A Few Art Journaling Pages

Hello All!,

I'm sorry its been a while, we have just got a new kitten and my time has been taken up with her and with it coming up to Christmas by evenings become busier and busier! I haven't managed to do a great deal except the odd bit of art journaling

This was a page in my small journal with a sketch of my daughter who just turned 5. I always struggle to draw my own children and although this is better attempt than most it is not quite her. I think because I know their faces so well I struggle to capture them, even the slightest line out of place means they aren't quite right.

This one is again in my small journal and is a happy doodly sought of page, I was feeling very content and I think my mood is quite well reflected in the page.

My mind has now turned to Christmas and all the crafty things that I love this time of year. I will hopefully be making some presents and I always like to make some decorations as well as doing some creative stuff with my children. I will get stuck into all this over the next few weeks so look out for some pictures coming soon!

Bye for now! xxx

New Painting

Hello All,

Autumn is well and truly here or actually already on its way out with the first snow fall the other day. Christmas adverts are back on the telly and Christmas music in the shops. This is my absolute favorite time of year. I love the colours of autumn and the lovely bright crisp cool days (before it gets miserable cold and wet) The build up to the Christmas season is one the best bits with cosy evenings under blankets and delicious food ahead.

Inspired by the colours I got stuck into another painting:

To me it feels like autumn leaves in the rain. I like how the texture softens into a wash of colour like the colour is draining out down the canvas.

I hope you like it! Bye for now xxx

Some Recent Art Journaling

Hello All,

Apologies for not posting recently, I don't seem to have been able to find the time to sit and type. That is not to say I haven't been creating, I have been doing the odd bit of art journaling recently and I thought I would share some of the pages I have been creating:

This is in my altered book and was an experiment in playing with a hot glue gun to create texture.
I enjoyed adding the colour and bringing back forward some of the original text and imagery to the foreground. The glue texture worked really well, I will definitely be doing this again!

This was a 10 minute exercise simply playing with paint and pattern. It gave me a lovely creative boost on a gloomy Sunday morning. It is a lovely thing to do, just give yourself 10 minutes to play, it doesn't matter how it turns out!

I was using this page to mop up left over paint from other projects and decided to create an autumnal spread over the top. The image is taken from an old calendar I had lying around and the quote is from a Fiona Apple song that I always used to sing to my daughter. I also used a leaf stencil that someone sent me a while ago and I haven't had a chance to use yet.

This is a spread I created in my smallest journal. I was inspired by a lovely evening I had with a friend of mine and I really fancied painting a figure. I am really pleased with how she turned out.

I hope you like these pages, I will hopefully find some more time to blog as I have also been working on a new canvas and had a lovely art swap this month... more on this to follow.

Bye for now! xxx

Art Swap September

Hello All, 

I am sorry I have not posted for a while, we have had some building work at home and everything else kinda got pushed to one side! But i'm back and this time I wanted to share what I made for September's art swap.

We were tasked to create a complete mini journal. I was partnered with a young girl who told me she was really into anime and manga figures. With this is mind this is what I created for her:

It was a challenge to draw in the anime style but I really enjoyed having a go and I had a message from her to say she really likes it. She sent me a lovely journal full of inspirational quotes.

I have also been busy journaling and I started a new painting but more on this later!

Bye for now! xxx

New Painting

Hello All,

After completing my last painting I was inspired so much by the combination of textures and vivid colour that I dived straight into another and have managed to get it finished relatively quickly:

This one makes me feel like I am under the sea looking up to the surface at the light and pattern of the current. It is full of different textures and shimmery bits that catch the light:

Here is a detail of that texture. I didn't paint this as a commission, just for enjoyment but luckily it has sold nearly straight away.

I am now trying to focus on arranging some workshops as I haven't been able to fit them in now for almost a year. These are definitely top priority now! I have also been hired to deliver a children's autumn themed craft party next month so I have that to organise too.

I will be advertising my workshops via my website which you can link to from here so look out for them! 

Bye for now

xxxx

Tile Stamping

Hello All,

This week I was looking at tiles with my hubby and saw that you could buy some sample tiles for 50p. There were some really interesting patterns and textures and I thought they could make really good stamps for art journaling so I bought a couple to try out.

