mini journal – Basement Studio

More printing in the studio

There’s a definite change in the air right now. The garden has noticed it, the forest has noticed it and my attention has wandered towards my upcoming workshop in October, the first one in over a year. The workshop is based around printing with leaves and botanicals so every time I’m out with the dog I end up with a little bunch of interesting things to try out on my gelli plate.

I’m having so much fun printing and actually end up with alot more prints which I truly like. Of course when printing not everything comes out great but even the ones which were a bit of a fail have a place somewhere in my work.

I really think I’ve got the hang of it now, my printing plate is almost permanently out on my worktable and I love using botanicals.

From this latest session spread over a couple of days, I’ve ended up with 19 collage papers, 20 double sided A5 sheets and 29 postcard sized pieces. It’s becoming a bit addictive. The collage papers are ordinary copy paper which were used as clean up sheets or for taking the first print onto. These make great backgrounds or cut up for collage. Sometimes they look so much better when they’re cut up into smaller pieces or die cut from.

I’ll be back next week with news of another project involving gel prints but for now have a good week,

Jaine x

About Post Author

blogmanager

webadmin@basementstudio.lu

New year, new projects

We’re well into 2021 by now and here in the studio I’m trying to focus on anything which takes attention away from the on going pandemic blues.

My morning forest walks with Cooper are helping immensely and give me time to reflect and imagine new projects and ideas.

These New Year cards are in the shop at the moment in packs of 3 and are the perfect way to stay in touch with people who you can’t see right now. You can find them here by following this link.

Last summer I made this cute little art journal from a pile of geli prints but since then it’s been on my shelf and admired but not added to. I’ve decided to put that right this year and add a quick collage or piece of artwork once a week. Being so small it’s the perfect place to create something quick and with the backgrounds already painted, less intimidating and satisfies a need for me to create art in some way. I recommend it to anyone, get out your stash, make a mini journal and keep a few scraps in a box for collage, add a sticker and it’s done!

Stencil production has resumed in the studio and these have gone out to Paper Pen and Plan to use in their monthly subscription boxes. If you fancy a mini bullet journal stencil why not visit Paper Pen and Plan on Etsy and sign up for the next box? Just follow this link.

Well that’s all for now, as it’s Wednesday I’m working on new things for the shop and right now I’m making memory albums for Valentine’s Day.

Have a great week

Jaine xx

About Post Author

blogmanager

webadmin@basementstudio.lu

From masterboard to mini abstracts

I think as time goes by, the way I work changes and evolves and the things I used to hold on to as my foundations have been overtaken by other ideas.

It took a visit to a very good friend to remind me of the love we both had for creating masterboards. We used to create these magical backgrounds regularly and I think I even gave a workshop based around one at some time in the past.

It was a visit to Lena’s last week when she produced a big sheet of 50 x 70cm white card and challenged me to make a masterboard from it. So challenge accepted, I took it home and took out the acrylic paints. I rolled, smeared and scraped three colours plus a white randomly over the surface, then used a stick to scribble black ink. Masterboards always get to a point when you think, what the heck am I doing? but you have to push on knowing that the end result will be all worth it.

Once dry, I cut the whole sheet into 10cm squares. Immediately you can see these mini abstract works start to look like masterpieces. I had some left over to cut a few ATC’s too.

I took the squares back to Lena’s this week and added the torn book page and copper paper strips. I mounted some of my favourite ones onto a strip of white accordion folded card and immediately they started to sing to me.

It’s such a satisfying process. It takes a leap of faith to firstly, stick with it and carry on regardless of what sort of a mess you think you’re making and secondly to cut up the finished artwork into smaller chunks.

Thank you Lena for the inspiration and card. Same time next week then?

Jaine x

About Post Author

blogmanager

webadmin@basementstudio.lu