cosmiccreativebits

 2023 started off with art journalling and experimenting with the Himi jelly gouache paint which if you've not tried it is like a better version of acrylic paint that's also a watercolour depending on how much you dilute it.  I created an art journal in a format like a funky diary; it had lots of song lyrics representing my thoughts and feelings and the images produced still in the cosmic theme but had the checkered pattern as i'd just learnt how to draw it. I wrote the words first then drew but near the end of the book I struggled to complete the drawings to go with the lyrics so I left the journal whilst I worked on different projects. By the time of coming back to finish the book I no longer resonated with most of it so I never finished it. I continued making the old compositions brought to life on cardboard pieces that I started in 2022 and managed to complete them all in 2023,  SO I started drawing some new compositions same style on cardboard but some had the checke...

     I was at a discount store out of town that I'd never been in before, they sold all sorts of stuff but I found something that's super exciting!!! Watercolours in felt tip format, oh WOW.  A concept I thought i'd found last year, but they were just water based markers pretending you could create a watercolour effect *so disappointing* thought i'd imagined the concept of watercolour pens being a real thing but anyways I found these Art Hub 24 Watercolour Dual Ended Brush Pens for £6.99 and I was BUZZINNN. This being a real product is something that amazes me. I've used watercolour pencils before and this is a similar concept just in marker pen format instead. Which is cool because I really like to use felt tips, I find them a lot easier to use in comparison to a pencil.  As some of you may know I started my art journey with normal watercolours and a biro pen, so my love of watercolours has been there since the start in late 2018.  The watercolour pens hav...

  Introducing Craft Planet's 6 Neon Paint Sticks! I'm not new to craft planet's products, they're a brand i've been loving for some time; the aesthetics scream my kinda vibe and the products themselves are really good quality so  I'm super excited about this one... It's paint in a stick format but not liquid paint which intrigues me. It's more like a jelly consistency which i've not tried in a stick *i've only tried jelly gouache* but I think the paint stick idea is a great concept.   I think the packaging is cute; it's simple it has the brand name, some stars, texture for grip and a clear lid which is giving off spacey vibes.  I bought these from a local discount store, I can't remember how much I paid but they are available online for £6+ depending where you get them from. They make the standard coloured paint sticks too, a pack of 12 but I didn't pick them up as I wanted to see if the neon ones were any good.  I didn't do a swa...

Painted papers are super easy and fun to create! This technique is beginner friendly as there's no wrong way to paint and it's great for those more experienced as it's also a great creative block unblocking exercise because it's freeing to paint however you wish; the perfectionist approach doesn't apply with this method, you don't need to overthink about colour schemes or worry about being all neat just dive into painting and let the piece surprise you! Any paint type and any paper quality can be used but I recommend getting a cheap paper pad A3 size as they're readily available from most places and you'll feel more able to take risks with colour choices and ways of painting. This technique would work on any size paper but the bigger the better really as you'll be cutting it up.   This technique is great for using up any almost finished paint or paint that's leftover in your palette from doing a project. You can also clean your brush off onto the...

Every now and then i'll remember a technique i've been using for years, of adding glitter to paints to create your own unique mixture for your projects, it adds a little suttin suttin to your work; it makes me happy creating the mixtures *it's like art magik* and I really enjoy using them within my work.  It's super simple to make your own glitter paint, you just pour different combinations of glitter *can be chunky and fine, even sequins can be added* into your paint bottle or you can try it in a paint palette if you prefer. It works better with thin paints but it can be used with some cheap acrylic paints. For a different aesthetic less ethereal you can make the paint have a sand texture by adding gesso to the mixture before you add the glitter as this thickens it up.  Make sure if you're doing it in a bottle don't forget to shake it up; if you're mixing colours shake it,  then add your glitter then shake it again, this method works a little better for som...

  I needed some new colouring pencils and The Works had a sale on so I managed to get some Crawford&Black colouring pencils for £3 which I didn't think was bad for 36 colours and a sharpener. I've only tried their sketchbooks which I really like the quality of, for the price they're amazing and was interested to try their other products.   I did a swatch for you below, the colours are in the order that they are in the packaging; not in rainbow colour order but an order of cools and warms which I quite liked as it's different. Not all brands have a good cool to warm ratio and I think the colour selection is great. The packaging doesn't have any names on them but I don't really mind since there's a colour order to them.  The consistency is kinda hard at first and the colour pay off is nice on some colours; I didn't press on that hard for the swatches in hind sight I probably should have but I wanted to see what they're like naturally without pressu...

  Reverse art is a concept I've recently discovered... I bought some felt tips that bleed through the paper MEGA bad *like it'll go on to whatever is underneath the paper too... be that your leg lol so you need to put something you don't mind getting stained underneath* but the bleed through looks hella cool when you turn over the pieces. For some reason I actually prefer the bleed through side, it's a lot smoother and creates a unique vibe. The bleed through side could then be re-outlined creating an illustration. I use felt tips for creating cut out ephemera which are singular things like individual aliens, planets and souls etc coloured in and then cut out ready to be used in your journals. I find it therapeutic using felt tips for this as it saves a lot of time, anyways the reverse method I discovered is a new way to do the cut out ephemera. I did some research on Youtube to see if reverse art was already a thing and most people do reverse colouring which is where t...

 I went to B&M for some glue and saw these set of 10 Aquamarkers for £6 and was super excited to buy them and try them out. They're double ended water based markers that from the name and writing on the packaging suggests that you might be able to use with water for creating a watercolour effect which is a really cool concept.  In the pack there are 8 green shades, an orange and a yellow.  With the markers you get a storage tray that you can place horizontally and in theory stack other sets they offer on top of it. Personally I won't be using the tray as I've got a pencil case full of felt tip markers that are stored horizontally...BUT I like the idea of being able to display the art supply.  Upon doing a swatch test I was really impressed with the quality how they just glided on the paper and didn't bobble up or anything. It wasn't streaky it was vibrant and fun to use. I like the brush tip more than the fine tip because the ink flows nicer.  After I did th...

  After buying some watercolour pencils that weren't quite upto par, I decided to buy some from Wilko for £2.25 which is mega cheap for watercolour pencils. I usually like the quality of Wilko's art supplies so i'm gutted they've gone into liquidation and will be closing forever. I'd never tried their watercolour pencils before so I was keen to try them out.  Below is the swatch of the 12 watercolour pencils: They're super creamy when applying you don't have to press down really hard to get a vibrant colour. I like the colour range and think it suits most people's projects.  It effortlessly became watercolour I was really impressed at how vibrant it stayed, the paper did bobble up a bit but I went over the same area a few times to test if the watercolour pencil would just disappear with more water which it didn't happen.  Have you ever tried Wilko's art products? Get your hands on them while you still can! Till next time, Stevie x

 Ephemera from my understanding means things you create to use within your art journals, these can be things like tags which most people do but I've also come up with my own ways of creating ephemera.  Last year I began creating doodles on scrap pieces of paper and decided I wanted to include them in my art journals, this was the birth of doodle ephemera where I used black marker pen or biro to create and now the idea has spiralled into using felt tips to draw with and then colouring or painting them. It depends how I feel as to what method/mediums I use. The doodle ephemera linked into the collage ephemera which is pattern doodles and scribbles on scrap paper which are then collaged onto printer paper ready to cut things out of.   The collage ephemera gave me the idea to stick together scrap pieces of paper like insides of letter envelopes *they have dope patterns on* and coloured paper, I then drew on them but started to get art block every time I tried so I stoppe...