Super Easy DIY Magnets Using Recycled Magazines!

Making some cool art for your fridge can be really easy and fun! First, you will need to find some magazines that you can cut images from. These small pictures can be just about anything, for one of mine I used a of scan from a planet and it came out looking so cool! So use your imagination!

 I went to the dollar store for glass "beads" that are flat on one side... I dont know what these are called exactly, but some people use them for doing mosaic work. I think that clear work the best but feel free to go crazy and use colored!
Because I paint I already had gloss medium and that is what I use as the glue to adhere the picture to the bead and then the magnet to the back of it all. Simplicity is the best!
Also, you will need coin magnets. I have found them a few places, but just about any arts and crafts store will have them for sale.

I cut out the pictures that I think will look cool, bigger than I think I might need and then trim for their individual pieces of glass. I do this because the pieces of glass tend to be a bit irregular. One thing that you can do is have a piece of the glass handy and slide it over images you might think will look cool. You can get an idea of what your finished product will look like with little muss or fuss. So, I glue the images face down to the flat side of the "bead" and let them dry. The coolest part is flipping them over and seeing the really cool magnifying effect that is caused by the curved glass. Whatever I put underthere is made to look larger than life. That is why it can be fun to be creative and try different kinds of images. 
Once the gloss medium is dry I put another dollop on the wrong side of the image and gently place the magnet into the puddle. I like to have a bit squish out from around the sides just because I think it will hold better.


Once these are dry they are ready to be used as art on your fridge, locker or desk at work.

This is a highly gratifying project because it is fast, easy and most of all AFFORDABLE!

Derwent Graphitone Water Soluble Colored Pencil

I have a thing for pencils. Yes I do. And if they're water soluble its even better! Graphitint pencils are water soluble tinted graphite. I have the line of Inktense pencils as well and use the graphitint for my more muted end of the color pallet. I chose just a few for my purposes and played around with them on Strathmore Mixed Media Cards, outlined with Micron pens and glazed with FW Acrylic Ink.  

Before water.  

After a hit from my bladder brush.

This is a closeup after I painted the acrylic ink over the top of my pencil drawing. I have the shimmering series, which are a kind of interference color, so they are translucent and shiny. In fact its hard to see that they're there until you see it from just the right angle. It looks amazing! Whats nice about the artists cards is that they come with envelopes so sending them out in the mail is a breeze. 

Flexible Modeling Paste

Cool new product time! If you haven't used modeling paste before - prepare to be amazed! Included in this blog post are pictures of what I was able to do with the paste, for a friend of mine. The product I chose to talk about today is Liquitex Flexible Modeling Paste.

I started by blocking in my color and then placing the paste. I used a painting knife to place it, but it could be easily spread any number of ways. This stuff is amazing. Its flexibility allows for use on canvas. That just means that it will not crack off when or if the canvas ends up moving.

Because I am an oil painter working with acrylic can feel a little weird. There are all kinds of products that you can use to change the properties of acrylic paint. This one you can tint but I chose to just paint right over the top soon as it was dry. I think it came out pretty cool (so does my friend).

If your in the market, it is available from Quality Art in Garden City.

Prismacolor Soft Core Colored Pencils

I have been thinking about how to proclaim my love for Prismacolor colored pencils but its just hard to come up with the perfect way to say it. The colors go down onto the paper so nicely. Unlike other pencils you don't have to scrub them onto the paper to get vibrant colors.

Before even trying one I bought the whole set. I used money from my birthday and saved money out of a few paychecks to be able to buy it - but it was worth it to have all one hundred and fifty to myself.

Here is an example of something I drew onto Artigan paper. It has a nice texture and the colors look great against the background.

Liquin Impasto is AMAZING!

I cant go a day without finding something new and cool at Quality Art in Garden City.
Can I just say that I love working at an arts and crafts store but it can be hard sometimes to make it home with much of a paycheck! This large, magical tube, is a prime example of finding something cool...

Liquin and my new painting knife.

LIQUIN IMPASTO!



Not only does it speed up dry time with my oil paint, but it helps to retain the buttery consistency that we all love so much. If I am running low on a mixed color I can mix Liquin Impasto into the pile and WALA! I have more paint to work with. It slightly transparentizes the paint but by the final layer I have worked up enough color that it doesnt matter much.

I do not know how I can live without it now that I know it exists!

Copy of a master for mothers day.

I believe that painting works of the masters is a great way to get better at painting by being conscious of what they might have done to complete their painting. This is one that I gave to my boyfriends mother for mothers day. It hangs above her television in the living room. 

ChRistmas Gifts Exposed!

Because a lot of the things that I have been working on recently were intended as gifts for the holiday season I was unable to share their progress on my favorite social website Facebook. Finally I can share a little bit of what I have been sweating on for the past few months.