Art Journal Journey - Squares

It's taken a little time to get round to the Art Journal Journey challenge for August as I've been working on some story books. More of those in the next post. 

So here is my take on squares. 

And now I have two more illustrations to finish off...

Strength

The full page

A close-up

Lord, grant me the strength of the plant that pushes up between the paving slabs and blossoms in the most unlikely of places. 

There are times where it feels like there is very little soil to grow in; where it feels like a struggle to push on through. Those are the times where you have to remind yourself of those flowers that come up through cracks in the concrete or between bricks in a wall. 

I want that resilience. 

That determination to blossom no matter what.

But it's not in me.

I need help.

(And yes, I am well aware that I actually wrote 'most unlikeliest'. Duh! An oops moment that I am having to live with...)

Art vs. Housework

Well, there's no contest, is there? 

I had fun with this page. The flowers came first, coloured with Derwent aquatone pencils. Then the background was filled in with yellow ink and stamped down the right hand side with a multi-colour ink pad.

But the yellow was looking a bit pale. I wanted something deeper. I outlined the flowers with a black Sharpie, but what to do about the background? 

That's when I spotted the tub of petroleum jelly on my desk that I bought to try out a technique from Surface Treatment Workshop by McElroy and Wilson. Perfect! So I slapped some on top of the flowers and painted turquoise acrylic over the top. The recommendation was to use a baby-wipe to clean off the petroleum jelly but I grabbed a plastic card instead. Now it was looking better. I did the same again with a darker blue. 

Now the flowers needed a little more colour so I used some water-soluble oil pastels to deepen the colours, used a liquid paper pen to add the white  highlights. I had to find a way to put the wording on the page as the petroleum jelly left a coating that pens wouldn't write on. The 'headline' was stamped on to white paper and cut out, and the journalling I wrote on a piece of vellum and stuck it down with gel medium. A few highlights with white and yellow water-soluble oil pastels finished off the page. 

Better than housework :)

Linking to Art Journal Every Day 

Giving flowers

I prepped this background with an icy sort of  blue but then didn't want to do a blue page. I had a cut-out flower lying around on my desk so I grabbed it to use as a mask. A few dots of colour down one edge dragged out with a glue spreader and suddenly I had a pinkish page rather than a blue one.

It sat on my table for a couple of days. I added some centres and stalks, but what should the words be? What was the page talking about?

Yesterday a dear lady from our morning congregation died. She was a gift-giver - taking note of what people liked and giving them small gifts in that area.

As usual, death set me thinking about life and how short it is. The wording 'always give flowers' talks about building people up rather than pulling them down; taking the time to encourage and be generous with our money, time, and ourselves. We don't know how a small gift, a smile, an encouraging word can change someone's day or even their life.

Be a life-changer - give flowers.

Vigilance!

Back out in the garden again this week. All the rain we have had over the winter combined with a plague of hairy caterpillars has meant that the weeds have got out of hand! I've filled up our green bin with long grass and weeds pulled from between the vegetables, most of which have just about held their own against the insect invasion. It's jolly annoying how the things that I want to eat from the garden are the same ones that the insects love to eat as well. There are so many weeds out there that they could munch on but no, they have to eat the artichokes and spinach.

Anyway, all this weeding made me think about how vigilant we have to be. The weeding really needs to be done little and often to keep on top of it, much like keeping bad habits out of our lives. If I want to see obedience, fruitfulness, and righteousness in my life I have to not let them be choked out by anxiety, stress, covetousness etc. Each and every day I need to sit before God and ask Him to root out the bad stuff and nurture the good stuff. It's easier to do bit by bit than have the radical ripping out of 5ft high weeds.

Where does your life need weeding?

Summer of Color - week 4

Love the colours in this week's challenge. The flavours sound good, too, although with it being a chilly and wet winter here in South Australia, I don't think I'll be tucking in to any ice cream for a while :)

The pinks and yellows just cried out for flowers. The quote is by Robert Louis Stevenson. I like his attitude - don't look for what you got out of the day but at what you put into it. A good way to live life.

Hi to all fellow summer-of-colorers. I'll visit as many of you as I can but my internet connection is very slow at the moment :(   I'll catch up as soon as I can. Bowled over by the range of fabulous creative endeavours from candle pots to tissue stars to quilts all inspired by ice cream. Well done everyone and keep at it. You make the world a brighter place.