Balzer Designs

Two Boot Camp Demo Paintings

This week in my Design Boot Camp, I did a demo for the students on how to use the Elements and Principles of Art while creating. The morning class asked me to create something based on the word, "winter" and the evening class asked me to create something based on the word, "circus." Here are the paintings I created for them: These pieces are large-ish. They're each 19x24: Can you tell which is which? Does it matter? This is the one that started with the prompt, "Winter": This is the one that started with the prompt, "Circus": As I mentioned... Read more →

Double Marbling

I often start the day with the thought, "what if?" Recently, I couldn't stop thinking about the idea of marbling over marbling. So I pulled out my Marabu Easy Marble paints and gave it a try and recorded the process for you: It was a lot of fun and I think the resulting papers are more interesting than the original papers. Both are pretty, but I'm always after something more than "just pretty." Take a peek at some of the details of those layers: Super fun and great results! I hope you'll give this technique a try! --- P.S. Thanks... Read more →

Two New Mixed Media Collages

Art is a practice. Emphasis on the word, "PRACTICE." I practice, practice, practice as much as humanly possible. Yesterday, I sat down for a practice session (using one of the exercises I'll be sharing in the upcoming Design Boot Camp class) and created these two mixed media collages: I had a particular goal in mind when creating each piece. For one of them, I wanted to create as much cohesive diversity as possible. For the other, I wanted to have a clear sense of dominance. Can you guess which is which? If you're curious about terms like "cohesive diversity" and... Read more →

Super Easy Watercolor Masking

I stumbled across a fabulous YouTube video last week. It's by a woman named CeeCee: Her style is not necessarily my style, but I loved her easy watercolor masking with washi tape. A very simple idea with seriously cool results. And so, I gave it a try myself. Rather than cards, I made small works of abstract art. First some very simple brush strokes: This is probably the most minimalistic artwork I've ever made. And I like it. And now, some more dense pieces: I love how these turned out! The big thing that I hope you take away from... Read more →

Design Boot Camp - Evening Section Added!

Design Boot Camp -- my 5-week live online class -- sold out last week. But I'm delighted to share that due to popular demand, I am opening an evening section of the class. You can read all about the class and sign up HERE. You can also watch the half-hour webinar I did about whether or not the class is a good fit for you: Design Boot Camp Informational Webinar from Julie Balzer on Vimeo. Here's a peek at a few of the pieces I did several years ago, when I was putting myself through the design boot camp process.... Read more →

A New Mixed Media Collage

If you've been following this blog for a while, you know that my interests are far and wide when it comes to art making. I tend to create in phases or bursts or binges or whatever you call it. At the moment, I'm in a mixed media collage phase. That's the thing that's holding my attention at the moment, and so here is a new one. This piece is 8x8. It's a long way from where it started. Take a peek at this fast forward video of the process: If you're a member, you can see the real time version... Read more →

USPS Art Project: Judy

Here is my fourth USPS Art Project collaboration piece. This time with Judy. As a reminder, this is a project where two artists pair up and each mail an unfinished piece of artwork to the other. Then each artist finishes the work they were sent and posts it online. Here's what I made: My goal was to have them work together as a group and be able to stand alone as mini artworks. This is what Judy sent me to work with: As you can see, I cut the 6 tags from the large piece that she sent me. It's... Read more →

USPS Art Project: Melanie

Here is my second USPS Art Project collaboration piece. This time with Melanie. Here's what I made: This is what she sent me: In essentials, all I did was cut up her work and put it back together again with the help of a ton of foam adhesive. This was a fun idea and I'd like to try it again. After all, there's plenty of stuff around here to cut up! Thanks for stopping by! Read more →

USPS Art Project: Lisa

I finally tackled my collaboration with Lisa yesterday. Here is what I created using oil pastels, colored pencils, and a china marker: I worked on top of the art that Lisa sent me, letting the colors, textures, and patterns she created shine through the composition: Here's a reminder of what Lisa sent me: And below you can see the two pieces "side by side." I was obviously influenced by Jonathan W. Gemmell, who I mentioned last week. 1 collaboration down, 4 more to go! Thanks for stopping by! Read more →

Finished Tar Paper Face

I loooved the process of creating this face. I think it might be the beginning of a series. I might never make anything else. It's simple and yet graphic. It has movement and interest. It's colorful but not crazy. Best of all, you can hang it on your wall with two pushpins. I'm excited to explore some variations! It feels like what all the faces in my art journal have been leading towards. Thanks for stopping by! Read more →