Special Guest Spotlight on HEIDI MATTESSICH September 2022

 This month, we are very pleased to welcome back Heidi Mattessich, who is Guest Designing for us for a second time after being one of our July 2022 winners. 

This time, Heidi has created something special for both our Main and Mini challenges so we hope you enjoy her take on our September challenges and do please visit her social links which are listed in her Artist Bio.

Artist Bio 

Hi guys!

My name is Heidi. I live in sunny Florida with my handsome hubby, my youngest kid (the older 2 are in college) and our sweet little dog. I work as a physical therapist and group fitness instructor, but you can find me crafting in my free time. 

 I love creating art journal spreads and mixed media projects and, every once in a while, a scrapbook layout. Over the past year I have had the honor of being a Guest Designer for More Than Words Challenge in April and being on the design team for Miniature Luxuries and Papers. 

My style is always evolving as I spend more time getting my hands dirty in paints and inks and seeing others' artwork online. I hope you like the projects I made for the September challenges!

Social Media links:

IG: @heidimattessich

YouTube: Art with Heidi

Facebook: Heidi Mattessich

Q & A with Heidi

What's your favourite September memory?

For me, September is the start of fall and going back to school, so I have many fond memories of getting my kids ready for their first day and taking pictures of them. Also, my birthday is in September and last year my husband and sister threw me an amazing surprise birthday weekend with my parents and all 3 of my kids in town to celebrate. I'm pretty sure there is video of me crying happy tears.

What usually inspires your journal pages?  

I am definitely inspired by nature, but I also love a great color palette.

What's your favourite way to break a blank page?

I like to start with building a background with either collage papers or a basic patterned paper and white washing it with a heavy bodied white gesso.

What's your favourite journal?

My favourite is the first journal I started.  I love looking back to see my progression.

Heidi's Interpretation of our September Main Challenge

Heidi says:  Playlist is the word for the main challenge.  I started by thinking of my own playlists and how I feel when I listen to them.  This process helped me come up a color scheme and I looked for ephemera that went along with playlists and the colors.  Once I had everything collected, I just played around with the layout and layering, and then it all came together.

Heidi's Interpretation of our September Mini Challenge

Heidi says:  Song is the word for the mini challenge. I had recently gotten some items from Stamperia's new line Desire which is inspired by Tango and Flamenco and I thought this fit perfectly with this mini challenge.  In my ephemera collection I found a black and white picture of this lady in a fancy dress that worked well with the theme.  Once I was found a quote using the word song that matched my tag, it all flowed together.

Thanks for sharing your September memories, interview answers and of course your beautiful journal spread and your tango inspired tag with us Heidi!  We really enjoyed interviewing Heidi this month and hope that Heidi's beautiful work inspires you to enter September challenges!

Here's a reminder of our current Main Challenge:

Word Inspiration - PLAYLIST

Creative Challenge - EPHEMERA


and our current Mini Challenge:

Don't forget that you can find all of our challenge details and extra information, as well as Heidi's published interview in our new magazine Artful Pages.

Special Guest Spotlight on SUNILA MAHAJAN

This Hello everyone! Hope you are having a fabulous weekend doing something arty!

This month, we are very pleased to feature Sunila Mahajan as our second Guest Designer for July.  Sunila was one of our February 2022 winners and is also now one of our new Design Team! 

We invite you to get to know Sunila a little better through her interview below.  Please also visit her social links which are listed in her Artist Bio.

Artist Bio 

Hello everyone, my name is Sunila Mahajan, and I live in Bangalore, India. I was born and brought up in Nairobi Kenya, and moved to India after I got married. This has given me the opportunity to have experienced two different worlds, cultures and though process, and unite them in one.  Alongside Painting, I developed a liking to Mixed Media, and have been doing that for about 9 years.  I am an artist who paints from the heart and this is conveyed in my work. Texture and rich colour are my style.

 I enjoy using mixed media mediums- inks, pigments, stencils, stamps and textures creating one cohesive whole. I now enjoy creating art journal pages because they give me the freedom to play with colours, try out techniques, and still piece it all together as a single story. Apart from that, I enjoy creating cards, tags, scrapbook layouts, home décor, altered art and paper crafting.   I enjoy creating and inspiring those around me and I hope I’m able to do the same here too.

