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Art journaling class

Hello Everyone!

Last week, I had the pleasure to teach art journaling using some of Anna's (Finnabair) techniques. The participants in the class asked me to post my journal pages on my blog so they can put the final touch to theirs.  So here they are...

Technique using tea (Anna's):

Created by Nathalie Noreau-McLeod - The Creative Cellar

This is the page I made during the class, using the same technique:

Created by Nathalie Noreau-McLeod - The Creative Cellar

Technique using stains (Anna's)

Created by Nathalie Noreau-McLeod - The Creative Cellar

 

 

Again, this is the page I made during the class, using the stain technique:



Created by Nathalie Noreau-McLeod - The Creative Cellar

And finally, the techniques I teached using modeling page, gesso and inks.



Created by Nathalie Noreau-McLeod - The Creative Cellar

 

This was a short post, but I hope you enjoyed it :)

Cheers, 



My Wish for You

It took me so long to scrap this beautiful picture.  My daughter's birthday is April 28... this is now November, and I just got to scrap her best birthday picture for this year.  Ok, I omitted to mention that I have 11 years of birthday pictures to scrap.  But this one, this very one is just so beautiful and inspiring.  Alyssa at 11 years old, going on 21, making a wish that nobody will ever know about.  And this is just right that way; my daughter has her own secrets and I totally respect that.  However, when I look at this picture, I know what my wish for her is.  In this layout, I found important to share with her what my hopes are, so I wrote quite a lot of journaling.  And when she read it, she gave me the longest hug she ever gave me.  Alyssa knows me, and she knows that I will always wish the best for her, and agree with her own choices.

I am my worst critic when it comes to judging my scrapbooking.  This layout is one of my favorites, because of the muted colours, the 'old wallpaper' look, and a collection of my daughter's favourite colours gathered in the same pages.



Created by Nathalie Noreau-McLeod - The Creative Cellar, 2012

This layout has some kind of 'atmosphere' like we say in French.  It is soft but has character.  Layering, gesso, distressing, staining, journaling.  A nice mixed match of techniques that makes this layout speak for itself.  And most importantly, my daughter loves it.  This is really all that matters.

Here are some close-ups.




Created by Nathalie Noreau-McLeod - The Creative Cellar, 2012

I like using delicate doilies that I crumple, stain, mist and either glue on my page or sneak in as little peek-a-boos in a folded corner.  I find these accents very feminine and 'vintage' at the same time.  I found some beautiful purple Prima flowers that I couldn't resist adding gesso on.  It gives a softer look to a romantic layout.

Created by Nathalie Noreau-McLeod - The Creative Cellar, 2012



Created by Nathalie Noreau-McLeod - The Creative Cellar, 2012

I hope you liked this post.  Thank you so much for stopping by.

Happy Scrappity Scrapin'!




A new passion: Art journaling

When I took a class with the great Finnabair last June, the proposed project was to make an art journal using mixed media techniques.  Every one of us created a beautiful art journal using a Prima mixed media book cover and the coordinated pages. 

As I said in a previous post, this experience was a revelation for me!  I had some much pleasure creating with cover, and the result still blows me away!  Everyone in the class created a gorgeous art journal cover, and they were all so different from one another!  Here is mine, a mix of green, teal and gold.





I ART YOU
Created by Nathalie Noreau-McLeod, inpired by Finnabair

 The class with Anna also included techniques to create art journal pages.  We used tea to stain our pages, as well as distress ink, stains, gesso, stamps, etc.  Awesome!!

Here are the pages I made using the Finnabair techniques shown in the class.

Created by Nathalie Noreau-McLeod, inpired by Finnabair

 

Created by Nathalie Noreau-McLeod, inpired by Finnabair

 



This experience made me want to try doing more by myself.  I created my own art journal pages using all kind of medias, including modeling paste, gesso, Dylusions, stains, burlap, lace, etc. 




Created by Nathalie Noreau-McLeod

 

Created by Nathalie Noreau-McLeod

 

Created by Nathalie Noreau-McLeod

It felt wonderful creating these pages and I am so looking forward to making more.  Let me know if you like them!  I could post more... :o)
Ciao!



