Summer Rain

Hi everyone,

I am back today after a frustrating week with no home phone or internet. With all the rain that we have had lately some moisture had gotten into the lines and my phone was dead. Anyway, it meant no computer at night after work and I must say that I was much more relaxed when I went to bed, I hadn't realised how much time I actually spend on it.

I have another journal page to share with you today.  I was sitting out under the pergola the other night; it was warm and humid and it started lightly raining. You know, that gentle rain that just lulls you into a peaceful state, the crickets were singing to each other, there was no other sound, I could have been in a rainforest. I had candles lit all around and it was so meditative that I had to grab my journal and start writing. The next day I finished the page. I hope you like it.

I had journaled on the pages with a purple pen. Then I scribbled over the top of it with a blue chalk pen that has a chisel edge.

 I rubbed it with a dry baby wipe. i keep my baby wipes even when they dry out because they are good for this use. It smudges without getting so wet that it comes off.

 I then drew a border around both pages with a purple chalk pen. These were a great buy. i found them in Spotlight in the sell out bin a couple of weeks ago. They dry like chalk.

I grabbed my trusty bubble wrap and stamped on some Jo Sonja Titanium White and cut out and collaged a picture of a drop in milk from a magazine ad.

 With my stencil and Jo Sonja Pacific Blue I stippled a pattern around the pages.

 Some finger painting was called for with Titanium White. I am a messy painter, getting stuck into the painting process and letting it flow. I find finger painting makes me feel free-er and not so stuck on precise painting (not that there isn't a place for that too)

 To me this was beginning to look like rain ......

...... softly falling

I then used my angle shader brush and floated in some rain drops.

 I thought it needed some more colour so I used the Impress ink pad in Pansy and again used a dry baby wipe to rub on some colour. I don't have the other proper ink rub thingys so this is what I used instead.

 I then rubbed on the Pale Aqua inside the rain drops and on other parts of the page to balance it out.

 Here are the rain drops with a bit of colour. I also grabbed my gel pens and drew the title and outlined it in a thin black pen

 Lastly, with the baby wipe, I rubbed Indigo Blue ink around the outside of the page and also rubbed the ink pad directly onto the paper right on the papers edges.

So here is the finished page. In the rain drops I wrote a couple of words about what rain is to me.

I also have a couple of doodles to share. This first page started with a background that was finger painting that I had swirled around the page. Sorry but I forgot to take a before photo. Well while I was looking at the page a couple of days later I saw a face and hair so I started with coloured pencils and coloured in the face and hair as I saw it. I don't usually do faces because they usually end up all out of proportion and weird. I then used my new fineliners in various colours, to doodle around the page and on the face to outline and define shapes. I mediated on her for a while and my title and the journaling was the result.

This doodle was started while I was away in Anglesea but stopped it for a while for some reason. Last week I finished it and quite like the outcome. I haven't yet decided which way is up either.

 

I have been dreaming a lot this week which has stirred up emotions and given me a bit to reflect on so I have this quote for you today to ponder.

"The best things in life are truly unseen,

that is why we close our eyes when we kiss and when we dream."

-anon.

 

Well this weekend in Melbourne looks like it is finally going to be a bit of summer so I am looking forward to getting out in the sunshine. 

I also send my prayers to those places in this world that need all the positive energy we can muster. 

Wherever you are in the world I hope you have a weekend surrounded by love, hugs and kisses.

Namaste

Lee

Yesterday, tomorrow, today

Happy Friday Everyone, end of the work week and the start of a relaxing weekend. 

I want to thank everyone for the encouraging comments. There are some that I can't email a reply to so this is my thankyou to you.

I have caught the card making bug to an extent and particularly iris folding. Last week I had a class with Pam at Scrapper's Warehouse. I made a Valentine's Day card for my husband and another card with iris folding. Here is one I made for my Mums birthday. My Mum and Dad were married on my Mum's 21st Birthday which also happens to be Valentines Day, how romantic. She also loves all things Asian in design and was treated to dinner in Chinatown in Sydney. Wish I could have been there to celebrate with her but I was there in spirit.

And here is the one I made today for my youngest sons 19th birthday. Once you get the idea of it, it is quick and easy to do and very effective. I am pretty basic with my embelishing but being a boys card I didn't want to make it too fluffy. I may play with it a bit more.

I also had a play this week with my watercolour crayons after being inspired by a video I saw on You Tube by Rachel. Here is the link. She has some fantastic videos full of tips and techniques.