  

FACEBOOK - INSTAGRAM

⬷⤐

Q & A with Sunila

How long have you been art journalling?

I’ve been art journaling ever since I began my mixed media journey. So that would be 8-9 Years.


Are you inspired by a particular artist or artists, if so, who?

I would say my fellow artists always inspire me. People here on the team, and other mixed media artists like Nuneka, Tracy Hickman, Natalie Horlacher, Natasha Pfiffner Vacca, Asia Marquet are some of my favourites.

What is your favourite type of art supply or product?  

My favourite art journaling products would be Lindy’s Magicals and Sprays.

What's your favourite colour palette to use? 

It’s hard to pick a favourite colour palette, it depends on my mood and if I have a challenge in mind I create for. So I pick my colours according to that.

And finally, why do you enter art challenges?

Oh I love entering set challenges! They always inspire me and give me a starting point to creating. They help me churn my juices and play on the pages experimenting and exploring. I also feel they help me evolve as an artist in my journey.

⬷⤐

Sunila's Interpretation of our July Main Challenge

'Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters', this quote inspired me to create this page. I was inspired by the idea of time and the time it takes for a butterfly to become one.

The whole process is so wonderful, isn't it? 

I've used watercolour technique on my page, to colours the page and the elements with my favourite Lindy's.

⬷⤐

Thank you Sunila for sharing this beautifully watercoloured art journal page with us!  We hope that Sunila's take on the Main Challenge inspires you to enter this month.

Here's a reminder of our current Main Challenge which you can enter here on the blog, in our Facebook group or on Instagram:

Don't forget that you can find all of our challenge details and extra information, as well as Sunila's published interview in our new magazine Artful Pages.

Special Guest Spotlight on RACHEL MARTIN

Hello everyone! Hope you are having a fabulous weekend doing something arty!

This month, we are very pleased to feature Rachel Martin as our first Guest Designer for July.  Rachel was one of our March 2022 winners and is also now one of our new Design Team! 

We invite you to get to know Rachel a little better through her interview below.  Please also visit her social links which are listed in her Artist Bio.

Artist Bio 

Hi, my name is Rachel, but I am also known by the artist name of "La p'tite Barbouilleuse".  I am an artist who is passionate about art journals. However, I also do cards and scrapbooking.  I work as a teacher of disabled children, I love playing with words in my creations. I’m part of Scrapbook Art et Passion DT also.   

INSTAGRAM - YOUTUBE

⬷⤐

Q & A with Rachel

How long have you been art journalling?

I've been doing Art journaling since January 2021. I've been doing it almost every day since I got into it!

Are you inspired by a particular artist or artists, if so who?

One of my favorite artists is definitely Dina Wakley. I admire not only her art but also her philosophy of life. She inspired me with the pages of Art journal of which I am very proud.

What is your favourite type of art supply or product?  

I really use a lot of varied material, but I admit that I can't do without my stencil collection! I have all kinds, and I like to mix them to produce surprising effects.

What's your favourite colour palette to use? 

I can't live without turquoise. I find it to be a go-anywhere color that blends easily and blends into different palettes.

And finally, why do you enter art challenges?

I find that creative challenges are a way of surpassing myself and taking me elsewhere. they allow me to explore different emotional avenues within me.

⬷⤐

Rachel's Interpretation of our July Main Challenge

When I think of "Watercolor" I automatically think of Lindy's magical powders. So I used them to highlight the background texture of the page made with structure paste through a stencil.

I had this inspiring phrase that told me that life was wonderful even if it was imperfect. It inspired me that you can't quantify happiness. So I used numbers all over the place to play with the concept. 

Life is represented by the funny, rather serious gentleman. The imperfection is represented by the foliage which goes in all directions.

Finally, I added the small acetate butterflies to represent the wonderful aspect of life. The result makes me laugh and smile!

⬷⤐

Thank you Rachel for sharing this wonderfully textured art journal page with us!  We hope that Rachel's take on the Main Challenge inspires you to enter this month.

Here's a reminder of our current Main Challenge which you can enter here on the blog, in our Facebook group or on Instagram:

Don't forget that you can find all of our challenge details and extra information, as well as Rachel's published interview in our new magazine Artful Pages.