Hi there! It’s the 10th… And I can’t believe it’s time to share the April instalment of Inspired by with you!
It feels like I only posted last month’s yesterday! But the good thing about these monthly posts is that when I write them, I take inventory of the things that happened, what I worked on and also how much time I spent to fill my inspiration well.
March felt like a whirlwind, not in the least because I travelled to Germany twice. But I still somehow found some free time to play along with my friend Birgit Koopsen’s Gel Printing Challenge, and I’m also happy to report that I visited not one but two museums last week!
Five things stood out to me inspiration-wise this month, so… Let’s go!
31 Days of Gel Printing Challenge
If you follow me on Instagram, you have probably seen that I managed to share photos for 24 of the 31 prompts Birgit cooked up for her fabulous and immensely fun challenge.
This was gel printing without thinking about it too much, trying to catch up, having fun with it, working techniques I had never done before, and of course, I did lots of printing like I always do.
I love, love, loved seeing what all the other participants were posting. So many cool ideas. So many cool results! Check out the hashtag #birgitkoopsengelprintingchallenge on Instagram to see for yourself!
Bochum
My first trip to Germany took me to Creativa in Dortmund. I was there to help at the Elizabeth Craft Designs booth.
The show was massive, and though I did some quick walks through a couple of the halls, I didn’t find my primary source of inspiration there.
It was the vacation home we stayed in!
The house was small, but it had everything you need. It looked so cool, it was welcoming, comfortable and styled to a T!
I loved it so much that I wished I could have taken it home with me.
I’ve tried to analyse what it was that appealed me so much about it besides the bold colour choices. I liked the dark kitchen and the layout of it.
I liked that there were coat racks everywhere where you would need them. The lighting was very cosy. There were bright orange curtains in the living room!!!
But the one thing I immediately noticed was the use of natural materials. Because that’s something that is not lacking in my own home, but it isn’t as prominent.
So I know what my next interior decorating mission is going to be!
Frankfurt
The second trip to Germany took me to Frankfurt. Not for work this time, just for pleasure!
My goal was to visit the Basquiat Boom For Real exhibition at the Schirn Kunsthalle. It was the first thing Harold, and I did after checking into our hotel.
Everything we saw and did after that was a bonus!
The 100 Day Project
Whilst we were in Germany, The 100 Day Project started.
This is my first attempt at the project after admiring so many Instagrammers do it before me. It’s about doing one (creative) task every day for a 100 days.
I listened to all the advice. I chose a daily task that seems doable to me, and that doesn’t have to take me more than 5 minutes per day.
So no sketches or collages or gel printing or anything like that for me.
I chose a task that will get me off the phone and that will (hopefully) help me use my ‘real’ cameras better.
I simply called it #100DaysOfUsingACamera.
I purposely called it ‘using a camera’, because in my heart I really want to do videos. But I know I don’t have time to tape and edit a video a day.
So that’s why I’m initially going with photography and who knows… I might eventually get to use the video part of the camera too!
I’m starting off with getting to know my compact camera better.
It’s a camera I purchased last year for taping video, but it’s a different brand than the cameras I’m accustomed to, and I just haven’t taken the time to find out how to use it.
That’s why some of the photos I’ve been sharing on my Marshas100DayProject Instagram account aren’t that great. It’s because I don’t know what I’m doing!
I’m confident that it will get better with practice. That’s the whole point!
Gelli Arts® Gel Printing In My Traveler’s Notebook
Last Saturday I taught a workshop at the ArtChicks Studio monthly Mixed Media Café.
It was a super fun group of people, we had a great time together, and I hate to say it, but I have no photographic evidence whatsoever.
I do have the project I taught because it’s in my latest Gelli Arts® video tutorial!
The inspiration for the video and the project came from gel prints I made during Birgit’s challenge, but also because the workshop required me to print directly into a journal.
I loved the result so much that now I can’t stop making pages like this!
That’s a wrap!
That’s it for this month’s Inspired by!
Don’t forget to stop by Riikka’s blog Paperiliitin to see what she was dying to create in the past month.
On the 10th of each month, we share what inspired us that month with you and each other.
It can be anything from a person, a film, a book, a painting, to an item, something found in nature or in the city, a colour scheme or some materials we bought or discovered.
We will also share how the source of inspiration affects our work. Consider it a window into our creative minds!