Luminarte Blog— Vibrant and Brilliant

Thank you Lydia Steeves and Barbara Roth for being our August Guest Artists!

Thank you Barbara Roth for showing us how our ever day items, chores and landscape can be created into art work. She really does capture the things that people take for granted as we see or do them in our daily lives.  To recap her posts she started us with a small picture and before we realized we were painting landscapes by her last post.

Postage stamp   

Making Shady Chairs Bright with the Twinkling H20's 


 A Rainbow of Shoes!

Sunflowers

Luminarte Laundry Stands Out!

Check out more of Barbara's work at Barbara Roth, Artist & Art Instructor & Illustrator.  Visit her blog Information from a Watercolor Nerd and learn more about Barbara's life. Currently, Barbara has a Painting Trip coming up on Sept 23-30, 2011 called  "Watercolor Journaling in the French Countryside" check her Paint Trips for more information.23-30, 2011

 We also would like to give a big THANK YOU to Lydia Steeves, who is a very talented painter and a huge cat lover.

She gave us so many techniques and different ways to go about creating a beautiful painting. Check out her website www.lydiasteeves.com to view her recent book of designs Fur and Feathers in Coloured Pencil Volume 1. Also, to know about her next workshops visit Lydia Steeves Blog .  

Her first post was about how she designed 4 Kitten Cards to raise money for a much in need shelter. She is a foster parent for the Ottawa Humane Society www.ottawahumane.ca. 


Ellie                                    Opus

Dexter                                  Willy

Treat Bags - Lydia Steeves

Kittens are Angels with Whiskers - Lydia Steeves



Luminarte Coloured Pencil Cat



Fall Flutters by Lydia Steeves

Thank you for visiting today :)

Marah Johnson's Wicked Altered Book Class

Hen House Paperie-Albequerque

Oct 8th 2011

Scrapbook Island-San Jose

Oct 22

Student Supply List

• Vintage book 5"x9"
• craft knife and extra blades
• fine point scissors
• 1" old nylon brush for applying glue/modge podge
• 1' nylon brush
• assorted brushed for detail work
• wax paper
• paper towels
• cosmetic sponges (triangle)
• Elmer's glue
• Modge Podge -MATTE ONLY
• black ink pad (water proof or hybrid)
• assorted halloween colored ink pads
• low temp heat tool/gun
• embroidery needle
• 2nd book for weight purposes
• cream acrylic paint
• black acrylic paint
• ****Brick Stamps By Marah Johnson for Unity

  

Marah here, I am so in love with this project....there is so much eye candy going on its making me want to jump for joy!....I wish you could see how amazing the Luminarte looks covering every square inch of this book. Its like a million and one little diamonds.

I'm loving how Skelly looks sooo comfy in his new abode....now for the fun part. Finishing touches and final details....the the books fly off to a store near you. ***If you are interested in my teaching this class near you please comment and we will get in touch.

Thanks for visiting!

Fall Flutters by Lydia Steeves

 A final hello to everyone as I present my last project. Not a cat this time! In fact not an animal at all. A different inspiration – fall leaves.

We have had a fairly warm, dry summer in my area. But lately we have experienced some evidence that the seasons are about to change. That means cooler nights, the beautiful colours of Autumn leaves ….. and another excuse to play with the gorgeous colours of the Radiant Rains Shimmering Mists.

Fall Flutters

Creative Imaginations Radiant Rains – Egyptian Gold, Ginger Peach, Copper, Sunburst, Persimmon, Autumn Leaf, Ginger Flower

Brushes – Princeton Select Series 3750: a brush for each colour, 10/0 liner, ½” angle

Other Supplies – shallow containers for each colour, pipettes (2), fine work scissors, gold leaf, double sided tape (7mm), glue stick, frame

Surface: several pieces of white Stonehenge paper about 6” x 8” each or so, 11” x 14” or 12” x 18” board to mount the leaves

 

 