Here is one of them. I tried with ink but the print was quite faint so I had a go with some acrylic and I really liked the result. I think rubbings might be good from these too. I will definitely be looking for some more!  I used this pattern on a page in my altered book art journal and the result was really quite effective. Here is the final spread:

I played around with layering paint and pattern allowing some of the original text from the page to show through. I finished with the circles stamps. I was recently looking at art foamies which are a product in the states that look fab, really big chunky interesting foam shapes and patterns used for stamping. I would so love to buy some but the postage to the UK is really expensive. I decided to try and make my own instead, using a piece of card, some craft foam, scissors and glue. I cut out 24 identical circles from the craft foam and glued 6 onto the piece of card. I then kept gluing the circles on in layers over the top of the previous until I had 6 stacks of 4 circles. Once dry I tried it out with some paint and you can see the result. Simple but effective! I will have to try out some more complicated shapes to see if it works.

I do enjoy experimenting with different art products but making your own and using an everyday object in a different way is really satisfying, it sometimes takes a bit of thinking outside the box but, like buying a bargain, when it comes out right it is even better :)

Bye for now xx

Some Upcycled DIY decor

Hello All,

Well my creative frenzy continues and I am definitely into an upcycling crafty sort of phase. This coincides with a bit of reorganisation at home, I keep looking at every shelf and wall and thinking what I can make to improve this space. I went shopping and found in pound shops/charity shops/supermarkets bits and bobs to re-do,do-up and re-vamp as it were. Here is just a selection of what I have been up to:

Again inspired by Sealemon on you tube I took an old plain white mug I had already and had a go at some porcelain painting. It is a bit rough and ready but I quite like that about it and I love the text.

I found a plain cream blanket at the supermarket in the sale and some tea towels that I liked the pattern of. I got home and immediately set about making pom poms which I added to the blanket and I got my sewing machine out and sewed the tea towels into cushions. I love how these turned out, especially the blanket which was so simple to do!

This one has to be my favorite! The cushion here is made of a skirt I found at the charity shop. I liked the pattern but not the skirt itself. I cut off the waist band and cut the material to size before sewing it up and adding the cushion. To finish it off I added some tassels I made from some wool from my stash.

These are just a selection of what I have been up to, I really have the bug at the moment. I am looking at everything and trying to see what else it could be! I hope you like them and maybe are inspired to have a go at some upcycling too!

Bye for now! xxx

Bank holiday creative madness!

Hello All,

This lovely long bank holiday weekend saw me go creative mad! I started so many different projects at once and flicked from one to the other. My brain was filled with so many ideas and I couldn't wait to have a go.

Firstly I did a few journaling pages:

I was feeling happy and so inspired and I think the colours I went for in these pages reflect that. I just kept flitting back and adding a layer to these then moving on to something else and coming back once they were dry to add some more. I am really pleased how they turned out.

The other thing I was getting really excited about this weekend was some upcycling. I love the idea of taking something old and giving it a new lease of life. I have done a bit of this, some of my journals for instance are made from old boxes etc, but I would really like to get into this more. I was watching you tube vids for example Sealemon and Hermione Chantal who have some fab ideas. Turning something plain or forgotten into something that looks great. I particularly like DIY decor. I started thinking that once the kids are back at school I will start going around junk shops and seeing what I can find to revamp. I felt so inspired I couldn't wait and took a trip to my local poundland and chose a few bits to start with.

I am in the middle of turning a ice cream glass into a tea light holder and I also bought a few frames to do up:

I turned one into a shopping list by painting the frame and adding some nice paper inside. I found some little letter magnets in the shop too and glued these on to form 'shopping list' all it needs now is a whiteboard marker :) the little pot next to it is a pen holder made with craft foam. I got this idea from a sealemon vid and it looks really cute on my windowsill.

I hope you like these as much as I enjoyed making them! I will have a go with the other frame and finish the glass and post them up to see what you think! 

Bye for now xxx

Thoughts On Paper

Hello All,

I don't know what I would do without art journaling. It helps me to record important memories that I don't want to forget and to get my thoughts and feelings out on paper so that I can make sense of things. Here are a couple of recent pages:

I found an old picture of my daughter it reminded me what she was like at that age. I decided to create a journal spread to capture that moment in time. The french text reads "she rose, brilliant as the moon in full" which is a quote from a song by Fiona Apple which I used to sing to her. The other piece of text reads "My beautiful little girl" 

I also did this page this week:

The text is again a quote from a song. This one is a Ray Lamontagne song. I have been thinking recently about the importance of being happy with yourself and finding time to take care of yourself. That you cannot make others happy if you are not happy yourself. whilst listening to the song I heard this line and it was perfect for what I wanted to portray. I decided to paint the lady as if she is lying in the grass in the sunshine, totally at peace.

