Making Handmade Journals In Lockdown

 

Since the pandemic is going to be around in some part of the world or the other till the entire population gets vaccinated, random lockdowns are going to be a way of life that we will have to get used to. Those of you wondering why I am rambling about all this on an art post, here's the reason. These frequent and often long spells of lockdown can get extremely frustrating. And no better way of dealing with that than creating things out of the simple, everyday things available at home. For art is healing.... so this post focuses on how to make handmade journals with the limited materials on hand.

Handmade junk journals are called so because they are made out of recycled materials. And there are no rules - you can choose whatever you want to play around with. You can also use your journal for varied purposes - sketching, collaging, gluing pictures, writing, even painting and mixed media artwork. Mini-journals are even better as they are easy to carry around and finish up quickly.

So here's a quick video of mine that shows how an ordinary flyer can be turned into a folding mini-journal. 

In case you don't have flyers, use old newspaper pages folded up twice or thrice to make them sturdy. Just glue everything down and you are good to go. Once your journal base is ready, use paint dabs, printed papers from magazines, and even old book papers to make up the background.

I used this mini-journal (that you see in the video above) for sketching and botanical drawings, some of which you can see below.

By changing your paper folds, you can turn out different kinds of journals. 

The one above and below is an accordion-fold journal I used for painting. It was created out of an elongated strip of card stock, simply by folding it in a zigzag.

The junk journal video in my last post was made from sticking random papers in a folded cardboard cover. Yes, it is that simple and yet the results can be amazing!

Most of all, journaling is a good hobby as it calms the mind, and gives us some very valuable me-time. Find a journaling practice that fits your personality. It is indeed a wonderful way of keeping your mind positively engaged in these pandemic times.

And in case of any queries, feel free to mail me at  creativerumblings@gmail.com or connect with me on Instagram (@creativerumblings) or Facebook. Happy journaling, everyone!

The Tree Trunk Art Project

Another year, another public art project! So glad to be living in an area where we have some like-minded people who care to brighten up their immediate environs with street art. This time a dead tree trunk became our canvas. 

But let me share the back story first. So a couple of full-grown trees were transplanted a year back. While one survived the change, the other one could not make it. It withered and started shedding its bark. That is when this project was conceived by another resident artist. 

And voila! Over the Women's Day weekend in March, three of us got together to enliven the dead tree. With no plans in place, we started painting randomly. 

But as the colours took over the tree trunk, it acquired a colourful new identity.

From the greens of the grass and leaves to the red, pink, white, and blue flowers that blossomed on the trunk, each gave it a new dimension.

Then came the butterflies, ladybirds, and a variety of birds.

Finally came the unconventional elements - a dog, a mask, even a frothy beer mug hidden amidst the folds of the tree trunk!

It was a new, fun experience to give life to a dead object of this size. 

The best part was to be able to paint to our heart's content on such a large canvas. 

It was, no doubt, somewhat tiring, as you can see from our weary faces in our project wrap-up picture. But despite everything, it was an immensely satisfying experience! 😅

From Rusty To Rustic

A few good spells of rain finally had me raring to give a new lease of life to a couple of rusty things around the house.

So there was a metal can turned into a planter that had turned rusty and required some painterly love. And an old rusty horseshoe, that once hung in the garden of all places. In case you don't know already, horseshoes are considered lucky when hanging above the main door. Anyhow, since both the metal planter and the horseshoe had lost their original colours and developed a stubborn film of orange-brown rust, I decided to give them a paint over.

The transformation pictures speak for themselves. I kept the yellow lines on the planter looking uneven to add to the shabby chic feel. And especially loved decorating the horseshoe with all sorts of bits and baubles collected in my stash. Now both the planter and the horseshoe sport a distinct rustic style of their own.

Do give some love to such old pieces lying around your abode. After all, monsoons are a time of rejuvenation... And don't forget to sandpaper the rusty parts before you cover them in some cool colours and designs.

Hope this post helps add some colour to the grey weather, even as rusty discarded pieces acquire a spanking new rustic look.

Gratitude Postcards

Just about 3 weeks into the new year and I am trying to get things back on track in my world. I'm no spring chicken - having spent enough years going round the sun, I can safely say that 2016 has decidedly been the worst year of my life thus far, with so much going wrong on so many fronts. But then the only way to move forward from all that drags one down is to count one's blessings. So I just have to be grateful for all the things that did go right in the midst of all that chaos last year.



Hence this first post of the new year is dedicated to sharing with you the gratitude cards that I made while trying to recover from loss and pain. They were simply my way of adopting a grateful attitude, of showing thankfulness and gratitude for the life that I live.



