Happy New Year

Hello All!

Happy New Year! I hope you have all had a great holiday season. It always goes so quickly and you are back to work and daily routines before you know it! Do you have any resolutions for the new year? My crafty ones this year are to film more videos of my processes and to keep up with my monthly journals with the aim to complete a full year. With that said here is my journal for December:

With every one of these that I make the more I like them. They are so tactile and colourful and those things combined with the family snaps make looking back through them much more of an experience than a normal photograph album. I look at the photos and it really transports me back to those moments.

I am looking forward to what moments 2019 holds!

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

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

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 art journaling page.

Hello all,

What a busy weekend. It was my nephews 3rd birthday so we all went to the Yorkshire sculpture park for the day. Luckily it seemed to be the first real day of spring and was lovely and sunny. The kids loved running about and I got to see the Bill Viola exhibition I wanted to see. I am not normally bothered by video art or installations but I saw his work many years ago while I was at Uni and it is mesmerising, you can't really explain why but you can't tear your eyes away. This exhibition didn't dissapoint and I really enjoyed it. Particularly the piece in the chapel which showed a blazing fire slowy turn to water and then almost to smoke. I recomend going down to have a look if you can http://www.ysp.co.uk/exhibitions/bill-viola

Also this weekend I managed to make a start on my next large canvas and finish the art journaling page I started last week:

I really fancied putting in a portrait and when I had added her it made me start thinking about what is confidence? Quite often it is a mask for many insecurities. When do we actually feel truly 100% confident?

Anyway bye for now! xxxx

Some Time To Myself

Hello All,

This week I actually managed to get some time to myself to do some Journaling and other bits and pieces I have been meaning to do for a while which was fab!

I love making collage papers, it is great to just play with mediums and tools without really thinking too much about the outcome, just enjoying the process. I am really pleased with how this turned out. Once I have created a collage paper I put it aside and use it chopped up in my journals. Also I clean my stencils on top of paper towels with a baby wipe and the paper towels often come out looking great, so again I save these for later!

I also created this spread which is inspired by a Fiona Apple song that I have always sung to my daughter. I particularly like the line I have used here from the song.

I even had enough time to do more on my commission which is going well. It is so great to get that time on my own without any distractions to really get stuck in with some art work. It is quite a rare thing!

Bye for now xxx

Show Page

Hello All,

Last weekend I took part in a dance show set in a 1920s speakeasy. It was great fun and I even did my first ever solo eeek! The people involved are such a lovely group and I have really enjoyed working with them and getting to know them all. I am still on quite a high from it all but at the same time feeling quite sad that it is all over. I decided it needed a page in my journal to help me remember, so here it is:

The girl is me in my costume and the other pictures a shots taken at the dress rehearsal. I also used some washi tape and modelling paste through a handmade stencil, acrylic paint, plus a bit of ephemera. Hopefully i'll look back in years to come and remember it all :)

Bye for now. xx

Facebook Group

Hello All,

Not got much to post up this week, I have been busy in my dance show and working on my commision which is nearly finished but I will wait till it is before posting a piccie.

I have been partnered with Tora from Iceland for this months art swap which is exciting. I have to make two art deco ATCs, I have some good ideas but haven't had time to make a start yet.

What I thought I would mention is my facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/554702017988644/

This is a group I set up for anyone that loves art journaling and mixed media to chat to like minded people, share ideas and post pictures of their work. I also post my upcoming workshops on there for those want to attend.

Just the other day one member of the group asked for some help to prompt a page and I thought I would start my own monthly challenge on there. So this month I have challenged them all to create a page about their favourite moment this summer. If you would like to join us and have a go please do!

Bye for now,

Lisa

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Holiday page

Hello All!

Just got back from a lovely family hol in Angelsey. Lots of beach combing, making sandcastles and paddling, walking and visiting castles and cafes. It was Lovely :) This is the reason I haven't posted for a week but I did manage to take some art stuff with me and get some journaling done. Here is a piece I managed to do in my altered book.

I was inspired by all the beachy colours and the all the flotsam and jetsam washed up. The painting is my daughter and brother in law having a paddle. I am pleased with how it turned out. It has loads of texture to it and for me really expresses the seaside.

Now back to work, loads to do! I also have a new vid that I will be posting up hopefully later today.

Bye for now! xx

July Art Swap

Hello all,

I just received my art swap for this month from Fran in Essex. we had to make three tags, one bright, one pastel and one tonal. I always really enjoys making tags so this was right up my street! Speaking to Fran I knew she was not a fan of pastels and didn't like pink but liked steampunk and rust colours. She also told her favorite colour is blue so I tried to make tags that I thought she would like and get use out of. Here is what I made her.

Pastel Tag

Bright Tag

Tonal Tag

Fran emailed to say she received them and really liked them. I have made a video of me making the bright tag but it still needs a bit of work so I will hopefully post it up soon.

Now here is what I received from Fran:

I really like them, the colours are great and there is loads of texture on them too! It was a pleasure swapping with Fran! Can't wait for August's swap!

I am in Wales all next week but taking some art stuff with me, so I hope to get some journaling done!

Bye for now x x x

Workshop Session 25th July 2015

Hello All,

On Saturday I delivered the last of four workshops at Sharrow Vale School of Art in Sheffield. The theme for this session was 'Horizon' and I demonstrated a scratch technique with oil pastels and black acrylic paint. Here is my sample page.

We painted a layer of gesso then split the page with masking tape and painted a sky in the top half. The bottom half we drew block shapes in oil pastels, using many colours and then painted over the top with black acrylic. Once dry we scratched into the black to reveal the colour underneath.

Here are some photos from the workshop.

The session went really well. I will be arranging some more workshops in the Autumn.

Bye for now xx

Inside Journal

Hello All,

Just a very quick post as I have had a few people asking to see inside the new journal I made and posted up the other day. Here are a few shots

I am really pleased with this one! Can't wait to start filling it!

Bye for now! xx

Altered Book

Hello All,

For a while I have been on the lookout for the perfect book to make an altered book art journal. I knew exactly what I was looking for, I love the 40s and 50s and wanted something from that era with a mix of text and illustration. I was in a charity shop this week when I came across a stash of 50s girls annuals which are perfect. I bought two and as soon as I got home I set about removing half the signatures from one of them. This is to make room for the art work.

The text inside is a mix of articles, stories and comic strips. I love the vintage pictures and language. I even came across an old doilies advert that had been used as a bookmark. The inside front cover says 'Curtain up' With a picture of a stage and the back cover says 'Curtain' which makes a perfect start and end to my journal.

I couldn't wait to get started so I made a start on the first page, I will post up pictures of the finished page soon!

I also made a little index card this week which I was really pleased with.

Bye for now x

Art Journaling Workshop 11th July 2015

Hello All,

On Saturday I delivered the 3rd of 4 workshops. This one was titled 'A Word About Me' I demonstrated a woven paper background and we also created a textile and wax paper pocket containing a word about me and some little bead embellishments. Here is my sample page:

Here are some photos from the session.

 

Anna's

Becky's

Susan's

Jill's

Jill decided to turn hers into a book cover which I love, It inspired me to use the technique on some of my journal covers. It is a little fiddly to do but looks great once its painted. It is quite a simple layout for me but I liked the background and wanted to showcase that.

One more workshop to go for this season, really enjoying it!