Procedure

1. Protect your work surface with a towel. Spritz the back of the paper with water. Flip the paper over and spritz the front with water. Swirl the Radiant Rains before pouring each into a separate shallow container. Use a brush for each colour and use a pipette for the Sunburst and the Autumn Leaf.
2. 
   Begin with the Egyptian Gold. It can be overpowered by the other colours so take care as you add the others. Add Sunburst (another colour that is not very strong). Allow them to blend. Ginger Peach is next. Add Copper now as well. Blend. Add Persimmon, Autumn Leaf and a bit of Ginger Flower. Let the paint move and blend. Make sure all the paper is covered.  Dry. Iron if necessary. Spray with a very light coat of Super Seal.
3. 
   Trace out about 3-4 of each size leaf and then them cutout.  Line the veins with your liner and a mix of Autumn Leaf and Ginger Flower. Dry. Add shading as you like with the previous mix or other colours as you feel they are needed. Add some mold spots with the mix. Try not to over work your leaves though; it’s best if it looks fresh.  Quit while you are ahead.
4. Mark where you would like your gold outline on your mounting board. Apply the double backed tape. Remove the top piece and apply the gold leaf.
5. Arrange your leaf shapes. Glue in place.
6. Frame and hang.

I hope I’ve given you some ideas of how to use the Luminarte Twinks and Rains in your own artwork. Thanks so much for visiting.

Happy Painting

Lydia

 www.lydiasteeves.com

PS For those interested in an update of my kitties …… Mama Layla was adopted last week!!!

Making Shady Chairs Bright with the Twinkling H20's

 
Barbara Roth here, with a sketch of a variety of chairs.  There are lots of interesting old chairs in your
local thrift shops that are fun to draw and paint. I sketched the chairs with a Micron thin tipped pen in black and then used watery black watercolor paint to paint the shadows on and around the chairs. Feel free to print out my sketch on your copier using watercolor paper (Hint, 90 lb. watercolor paper made by Canson and other manufacturers won't jam your printer) and then follow along and paint the chairs with me. 

 
I thought you might like to see what my desk looks like and the type of palette and paintbrushes I use.......the longer brush is a Rhapsody, very reasonably priced Kolinsky sable brush in size 4 round, and the smaller blue brush is a Sapphire, Robert Simmons #1 round brush. I use the #1 brush to paint the tiny areas like the chair legs in the painting and I use the #4 brush for the background and floor.  I found this metal palette in an art supply shop and find it works very well for mixing the shimmering H20's. 

 
I used the wet into wet technique. You paint the area you want the paint to float into with clear water first.  Then, I brushed on the shimmering Twinkling H20's paint in Blueberry, Ginger Flower, Snapdragon and French Lilac. I let the paints touch each other and mingle themselves together....

 
I mixed together the 3 primary colors of Sunflower, Ocean Wave and Hot Cinnamon to make a colorful gray paint color for the floor.  I let the 1st layer of paint dry and then I added a 2nd layer of the same gray paint and painted it for the darker shadow under each chair. I let the layers dry because this allows me to have complete control of where the next layer goes on my painting. The paint will floats around when it is layered onto a wet layer.

 
The seats were painted with the Twinkling H20 Honey Amber.  Honey Amber is a beautiful amber color that I can envision using for lots of things, like tea in a teacup, honey in a bottle, a tree trunk and much more, definitely a very useful color to have.

 
Once the floor was dry, I started painting the first chair on the left with Ginger Flower and Hot Cinnamon. I mixed it with a little Hot Cinnamon where I wanted it a bit redder and added a layer of Ocean Blue where I wanted it to look darker.

 
After painting the Ginger Flower and Hot Cinnamon chair on the left, I then painted the chairs from left to right in the following colors, chair #2 Ocean Blue, #3 Snapdragon, #4 Guatemalan Green and #5 Ginger Flower. I used Ocean Blue to create shadows on these chairs and Sunflower on the areas (to the right) where I wanted it to look like the sun was hitting the chairs.  Lastly, I added a 3rd layer of gray to make the shadows under the chairs appear darker.  Sometimes when you add the darkest dark it makes the light areas appear lighter and that gives your painting more of a 3-D look. I hope you give this chair painting a try and enjoy painting it. 

Happy Painting, Barbara

Send your child off to school with some sparkle in their day!

It is the end of August and children are going back to school. As a mom, I am checking my kids school list and getting my last minute thing to make their day. Today, Marah is showing us a special twist to your every day lunches. My girls start school this Wednesday, they loved Marah Johnson's Quick and Easy lunch bags with the Twinkling H20's. As I am putting this post together, they are picking out their favorite stamps, right now. I know we will be creating many sparkly lunch bags this afternoon. From our family to yours we hope your child's first day of the school is a successful one. Enjoy!

