alisaburke: June 2019

Monday, June 17, 2019

NEW summer class! the nature journal

There is nothing in this world that inspires me more than nature! From color, pattern, texture and sound, nature is my favorite place to seek and find inspiration. In this class we will be using an art journal to explore all kinds of prompts, mixed media techniques and exercises that revolve around the natural world.

With nature as our muse we will work through 1 lesson a day for 30 days. I will be sharing all kinds of drawing, mixed media and painting exercises- from drawing the wind to capturing texture to recording weather to finger painting landscapes, expressive drawing, collecting and documenting treasure and so much more- my hope is the inspiration to grab that art journal and go explore that big beautiful world!

The Nature Journal
Early Bird SALE $20.00 ~~$30.00~~
Class launches July 1st

more information or register HERE

Thursday, June 13, 2019

creating with Jules- concrete mosaic hearts

It’s spring time for Alisa, but Autumn (or Fall) over here in Australia, and we’re still having some lovely sunny days which makes it nice to get out into the garden. Not a lot of colour going on here with flowers (pretty much all I have is grouped together in these photos!) so I thought some mosaic hearts would brighten things up.. But if it IS spring where you are, add some more colour, because we all know you can never have enough!

You will need:

Cement

Cement additive (optional- I use Bondcrete)

Sand, fine & coarse

Silicone heart molds

Various mosaic tiles

Outdoor tile adhesive

White grout

Other useful items: tile snips, eye protection, small spatula, disposable gloves, soft scrubbing brush

First, mix up your cement. For a nice strong mix I like to use 1 part grey cement, 2 parts fine sand, and 1 one part coarse sand and my cement additive to packet instructions. Using this ratio, guesstimate how much concrete mix you will need to fill your heart molds to approx 3/4 full.

Pour your mix into the heart molds, and gently tap and vibrate them to dislodge any air bubbles. I like to leave my concrete crafts for at least 3 days covered up and kept moist to cure.

Once cured & dry, pop them out of their moulds, and mix up some outdoor tile adhesive and batter it on. Mosaics is so similar to cake decorating it’s not funny. The great thing about them though is they last forever, unlike cakes!

You can use tile snips to make your chosen tiles smaller if you wish (using eye protection here), and place them into the tile adhesive. I found sticking to one colour per heart a nice way to decorate some of my hearts. Or my daughter made the rainbow one which is a nice effect too.

Leave to dry as per instructions on your adhesive pack, but before fully hardened, use a sharp tool to scrape away any adhesive that is bulging out a bit too much between tiles to give a nice finish for when you grout.

Mix up some grout and use a little spatula or your gloved hands to push the grout between all of the tiles, not forgetting the edges. I then use a soft scrubbing brush or old stiff paintbrush to brush away the excess grout on top of the tiles, before polishing with a soft rag.

Leave to dry for 24 hours before exposing to the elements and use them outdoors to brighten up little corners.

I’ve also found this is a great project to do with little ones. It’s just enough of a project to make them feel creative without it being too big for them to lose motivation. You can make up the cement hearts for them so they’re ready to stick tiles onto when you’re ready. My daughters helped me make some of these hearts, as they’re always inviting themselves into projects I might be making.