Summer of Colo(u)r - week 1

Summer of Colo(u)r 4 has begun! If you don't know what I'm talking about, check the button in the sidebar and join in the fun.

This week's colour combination is yellow and aqua with a hint of hot pink. These colours remind me so much of summer, which it isn't here at the moment :) We just get a few hints every now and then of the brilliant blue sky that marks the summer months. So I'm happy to revisit these colours and imagine the warmth that will eventually return.

Regarding the ravages of time...

This page started out with a bit of collage. I had no idea where it was going to go, but I wanted to use the gelli-printed paper at the top. A quick wash of purple watercolour with salt sprinkled on came next. Then a bit more collage.

For some reason I felt like drawing some features, so out came the eye stamps. The rest of the face followed and a few square spirals were stamped on.

Then it sat for a while.

My eye kept being drawn to the pocket watch on the face and I got to thinking about time and how it affects how we look. Personally, I am not really that bothered about wrinkles. I don't dye my hair even though there are plenty of white ones sprinkled among the black. Hence the journalling:

"The marks of time were upon her face… and she treasured them as honestly won."

The lines remind me that I've smiled a lot :)

What sort of house will your heart live in?

I was reading through Ann Voskamp's blog the other day and this quote really struck me, especially as the theme at Art Journal Journey is houses and at Mix it Monthly is home.

This quote made me think about what sort of house I want my heart to live in. Will I allow my circling, negative thoughts to become a prison for it? Or will I listen to the truth and make a place of refuge?

House or home?

The new theme for this month over on Art Journal Journey is houses, so here is a simple page done with watercolour inks and pencils used with a brush and spray.

I thought about the difference between a house and a home. The journalling reads: A house is not a home unless it contains the ones you love.

And as the new theme on Mix it Monthly is home I shall be sharing over there, too.

And if you haven't heard yet, Summer of Colo(u)r is on again! Go to Kristin's blog to see what it's all about and check out the first colour combination on Monday.

Perspective

I wasn't sure where this page was going to go, I just had in mind to use the greaseproof paper with the orange circles. It was a piece made when I used a hand-carved stamp to lift paint from the gelli-plate. My first thought was that it would look good on blue so I painted the top half of the page blue and the bottom green. The circles went nicely on the blue. 

Then the page sat for a few days.

The circles were really telling me that they were flowers, but they were so high up in the blue it was as if they were towering in the sky. 

That's when it came to me. 

If you lie down in the grass, the flowers look as if they reach to the sky. Sometimes a problem that seems enormous can be put in perspective if only we look at it from another angle. So face your problems standing up, not lying down in despair. Maybe they'll be brought down to size. 

Be glad!

How easy do you find it to take joy in the achievements of others? When someone else wins that prize that you'd like? When you read of someone else having a new line of stencils/paints/stamps produced? When someone else is asked to teach at that workshop?

Be honest. Is there a little prickle of envy?

It's normal! But don't let it be your ongoing feeling.

Someone else's achievement takes nothing away from you. Think about it. One person getting a book deal doesn't stop the chance of you ever getting one. They haven't 'stolen' your success. How can they steal something that wasn't yours in the first place?

So don't let envy be your last reaction as well as your first. Be glad for that person. Be glad that their talents have been recognised. We have all learned from those who have gone before us and produced books and materials for us to use. We all gain when we are generous and share our gifts.

And if, when your time comes, you want to be surrounded by people who are glad for you, not eaten up with envy, then you need to be that person to others.

Getting back in the groove

Finally I feel as if my head is clearing! I've made a page that I'm happy with.

So how did I get out of my slump? Well, I watched Dina Wakley's video about warming up and Carolyn Dube's about overcoming that 'stressed out, I can't create' feeling. I pulled out some scraps and made these:

Even used some of the new stamps I carved:

I've enjoyed using the big circle stamp so much that I made some other sizes, too.

Anyway, I was on a roll, so I pulled out my journal and made a spread. When I was finished, I realised that it also fit with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's challenge to use 10 items or less. 

1. Journal - hand-bound ledger paper

2. Spray inks - Brusho

3. Paintbrush

4. Copic Ciao marker

5. Mask

6. Aquatone watercolour sticks

7. Black pen - waterproof uniball fine

8. White pen - Marbig correction pen

9. Washi tape

10. Gold gel pen (not pictured) 

Have you ever lost your groove? How did you climb out of the slump?

One Little Word - Will

The word for the month on One Little Word is will. 

Will is one of those fun words that can be used as a noun or a verb.

We have the faculty by which a person decides on or initiates action, and intend, desire, or wish to happen. So if I will, I have an intention or desire to initiate action.

In this case, to make this page work!

It really wasn't coming together for me until I put a layer of gesso across everything, stuck on the circles, and outlined the shapes with a green aquatone pencil. Then it started to work better. I started to feel as if I was getting back on track.

Do you sometimes have to be very deliberate about imposing your will on your pages?

Stuck in my own head

I'm feeling a bit stuck in my own head at the moment. I thought that perhaps making a time-lapse video would shake me out of my rut. I've mentioned before that making one of these videos makes me feel that I have to work quickly so there aren't long gaps where nothing is happening. 

Combine that with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's challenge to use only ten items to make a page, and it really forces you out of your comfort zone.

Ten items - let me tell you, that's a real challenge! Here are mine:

1. Journal - this is a Mont Marte A3 journal

2. Gesso - again Mont Marte

3. Acrylic paints - Kaisercolour

4. Babywipes - to apply the acrylic paint

5. Gelli-printed greaseproof paper - that's what all the other items are resting on

6. A plastic palette knife - used to apply gel medium as well as paint

7. Gloss gel medium by Reeves

8. Black ink pad - Archival Brilliance

9. Hand-carved alphabet stamps

10. Spray ink - Brusho powder watercolour inks in a spray bottle

I also used a heatgun to speed everything along. I hope that's not classed as cheating :)

As soon as I started on the page I wished I had picked different supplies! I didn't realise how many different things I use when making a single spread. When you have everything available to you, you don't really think about it. Also, look out for the OOPS where I was trying to squeeze a small amount of turquoise paint on to the palette knife and ended up with a huge blob on the page instead. 

I'm not displeased with the page, but I will probably add more layers at a later date. I like the paler, calmer piece near the centre, above the words. It feels like that is the place I am walking to, leaving behind the busier parts on either side, which are like my thoughts at the moment - a bit jumbled and crowding in on each other.

Fighting the weeds

Do you ever go through periods where all your energy seems to go into negative things rather than positive ones?

Think of it like gardening. I spend most of my time in the garden keeping the lawn down and pulling up weeds, when I'd rather be growing herbs and vegetables. My energy goes into getting rid of things I don't want to grow rather than on planting what I do want to grow.

I need to get turned around!