Join Life Book 2022 and get 30% OFF!!!

 

 It was great to be one of the teachers for Life Book 2021 and we created a stitched wall hanging for our bonus lesson,

And a clay frame with heart sentiment for the main lesson.

 there were some fantastic lessons from all the teachers.

You can now sign up for Life Book 2022 and get a 30% discount until 1st Jan 2022

Be part of an incredible year of art making! 

Celebrate Life Book on it’s 10th anniversary with the brand new course – Life Book 2022! Enjoy a whole year of art and wellbeing classes in one unmissable package, PLUS if you buy Life Book right now, you can save 30% with the discount code ARTJOY30.

What’s included in Life Book?

Over 80+ mixed media art & wellbeing classes

Learn from 31 expert artists

Includes a virtual gift bag with lots of goodies including extra free classes!

Learn to use your creativity to support your wellbeing

Lifetime access to all class videos

ONLY £139 GBP (or $190 USD) for the whole course (valued at over $3000)

30% off for Early Birdies! Use: ARTJOY30 when signing up before Jan 1st 2022!

Make Art, Feel Happy

Sign up now

52 Art Journals Series - Coin Art Journal

Coin Art Journal

52 Weekly Art Journals with Amanda Trought

Here is one of my latest art journals.  In the video I share with you how the journal was created and then go on to create a page using oil pastels.

You can etch into the oil pastels to highlight and create marks on your image.  You can check out the video below.

If you would like to see the other art journals that I have created you can find them HERE  

 

Arts and Wellness Café - Creative Impact Awareness

 

What is the impact of your creativity on the world? In this weeks episode the word is Aware and suggests that we need to have a handle on what we are doing, how we feel and the impact in regards to other people.

When you are not sharing what you do then others cannot be blessed. That person who sees you as an example remains lost. Something for us to think about on our creative journey, or adventure which it sometimes feels like.

I shared this Art Journal page too, I had done the face some time back but when I was looking at it felt that there were some marks and doodles missing. The Journal page has been creating in my Restoration Art Journal. It is great to have a space to create and to experiment in.

You can check out this journal and hear me talk about some of the pages created HERE

Check out the rest of the arts and wellness café, and think about the tip for the week and also the question of the week - are there some things that you need to change.

Check out my new art course - Playing Card Art, creating art on playing cards, preparing the surface and having fun altering and bringing out an image - Check it out HERE

Also check out LIFEBOOK 2022, I taught on this years course and had lots of fun, you can check out my current project which is a stitched piece, gets you having fun with your fabric supplies

Stitched Meditations

Stitched Meditations - Amanda Trought

Pre-order Life Book 2022

There is a great lineup of teachers and you can also check out their profiles and see examples of their work!

Stay blessed and be a blessing

Arts and Wellness Café - Helpful or Not?

Come and join me for the latest episode of Arts and Wellness Café 

Check out the video HERE

In this episode I include how I find keeping a journal is useful.  I had read the Artists Way many years ago and I started to do my 'Moring pages' which is 3 pages of continuous writing first thing in the morning.  I found it really useful to get out my ideas and every now and then I wrote out some really great nuggets of inspiration.

I also examine my interpretation of the differences between a collector and a hoarder.  I thought there were some massive difference, I still do ( I am not sure my family would feel the same way though lol).

For the Art Journal page it is time for us to 'Spread our Wings and Fly and you will see how the page develops.  My main supply used in the Neo-Colors

Tip for the Week - Give yourself time to Create

I give myself time every day to do what I creatively want to do in the studio. So if you give yourself a portion of time you never then feel like you have been robbed or you haven’t got anything done.  I have a range of different things that I would like to try but don’t have the time.  

If I schedule a bit of time for myself I can just enjoy doing that thing or enjoy say working in an art journal or playing with a new supply without any pressure and then you still got time to get on with the work but you have to give yourself permission you have to say this is the time that I will schedule for myself and you stick to it.

You must not do other things in that time like going to hang out the laundry but you need to stick to the time that you have chosen.

