Tag Archives: Dyan Reaveley

Weekly Art Journal #9

Oh my, I just realized I still haven’t posted my detailed post for my weekly Art Journal #9, which was actually posted last week! So, you will get two posts from me today!! 😉

Well, my Weekly Art Journal #9 is ready for your viewing pleasure!! 🙂

Materials I used for this spread:

  • Dylusion Spray Inks: Fresh Lime, Pure Sunshine, London Blue, Vibrant Turquise, and White Linen
  • Ranger Paint Dauber: Black soot
  • A magazine cutout – used as a stencil mask
  • Cardstock for printing my sentiment on
  • Pentel Arts Color Pens (fine point): Yellow (S360-105), Teal (S360-110), Medium Blue (S360-136), Dark Blue (S360-103)
  • Molotow Acrylic Premium Paint Pen: Black, and White
  • Hero arts French Script mounted stamp
  • Ranger Archival Black Ink Pad
  • Black Pilot Marksall pen

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My motivation for this spread was hands down my weekend with Dyan Reaveley, learning from her in her EXCELLENT, and ABSOLUTELY FUN art journaling technique classes!! 😉 If you missed out on that, you can read about that here!DSC06179

This was a completely different kind of technique for me, so I was a little nervous to see how it would turn out!DSC06185

 

Something I didn’t think about when I created my mask out of a magazine image: If you see the magazine image, it is a very happy looking woman, but when you only see the silhouette of that same image, it is reading as a very depressed woman!! OOPSIE!! Not what I was going for!! But I won’t be too hard on myself about that! 😉

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I really love all of the different color variations and textures that come from using the Delusion sprays through stencils!! I am going to run out and invest in every color!! 😉DSC06169

 

I really loved the look of the script letter stamp showing through the background of the masked silhouette!! I think I would have liked it even better if the words were larger! 🙂DSC06174

 

I also had a lot of fun doodling on this page – the white on black and the black on the colorful section! I may have to do that more often! 🙂DSC06187

Overall, I am very happy with how this spread turned out!! What do you think?

If you have any ideas, or techniques that you might like to see me try in one of my future layouts, please let me know in the comment section and I will see what I can do to be accommodating! Also, I really do LOVE answering any questions you may have about art journaling, mixed-media, or anything you might have seen me do here! Please feel free to ask questions in the comments, and I will try and get back to you in a timely manner!!

Until next time…er…later today! 🙂

Here is to another FABULOUS week! 🙂

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If you want to have a different life, live differently!

 

A FABULOUS weekend with Dyan Reaveley!

Good afternoon!

This past weekend, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to spend the entire weekend taking four, in-person, art journaling classes with one of my FAVORITE artists, Dyan Reaveley!!!

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YEAH!!! WHOO!! HOO!!!

Meeting Dyan Saturday morning was literally like meeting a ROCK STAR!!!!

Her GORGEOUS bright red hair, her FABULOUS one-of-a-kind vintage-inspired dresses, her KICKY SASSY attitude, was less than two feet away from my AWESOME front row seat in class – ALL WEEKEND!!!!

One of Dyan's journal pages

One of Dyan’s journal pages

Yes, I was that sad, silly, groupie who pretty much just stared in awe, with my mouth agape like a lunatic, but even now, I can still hardly believe that not only did I get to meet her, I got to be involved in four of her AMAZINGLY CREATIVE classes!! 

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Christy Woods, of Runaway Arts & Craft Studio, with Dyan Reaveley!

The classes…OH MY!!!

Well, wait, let me back up a little. The classes were held at my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE arts and craft store here in Salem, Runaway Art & Craft Studio! When Christy Wood, of Runaway, told me that Dyan Reavely would be coming to teach classes, I immediately told her to SIGN ME UP!!! I didn’t care what they cost, or what the topics were going to be, Dyan could have been teaching SQL computer programming, or the benefits of biofusion on our political economy and I would have been there, with bells on, in the front row, smiling like a crazy fool, just excited to be able to be in the room!!

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Also, for some unknown reason, all of the class samples that Dyan had sent ahead of her arrival never actually made it to the store, so none of the participants really knew what to expect for any of the classes, but I for one was pretty much just game for anything, and was feeling pretty excited just to be there – the making of anything awesome was just going to be an extra perk of the classes!!

