Saturday, February 1, 2014

Inspiration and Painting Circles Tutorial

Here it is, my first tutorial!

In my last post I wrote about the creative inspiration I get from seeing through creative eyes. Another way I get inspiration is through other artists ~ through their blogs and through taking classes.

Last week I followed a link on Pinterest to the blog of Connie at http://artfulplay.blogspot.com/. Connie's post was about the circles she painted that were inspired by the art of Roben-Marie Smith at www.robenmarie.com. I've taken some of Roben-Marie's classes and I love her use of circles on her art journal pages. Other artists I follow who use circles a lot are Julie Fei-Fan Balzer http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/ and Ronda Palazzari  http://rondapalazzari.typepad.com/helpmeronda/.

I love circles! I Stencil them, I use punched out ones, and I paint them. A sampling of a few of my past pages with circles:



So, after reading Connie's post I got in the mood to paint circles. I have found over time that I enjoy the results best when I paint circles with my fingers. Below are pages I made from last weeks "playing".
These circles were painted directly in my art journal.



Then I painted more and used them for my Documented Life Project challenge and pages.






After posting my pages in the Document Life Project Facebook group there was some interest in how I made my painted circles. So, giving credit where credit is due, inspired by Roben-Marie Smith and Connie at Artful Play and the many other artists I follow who love to use circles, I made a tutorial on my process for painting circles. Due to the length of it I made the tutorial on a separate page. You will find it in the links at the top of the blog.

I would love to see what you do with painted circles so I've attached a link-up below. Please share a link to your blog, Flickr page or Pinterest page and share what you have made using painted circles.







14 comments:

  1. I love everything about this! Wonderful circles and blog - new fan, xo

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    1. Kristin,
      Thanks for your comments! I have followed your blog for a while! So glad you stopped by. :)

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  2. Love the circle art! Gonna try it today!! Thanks.

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  3. what a great tutorial. thanks for sharing it with us. i love how all the colors make up these funky, cool circles. gonna try it soon.

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  4. I don't see a tutorial. Is there an expired link here? I'd like to try making those circles but am a beginner and don't know how!

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    1. Nancy, the tutorial is at the top of the page. It is a link under the blog header. Have fun making circles and please feel free to email me with any questions. marybrack@gmailcom.

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  5. I am curious what you are using for the base of this album... thanks

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    1. Angelina, I use old books and watercolor paper. You can see how my journals are made in the Altered Book Journal tutorials on my blog (click on titles on the top of the page). I also sell my journals in my Etsy shop (link on the right). Thanks for visiting my blog!

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  6. Mary, you posted a photo on Pinterest of an orange envelope painted with one of your famous circles. on the envelope you wrote "was rough" and then had a label, blue and white border, long and skinny, where you wrote, "thoughts about my week". I am looking for those border labels, doesn't matter what color. Can you please tell me the brand and where I might find them...thanks, Cindy Arrington
    P.S. took your circle tutorial...love it and them.

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    1. Cindy, those border labels are file folder labels by Martha Stewart from Staples office supply. I have found them online before also. I love using office products in my art journals! So glad you enjoyed the tutorial!

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