As things stand now, a lot of things have changed around me. How that pans out and impacts my creative self and my output is something that will show as we traverse through 2017. Here's hoping that the changes in my personal sphere only serve to act as a springboard to greater heights in the creative realm. Signing off on that optimistic note....

Here is something you may want to follow this year:

Wishing all my readers a wonderfully creative 2017 again....

 

Nature Journal: Inside Back Cover

Presenting the inside back cover of the nature journal - it is an amalgamation of flowers done using various techniques and stuck together randomly on the page to give the effect of a colourful and wild floral garden.

On the top left corner is this Nasturtium flower created using pen marks on a printed photo.

The middle of the page is covered with monoprinted poppies, using the technique described in my last post. The purple stalk at the left corner of the picture below was inspired by a blossoming stick of verbinas that I once had in my garden.

The bottom left is again a clump of red and black flowers made with sponge prints and sketch pens.



 The red, blue and green paper flower in the picture below was made by my daughter by using sketch pens and markers on wet paper. It faded over time so I added a layer of waterproof inks to brighten it up. The pen drawing at the corner is my interpretation of a sunflower.... or it could be a gazenia too!



Hope you like my wild floral garden on the inside back cover of the nature journal. It makes for a striking contrast to the low-on-colour December page.



Now only the back cover remains to be shared, and the journey of the nature journal shall come to an end.... at least for now. Look out for that final post next month.

Poppies with Printmaking

Finally the grey, foggy days of winter are here sending shivers down the spine. But this winter I won't whine.... the unusually hot December was rather worrisome when you think of what we are doing to our planet. Anyhow, to distract myself from such issues, I decided to try my hand at some monoprints using regular stuff lying around the house.

Using two shades of blue and a contrasting red ink pen to fill in the details, I created a bunch of my favourite poppy flowers. Incidentally, our garden did not get any poppies this year (despite getting loads last year), so this was a fitting way to revisit them.

Believe me, no fancy products are required. All I used were a block-sized piece of synthetic foam, some brushes, acrylic paints and paper to print on. And a cutter or knife to carve the design into the foam block. Don't worry if you don't have those; even a ballpoint pen without ink works wonders! I used such a pen as you can see from the pictures below.

Once the design is carved, paint the stamp with acrylic colours of your choice and voila!.... let the stamping fun begin.

Sounds simple enough? Now try some yourself and send me your pictures. Would love to see how my readers get inspired. :) I also created some red and mustard poppies for the inside back cover of my nature journal. You can look out for those in the next post.

Serving Tray Makeover

So there was this old serving tray lying around the house. It had been gifted long back by some relative and though I hated its tacky looks right from the beginning, my mother refused to part with it. Sentimental reasons and all that mushy nonsense! It lay around in our shelves for years, getting used occasionally.

Till finally last weekend I gave it a much-deserved makeover. See the transformation yourself.... now the tray sports a Poppy theme, and looks (hopefully) more elegant.... at least to my eyes. 

I have used combined techniques of decoupaging, layering and sketching - using a photograph clicked by me and some newspapers - to give it the present look.



 

 

The last picture shows you a close-up of the tray surface, where decoupage and paint come together on a background of newspapers treated with gesso. I finished the tray with a generous layer of sealer so it could take spills and occasional washing.

Hope this post encourages you to try making over any such unused items lying around the house, giving them a fresh lease of life just in time for Diwali. Now tell me, which version of my tray do you like better -  the Before or the After?

Glass & Bottle Painting Classes Schedule

It gives us great pleasure to finally bring you the schedule for the Glass & Bottle Painting Classes.

Keeping in mind the requests received from our patrons and followers, the classes are based on weekends so that office-goers and school/college students can also attend. We are starting at 2 venues, one in south Delhi and one in west Delhi, and both locations are easily accessible by the Delhi Metro.

Seats are limited and will be reserved on first-come-first-served basis (as per registration). We are keeping limited seats so that individual attention can be given to all participants.

Please note that the schedule for the Glass & Bottle Painting Classes is also available under the Classes & Workshops tab of the blog for your convenience. In case of any queries, feel free to message us through our Facebook page or write to us at creativerumblings@gmail.com.

The Glass & Bottle Painting Classes start in October.

 



Lantana Inspired

Sad how with time certain species seem to disappear from our environment. And I don't just mean birds, animals or insects but also floral species. Like the Lantana that was so much a part of my growing-up years but can hardly be seen in these parts now.

So how many of you remember the Lantana plant that was mostly used to build hedges - in parks, in the small gardens adjoining government quarters, and was a common sight. Its multi-coloured florets were a magnet for butterflies while the coarse, gravelly feel of the leaves would keep most animals away. Good for the plants as animals wouldn't care much about eating and ruining them. Wonder why there was this drive to uproot the lantana from our local ecology.

