August 2016 – In a Minute Ago

British Library has over a million images online in the public domain

Over the last few years the British Library, has digitised books, manuscripts, and all manner of printed media from their collection. They have compiled over a million images which are released in the public domain so you can use them. Anyone who does collage will enjoy their flickr stream. They state here on British Library’s site that We have released over a million images onto Flickr Commons for anyone to use, remix and repurpose. These images were taken from the pages of 17th, 18th and 19th century books digitised by Microsoft who then generously gifted the scanned images to us, …

The History of Typography in 5 minutes

Resources online1 comment

The History of Typography is a creative and pretty cool animation by Ben Barrett-Forrest. Needless to say it is about the history of fonts and typography. Take 5 and spend a few minutes to view and not only will you be entertained I bet you will learn something too. In a Minute Ago delivered to your inbox Use the subscribe feature in the sidebar. Enter your email address, and when you get the confirmation email make sure you activate it and you are all set! If you are on a mobile or tablet you will need to scroll to the …

Choosing an Eraser

If you have ever been dazzled by how many erasers in an art store you will find Choosing a Rubber: Comparing Erasers is a huge comprehensive article. I know many people think that an eraser is big no-no but that is tosh as erasers can be a great tool for subtractive drawing techniques where you lay down a colour or a layer of graphite then pick out highlights with and eraser. There is also nothing wrong with erasing the odd line or two Some of the questions Julie tests and discovers the answers for are “I set out to see …

Stefan Baumann classes on YouTube

Resources online8 Comments

Stefan Baumann creates videos of many of his classes. They are great online resources that people can view. This one is a gem as he launches into a talk about what is take to become an artist and how to develop your style. The video starts out with a discussion about colour charts and colour wheels then develops from there. Stefan Baumann is very real teacher (although he calls himself a coach) and I always enjoy his forthright manner as he usually hits the nail on the head . Make a cuppa and take some time to watch. It is …

Cut and paste prints at the Rijks Museum

Museums Collections and Exhibitions / Paper Arts10 Comments

One of the surprising discoveries I made during my visit to the Rijks Museum is that early 17th century prints were not necessarily produced for only walls or to be housed in albums. There was a whole industry of prints produced for people to use in craft work as clip art. Apparently cutting out prints and pasting them to form new pictures or using them as decorations in craft work became a rage. Publishers responded by producing books of prints to cut out. This blue collage sheet is from an album decorated with cut-out prints by Hendrick Goltzius, Arent van …

Journaling is not about perfection

Art Journals / Journaling9 Comments

Journals don’t have to be perfect. This applies to all types of journals, studio journals, written journals, art journals or what I call observational journals. A quest for perfection is a curse. They do not have to hand crafted pages of mini masterpieces on each opening. Something that really puzzles me is someone saying they have a collection of empty notebooks that they do not use because they might “spoil” them. Using them is what makes a notebook better. An empty notebook is just paper but put some ideas down or some doodles it takes on a life and becomes …

Some ideas on how to journal

Art Journals / Journaling / Sketching video 10 Comments

I am often asked how to journal. Journals can be kept in any way you choose. You can write in them, sketch in them, add photos, paint in them, do a collage, paste ephemera in them in other words just about do anything in them! There is no certain “look” or style in journaling. There is no blueprint that must be followed, no right or wrong way to keep a journal. There are no rules because they are a creative space and if you tie up a creative space in too many rules it quickly becomes a non-creative space. In …

83 year old diarist shares his hobby of a life time

Historical Journals / Journaling / Written Journals11 Comments

John Gadd is an 83 year old diarist who over his lifetime has filled 151 volumes with four million words. His journals weigh in at half-a-tonne. In his journal he also includes photographs, illustrations, cuttings from newspapers and everyday items like food wrappers, tickets, and mementos. These bits of ephemera add to the story of one man’s life. His diary starts in 1947 and has been kept ever since which means his diary is eight times the size of War and Peace John Gadd said ‘To begin with the diary was quite hard work and pretty boring. But after a …