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

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

Contemplation

Hello All!

The news at the moment is full of bad things, such hatred and violence. Watching the reports about Paris made me so sad, angry and frustrated. How people can do that to others with so little remorse. All the cruetly and evil on this planet stems from us. Human nature is a strange thing so full of hatred on one side and then again so much love on the other. Why can't we all just live in peace? Sometimes I am ashamed to be part of my own species.

I felt I needed my journal for this one, and whilst processing my feelings I was surrounded by my wonderful family and it reminded me of the good in this world. I hope the next generations learn to live in peace together and learn to protect this world from ourselves!

Bye for now xx