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So, on Saturday, I awoke early, got showered, dressed, ate my breakfast, and pretty much just paced around the house, full of anticipation, until it was FINALLY time to get to class!! After stopping off to get a GINORMOUS peppermint mocha (which was really just a distraction technique), I was FINALLY seated and ready for the first class to start, which was the Technique Tag Book class! The class lasted 2 1/2 hours, and Dyan basically took you through how to use her Dylsion spray inks, which I am now a firm believer are ESSENTIAL to my art journaling stash!! The class was vert fast paced, but not too fast that you couldn’t keep up with what was happening! The time flew, and before I realized it, the class was over and I had in my hot little hands my very first Tag book!! That I had created!!! Who knew????

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We had about an hour to kill in between classes, and for me, and I am sure a lot of us who attended, meant SHOPPING!!! 😉 One of the cool things about taking any classes at Runaway is that Christy offers 15% off of any of your purchases that you make in the store on the day of your class – so you had BETTER BELIEVE I took ADVANTAGE of THAT!!! 😉

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The next class was called Tags of Imagery, which is Dyan’s take on collage – bright, colorful, sassy, a little bit rock star, and LOADS OF FUN!! (Just like Dyan!!) Collage and I have never made great bed fellows, as I have always been too uptight/perfectionistic and collage has always seemed too loosey-goosey, and honestly has always just stressed me out! I am not sure if it was the way that Dyan taught us, or if it were the fact that she was the one teaching the class, but I REALLY LOVED this class!!! It made me want to go home and start ripping out images from every magazine I could get my hands on and start putting my little funky peeps together and plaster them on EVERYTHING!!! 😉 At the end of the three hours I walked away with three colorfully fun tags that I can honestly say are MAKING MY DAY when I look at them!!! 😉

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A pile of everyone’s tags from class! COLORFUL!! 😉

There was even some news media that caught us in the act!! 🙂

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The last class of the day was called Inky Watercolor Book which built upon everything we had already been learning throughout the day, but then Dyan gave us a chance to play with her Dylusions spray inks inside of the Tim Holtz water color brushes! I was really looking forward to this part of the class. She also taught us a book binding stitch – I can’t remember what she called it, but she has inspired me to get creating my own journals to share with friends and family!!! WAAAAAY easier than I ever expected! I LOVE THAT!!! 😉

I am not sure why, but I do not seem to have taken any pictures of this class, I think I was too heads down playing at this point, but I did find a pic of someone else’s project to share with you!

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I went home, happy, and EXHAUSTED!!! Crashed in bed, as soon as my head hit the pillow, but unfortunately my brain was so excited to get back to class the next day that at 1:30 AM I was up and ready to go! I never did get to fall back to sleep that night, but that still didn’t seem to lesson my excitement any!!

Sunday morning, I was up and at em, ready and waiting in class, with another GIANORMOUS peppermint mocha to help get me through the day! That day was going to be filled with one 8 1/2 hour class, which was called Art Journaling Extravaganza! This class was all about putting it all together and creating a very personalized art journal using one of Dyan’s AWESOME Dylusion’s journal books, which just happens to have the thickest, richest, creamiest paper, formulated perfectly for using with Dyan’s Dylusions spray inks!

A VERY full class!!

A VERY full class!!

This class was hands down my FAVORITE!!! She gave you permission to rip out pages, make a mess, cut pages, get inky, have fun, be free, and try new things, over and over and over and over again, and not take yourself or the process too seriously!!! By the end of the day, we each had at least a half full journal started to collage, paint, write, and doodle in to our hearts content!!! I know that my Dylusions journal has become a very good friend that is going to be carried with me a LOT!!! 😉 Souds melodramatic, maybe, but take the class – I am sure you will feel the SAME WAY!!! 😉

Here are a few of my FAVORITE pages in Dylusions journal, just started, mind you, but well on their way!! 🙂

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At the end of the day, we were all beat, but I wanted to stick around a little bit to chat with Dyan, and have her sign my journal, which she so graciously did – thank you, Dyan!! After some encouraging words from her, that literally left me speechless, I knew that this weekend was serendipitous, and I wasn’t meant to be anywhere else this weekend!!! 😉

Dyan checking out some of my artwork!! AIEEEEE!

Dyan checking out some of my artwork!! AIEEEEE!

My sweetie and I decided to stick around and help clean up, since the normally neat store looked like elephants had run through the place, which I guess we had – creatively FABULOUS elephants that is!! 😉 And if I didn’t think that my weekend could have gone any better, Christy invited my sweetie and I to join the Runaway team and Dyan for dinner…UHMMMMMM…YES PLEASE!!!! 😉 I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better weekend!! I mean what more could I possibly say??? I know I am gushing, but Dyan is really one of the most genuine, real, honest, no holds barred, women you could EVER meet, and at the same time she is generous, and creative, and beautiful, and WOW!!! SOOOO ENCOURAGING!!! 😉 Through her teaching of the classes and through our conversations throughout the weekend she really impresses upon you that you really can do seemingly hard things, if you break down into baby steps and you just do it piece by piece! That’s it – no need to make everything so freakin’ complicated!!