You will find that you definitely will grow if you start to do it over a period of time, and you can compare to see how much you are getting done and the quality of your work from when you first started 

Question of the Week - What one nice thing can you do for yourself this week?  This is something you need to think about as we often leave ourselves to last or over look ourselves.

Spotlight Artist of the Week 

We take a look at Rachel Bellamy, Artist and you can check out her new course - The Joy of Motif HERE

Here is an example of her work...

Thank you for joining me, looking forward to hearing what 'nice thing' you are going to do for yourself.

Creating in Faith Podcast Episode - Helpful

 

Listen to the Podcast episode Below

Welcome to Series 3 of Creating in Faith, this is Episode 34 and the word for the Week is Helpful.  What is it that you are doing that could be described as helpful, is it your art, creativity, something in your personal life. Join me on the podcast today. 

You can then join me in the Arts and Wellness Cafe on my YouTube Channel which takes the idea of the word 'helpful' and takes it a bit further along with an Art Journal Page, Tip of the week and Review!

Check out my new solo art course - How Does Your Garden Grow - https://bit.ly/AT21How

I am also teaching in: Year in Color Summit - https://bit.ly/ayearincolor

Check out the Arts and Wellness Café videos each week which further explores the words

You can also catch me here :

Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/realityarts

YouTube www.youtube.com/amandatrought

Blog - realityarts-creativity.blogspot.com

Instagram www.instagram.com/realityarts/

Arts and Wellness Cafe - Running in the Deep

Watch the Video

Welcome to the Arts and Wellness Café - in todays episode the topic is the word 'Deep' and we look at the layers we can go within our creativity.  

Are there layers to your work and have you been avoiding going 'deeper? I share an art journal page and review of Graphite Tint water-soluble pencils

You can check out the Graphite tints and other links below

Graphite Tints - https://amzn.to/3lvLyQ4

Podcast Video - https://youtu.be/RWVRyL5lr4s

Dover Stencils - https://bit.ly/DOVPAT21

Collage Lab Book - https://amzn.to/3kgY9aD

Have you found your style? It took me over a year with practice to get an idea at the kind of images I wanted to create, then I had to let go and see what wanted to be brought forth - If I listened what would I create?.

A combination of what was inspired and what was in my subconscious. It took a while before I felt comfortable and it still takes a while to understand the messages or stories that want to be told in the piece of work.

Art Journal Page using graphite tints - Treasure

Tip for the Week

In Tip for the Week I share what might happen if you ask yourself the question 'What if'  If you followed it through where would it lead you.  What if you could create anything you want or try any medium.  How about applying for that opportunity and going for it even if you feel nervous or scared.  The time is now to 'step out of the boat and soar'!

Question of the Week

I also ask in Question of the Week we think about the things that we have been hiding from ourselves.  What is that for you?

Creating in Faith - Developing your Creative Practice

 

Join me on Creating in Faith - Developing your creative Practice as we explore the word 'Deep'

What are the messages that you share within your work, do they have a story to tell just waiting for the opportunity for you to tell it.

You can also catch the Podcast episode - https://www.anchor.fm/realityarts

You Art Amazing - Art Journal Page

It was great to be part of the Artsy Second Sunday video hop yesterday, if you missed it you can see how it developed below.

We meet every second Sunday of the month and you can join us in the live chat as we create.

Want Exclusive Content

Join me on Patreon for exclusive videos and tutorials for Patrons.

 

Spill Your Art Shorts - Finding Inspiration - Episode 6

 

It was great to be part of the Spill your heART discussion on finding 'Inspiration hosted by Nathalie Kalbach. We looked at where we found our inspiration as artists, tips that we had to share, what keeps us going and more. You can check out the full discussion HERE

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Nathalie also hosted Creative JumpStart 2021 an amazing online course with 45 Artists sharing 45 art lessons. It is on sale until 13th September. You can check it out HERE

Arts and Wellness Café - Creative Reflections

 

Come and join me in the Arts and Wellness Café, where we creatively reflect and consider where we are in the journey.  Are you where you thought you would be or do you need to make some adjustments.

