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The Power of Drawing With Your Eyes Closed
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

The Power of Drawing With Your Eyes Closed

Drawing with your eyes closed, also known as blind drawing, is an intriguing art activity that allows you to tap into your intuition and subconscious mind. In this blog post I explain the benefits of drawing with your eyes closed and give some tips for how to get started.

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How to draw with Your Non-Dominant Hand
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

How to draw with Your Non-Dominant Hand

Drawing with your non-dominant hand can be a fun and rewarding experience and helps to enhance your artistic abilities. In this article, I provide step-by-step instructions to help you learn to draw with your non-dominant hand, even if you have no prior art experience.

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How do I find inspiration for my drawings?
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

How do I find inspiration for my drawings?

Are you looking for an easy way to spark your creativity and find creative drawing ideas that are both enjoyable and accessible? Look no further! In this blog post, we will explore a range of techniques and strategies to help you generate a plethora of easy drawing ideas.

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How to overcome artist and creative block
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

How to overcome artist and creative block

Feeling stuck with your creative or artistic pursuits?

Don't despair - artist's block happens to everyone at some point. But there are effective techniques you can use to reinvigorate your imagination and get your creative juices flowing again. Read on for tips and strategies to overcome creative and artist block.

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How to Find Time to do Artwork
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

How to Find Time to do Artwork

You have a busy full-time job or a hectic family life or both and alongside all the other daily chores and commitments, there simply isn’t time to do the arts and/or crafts that you’ve got your heart set on. 

I have set out some steps to build creativity into your life. I know it works because these are the steps I followed myself and I now have a regular art practice. 

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Craft ideas for kids - A Guide to Painting Stones!
Arts and Crafts with Children Sarah Ransome Arts and Crafts with Children Sarah Ransome

Craft ideas for kids - A Guide to Painting Stones!

No visit to a beach with children is complete until you have chosen a selection of stones or shells to take home. Painting the stones at a later date is a lovely activity that children enjoy and really makes the most of their collection. I have set out what equipment you need and a step by step guide to follow for your stone painting.

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Art Ideas for Kids: Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) Art Generators
Arts and Crafts with Children Sarah Ransome Arts and Crafts with Children Sarah Ransome

Art Ideas for Kids: Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) Art Generators

In today's digital age, technology has become a useful tool in enhancing creativity and innovation in art activities. One of the most recent technological advances in the art world is Artificial Intelligence (AI) Art, I find it really fascinating and have spent some time exploring it with my children. They both loved it and it has become a new arts and craft activity for them that has really allowed them explore their imagination and creativity.

In this post, I will explore how AI Art can enhance children's creativity in arts and crafts activities.

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Beginners Guide To Lino Print: Choosing Linocut Tools and Materials
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

Beginners Guide To Lino Print: Choosing Linocut Tools and Materials

Lino printing is a printmaking technique that involves cutting away parts of a block of linoleum with appropriate carving tools to create a design. The carved lino is then inked and transferred onto paper to create a print.

Lino printing requires a few tools and materials to successfully create the artwork and it can be daunting for beginners to understand the differences between brands. In this blog post I take a closer look at different lino printing tools and materials, as well as my own personal preferences, to help with the decision making process.

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How to create a reduction lino print
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

How to create a reduction lino print

A reduction lino print is a method to create a print with more than one colour where only one lino block is used.

The printmaker carves and prints the first colour, then carves more from the same block before printing the second colour, then carves more from the same block before printing colour three. A reduction print can have as many layers as the printmaker would like.

In this blog post I describe the necessary steps to create a reduction lino print and provide helpful tips to ensure your reduction lino print is a success.

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7 tips for selecting original and affordable art for your home
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

7 tips for selecting original and affordable art for your home

When choosing artwork for your home there is a lot to think about; from choosing the right size art pieces for a particular wall, to getting the position, style and mood right.

Having original pieces in your home doesn’t always require a large budget. In this blog post, I offer some tips for choosing artwork and options to keep costs down, finding great artwork for your home, while supporting artists.

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Easy craft ideas for kids – Vincent van Gogh inspired art
Arts and Crafts with Children Sarah Ransome Arts and Crafts with Children Sarah Ransome

Easy craft ideas for kids – Vincent van Gogh inspired art

Creating artwork inspired by Vincent van Gogh is a great rainy-day or school holiday art activity for children. Vincent van Gogh lived a unique and fascinating life, while your child carries out the art project, you can explain the themes of his artwork and the context in which they were created.

This craft activity is perfect for older children from age 7 upwards, as they build the layers needed to create the wonderful colours and textures in Van Gogh’s work. I have also included a way to adapt this activity to suit younger children from 4 - 6 year olds.

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Best Material for Lino Printing - Traditional Lino or SoftCut?
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

Best Material for Lino Printing - Traditional Lino or SoftCut?

When most people come across lino printing, they start with a traditional lino block, but there are a variety of different surfaces available that you can use for lino printing. Once you start investigating all the different lino surfaces, it can become quite confusing.

In this blog post, I set out the pros and cons of each material to help you decide what you would like to use in your printmaking. I compared Traditional Lino, SoftCut by Essdee, Speedy-Carve by Speedball and Japanese Vinyl.

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Easy summer craft ideas for kids – Jackson Pollock “Drip Painting” Art
Arts and Crafts with Children Sarah Ransome Arts and Crafts with Children Sarah Ransome

Easy summer craft ideas for kids – Jackson Pollock “Drip Painting” Art

Creating Jackson Pollock art with children is a fun, messy activity that they will love !!

Paul Jackson Pollock is an American painter famous for his "drip technique" of pouring or splashing paint onto a flat surface. Pollock would use his whole body while creating his paintings, in a method that was almost like a dance. His technique became known as “Action Art”.

“Drip painting” is a perfect summer craft for children. This is a craft activity that would work with children from 3 years and upwards, but I feel it is perfect for 5 - 10 year olds.

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Easy craft ideas for kids – Kandinsky Circle Art
Arts and Crafts with Children Sarah Ransome Arts and Crafts with Children Sarah Ransome

Easy craft ideas for kids – Kandinsky Circle Art

Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter and art theorist from the early to mid 20th Century. He was perhaps most famous for his use of squares within concentric circles, otherwise known as Kandinsky Circles. Creating Kandinsky Circles will keep kids entertained for hours, as they explore texture and colour and let their imagination to run wild.

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Mindful Art - Simple Circles
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

Mindful Art - Simple Circles

Circles in art are famous for being central to the work of the artist Wassily Kandinsky, but you don’t have to be a professional artist to benefit from creating art using circles. In this blog post I set out how to create simple circles to bring mindful benefits to adults, young people and children alike.

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Applying ‘The Beginner's Mindset’ to your artwork
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

Applying ‘The Beginner's Mindset’ to your artwork

If you have lost enthusiasm for creating artwork or you would like a fresh perspective, applying a Beginner’s Mindset may be just what you need. It is an opportunity to let go of any preconceptions and expectations in order to gain renewed energy and creativity. Below I have set out the idea of the Beginner’s Mindset and ways to apply it to your artwork.

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