Absence....

Hello everyone,

I have been a very bad, bad blogger in the last few weeks.  For all of you following my blog, I appologize for being absent.  Life got in the way big time.  I am planning on resuming blogging very shortly, so please stay tuned!

Thank you for your understanding,

Inspiration a la Finnabair

As many of you know, I had the privilege, along with over 60 other ladies, to take a class with an amazing artist, the great Anna Dabrowska (aka Finnabair). This event was organized by Scrap en Masse and was a huge success. Meeting such an inspiring artist was one of the best experience in my life!

I always wanted to try mix-media art. When I started painting a few year ago, I added Saran Wrap and Newspaper to my art so it would have more relief. But this was not satisfactory to me, I really wanted to add a third dimension to what I was doing. Taking Anna's class allowed me to try mediums that always intimidated me, which kept me from taking the leap. I had no technique or method to use the mediums, pastes, sealers, etc. During the class with Finnabair, we created the cover for an art journal, which I will show in a future post. This was a reveal for me; it opened the door to another world that I want to explore more and more.

So yesterday, I created a sign for my scraproom door, my Creative Cellar. 

The Creative Cellar, Nathalie Noreau-McLeod

I took one of my unused canvas and started by applying modelling paste with a mask to create a flowery background.

The Creative Cellar, Nathalie Noreau-McLeod

I applied a mix of pigments and glimmer mist to colour my canvas. The elements I used come from my own stash, but I also include an old key that my Dad had in his 'treasure box' (aka his mancave), a button that used to be on my hubby's military uniform, some dragonflies my friend Diane gave me, as well as lace and corrugated board. As a finishing touch, I applied the beautiful LuminArte Silk glaze and covered the whole canvas with a gloss protective sealer. So I did what Finnabair teached us, but added my personal touch to the mix!

The Creative Cellar, Nathalie Noreau-McLeod

I love this new mix-media style and will probably create more and more. And now, I have a lovely sign to walk by every time I enter my scraproom :)

The Creative Cellar, Nathalie Noreau-McLeod

Happy creating!

Evolution 5

Hey there! Here is my fifth post of my Evolution series.  My intention is to get to six, so hang in there for those who don't like these posts!  I'm almost done!

This time, I decided to post the picture of the layout I made recently first, as opposed to the other posts I wrote on the same subject.  So this time, the main challenge from the techniques class was to use the colour wheel to create our layout.  The principle is simple: using the colour wheel, find the triad of colours that fit your pictures the best.  The application of this principle: not so simple.

You must have concluded by looking at my layouts (see my gallery or older posts if you need), that I am rather a 'vintage/sophisticated/grunge' kind of scrapper.  So to be imposed colours by a so called wheel is out of my element, to say the least!  In both cases, i.e. in both times I attended that class where I was imposed colours, anxiety showed up in my chest and stayed there until I was done.

I have to admit, the result is not bad.  Not my cup of tea, but not bad.  So, here is the layout I made this summer during my SEM Scrapbooking Techniques class #2.

Mon Jardin Secret, completed July 16, 2012

So the first time around, I also had to use the colour wheel for this class.  I chose pictures of my daughter at 3 months old, when I visited my parents for a week.  Of course, I didn't know that my dear Papa would pass away a few days after that class, when my pictures and paper was picked using the colour wheel.  I have to admit, it took me quite a few months before I was able to even start this layout, but I did it, with a lot of pain and tears.  I like this layout though, and it reminds me of how my Father was an amazing Grand-Father.  He loved his grand-children like his own children.  Ok, I am digressing here.  So here is the layout I created in the summer of 2011.

De l'Amour plein les bras, completed in July 2011

This layout also gave me a hard time with the colours I had to work with, but I love it.  It is now in my daughter's album.

And here is the guilty colour wheel.  Kidding!  This tool is amazing and can assist any artist, including scrapbookers or cardmakers, in choosing colour combinations that will always succeed.  No wonder painters, interior designers, and other professionals make it their #1 tool.  It just takes a little bit of time and help to know how to use it at first. 

And once you know, you're good to go!
Happy colouring!