Back in the spring of the year 2000, I took a botanical illustration class from Otis College of Art and Design. At the time, I had already been designing fabrics for a few years, and I realized that my skill with florals could stand improving. I thought the class would be a fantastic way to get more experience drawing plants and flowers ~ and it was! I learned so much from the class and had a fabulous time doing it. There were so many great things about the class. I LOVED the location at the Arboretum in Arcadia, California. If you ever have a chance to go there ~ DO IT! It is just pure eye candy all over. Peacocks roam through the gardens…there are flowers and plants and trees everywhere. It is a botanical illustrator’s paradise!

Olga Eysymontt was the class instructor, and she is amazing. While illustration is never quick or easy, I really felt that she simplified the process as much as possible. She presented the course in such a way that anyone could have had success, even a non-artist. I was pretty amazed at how much I was able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. If you ever have an opportunity to take a class with Olga, I highly recommend that you do it!

Here is a list of classes that the Arboretum currently has posted. They always seem to have such interesting offerings. In the past I have seen them offer so many interesting gardening classes, and I would love to go back and take more classes there.
Supplies Used in This Scrapbooking Layout:

The rubber stamps are all See D’s by Inque Boutique:

• 50481 Mini – Sharie’s Lower Alpha ~ used in the title
• 50221 Phantoms ~ used to create the watercolor effect under the title, and also used under the right hand side of the orchid photo. I layered 3 of the different “phantoms” stamps, using different colored inks, to get this effect.
• 50450 Mini – Great Shapes Journaling ~ used to create the 2 journaling blocks.
• 50328 Retro Shapes ~ used to create the little pink flowers

Patterned Papers:

• “Dali” by Basic Grey, from the “Romani” / “Gypsy” collection.
• “Flora Coral” by Creative Imaginations, from the Sonnets Collection / Sharon Soneff
• Rhonna Farrer paper by Autumn Leaves
• Olivia Lattice12 x 12 in green from the Boho Chic line by Making Memories.
  

Stickers:

• epoxy stickers from Creative Imaginations ~ Karen Russell’s Narratives Collection in Honeydew

Fiskars:

• Fiskars Shape Xpress was used to cut out the circle around the journaling block
• Fiskars Decorative Scissors were used to create the paper lace and the decorative edging on the cut papers (please see paperlaces.com for more paper lace eye candy!)

Ribbon:

• RibbonFX by Hobby Lobby

Inks & Chalks:

Inks by Rubber Stampede

Supplies:
Patterned Papers:
Background paper is Aged Florals: Beloved by Fancy Pants. Paper on top is Fancy Free Collection: Sun and Sea by Fancy Pants
Stamps: Alpha Chic set by Fancy Pants.
Inks: Distress Inks by Tim Holz/ Ranger & Luma Brilliant Concentrated Watercolors
Chalks: Craf-T Products
Spin art painting is by Amy Solovay.

I have seen it debated endlessly whether scrapbooking is art or craft. I think this layout makes a pretty good case for the “art” argument. While it has the attributes typically attributed to a scrapbooking layout (text/journaling, photo, background of 12″ x 12″ patterned paper) it would certainly pass for a both a self portrait and also a collage.

More About My Art

• Art journal pages
• Still life art — How to create a still life for painting or drawing

More About Scrapbooking

• Everyday scrapbooking layout ideas
• Improve your scrapbooking — Use black and white photography for all the right reasons

For anyone who might be interested, I wanted to let you know that I wrote an article about how to create a still life painting or drawing. This is a guide for beginning artists; if you went to art school or if you are already experienced at drawing and painting still life art, then this article probably won’t tell you anything you don’t already know. But if you have never made a still life, and you want to learn how to do it, I hope you will find the article useful. Check it out:

A Guide For Artists: The art of the still life. How to create still life art, with an emphasis on how to put together a still life for painting or drawing. Thanks for taking a look. Enjoy! 🙂