I think creativity is so important. It doesn't matter it what form that takes, just having that outlet for yourself is so good for the soul!

By for now xxx

Finished Painting and spot of Bookbinding

Hello All,

Having lots of time off with my kids this summer taking them to various art workshops as well as getting crafty at home. I am feeling really inspired and full of creative beans. The sun is shining, its all family fun and frolics. I can't wait to get back to my various projects whenever I have the chance to.

I was enjoying my latest canvas so much I seemed to finish it rather quickly and so have gone straight into another. Here is the finished piece:

I adore all the yummy colour and texture in this one, particularly the blues and greens which I think I am going to use for the next one.

Apart from painting and the odd bit of art journaling I also had the urge for a spot of bookbinding and started three at once. I have managed to finish this one:

This one is made from an old cereal bar box and brown paper packaging. The cover is painted with acrylic paint and iridescent medium so it is all shimmery. The inside has decorative paper and sketch book paper pages. 

I love making journals! They take time but the end result is so satisfying, turning what is essentially rubbish into something that is both beautiful and useful.

I will get on and make the other two I started now! 

Bye for now! xxx 

The Start of A New Commision

Hello All,

I am back to canvas this week and thoroughly enjoying myself. I am feeling really inspired with this latest piece which is a commission for a friend of mine. Here it is so far:

And a few details too:

I have been working with inks, acrylic and pigment powders mainly, with some mica powder and gelatos thrown in for good measure. The texture is built up using tissue paper, modelling paste and glass bead texture gel. I am really enjoying the contrast between the texture and the smooth. I already have in mind two or three other canvases combining the two again.

I have progressed really quickly with it cause I can't leave it alone and I am nearly finished, but like a good book I will be almost sorry when I do. I may have to dive straight into another!

Bye for now!

xxx

Change

Hello All,

Today I thought I would share an art journaling page I finished at the weekend. I was playing around with layers. This is in my altered book so there is already text on the page to start with. To this I added gesso then modeling paste through a stencil from stencilgirl products designed by Carolyn Dube  Once this had dried I added layer after layer of ink and paint keeping it quite wet and allowing it to drip through the modelling paste. I then drew some circles and added a layer of gesso to everything but these so that the circles really stand out.

I decided to add the butterflies and the word 'change' to reflect the changes in my life recently with my youngest finishing nursery and my eldest finishing infant school. I used stamps on tissue paper to create these and adhered them to the circles using matte medium. Lastly I brightened some areas of the background with ecoline watercolour inks.

I hope you like it! let me know what you think.

Bye for now xxx

Finding Inspiration

Hello All,

Sitting at work last week listening to music that I hadn't heard for ages and suddenly a song called 'Oh My Mama' by Alela Diane came on:

It is such a simple and beautiful song and really struck a chord with me. At the moment my eldest daughter is finishing infants and moving up to junior school and my youngest finishes nursery today and starts school in September. This week is the last week when it is just the two of us and although I am looking forward to some time to myself I also feel really sad. It is the end of a chapter and it has gone too fast, I feel I haven't been able to keep up and I will miss her a lot! This song really captures the feeling of being a mother for me.

I decided I needed my journal to channel some of these feelings:

I was also inspired by a fantastic artist called Mary Wangerin whose use of colour is fantastic! This page was done in my altered book and you can see in the top right an old fashioned image of a mother figure coming through from the original page. The text is taken from the song as is the imagery of the little bird.

I also did a quick page in my small journal:

This one is to express that feeling of time moving on relentlessly and not being able to keep up while days slip away. The text on the feather reads "days are lost to distant memories"

I will still struggle this week and in the coming months to adjust to the changes happening but journaling about it helps me to get my head around things and move forwards.

Bye for now xxx

Finished Painting

Hello All,

Just a quick post to share with you my completed 'painting from nature'

I am really pleased with how it has turned out and I think I have managed to capture the texture, patterns and colours of the stone. I think the painting and stone work best together so I will be getting them framed  side by side. This has inspired to make a series of these with different textures from nature, perhaps all stones or I could include leaves, tree bark etc.

Anyway I hope you like it. This week I am back to my altered book journal....more on this to follow.

