One Little Word - Dream

There are two words for One Little Word this month - and four prizes! Go take a look at the wonderful works created around the words 'calm' and 'dream' and add your own here. You have until the 14th April to enter.

This is my entry for 'dream' - my dream of a studio to teach in and hold retreats. It's still just in my head at the moment, but one day…

See my entry for 'calm' here along with a time-lapse video of how it was made.

Gelli deli

I've been having a lot of fun gelli-printing greaseproof paper (or deli paper for those of you stateside) and then tearing it up and applying it to pages with gel medium. I especially like to do that with the ghost prints and when the colours are dark. The black ghost prints add a really good grungy feel to the page which I'm liking a lot at the moment :) The gel medium makes the paper go translucent so all the other layers show through.

This piece was done using a piece of mouldable foam pressed into a texture plate. This makes a stamp that I then used to pick up paint from one area and add it to another. When the stamp becomes loaded with paint you can use it to stamp on a page and it gives a great mix of colours unlike anything you can get with an ink pad.

Inspiration

Where do you find inspiration? I found this fantastic photo by Bing Wright on the Colossal website - go look at the whole set of sunsets photographed in broken mirrors.

They make me want to do some paper mosaics with glossy paper...

Journal Fodder 365 - Prompt #46

This week's prompt is feeding the spirit. How do you keep good spiritual health and mental well-being?

For me this involves Bible study, prayer, journalling, cooking, serving others, and reading. I make sure to do at least four of these every day. Self-care is so important.

How do you feed your spirit?

And in case you missed it, find out about the Pay if Forward art-sharing project here.

Pay it Forward!

Get out your pens, paints, pencils, and photos and join in the fun!

* Pay It Forward Art-making Project for 2014 *

I promise to make a small work of art for the first five people who comment on this post and say "YES, I want in". A 'like' alone is not enough of a commitment, nor is a comment about thinking Pay It Forward is a great idea.

You must in turn post this as your status update and make something for the first five who comment on your status.

The rules are simple:
– It has to be your work, made by you, and the recipient must receive it before 2014 ends.
– It can be anything art-based: a drawing/illustration or a conceptual work of art, a photograph, a knitted item, cross-stitch, paper maché – or anything in between.

I'm paying this forward thanks to Marji Thompson.  Yes, you can be on each other's pay it forward lists.

First five, GO!

PS. It doesn't matter if you aren't an artist, try something out, google/ YouTube how to make stuff, step out of those boundaries.

 Step 1Copy&Paste the above as your latest entry on your favourite social website (in my case, its this blog) 

 
Step 2For the first five people who comment on your blog entry saying they want to participate, you will do an art trade with them that must be completed by December 31st 2014. I would count as the first person so technically you only need another four. If you find your friends are keen you can do as many as you want. 


Step 3All forms of art count including creative writing , photography, digital anything goes!
 

Art Journal Journey

The challenge over at Art Journal Journey this month is 'Moments of Happiness'.

It's good to take note of all the small things in life that bring happiness and be thankful for them. Here are some of mine, in no particular order:

The light in the eyes of a loved one when they see you.
Warm hugs.
The giggles of small children.
Sunshine on my face.
A cool breeze.
A sheet of white paper.
A new book and a warm drink on a winter day.
Dinner with friends.
Giving a special gift.
Making stuff.
The smell of baking bread.
A surprise parcel.
Inky fingers.

Fractured

Feeling a little fragile...

Journal Fodder 365 - Prompt #45

I have finally reached the last chapter of Journal Fodder 365. This prompt is accomplices. Who do you art with? Who is an inspiration?

I usually work alone, as do most artists most of the time. However, it is always fun to take or teach a class. There is always so much to learn from others. Just watching how someone else uses that medium, chooses a palette, gets that effect - it's fun! Having a play time with someone else provides inspiration and motivation.

So thank you to all of you out there who make video tutorials, share techniques, provide encouraging comments - you inspire and motivate me :)

Layers uncovered

A warning right now - this is a photo-heavy post! After my last post I thought it would be fun to see how the layers combine to give the finished result, so there are lots of WIP photos and some close-ups at the end of the finished spread. 

The result here had a graffiti feel to it which made me think of walls and what people write on them. Then I thought about the way we allow people to 'write' their opinions on our lives. So what will you allow them to write? 

Failure?

Deadbeat?

Useless?

Will you allow people to write those things on the wall of your life? Or will you believe the positive?

Loved!

Wanted!

Valuable!

It's your wall. Scrub off the unhelpful graffiti and splash on the truth! Believe it. Live it.

And here are the layers:

A bit of collage. The paper on the left is a piece from the sheet I use under the pages I'm working on.

A gelli-print randomly applied.

Some turquoise spray and a yellow wash.

Random squiggles with a water-soluble graphite pencil.

A bit of stencilling.

Gelli-printed greaseproof (deli) paper applied with gel medium so the previous layers show through.

More spray.

Stencilled gesso.

Orange glaze, a bit of paint, and more spray with drips.

The last lot of stencilling before the journalling went on there.

And some close-ups:

Lots of layers

This page started out quite plainly. I had a few bits of paper with circles cut out of them left over from another page. I stuck them randomly across the spread and left it.

For no particular reason I gelli-printed lime and purple across not-quite-the-middle of the page. This left a large margin blank, so a bit of green paint was applied with a baby-wipe.

Hmm. It wasn't looking promising. The colours weren't my usual mix and they were still starkly separate. But no matter. A few more layers and they started to come together - sprays and oil pastels and more sprays and stamping and gelli-printed greaseproof paper (which gave a great grungy look as it was a ghost print from black) and inks brushed on and bubble-wrap prints - and now I was loving it.

So much so that I didn't want to cover it all up!

So I thought about the layers and the depth of colour and richness and it made me think about life. Each layer, looked at alone, was nothing special. But as they merged together and interacted with one another a beauty emerged. And that is how it is in life. There are some things that happen to us that are ugly, some that are mundane, but when they are joined with all our other life experiences, they can become beautiful. I don't think this page would have pleased me so much without the dark parts of the gelli-printed greaseproof paper. They add a certain something. And when we live through difficult things but refuse to allow them to overcome us, we emerge with a luminosity that is easy to see.

Embrace the layers of your life and allow them all to add to the beauty that is you.