Anyhow, I digress.... the point of this post was to present to you my Lantana inspired bottle that I created in July. The yellow-green combo really stood out on the dark olive-green coloured bottle, and it got sold on the last day of the exhibition. No worries, if the design catches your fancy just drop me a mail at creativerumblings@gmail.com and I'll be happy to make one for you.

On hindsight though, those flowers should have been a combination of yellow, pink and orange; then they would truly mimic the real Lantana flowers. What say? Hmmmpphh! An artist is never satisfied. :)

Curio Bottle

So who says bottles are only meant to hold flowers or money plants? See how perfect these found bird feathers look in the small curio bottle.

The abstract design (that many folks at the exhibition called the Tiffany stained glass effect) is eye-catching and attractive. Simple yet beautiful.

I absolutely love how you can view the design on the other side superimposed on the side facing you.

And of course, a single floral stem would look equally nice in that bottle! So what's holding you back from getting one? :) Write to me at creativerumblings@gmail.com to get yours.

The Minions

They are the hottest brand on the horizon, the characters everyone is raving about. You know who I mean, right.... the title to the post gave that away!

I caught up with them last weekend (thanks to my kiddos) in the movie by their name but not before I had captured them on a bottle. Yes, the Minions, with their oh-so-cute expressions adorned a jam jar at my recent exhibition.

And since everyone wants to be seen with them, a not-so-little-kid-turned-adult picked them up for his home. So he could "Be one.... in a Minion!!" :)

The Minions jam jar now doubles up as a pen/pencil holder and works equally well as a night lamp!

Aren't they looking super? If you want something similar for a kid you know, or for the kid in you, write in to me at creativerumblings@gmail.com and get your own Minions home.

Thanks!

A big Thank You to all those who made our outing at Artivity, Select Citywalk a grand success!

Pictures and details coming soon.... stay tuned.

July Snippets

Those of you wondering about my disappearing act for the past few weeks.... well, I have news. But first things first. July seemed to have gone by mostly in a blur, for various reasons.

The kids are back to school, which means a fresh flurry of projects and activities to do with them. Like this tile painting that had to be submitted to commemorate the school's golden jubilee. Sonny and I chose to paint five different types of flowers, each flower representing each decade. These tiles will be put up on the school walls to make a colourful collage of sorts.

The rains have been playing spoiler with my walks pretty often. And as a result, till date I have no sample in place for the July page of my nature journal. This isn't quite stressing me out but I like to be on top of things, and my July page is running woefully late.

I have also been working non-stop at a feverish pace through the month. The reason why time seems to be flying extra fast! There is something very exciting round the corner.... yes, it is BIG NEWS!!! All the slogging away of the past few weeks is in preparation of that 'something', but I cannot reveal details till things are formally finalized. For me, it is a pretty big outing and I am super excited. But phew! I have been killing myself trying to finish up before D-day hits.

So, stay tuned and I'll be back with the details soon. And yes, wish me luck!! Hope the next post will make up for the rather plain one this time!

Nature Journal: Inside Cover

Here is a quick peek into another page from my Nature Journal (read more about it in my last post).

The inside cover of my nature journal is made of slightly thicker, glossy paper. Since it could take more than the usual quantities of paint, so I chose to let myself loose and go wild with it.

First I filled up the sheet in random colour blocks. Then I drew on it with a white paint pen. I filled in the outlines with a black sketch pen, finally blocking out the background with black paint. The result is for all to see…

Going with the charms of spring, couldn't resist the flowers, birds, butterflies and bees! :) Hope you enjoyed these glimpses of the inside cover.

Daffodils and Tulips

The brief said "shades of yellow, ochre and rust" were required along with "some vines". What I thought was a four-sided bottle turned out having eight sides - four slim sides and four broader ones. The expansive neck of the square-ish bottle only made things more difficult. And to top it all, not only was time at a premium but I also had guests at home. ...Phew!!!

Yes, these were the circumstances in which I started work on this bottle. After agreeing on daffodils and tulips with the client, I tentatively created the flower outlines, one type on each alternate side. As I diligently filled in the appropriate shades according to the brief, things started looking up. The four broad sides were covered; so far, so good. But what next?

I still had no idea about what to do with the upper part, the neck and those slim sides. And how were the vines supposed to be incorporated? Traditional and leafy green vines would have made the bottle look too cluttered. So one morning, very hesitantly, I started making vine-like designs using the colours of the outlines - yellow and black. At least they would fit in well with the colour scheme. But I wasn't sure if my unusual take on the vines would go down well with the client....