 

Lydia Steeves - Coloured Pencil and Luminarte

I love using the Luminarte products! The Twinkling H20's (watercolor paint) and the Radiant Rain-shimmer Mist (hybrid between watercolor and acrylic) work great as a background for my coloured pencil designs. The shimmer and colour seem to pair perfectly with the wax of the coloured pencil and my nature designs. It also gives great tooth to the paper.

Some background information for the video is that Rocky was one of my foster kittens a few years ago….. a very cute little guy. His Mom wasn’t interested in nursing him or his sister. His sister didn’t make it but Rocky was determined he was. My two older cats did their best to make sure he grew up well adjusted. Uncle Buster taught him manly things and Aunt Marnie taught him manners.

If you are interested in the complete packet with the coloured pencil palette, line drawing and instructions for rendering Rocky, it is available as an e-packet on my website (click here).

List of Products

Creative Imaginations- Luminarte Radiant Rain-Shimmer Mists: Autumn Leaf*, Egyptian Gold, Key Lime
Paper – Stonehenge, white, 9” x 12”
Surface – Holly Leaf at Painter's Paradise  956649

And one last thing before you view the video, you will notice a cameo appearance by Henna (picture above) before she went to the adoption ward at the shelter. She was adopted within a few days and is now with her new family.

 

Preparation and Procedure for Background

1. Protect your work surface with a towel. Spritz the back of the paper with water. Flip the paper over and spritz the front with water. Swirl the Radiant Rains before spraying. Spray the paper with Radiant Rain Autumn Leaf. Spray a fair bit but keep it uneven. Spray the Egyptian Gold next, to help the Autumn Leaf move and blend and to add more shimmer. Swirl the Key Lime to bring up the mica. Dip the pipette into the bottle and squeeze to draw up paint. Drop Key Lime in random patches onto the paper. Move the paper around as desired. If you find it pooling in the centre, slip a pencil underneath. Dry. Iron if necessary. Spray with Super Seal.

2. If you have chosen the leaf shaped surface for your artwork, trace your pattern onto a clear acetate sheet. Lay it over your twinkling paper to see where you want to put the pattern. Add a little extra allowance, trace around the leaf shape and cut out. Reserve the rest of the paper for another project.

3. You may glue the leaf shape onto the surface now or after you have finished doing the pencil. Using the palette knife apply Yes!Paste to the leaf shaped lid. Apply the paper and press firmly. The extra allowance should drop down slightly over the bevelled edge on the sides. Let dry overnight to harden. Trim unwanted paper away.

*If you are paying close attention to the video you will hear me say to use Butternut when in fact I’m using Autumn Leaf.

Happy Painting.

Lydia

Thanks for visiting!

Marah Johnson revamping a piece of decor for her studio

Hello and welcome to the Luminarte Blog! I hope you had a chance to do some painting over the weekend. Today's post we are going to show some more home-decor with Marah Johnson using our Luminarte products. If you follow Marah at all on her blog Randomly Speaking or on facebook "From the Studio" you will find out that she loves to go to estate sales. She finds some great deals and then she revamps them to her style. Many people do not know that our products work on other surfaces besides paper. Hopefully, our blog and artist like Marah are changing your mind. ENJOY! 

 
Thanks for visiting!

Kittens are Angels with Whiskers - Lydia Steeves

I know that there are many people who love their pets with a great passion and this frame is for those who have had to say goodbye to a treasured pet. I loved the pose of the orange kitty, Layla, looking over her shoulder saying goodbye. Layla is Henna's Mom, and is currently in the adoption ward waiting for her forever home. But the photo is of Little Gus, a kitten I lost last year.

Twinkling H2O’s:  Olive Green, Star Gazer, Pewter, Poppy, Jasmine, Coral Berry, Solar Gold, Kiwi, Ginger Peach, Chestnut

Radiant Rains: Pewter and Pearl Gold

Brushes - Princeton Select Series 3750: ¾” flat wash, 1/2" angle, #1 round

Frame - Coyote Woodworks: Frame with oval cutout FR723

Other Supplies: Super Seal, Black Permanent marker (very important that it is permanent), White acrylic paint, frame, Stonehenge paper, Yes!Paste, palette knife, quick dry glue, trim, embellishments

1. Paper Preparation

Measure the paper and cut it to the correct dimensions. Cut out the oval now.