Bye for now xxx

Art Journaling spread 'Bon Voyage'

Hello All,

Just a quick one today to share an art journaling page. I created the background using left over paint and paper towels used to clean stencils. Next I played around, layering some bits and pieces of my own creation and some ephemera recently sent to me. The whole feel of it came across as sunny and carefree and as I was going through my found text (text I cut out from magazines etc) I came across 'bon voyage' which fitted nicely. It was all working well together but definitely missing something. To finish it I added the girl using the magazine technique mentioned on a recent post. Sat looking at it now it makes me want to run off to somewhere sunny rather than sitting in England in the rain. Especially as everything is kicking off over here with the referendum resulting in the vote to leave the EU (I voted remain) Yep I would rather be elsewhere right about now that's for sure!

Painting From Nature

Hello All,

On Friday I handed over my latest commission and it was well received; it was lovely to see her reaction. Letting go of paintings when you have been working on them for so long is sometimes hard but when you see how much they are appreciated it makes up for it.
Lately I seem to have lost my art mojo and haven't been doing a great deal other than the odd art journaling page. With this commission completed though I am starting to feel inspired to get some more painting done. My youngest daughter goes to school in September and although I will miss her terribly I want to take the opportunity to paint a lot more, get some more commissions and possibly (if i'm lucky) a few exhibitions!

This weekend I came across a stone I picked up in an old copper mine a while back. I loved it for its colours, textures and the flecks of glitter throughout it. I have been meaning to paint it and so decided to have a go on a small A5 canvas:

Here is where I got to so far. I think I am matching the colours quite well but need to work on adding depth and texture. Back at Uni I used nature as my inspiration quite a lot and it is nice to get back to that for a bit! This might inspire a bit of a series perhaps, mounted with the stones beside them?! who knows. I will continue to work on it and see how I go.

Bye for now! xxx

Quick Portrait Technique

Hello All,

Today I wanted to share a quick technique that I like to use when I want to paint a portrait but haven't a lot of time. I quite often want to add a face or figure to my art journaling pages and although I do usually do these from scratch sometimes I haven't a lot of time or might just be feeling lazy. When I feel like this I use magazines to help me out. I find a nice magazine image and stick it down onto my page, paint over this with clear gesso and ta ta I have a template to paint over. (I usually use acrylics to do this)

If you want to start learning how to paint portraits or if you just need that little helping hand to get started this is a great technique. Here is one I did at the weekend:

It is a really effective way of getting a portrait on to your page and I love the results I get. 

I hope you have a go to!

Bye for now xxx

Holiday Journaling

Hello All,

I'm back from a rather rainy week in France. Rain and mist and heavy cloud all week but regardless we had a good time, still found plenty to do and ate plenty of cheese and croissants. I managed to practice my french (I have been learning for a year or so) and the little 17th century thatched cottage we were staying in was really lovely.

Another plus due to the weather was I had time to sit inside and do a bit of journaling:

The background is gouache with paper towels to create texture and stencils in copper paint. The portrait is of my daughter, taken from one of the holiday snaps. She looked so happy and content and that is how we all felt really despite the rain. I also started another page but didn't get past the background:

This is a section of it. I used wax paper, inks and gouache to create the texture. I will have to find time to finish this one off but I am off again this weekend to a Jive convention in Southport. Non stop dancing awaits and hopefully I will also find inspiration for some more paintings. I want to get back into creating some more canvasses!

Bye for now xxx

Sorting, Tidying, Pies and Rats

Hello All,

This weekend was not a creative one! Most time was spent tidying, sorting, getting rid of rats (grim!) gardening and making pie (yum) When I got around to some art work it was mainly to tidy up the edges of my canvasses.

I did put together a parcel of ephemera as part of this months art swap, which fit in quite nicely with sorting and tidying! And I did manage to start a background for an art journal spread:

Whilst sorting I came across this journal which to be honest I had forgotten about. It is made of brown paper so it is quite different to work with and the fact that it is ring bound creates a different feel to the pages too. It feels a bit disjointed so its not my favorite to work with but I decided to not give in on it and therefore made a start on a background by adding modelling paste through a stencil and adding different stripes of colour over the top. Next I added circles and splats. It felt right to leave some of the brown showing and I have left it as it is now. Where it will take me next who knows but I quite like it so far.

