Pollinators

I've spent a lot of time recently thinking about growth, especially as my word for the year is flourish. . The retreat I went on last weekend was based around John 15 - abiding in the vine.  Abiding in the vine leads to fruitfulness.

Once the flowers turned up on my page, I began to think about flowers and fruit.  Just because a plant produces flowers doesn't mean that it will produce fruit as well. It can bloom with a million blossoms, but there is only fruit if the flowers are pollinated. Which led my thinking to: what are my pollinators? What are the situations, or who are the people, that make me produce fruit?

I came to the conclusion that they come in two categories - the encouragers and the annoyances.

The encouragers cause me to grow in fruitfulness because they push me to be better, they show me how to do it, they mentor me and make me accountable.

The annoyances cause me to grow in fruitfulness because they make me exercise patience, grace, mercy, when it is hard. The more we exercise a muscle, the stronger it grows, and it is the same with these desirable traits.

What and who are your pollinators?

Building community

More gelli-printed labels. These reminded me of buildings and made me think about how a building goes up.

First of all, a big hole is dug to put in the foundations. It isn't until this is done that you can truly work out how much the building is going to cost. Up until that point it is guesswork. Once you start to dig you know what you're building on, then you can make other decisions. It can take as long to dig out the hole and pour the foundations as for the rest of the building to go up.

And that's how it is in building community, too. There is a lot of groundwork, and it can feel like a great big hole for a while. Then suddenly, the foundations are in and you can start to build on them.

So if you're trying to build a friendship, a community… hang on in there. It is worth the time invested if you stick at it.

The company of women

This page went through many phases. At one point I drew leaves on it and painted red all around the leaves.

I hated it.

So out came the wet-wipes. It took five of them, but eventually the page was stripped back to something I felt I could work with.

But the wet-wipes had made some of the bits and pieces I'd glued on go soggy and start to peel. I gave them a little help, which left the surface looking slightly distressed, but I was okay with that.

Some doodling and printing and I was happy with the background.

But what was on my mind?

It was the eve of a retreat. I was going to be spending half a day with a group of women, only a few of whom I knew. Now, I don't know about you, but I find the company of other women comforting and terrifying in equal measure, especially when more than half of them are strangers to me. There is the whole comparison thing - which I try really hard not to do. But there is also comfort when a group of women start being vulnerable with each other and sharing those stories with which we can all identify; those stories of how we all fall short.

I had such a wonderful time with periods of silence and intense contemplation, and times of belly-laughing at our own shortcomings.

So, no matter how terrifying it can be in the beginning, the pursuit of community with other women is something to be embraced and treasured.

Gelli labels

I've been having fun this week with labels on the gelli-plate. You know when you've used a few labels and then have a partial sheet that you can't put easily through the printer? Well, everything is gelli-fodder in this studio, so on to the plate they went.

This page is made with some of those labels, some washi tape, and a smearing of paint.

The bigger labels - the whole width of an A4 sheet of paper - are great for punching out of, too, especially as they are self-adhesive.

Above is the beginning of a page with some printed labels, and some other labels. I used some Golden acrylics and a squirt of Brusho watercolour. I like the non-uniform effect where the water-based colour doesn't adhere so well to the plate. It looks great once you peel off the labels so the colours are in smaller patches.

How do the pages speak to you?

Do your pages talk to you? How do you decide what to do next on a page?

This large face came about because the book pages I adhered to my journal page had a couple of circles cut out of them. The dark parts of the poster I was covering up showed through and just cried out to be made into eyes. No matter how many times I thought about doing something else with the page, the eyes just kept pushing through.

So I gave in.

But of course, with such large eyes, the face they go in becomes enormous. It gives a very different perspective to the page. I felt that the eyes were scrutinising me, drawing close to see all the details.

Do your pages tell you what to put on them sometimes?

Wasting energy?

There are times when people argue passionately about the most trivial things. It raises questions for me:

How badly do you need to win the argument?

Would it be dreadful if you gave ground and kept peace?

How important is the issue really, in the grand scheme of things?

Are you really investing your energy wisely?

Drawing threads together

I'm enjoying working in this journal I made from some unwanted poster prints. I feel as if I'm starting to get a bit of my groove back :)

This page ended up being about how all the threads draw together to make a focus point. It's a bit like how I feel about art journalling - it's a drawing together of lots of different things such as painting, drawing, collage, calligraphy, printing, stencilling, stamping - anything goes and you can have fun with more than one medium. I like the way I can use all the different skills I've picked up over the years from doing other things such as making cards, bookbinding, etc.

I added the blue lines using a small gelli-plate. I like the way they look and you can't get that look any other way. Just painting them on is not the same.

Reaching out

It is always hard, when you move to a new place, to start that whole process of making new friends. We have been in this new church for about six months now, and though we only moved across the city and we still see friends we have made since we arrived in Australia, there is still the hard work of getting to know the new congregation.

Part of the problem is that everyone is so busy nowadays. Trying to find a time when a group can get together is difficult. But I have to keep my heart open and keep reaching out, offering times to get together and just working with those who turn up.

One of the ways I like to get to know people is through 'Choc 'n' Chat' evenings, where I invite a group of women into our home, make some truffles, and we just sit around the table, eat chocolate, and get to know each other.

Art Journal Courage

Art Journal Courage by Dina Wakley has finally arrived here in Australia! I really enjoyed her last book - Art Journal Freedom - and found it really useful for ways to use new colour combinations, working out what's wrong with the page, making focal points, and so on. This new book looks at some of the common fears when journalling - not liking your handwriting, 'I can't draw', problems with layering etc.

I don't often draw in my journal. This isn't because I don't feel that I can draw - I believe everyone can draw, but we don't always like what we produce when we compare ourselves with others. If I do draw, it tends to be flowers or faces for some reason. This page is one of the exercises where you trace something to help to train your hand. This is from a photo in a magazine and the image is transferred using carbon paper. I'm sure I shall do some more pages with this technique to train myself in facial proportions. The cross-hatching I added afterwards.

Drawing practice

Sometimes you have to force yourself out of a rut - use a different medium, or a different subject, or different colours. I had fun doing some quick non-dominant hand faces.

I used Copic markers because they are thick so you can't worry about detail. Using my left hand means I don't expect proportions or lines to be accurate. In other words, I don't expect so much of myself this way, so I'm more relaxed about what I produce.

I think they have a more sketchy quality than my 'normal' drawings, and I feel better able to capture something quickly with simple strokes. For some reason I find that hard when I use my right hand.

What do you do to kick yourself out of a rut?