Playing with Clay and Art Journaling

 

Seher sculpture in process by Marla L. Niederer

I have been having quite a bit of fun with several different projects lately.  I started to work with airdry clay again and have been working slowly on this original sculpture, Seher.  I shared a picture of her in process in my last post and thought I would share how she looks now.  I still have quite a bit to go before she is complete but not in a hurry at all.

Seher Sculpture in process by Marla L. Niederer

Since I had my clay and sculpting tools out I decided to take a clay sculpting class by Jeanne Marie Webb online.  The two necklace pendants were created while taking her class.  Her class is wonderful!

Hand sculpted necklace pendants by Marla L. Niederer

In my last post I shared some pictures of a Pretty little journal that I designed and created.  I have been doing some art journaling in it and thought I would share with you this two page spread inspired by Renee Mueller’s class Capturing Beauty.  Such fun!

 Renee Mueller class inspired Journal spread by Marla L. Niederer  

I also wanted to share with you that my Sleeping Mermaid Class is now a self study class.  You can find out more about it by clicking on the picture below.

 

Sleeping Mermaid Self Study class by Marla L. Niederer

To see more of my self study classes click on the picture below.

 

Self Study Classes by Marla L. Niederer

To go to my OrsinisAngels YouTube Channel where all of my free video tutorials can be found, click on the picture below

 

Free Video Tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To see all of my free tutorials you can click on the picture below

 

Free Tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To find out more about me click on my picture below

 

About Me

Until next time……….

 

Warm hugs,

Marla

 

Left Handed Alice Painting: a Free Tutorial

 

Left handed watercolor painting by Marla L. Niederer

Almost a year ago I had surgery on my right wrist (my dominant hand) and while I was recuperating I found it very difficult not to create the art I was accustomed to creating so I tried to find other ways of expressing my artistic tendencies.  One of the things I did and continue to now do was to use my left hand for drawing and painting.  It was easier in the beginning of my recuperation to use my pan watercolor boxes since I didn’t have to open any tubes or jars.

Left Handed Alice Watercolor Painting by Marla L. Niederer

I was not able to make art dolls for quite some time so to get my doll making fix in I created this little watercolor painting of my version of Alice.  Although it is not my greatest work of art, it was such fun to do.  I really prefer to focus on the process of creating rather than the product.  It’s okay to make mistakes and art that isn’t exactly how you would like it to be.  It’s all about the journey and gathering new and fun techniques to fill up your art bag of tricks.

Left handed watercolor painting by Marla L. Niederer

I found using my non dominant hand to create allowed me to become looser with my drawing and my painting.  I still use my left hand quite a bit now in my art even though I can now use my right hand too.

I used the seven head croquis template below which you can also use to create your own Alice painting if you wish.  Just click on the picture below and print it out.

7 Head Croquis Template by Marla L. Niederer

The Free video tutorial on how to paint Alice part one can be found on my OrsinisAngels YouTube channel by clicking on the picture below.

Free Watercolor Painting Tutorial Part One by Marla L. Niederer

You can find the Free video tutorial part two on my OrsinisAngels YouTube channel by clicking on the picture below.

Free Watercolor Painting Tutorial Part Two by Marla L. Niederer

I also wanted to share with you that my Sleeping Mermaid Class is now a self study class.  You can find out more about it by clicking on the picture below.

 

Sleeping Mermaid Self Study Class by Marla L. Niederer

To see more of my self study classes click on the picture below.

 

Self Study Classes by Marla L. Niederer

To go to my OrsinisAngels YouTube Channel where all of my free video tutorials can be found, click on the picture below

 

Free Video Tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To see all of my free tutorials you can click on the picture below

 

Free Tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To find out more about me click on my picture below

 

About Me

Until next time……….

 

Warm hugs,

Marla

 

 

Art Journaling and Air Dry Clay

 

photo by Marla L. Niederer

I love to create and surround myself with pretty little things and I thought I would share a few things that have been on my work table lately with you. 

I designed and created this pretty little art journal to work in while watching different art videos and trying out new techniques.  I recently signed up for Ivy Newport’s Studioworks which gives you access to her online art magazine and art classes.  So far I have been having quite a bit of fun with it.  The theme for this month’s magazine was flowers so the journal I created has a flower theme too.

 I used my silhouette design space to design the journal and cut it out except for the signature pages inside it.  For the front cover I used a print of a watercolor painting of flowers I did to embellish it.

 

Pretty Little Art Journal by Marla L. Niederer

 For the inside cover I used some public domain images from the Smithsonian as part of a collage. I also used some stamping and vintage lace.

 

Pretty Little Art Journal by Marla L. Niederer

I used some vintage sketching paper for most of the signature pages.  For my first two page spread I created a mixed media piece inspired by my beautiful Valentine’s Day flowers that I received from my awesome son.

 

Pretty Little Art Journal by Marla L. Niederer

For the center spread of the signature I used a black and white print of one of my paintings.

 

Pretty Little Art Journal by Marla L. Niederer

I created a little pocket to keep some paper ephemera in the back of the journal.  I used some public domain images from the Smithsonian and vintage wallpaper for the floral designs in the back of the journal.  I also used seam binding tape to reinforce the spine.  I used some of my rubber stamps to embellish the seam binding before attaching it to the journal.

 

Pretty Little Journal by Marla L. Niederer

I’ve also started to work with air dry clay again.  I’ve been working on creating this sculpture called Seher which is the same theme for the shadow box I created in the last paper doll exchange that I participated in.  I’ve never used LaDoll clay before and am really enjoying the smooth texture it has. 

