𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮 𝗕𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 ✨ 𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆'𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁: 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝘄 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻. 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻, 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝘁. ❤️ Your own hand resting on the table. ❤️ Somebody's shoes by the door. ❤️ The back of a head on the telly. ❤️ Slippers with feet still in them. Nobody has to know you're doing it, and nobody's face has to come out right. ✨ 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁? Draw the same bit twice. Once fast, in about ten seconds. Once slowly, over five minutes. See which one you like better. 👉 Also in the classroom here: ❤️ 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 👇 The whole page, a tiny piece of it, or just type "done" if you're not ready to show it ❤️ ❤️ All count. Whenever you get to it, morning, teatime or midnight.

I have a little confession. In the middle of the night - when I couldn't sleep, I ordered not one but TWO sets of metallic watercolors, 🤣and now I'm watching the door waiting for them to arrive 😄 I think they will be great for a secret project I've got coming up in the run-up to Christmas. 😍 It started because a couple of you have been sharing work in the daily thread made with these shimmery paints, and I couldn't stop looking at it. The way they catch the light is just gorgeous. Golds, coppers, pearly pinks, those deep peacock blues... they look like little pots of treasure. - - - - - - - - - - - - So I'm really curious to hear from you. ✨ Have you tried metallic paints yet? What was it like the first time you swirled a brush through one? 🖌️ If you haven't, would you give them a go? What would you want to paint with them first? 📸 And if you've already used them in your sketchbook, I'd love to see it! Pop a photo in the comments if you fancy sharing. - - - - - - - - - - - - As soon as mine turn up, I'll share my first play with them here, and we can figure them out together 💛 💬 Tell me in the comments: have you tried metallic paints, and what do you think of them? 👇

I thought I'd share one of my favorite ways to use the printables in my sketchbook journaling, just in case it gives you an idea you hadn't had. It starts with a sheet of Shabby Florals paper, straight off the printer. I glue it into my sketchbook as a background. Lovely. But then there's that bright white page sitting right next to it, glaring at me, and the two don't belong together at all. So I make a cup of very strong coffee and pour it straight onto the page. 😍 🌸🌸🌸 HOW I DO IT 🌻 Glue the printable into your sketchbook as a background, wherever it wants to go 🌻 Make the coffee much stronger than you'd ever want to drink it. A wet tea bag, squeezed out over the paper, stains beautifully too 🌻 Pour it, dab it, drip it, and let it pool wherever it likes. It will run into the gutter and over the edges of the printable, and that's the bit that ties the two pages together 🌻 Blot it back with a paper towel until you like what's there. Where you lift the coffee off, it dries into soft edges of its own, a bit like watercolor 🌻 Leave it until it's properly dry, then work into it. Paint, draw, stick more things in, build the layers up The white calms right down, the printable stops looking like something separate that was stuck on top, and the whole spread starts to feel like one old piece of paper. So much friendlier to work on than a blank white page. 🌸🌸🌸 Mine turned into a page about the start of autumn. I added a poem, and some leaves I'd picked up on a walk and pressed flat, and drew into the color that was already sitting there waiting for me. The photos here are the whole thing, from the printed sheet to the finished page. I'm not saying this is the way to do it. It's just one way, and it's a really enjoyable one. 🔥 The printables aren't only for cutting out and arranging neatly. 🔥 You can soak them, tear them, paint over them, bury half of one under something else. Nothing is lost if it goes somewhere unexpected. You can always print another. 🌸🌸🌸 The 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗯𝘆 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹𝘀 paper is in the free printables area if you'd like to play with it:

This week had good things in it, even if they were small. Let's find them and celebrate them together. Drop a win below, creative or not. It could be: 🌻 A page in your sketchbook you're proud of 🌻 A beautiful leaf or tiny natural object you found on your way to work 🌻 Hearing a beautiful poem that moved you 🌻 Something totally unrelated to art (work, family, health, whatever counts as a win for you this week) 🌻 Something small you almost didn't mention, those count too 🌸🌸🌸 No win is too small to share here. What's yours this week? 🎉👇

🎉 I am so happy that there are this many of us in here now, all wanting the same kind of thing. A bit of space to draw again, or to start for the very first time.🎉 What I am most excited about is all of you connecting with your creativity, and with yourselves. That is the whole reason this group exists. ❤️ ❤️ Thank you for being here. ❤️ 🌸🌸🌸 💬 I would love to hear from you in the comments. What made you join us? And if you have made anything lately, however small or unfinished, pop a photo in too. Thank you for being here with us ❤️