I am in France next week (can't wait) and apart from drinking too much wine, and eating too much cheese I hope to take some art stuff with me and perhaps do some sketching or mini journaling or something....I'll see what I have time for.

I will post when I get back!

Bye for now xxx

Feeling bright

Hello All,

This last week has been full of troubles from broken down cars to rats under the sink. It really was enough to get anyone down in the dumps but it ended on a high with a lovely weekend with my sister and family.

So despite it all I decided to try and feel positive and when I did manage to do some journaling I kept it bright and cheerful:

So keep smiling everyone and try to see the positive in every situation (sometimes easier said than done!)

Bye for now! xx

New Gelli plate!

Hello all,

Just a very quick post today because I managed to have a play with my new round gelli plate that I got for my birthday and  I am feeling excited!

I forget how much fun gelli printing is! and I am loving the round one for all the fun overlapping patterns you can create. You may notice that I often put circles in my work, I am always fond of a good circle :) .... anyway here is my play!

I also used some new stamps to create the patterns. Hope you like it!

Bye for now xx

Sunshine is bliss

Hello All,

Well the sun came out this last weekend and it was glorious. I spent most of the time sitting in my garden, my kids playing around me, while I read my book or created. Absolutely bliss! I think the only time I left that spot was when we walked into the woods to look at the bluebells that have suddenly bloomed. Everything seems that much better with a bit of sunshine. The trees that had been sat in bud for weeks felt the sun and burst into glorious green. It got me thinking how much everyone loves the spring but only due the lack of it, only because of winter. The return of spring makes everyone breath a sigh of relief and everyone is suddenly all the more open and friendly because of it.

It prompted me to make these pieces. The first is a mixed media index card and as I sketched the bush in my garden all set to burst into colour I thought of the text. It is the idea that at this time of year everything is holding its breath before bursting with colour and new life. The second piece is in my art journal and it is done completely in inks. I was experimenting with the new ecoline inks and wanted to see what they would be like for drawing with. The text says "We have to experience the coldness of the winter to truly appreciate the return of the sun"

It was a fab weekend, really peaceful! That said as I write this it is raining cats and dogs.... hey ho that is the way it goes when you live in England!

Bye for now! xxx

Experiments

Hello all,

A weekend full of eating and dancing.... fab! I had a lovely birthday with friends and family and some lovely presents including several arty ones (which I always look forward to!) Plus a yummy raspberry cake from my lovely sister.

Nick got my a new round gelli plate which I can't wait to get my hands on but haven't yet had the time. My mate got me some ecoline inks which I have wanted for a while. I briefly got them out the other day to have a play:

I haven't had much of a go but so far I love that they are so vivid. Looking forward to experimenting more!

I also, since I had very little time for anything else, decided to experiment with some metallic paint and glass bead texture gel on an index card. I was curious if the glass would catch the shine of the metallic.

It did really well and so far I am loving it! The yellow and orangey colours are also ecoline inks which I added just to see if they were vivid enough to show up. The white is some metallic shimmer ink which I dripped on. I was expecting it to come out darker than it did but hey ho that it why experimenting is so fun, you never quite know how it will turn out.  Not sure what to do with it next though?!

While I was in a metallicly mood I worked a tiny bit on my commission, adding a touch of silver into it:

I really love the shine on it now and it goes really well with the pattern. The silver plays well with the pink especially but also brings out the hints of blue.

I will let you know how my experiments turn out next time!

Bye for now xxx

A bit of painting keeps me happy!

Hello All,

Phew after a frantic week I was very ready for a nice quiet weekend. I have been busy at work having recently taken on a new role which is challenging so I am still trying to get my head around it all. Then I had something on every evening and it all left me totally frazzled. A spot of painting was just what I needed. The kids were playing nicely so I set myself up with a cuppa and worked on my ongoing commission. Here is where I got to:

My daughter who is 7 said looking at it made her feel she was inside the middle of a rainbow where it is raining and sunny at the same time. I love that description :)

Recently I have also taken up a new hobby.... aerial hoops. I love it (despite the inevitable bruises) I love doing something so different and exciting. With this in mind I also, whilst I had my paints out, did a journal spread about it.

page in progress

The figure is me, taken from a photo taken at one of the classes. I like the textured background with the relatively simple spread. It definitely expresses how I feel when I am up on the hoops. 

Back to another busy week now, especially good cause it's my birthday on Friday!

Bye for now xxx