his family and peers in the most loving, supportive way.  I did not know him, but I knew his stepsister and many of his classmates.  I created this artwork for his family:

The text uses lyrics by Linkin Park, which I found through Scrapping the Music's current challenge. 

Thank you for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.

Linking up to List it Tuesday at Artsyville.  

Some Updates

I decided to join in to the calendar project at The Kathryn Wheel.  In my art journal, I made a calendar for October, using some of The Crafters' Workshop stencils.  It is so fun to have a place for little bits and pieces of my old watercolors!  If you go to Kathryn's link, you can see all of the amazing calendars that others have made.  I look forward to memorializing a little of what I do each day here. 

Yesterday, in addition Artists in Blogland launching Fall Fearless and Fly, Scrapping the Music posted a new challenge for October.  It's around an amazing song by Crystal Bowersox.  It's so catchy, and the lyrics are so great. 

I had fun creating my design for the challenge.  It's about my daughter Samy, who sings all the time!  I can't resist sharing a clip of her singing in a talent show from our town.

I hope you'll go over to Scrapping the Music and check out the great designs from the rest of the design team, and maybe create one yourself!

A little update on Bloom True, the ecourse I'm taking with Flora Bowley.  This week's theme is "being brave."  Here is how one of my paintings has transformed...

and another:

This process is so fascinating -- layering and layering, letting the painting evolve in an organic way.  It's scary - but I'm loving it.  

What's scaring you these days?  What are you being brave about?

Thank you for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.

Get Ready to Fall Fearless and Fly!

In only 6 days, Carolyn Dube and I will launch an exciting challenge on Artists in Blogland.   know I've been talking about it a lot, but now that it's almost here, I am beyond excited.  Carolyn and I are getting the launch post ready, preparing our work for the first challenge, and touching base with all of the amazing artists who will be our guests during the challenge.  If this is your first time hearing about it, visit Artists in Blogland here to learn more.  Thinking about the first challenge has required me to delve deeply into my heart and mind.  Even though this has already brought up a lot of "stuff," I'm ready for the journey.   I know these challenges will help me enter 2013 with clarity and more trust in my intuition.

UPDATE! - Jane Davies, one of our FFF featured artists, still has room in the encaustic workshop she is teaching in CT the weekend of October 13-14.  If you're interested in learning about this medium from an absolutely amazing teacher, check it out here. 

Another UPDATE: Nathalie Kalbach, another of our FFF featured artists, has just launched an online workshop about Acrylic Ink that sounds fantastic - here's the link.

I have been taking Flora Bowley's online workshop called "Bloom True."  It is the beginning of week 3, and we are just moving beyond creating layers of paint to adding recognizable elements.  Here are some looks at the transformations one of my canvases has gone through as I've added 5 layers, alternating between warms, cools, black and whites, and translucent layers, letting each one dry before moving to the next:


Flora encourages us to keep turning the canvas around, so that there's never a clear top or bottom, left or right.  I feel like I've only just begun to relax into the process of adding layers, while staying unattached to the layer underneath.   Does this sound like yoga?  You betcha!  Today's assignment is to start to paint in some elements from a sketchbook we started keeping over the weekend.  Stay tuned!

In the meantime, here's a peek inside my art journal:

I had paint leftover from doing the warm and cool colors exercises in Bloom True, so I smeared them on a spread in my journal -- randomly.  Who knows what it will be, but it's a nice, colorful background for the future:

Sometimes I have a lot to write -- so I write.  I write over what I've painted, or I paint over what I've written.  Sometimes I write my schedule for the day, or my list of things to do.  Notice how horrified that girl on the left side of the double spread looks about the size of the to-do list...

When I'm done working on something, I glue in whatever small pieces of paper or other stuff (like leaves!) that I have on my desk.  If they're too small to save, I glue them in.  This will form a basis for something...

This is a lady I painted years ago.  I glued her onto a spread of color and stencils from The Crafter's Workshop by Balzer Designs.  Not sure yet what she is contemplating...

Inspiration Avenue had a challenge to design something around the word "Friends."  I can't think of a better friend than my husband (collective "AWWW"), who I can tell everything to without fear of judgment, who is my biggest source of emotional support and encouragement, and who I just love spending time with.  So that page up there with the nasturtium leaf became this:  

And last but not least, you still have two whole days to link up to Scrapping the Music's current challenge.  Again, you don't have to be a scrapbooker - although you CAN be!  Anything goes.  The song lyrics to the current song, Rain Red Roses, are very cool, as is the other prompt - to design around a song your parent/s liked.  Check out the DT's amazing work.  Only one person has linked up work so far... what are you waiting for!!

And... drumroll please, the winner of my Fairy Tale water color is Diane, who wrote:

Diane ~September 23, 2012 2:24 PM

Hi Jessica, how sweet of you to invite me to your party. Your art work created a lovely party brimming over with delightful whimsy!

Please enter me in your give away and i am your newest follower.
And thank you for stopping by my party, it was wonderful meeting you there! :D 

I have already emailed Diane to get her snail mail address to send her her prize!

Linking up at Paint Party Friday, Creative Every Day and Art Journal Every Day (links on the sidebar.)
Thank you for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.

Eye & Art Candy

Last time I posted I was in a total funk.  I got lots of great advice in the comments - so thank you!  (One piece of advice I haven't tried yet is to paint a portrait of the inner monster that narrates the negative soundtrack.  Here's the link - I will definitely do this one day soon!)  After getting outside, I was able to shift.  When I came back in, I worked on this page, which I'd started yesterday, thinking I would paint something with another jar.  But as I started doodling, something else happened completely.  And in the end, I was happy.  Art DOES make everything better!

Sunday night was the start of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.  Usually we have a big dinner in Pine Lake, and last night was no exception.  Forty families doing a potluck together is a wonderful thing.  However, my dad was under the weather and he and my mom weren't able to get up to Pine Lake -- they were home in Brooklyn.  I could feel the tug of war in my heart.  My sister and brother, Aunt, Uncle, cousins and friends were all up at the lake, expecting us.  But I decided it was more important to be with my folks.  Luckily, my husband and Samy agreed; so I cooked and brought dinner to Brooklyn.  Here's a mandala I drew while talking with mom in the kitchen (of course, she greatly improved the food I made!).   Mom and Dad - may the coming year be sweet and bring you health and happiness.  Shanah Tovah.

Today, Freddie took Samy to play tennis and then she had a friend over. I was able to spend the whole afternoon in my studio!  Here's the progression of what I created.  It went through a lot of variations.

 and some string.  Now I'm happy!

The Diva's challenge this week is to create a Pinwheel for Peace.   Here's my attempt.  I used a template of an origami pinwheel, however my design ended up looking more like a kite because I added extra triangles...  I did use the tangle called "pinwheel," though (and escalator & clothesline)!

Finally, I received two envelopes with lovely Artist Trading Cards -- from Linda Phinney (who's Imagine card is hand stitched and who also sent me a tag too!) and Andrea at Falling Ladies - who paints the most magical, wonderful watercolors.  Aren't they gorgeous!

There's a new challenge up at Scrapping the Music - check it out.  These songs are so much fun and inspiring.  And your submissions don't have to be scrapbook pages.  Heck - have you ever seen a scrapbook layout from me?  So go take your art journal or zentangle tile over to STM and play along!  In my next post, I'll tell you about what I did for the challenge. 

Remember -- we're less than two weeks away from Fall Fearless and Fly.  I can't believe the amazing artists who have agreed to do guest posts during this challenge.  Carolyn Dube and and I are so excited.

Thank you for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.