....Till that lovely Saturday morning when I actually met her to hand over the commissioned bottle. It was with a mix of relief and satisfaction that I saw her joyously accept what I handed her. And yes, as she very succinctly put it, my vines added a "vintage look" to the cherished bottle.

Believe me, there is no greater happiness than to see the look of wonderment when you hand over a finished bottle to an appreciative client. Thanks, dearest J, for giving me this opportunity!

Diwali Countdown: Bottle Lamps

This Diwali, go hand-made! Light up a special corner of your home with these hand-painted lamps that are sure to be the conversation starters at your next gathering.

After the festival, you can always convert these lamps into vases, to display fresh or dried floral arrangements. Or even those paper flowers that the kids learnt at school!

Want one of these? Write to me at creativerumblings@gmail.com or catch me at the Ardee City Diwali Mela in Gurgaon on the 19th of this month. Happy lighting up!

The Old Godown At Mattanchery

Haven't we all come across these old, abandoned godowns, sometimes bang in the middle of a bustling megapolis. Why only Mattanchery?.... this could be anywhere in India. I remember seeing some properties like these both in Delhi and Mumbai.

Anyhow, coming back to the painting.... Leafing through a newspaper article I chanced upon a picture of an old, dilapidated godown at Mattanchery, in the old town area of Kochi (erstwhile Cochin) in Kerela. The blues, browns and whites of the picture made for a striking combination and inspired me to create this painting (click on the picture for a larger view). These abandoned spice godowns make for very interesting subjects and I remember reading a blog on them a few days back.

Now for the catch - this painting here is an entirely brushless effort. Yes, you read it right - no brush was used in the making of this painting. It has been created with a discarded credit card and was a very quick, inspired piece, made over an evening.

Also, today I officially complete 5 years of playing around with paints on paper and canvas. In these five years, from making a slow and shaky start, I have moved to bigger sizes and bolder strokes. And yes, given up the brush for more interesting mediums to paint with! :) Do wish me luck as I carry on my romance with colour.... for many more years to come!!

Approaching Milestone Alert

Hey readers, have something exciting to share with you!!.....  In just about two months from now, I will be hitting another milestone. Yippee!!!

My journey with the paintbrush started way back in July 2009, and I just realized that I have now been painting for 5 years at a stretch.... and that surely is something to celebrate! Never thought I'd last 5 weeks when I started. :)

I was flipping through the blog archives when I remembered that though the blog and my passion for bottle painting started much earlier, it took me a while to work up the courage to put brush to paper. A quick scroll down the dates revealed my hunch was right - I created my first painting much after my other experiments. So while the blog is into its sixth year, my foray into painting will complete five years this July!

 

My first painting - The Lotus Ganesha

(Acrylic on paper)

Isn't that a real good reason to celebrate? So here is where you, dear readers, have a part to play. I want your help to decide how best to celebrate this milestone? - Plan a sale, hold a giveaway, or hold a blog party? What would excite you the most?

Go on, give me those ideas. Or at least tell me which idea of mine appeals to you the most. We have just about two months to set this up.... so hurry up and fire away the comments!

Glassy Landscape

As I told you all a couple of weeks back, I had been working on a piece of cut and shaped glass for a friend. The glass had quite a few peaks, with a broad bottom half leading up to a narrow top. It was difficult to handle because of the jagged edges, and yet it was the ideal shape for a soothing landscape.

I really enjoyed doing this piece because it challenged me to think up new ways of depicting the obvious. So I mixed colours, used the process of stippling, and worked keeping in mind the tenets of reverse glass painting.

The end result is this gorgeous piece.... pity the camera doesn't quite do justice to the varied hues of  blue, especially used in the river. I can only give you a stilted, lying-down view but when you stand it up, the colours look amazing! Sharing with you a part preview for now since the friend has not yet seen the finished piece, and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Gift Tags

Another new year starts off.... should have been the season for much partying and enjoyment. But the ghastly happenings in the city had left me in deep distress, unable to do anything creative. Being the mother of a daughter myself it gave me immense anguish to see the apathy of the government at such a sensitive issue.

So, in the hope that the coming new year will bring us better times, I spent the last day of the 2012 making these handmade gift tags...

Some using wooden blocks and paints...

And others by simply doodling designs...

Helped bring the focus back to my creative work, and away from the craziness of everyday living. Hope in the coming year we have the sense to gift some respect and honour to our women.

And in the meanwhile, if you need any gift tags for all those upcoming weddings and parties, drop in a line at creativerumblings@gmail.com and get some handmade ones for yourself.