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Ok, so I have rambled enough!! Don’t worry, Dyan, I will root you on from afar, (and hopefully get the opportunity to take many more classes from you in the future!) I promise no restraining orders will be necessary!!! 😉

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Just one more thing, you should know, no one has paid me to say any of this, I am not affiliated with Dyan, or Ranger, or Runaway, although I am a SUPER HUGE fan of all three, all of the opinions expressed here are strictly my own and come from me!

If you have any questions, or comments, please feel free to leave them in the comments section here, and I will be happy to reply as soon as I am able!! 😉

Here is to a FABULOUS weekend past, and FABULOUS week to come!! 😉

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If you want to have a different life, live differently!!

Sharing Your True Colors!

Good evening!

As promised during this previous post. I have finally completed my journal project that was inspired by Dyan Reaveley’s YouTube video ‘Creating a Patchwork Quilt with Diane Reavely.’

Click on Image to Enlarge

Click on Image to Enlarge

As I was painstakingly blacking out all of the work that had taken me literally hours to complete, I just kept asking myself over and over, what am I going to write on this? What does this mean to me? Is there anything more to what I am seeing that what I am seeing? I actually had gotten the black completed, and stared at it for another day before my answer finally came to me.

Click on Image to Enlarge

Click on Image to Enlarge

Click on Image to Enlarge

Click on Image to Enlarge

 

This piece, for me, became about my tendency to hide my true colors, my true self, my authenticity, the things about me that make me uniquely me. I have a tendency to hide parts of myself for all sorts of reasons, fear of being unloved, fear of being unaccepted, fear of being left alone. This is something that I am actively working on. Even as I type this evening!

Click on Image to Enlarge

Click on Image to Enlarge

So the message that I decided to write on these pages became this:

“You were not uniquely and wonderfully made so that you can hide your uniquenesses.
You were not made to blend in.
Your uniquenesses are what make you special.
They give you immense value.
Be brave.
Stand up for who you are.
I promise, your truth will set you free.”

Click on Image to Enlarge

Click on Image to Enlarge

I may not know who you are, or what your story is, but I know that there is someone reading this right now that needs to hear these words, so I pass this message on to you. Your were not meant to blend in. You were a uniquely made one-of-a-kind special-to-the-core person on purpose. Cherish your uniquenesses, whatever they are, because they are your truth, YOURS ALONE, and your truth shall set you free!

Here is to a FABULOUSLY artsy evening! 😉

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If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

 

Getting Back Into the Art Studio!

Good evening!

I have discovered my new favorite art supply shop, Runaway. It is a cool little place that is located in downtown Salem. I have been down there a few times this past week, and after spending waaaay too much money on some much wanted, but not really needed art supplies, my sweetie and I agreed that I really had to commit to getting back into the art studio. So, for the past few days, I have made it a point to spend a little time in my art studio every day!

When I first got got back in there, I was overwhelmed by a blank journal page, and an overwhelming amount of art supplies, go figure! So, to break the ice, I decided to hop on to YouTube, and see if I could find some inspiration from some other fellow creatives. Thankfully, I happened to stumble upon this video:

Dyan Reaveley.

Yep, I said her name.

She is my new artsy hero!

I love her style, he sass, her creativity, and her can do attitude!!

Her patchwork quilt design had me inspired to give this project a try, and tonight I thought I would share with you my project in progress! 🙂

My Take on a Patchwork journal PageClick on image to enlarge

I was actually surprised how long it took to do just this step! It took me a little more than 3 evenings to get this completed, but I am pretty happy with how it turned out. If you watched the above video, you know that my next step is to black a lot of this out. I have a feeling that THAT is going to be harder to do, since it took me so much time to get this step done, but I am going to take a leap of faith and do it anyway! I can’t wait to see how it turns out!! 🙂

Here are some closer pics of each of the two pages.

Patchwork Quilt Page Left SideClick on image to enlarge

Patchwork Quilt Page Right SideClick on image to enlarge

This is basically like a giant Zentangle, and even though it took me a long time to draw and then color in, this part of the project was actually quite peaceful! I just turned on some inspiring music and just went for it! 🙂

I will make sure to share with you how it turns out in a couple of days!

Here is to an FABULOUSLY arsty evening!! 😉

Signature Line

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!