 

Seher clay Sculpture in process by Marla L. Niederer

I also saw a clay over wooden clothespin Grodnertal inspired doll made by Rhonda King on facebook that intrigued me so I had to try my hand at it.  I actually used a drill to make the holes in the clothespin since my beloved husband bought me one for such things but I hadn’t really used before.  So instead of having him drill things for me I did it myself and I know it’s silly but it was such fun! So this is the armature for my own Grodnertal inspired clothespin doll. 

 

Grodnertal inspired clothespin doll armature by Marla L. Niederer

I also wanted to share with you that my Sleeping Mermaid Class is now a self study class.  You can find out more about it by clicking on the picture below.

 

Sleeping Mermaid Self-Study Class by Marla L. Niederer

To see more of my self study classes click on the picture below.

 

Self Study Classes by Marla L. Niederer

To go to my OrsinisAngels YouTube Channel where all of my free video tutorials can be found, click on the picture below

 

Free Video Tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To see all of my free tutorials you can click on the picture below

 

Free Tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To find out more about me click on my picture below

 

About Me

Until next time……….

 

Warm hugs,

Marla

 

Free Watercolor mixed media painting demo

 

Watercolor mixed media Teacup by Marla L. Niederer

About a year ago I took a class on how to paint teabags presented by Jeanne Marie Webb and so enjoyed it.  I framed a few of the teabags individually but wanted to find another way to display them.  Since I love everything about the ritual of drinking tea, I have quite a collection of pretty teacups and saucers that I use.  I decided to create a painting of one of my teacup and saucers and attach one of the painted teabags to it for display.

Painted Teabag by Marla L. Niederer

 

Since I had so much fun doing this I decided to share a demo of the process for you.  I used watercolors, graphite pencil, acrylic ink, and Yes paste for this project.  You can view the demo on my OrsinisAngels Youtube channel by clicking on the picture below.

 

Free Watercolor painting demo by Marla L. Niederer

In case  you missed the Valentine’s Day project I shared last year, here it is again.

I took a vintage Valentine’s Day card, and a piece of vintage wallpaper to create this heart.

 

Valentine's Day Pincushion by Marla L. Niederer

You can print it out on fabric using an inkjet printer after attaching the fabric to a full page printer sticker.  Just make sure you trim off any stray edges of the fabric before placing into your printer.

 

I also wanted to share with you that my Sleeping Mermaid Class is now a self study class.  You can find out more about it by clicking on the picture below.

 

Sleeping Mermaid Self Study Class by Marla L. Niederer

To see more of my self study classes click on the picture below.

 

Self Study Classes by Marla L. Niederer

To go to my OrsinisAngels YouTube Channel where all of my free video tutorials can be found, click on the picture below

 

Free Tutorials on OrsinisAngels YouTube

To see all of my free tutorials you can click on the picture below

 

Free Tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To find out more about me click on my picture below

 

About Me

Until next time……….

 

Warm hugs,

Marla

 

Progressive Paper Doll Party

 

Paper Doll set "How Raccoon Got His Coat," by Hally Levesque

I recently received this absolutely beautiful paper doll set created by Hally Levesque as part of a Progressive Paper Doll Party Facebook group swap. 

 

"How Raccoon Got His Coat" paper doll set by Hally Levesque

The set was presented in this beautiful folder Hally made.  The set was created to represent the Native American folktale called “How Raccoon Got His Coat.” 

 

"How Raccoon Got His Coat"  paper doll folder by Hally Levesque

The paper dolls are absolutely beautiful original pencil crayon and ink works of art.

 

Princess Raven by Hally Levesque

Hally also included a print of one of her original works of art for the background picture in the folder.

 

Hand signed print of artwork by Hally Levesque

Thank you Hally for such a beautiful gift!

 

Raccoon by Hally Levesque

As part of the swap I also created a paper doll project for the theme.  Instead of presenting my paper doll in a folder I created a shadow box for her presentation.

Seher shadowbox by Marla L. Niederer

The paper doll is called Seher.   She rides her white deer into the night sky to bring the first light of the day with her baton of light.

 

Seher shadowbox by Marla L. Niederer

The project was initially inspired by a tarot card created by Bonifacio Bembo in the 1400’s of a female knight of batons.  You can see the original card in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Libray digital collection of Yale University.  I never had seen a female knight before or such a beautiful card.  When I first saw it I was so inspired that I did this watercolor painting that I used for the card included in the my paper doll swap project. The card can indicate travel, progress, new ideas, and inventions according to Wikipedia.

 

Knight of Batons by Marla L. Niederer

For the paper doll project I decided to use a white deer instead of a horse after visiting the white deer herd reserve in the Finger Lakes in Central New York quite some time ago. I liked that the deer symbolize innocence, gentleness, a beckoning to new adventures and magical journeys.

 

photo by Marla L. Niederer

While traveling in California for a NIADA conference in 2018 I met a young woman and her little girl named Seher while I was painting by the ocean. Seher’s mother told me that her daughter’s name meant the light one can see upon the horizon just before the dawn.  I found the meaning of her name to be as beautiful as the child.  So I pulled all three inspirations together to create my paper doll project Seher.  I had so much fun participating in this project and can’t wait until the next one!

 

I also wanted to share with you that my Sleeping Mermaid Class is now a self study class.  You can find out more about it by clicking on the picture below.

 

Sleeping Mermaid Self Study Class by Marla L. Niederer

To see more of my self study classes click on the picture below.

 

Self Study Classes by Marla L. Niederer

To go to my OrsinisAngels YouTube Channel where all of my free video tutorials can be found, click on the picture below

 

OrsinisAngels Youtube channel free tutorials

To see all of my free tutorials you can click on the picture below

 

Free Tutorials by Marla L. Niederer

To find out more about me click on my picture below

 

About Me

Until next time……….

 

Warm hugs,

Marla