I also share the art journal process of creating the above image, I like prepping my pages of my art journal so that I can come and add to the page.  You can see it unfold in the video below.

Have you taken a look at the book Collage Lab, a great resource to have in your creative stash with lots of hints and tips for not only creating collage but applying it to your work!

You can check it out on Amazon HERE

Stay blessed and be a blessing, would love to have you join me

Artsy Second Sunday - September - Faces

 

It is that time of the month - Artsy Second Sunday!!  Come and join us this Sunday (12th September) for an amazing time with an amazing group of artists.  

You will be able to see how I created this page full of lots of yummy detail.

Check out the link HERE - https://youtu.be/DKa2DXJT7i4 

My video premiers at 1pm EST the first video goes live at 12 noon, I have a list of the artists below and their links.

Martha from ilove2paint https://youtu.be/VmlVkyCOVoo

Pittsburgh Artist https://youtu.be/zDGof1GUPqM

Eleni S-artstuff https://youtu.be/JMeAlzWF9h8

Amanda Trought https://youtu.be/DKa2DXJT7i4

Diana Art https://youtu.be/KhKLRKPi3R4

Archu's Art World https://youtu.be/OKY2G69nnB8

Nina Fickett Designs https://youtu.be/oYOFkGQawxY

Mixed Creativity by Marie https://youtu.be/euvdvPyTAEo

Britta Mindartdk https://youtu.be/1lyMYRrATek

Mona L Creates https://youtu.be/IMYNnQm6XBU

Peg Adkins Robinson https://youtu.be/oJDd4TZHihk

Shel Paper Ocotillo Studio https://youtu.be/GFs-3TsarZk

You can subscribe to my channel and hit the notification bell and be notified when we go live, and you can join us in the chat - it is great to see how the other artists create their work.

It would be great to have you join us!

Arts and Wellness Café - Up Close and Personal

Join me in the Arts and Wellness Café, where I look at the word 'Personal'. I had started to reflect on the word on my podcast and continue to look at how it relates to my creative activities. I reflected on the word I started to look at what I was doing and my body told me that it was time to step back. You can listen to the podcast episode HERE

There are indeed times when you just need to step away from things if you can and every now and again the constant 'having to post' on social media can take it's toll if you are not balanced and make time for yourself.  Check out the video below:

I share a book review, of the book Collage Lab which is a lovely book to have in your creative library, full of lots of tips and examples for creating.

My art journal page this week is from a piece that I had already started. Unfortunately the first half of the video became corrupted and won't play so you catch the page half way through but you get an idea of how it progressed.

Patrons get to see the video in real time and I talk through the pages. You are always welcome to come and join us - the support starts from as little as $3 per month. There are over 50 'Patron only' tutorials, behind the scenes work, printable coloring and background pages and more!

CHECK OUT MY PATREON PAGE HERE

Art Journal Page

I have a few pieces of art in an exhibition called Amazing Art and you can catch the online exhibition it was originally at St George Parish Church and you can now see the work online and purchase if you see anything that catches your eye - HERE

Thank you so much for joining me, stay blessed!

Check me out on Patreon

Grease Proof Paper & Button Art Journal

 

This is a lovely art journal to work in, made from slightly different paper than my other art journals.  The pages are made from Grease proof paper.  I had been using the paper when I had been working with a wax resist technique on fabric and it seemed a shame to throw away the paper just because it had residues of wax so I decided to turn the pages into an art journal.

Each one of the pages then underwent the first few layers as the supplies have a difficult time adhering to the surface even if you do add gesso first.

One of the things you can do is to roughen the surface of the paper with sandpaper and then apply the gesso or preferred paint

Each page has different elements added as well which will make a nice jump off piece when I come to work in the journal.

I also used recycled card to act as tabs on the edges of the art journal.  It is lovely to have a space where you can just play with supplies in.  Hope you feel inspired to create your own art journal from some of the supplies that you have in your stash!

Creating in Faith - Realityarts Podcast - Word for the Week - Joyful

 

Welcome to the podcast for today.  The word for the week is Joyful

Take a listen to some of the words from previous weeks and let me know how you relate some of the words to your creativity.