Some Recent Art Journaling

Hello All!

Sorry it has been a while! I kept meaning to blog but life has been busy lately, and I have been distracted with various things. That all said I didn't mean to put it off for so long! I will hopefully make that up over the next few days as I have loads to show you. Today I am going to start off with some recent art journaling:

This first one was an experiment of bold colours and lines. For the lady I used a magazine cutting which I then painted over and I tried to keep to black and white to match the boldness of the page. The whole thing I felt had a confidence about it and so I found the text from a magazine which was in keeping with this. 

This page is in my altered book journal and you may see some of the original text coming through on the right. I have been playing around lately with a lot of portraiture and this is one is a self portrait. Again I stuck to black and white and I think it works well here. This again has an air of confidence and is all about being self assured. 

For this one I really enjoyed playing with layering stamps, ink, pigment powders and tissue paper. I loved the yellow streak running through the page and this is what gave the inspiration for the text. To me the page has a warmth and feels quite happy and relaxed.

Finally this one, done in my small journal, is a bright warm very happy page about my recent family holiday to Crete. It was the best holiday we have ever had, we all had such a good time. The holiday was to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary (we went to Crete for our honeymoon) and it couldn't have been better. It was a memory I had to journal about! The colours have a warm glow to them and the image is my youngest daughter paddling in the sea.

I hope you enjoyed these pages, I will be back with more very soon!

Bye for now xxx

Product Review For 'Coloring Notebook'

Hello All,

Recently I received an email from a company called 'Coloring Notebook' asking if I would mind reviewing their product. A week or so later I received my notebook. Up until now I haven't really gone in for the adult coloring craze, preferring a blank notebook to doodle and sketch in myself, however this differs from a normal adult colouring book because it also contains blank pages. You can choose from plain, lined or dot grid. I was sent a lined notebook. For what I would use it for I would probably choose plain but I like that you have the choice.

The notebook is A5, hard bound and the paper quality is nice, printed on 100g/m. It has 176 pages and a pocket at the back.

In amongst the blank pages are about 50 quite intricate designs for you to colour in. I think the designs are some of the nicest I have come across and are really varied. Here are a few of my favorite ones;

I couldn't wait to have a go and decided to try out a few different mediums. See the image below, from left to right the mediums used to colour in the trees are metallic pencil crayons, water colour crayons, fineliner pens, gel pens, and standard pencil crayons.

 I like both types of pencil crayons though there is very little difference between them, they went on smoothly. The water colour crayons is a good way to make the piece look painted however with the addition of water they did bobble the paper slightly. The fine liner pens went on nicely but did come through slightly. The gel pens went on like a dream and were really vivid. I did try a fibre tip felt tip on another page but that soaked straight through and hid a lot of the lovely details so I wouldn't recommend using them. I would stick to pencil crayons or gel pens both of which were lovely to use.

Here is an example of a page I completed with gel pens:

Next I really wanted to test the notebook out with a spot of art journaling. this is most likely what I would use it for so I wanted to see how it would cope with the addition of paint and ink etc.

  I coloured the feathers  in with pencil crayons then prepped the blank page opposite with gesso so the colours didn't soak through. Once dried I added acrylics and ink as well as a few stamps and some text. I was really pleased how this turned out and like how the journaling sat nicely in juxtaposition with the colouring.   Here is another example:

This was least favorite design as I have a fear of buttons but I decided to use that as part of the journal page. I only coloured in a portion of the buttons using pencil crayon (note the purple button which was the attempt with felt tip!) Again I prepped the opposite page with gesso and then added mixed media and a poem I wrote about my phobia. I really like how by art journaling with this notebook the designs act as prompts for the page. This is definitely how I will continue to use this product. I did enjoy the 'colouring in' aspect a lot more than I thought I would and found it very therapeutic. I think it helped that I really liked the designs. I think the combination of designs with the blank pages makes the product really versatile and I can see that it this would appeal to many people. I certainly would recommend this to anyone. 