Cover your work surface with a large towel. Spritz the paper, front and back, with clear water. Spray with Pearl Gold first. Then spray some Pewter. Finish with Pearl Gold again. Don’t make it too dark. You just want blotchy and slightly greyed. Dry. Spray your paper with Super Seal.

2. Activate your Twinks by either spraying clear water on them or using the pipette. You want them to be nice and liquid.

 3. Line Drawing

While your paints are activating, transfer your line drawing with pencil. Outline and add detail lines with a PERMANENT MARKER. Let the marker set for a few minutes and then erase the pencil lines. If you would like the free line drawing for this project please visit my website  www.lydiasteeves.com I will have it under Watercolour Pencils.

4.  Background

Dampen the background with a ¾” flat wash brush. Don’t make it sopping wet and you don’t have to make it evenly wet either, you just want some water on your surface to help you move the paint and let some blending occur. Use a medium sized brush like the 1/2" angle and with Olive Vine and Star Gazer, just tickle the colours onto your paper. Add extra water when you need to. I tried to have it lighter and bluer at the top and down into the steps and darker and greener at the bottom corners and sides. You can do this in a couple of steps. Let things dry and then dampen again. Work the leaves and grasses with the smaller brush adding some dark value Olive Green when you would like some shade. Use Nutmeg for an even darker value.

5. Flowers -

  
For the Poppies use Coral Berry and Poppy. Let the colours blend.

 
For the Coneflowers brush Poppy outwards towards the tips of the petals and then strong Jasmine from the tips inward. Again let the colours blend. The centres are Chestnut.

6. Rocks – Paint them with Pewter and Star Gazer.

7. Steps – Pewter and Star Gazer. Add a little Nutmeg under the kitty’s bottom to ground her.

8. Kitty

Dampen her first. Paint in her ears with light value Jasmine. Paint her nose with light value Jasmine. Paint her fur with light value Ginger Peach. Dab some Ginger Peach in her ears to make the pink more subtle. Let everything dry. Dampen again and darken in the shade areas of her body with a darker value Ginger Peach and then some Chestnut. Don’t let it get too dark. Try to keep the light areas on her left. Dry again.

Paint in her eyes with Olive Vine. At this point I turned to my acrylic White and lighten up her markings around her eyes, her cheek area under her nose and her chin. Make sure you dab some sparkles in her eyes.  You could even dry brush some acrylic White on her body if you needed to. When that dried I painted over areas with Solar Gold.

9. Now look at your painting. Add tints of Jasmine here and there. Darken values in the grassy areas. Add more Star Gazer where needed. I even when back in with my permanent marker to add more foliage lines. Keep it all light and washy.

To finish your piece….

Finish the back as you like. Apply Yes!Paste to the front of the frame with a palette knife. Press the paper onto the frame using clean hands or a brayer. Use a quick dry glue to apply purchased trim to the edges and the inside oval. Then glue the embellishments where the cord ends meet.

Pop your favourite picture of your pet into the frame.

Til next time. Happy Painting.

Lydia

Thanks for stopping!

 

 

Artful Twinks with Joanne Sharpe

 
Hello art friends!  I have a progressive post for you today being "artsy" with my Twinks, making a canvas panel art journal.  Here are some photos of the "pages" which are 6" x 6" canvas panels.

 

My creative plan is to make a colorful journal of paintings and later add quotes, lettering and writing.  I first made my homemade papers, with my Radiant Rains and stencils. Then, I started tearing them into collage papers.  Using gel medium, I attached the papers and book text to the canvas surface.

I then drenched each panel with assorted Twinkling H2o's as a shimmery glaze.  Using a good amount of water with the paint allows the prints underneath to show through.  Even though it's a little diluted, the sparkle is still rich. 

A very organic contemporary art look with Twinks!

I can't wait to add my lettering and other finishing touch to each "page".  I will be back this month to share the finished canvas journal with you!  Stay tuned and keep on Twinking!

Thanks for visiting and if you get a chance come visit me over at my blog: joannezsharpe.blogspot.com

 

Illuminating Light with Marah Johnson

  
Hello Luminartist! Today we have artist Marah Johnson tinting a beautiful candlestick with our products. We have been posting a lot with our Twinkling H20's but did you also know they can be used on home-decor.Marah is using the Radiant Rain pourables and the Twinkling H20's to renew, reuse and recycle the candlestick she purchased.  She makes it as simple as 1,2,3! Enjoy 

 

 

Thanks for visiting!