If you would like your own here is the company's website ; https://coloringnotebook.com/

I hope you enjoyed this review and found it useful.

Bye for now xxx

Finished Painting - You are only as old as you feel.

Hello All,

I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed getting by teeth stuck into a portrait these last few weeks! It has been a challenge but I have loved it and it is always exciting to see them appearing in front of you as they take shape. Here is the final piece:

I wanted to keep the background quite simple but fun. When I came across the photograph I loved how despite initial appearances she is clearly young at heart, wearing her boppers. I hope I have managed to express this. I do believe it's true what they say... that you are only as old as you feel!

Bye for now xxx

Portrait Progress

Hello All,

Over the last few weeks I have been working on my new portrait and really enjoying it. It's been great getting back into painting a portrait and although its challenging I love seeing it take shape. I have taken some shots as I have been going along so you can see the progression. Here it is so far!

I am now on to the background which I am going to keep quite simple with a little texture and coloured with pigment powders. I hope you like her so far, I will post a final picture when it is finished.

Bye for now!

 xxx

You are only as old as you feel

Hello All,

It's funny how I go through different phases with my art work. I swing between abstract and portraits depending on my mood. I am not complaining, far from it. I love the way my art can be so varied and diverse, there is no rule that says I must stick to a certain medium or style. It's one of the things I love most about art, anything goes and the possibilities are endless.

I have been in an abstract mood for a while now but lately have the sudden urge to paint a portrait. I prepped a canvas and it was left sitting there for a week while I tried to decide what exactly I had in mind. I started looking at photos, books and magazines to try and get some inspiration and came across a photo of an elderly lady sitting in a crowd. In every way she is a stereotypical lady with a scarf, handbag and old brown coat but she is wearing deely boppers. She is fantastic and I love that despite appearances she is clearly young at heart. I decided I have to paint her. I started her yesterday after some initial sketches:

  I am really looking forward to seeing how she turns out. I have in my mind her sitting at the front with an abstract background perhaps containing some text but definitely with some texture. I am going to use really vivid happy colours. I want the feeling that you are only as old as you feel to come through.

I will keep you posted on my progress.

Bye for now xxx

February Art Journaling

Hello All,

Well here we are in February, my least favorite month! I am not one for cold and really dislike snow. It really makes me feel like hibernating until the spring. But one good thing about hiding indoors is that I have more time to journal and I thought I would show you some of the pages I have done this month so far.

I have been playing around with leaving white space in a few of these, something I am not very good at cause I usually just want to fill the whole page with vivid colour, but I do like how these turned out. 

I feel as though I have coming out of an abstract phase and going into portraits again. I do swing from one to the other. I think I may try a mixed media portrait on canvas next... Anyway I hope you enjoy these.

Bye for now xxx

Creative play

Hello All,

Today I thought I would share a process that I sometimes like to do when I am feeling uninspired. Sometimes I go through a lull and my motivation to create just isn't there. This is when I turn to what I call creative play. I delve into my art supplies and just pick some things that catch my eye..not too much or it is easy to get overwhelmed. On this last occasion I chose spray inks, modeling paste and some stencils, glass bead texture gel, iridescent medium, some ecoline watercolour inks, a few stamps and an ink pad, a few old book pages, and four tubes of craft acrylic.

I then prep some A3 plain paper with some gesso and get to work. Using only what I have picked I just let go and do whatever comes to mind. I don't think too much about it, simply just letting myself play with the colours and mediums and see what happens. Here's what came from this process at the weekend:

Sometimes I really like how they turn out and may add to them to create a finished piece. Other times I just stash them or cut them up and use them in other projects. What is important is that it gets the creative juices flowing again and straight away I feel more inspired. It is very therapeutic to just relax and play with the materials and even if I don't like the results I have spent a happy afternoon anyway.

I definitely recommend it if you have lost your motivation!

Bye for now! xxx