On my page I had swiped off excess black green paint from a credit card. I scribbled all over the page with Orange, Light Blue and Deep Green

Then with a damp brush blended the colours

The crayons I have have a waxy feel to them even when painted out so I thought it would be hard to write on so I grabbed a jar of Absolute Matt Titanium White paint, scrapped a bit on with a palette knife and swirled it over the crayons with my finger, blending it with the crayons underneath to give this sort of pastel look. (sorry its a bit blurry, I didn't have my glasses on when I checked it)

I grabbed my baby wipe and wiped off a bit so it wasn't so flat looking

I then scribbled around the page in places with my Crimson Watercolour Crayon creating a border and giving a bit more colour in other places

So it looked like this

I had an itch to stamp so I got out a stamp I bought ages ago but hadn't used yet. I love the style of it.

 I also used a couple of other stamps, a daisy and square.

 For this page I already had a saying in mind and Rachels video in mind but really let it take its on course again as in my previous post, so I wrote my saying on the right hand page

and journaled on the left hand side under the stamp

 and used my Souffle pens, gel pens, watercolour pencils and sharpies to colour and doodle.

 Don't you just love this stamp...

Here is the finished page. This image was captured with the scanner so it is the truer representation of the colours. To finish it I just kept colouring, outlining, colouring again and doodling till I was happy.

I must say that I once again, had enormous trouble writing with the pens I choose over the crayons and paint. I think it is the crayons because when I went to ask Pam about her set of Watercolour Crayons they didn't have a waxy feel like mine so I think it is time to invest in a better set of crayons. Mothers Day is around the corner so guess what I am going to hint at.

You know we keep getting reminders that life is a precious gift and reminders that sometimes we spend far too much time worrying about what happened yesterday or 10 years ago and then worrying about what is going to happen tomorrow when we end up forgetting to live in today. We all get presented with different situations in life and it is not the situation that is all important as how you react to it. Hence my choice of quote

"Yesterday is history, 

Tomorrow is a mystery,

Today is the present,

That's why they call it a gift."

Have a great weekend everyone

Namaste

Lee

Life is a palette of colours, which one are you wearing today?

Hi everyone

Here is the journal page step by step I promised. Once again I tried to used recycled things to stamp with a couple of new things. Hope you enjoy it

Step 1 - I had some left over paint from a previous page and also some paint left on a stencil I used on a previous page so this is where the leftovers ended up. From memory I think the colours are Jo Sonja Prussian Blue Hue (watery) and the butterfly is Brilliant Magenta. I have also sprayed the background with water, let it sit for 30 seconds and then blotted off with a paper towel.

Step 2 - I had a container from a little tea light candle after it had finished burning so I dabbed this in Prussian Blue Hue and stamped all over the pages

Step 3 - I can't remember what this plastic circle is from. I think it was packing under something but I thought it looked like a good stamp pattern so I mixed Titanium White with Prussian Blue hue, sponged it on and stamped away

Step 4 I also used the same colours and a stencil to add some flowers

Step 5 - I also stamped some flowers in watery Prussian Blue Hue so they would stand out on the lighter page. Next I stuck down some pieces of a patterned serviette for a bit of texture. In a previous post I used a little dot thing to stamp and I did the same here with straight Prussian Blue Hue inside each of the larger circle stamps

step 6 - I started punching out little swirls from a piece of wrapping paper I picked up in the $2 shop. As I was punching I was thinking the leftover paper makes a great stencil to use later on.

step 7 - I was going to put this swirls around the pages as a border but I saw a flower and antennas for the butterfly, so that is what I made. I outlined the butterfly with a waterproof black pen as well as did some freestyle outlining around the flower stencils, little tendrils and swirls.

step 8 - Up until this stage i didn't have a title or idea of what I was going to write on this page. I looked through a magazine and found some words that just leapt out at me so I cut them out and stuck them on with Atelier Impasto Gel. I journaled with a white gel pen and used some Titanium White with the edge of an old itunes card to 'frame' the words.

step 9 - I got out my crayons and coloured over the circular stamping, scribbled over parts of the page and around the edges. I can't remember which colours I used but I used about 4 different colours.

So here is the page finished.It has turned out to be one of my favourites and I am really enjoying the freedom I feel when i just start painting with nothing particular in mind and the pages end up evolving on their own. I never could do something like this before because I thought I always had to have an idea planned before I put paint to paper or canvas - so stressful in the end.

 That's what I love about art journaling, you can sit and make art with no end in mind, even if only painting in small snippets of time, pages evolving on their own and expressing a true picture of what is in inside

Thanks for all your encouragement about my step by step instructions, I hope you have enjoyed this one. Here is my quote for today

“The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.”

  Marcus Aurelius
Hope you are having a great week.

Namaste

Lee

Back from the beach

 Hi everyone

I really appreciate all the really kind comments you are leaving, thanks for visiting.

Well I thought I would post when I got back from holidays before I went back to work but can someone tell me where last week went? It is over a week since I have been back and last week was a blur so here I am catching up. 

We took our camper down to a lovely seaside town called Anglesea where we stayed at the Anglesea Beachfront Caravan Park. We have had the same site for the last 3 years and I just love it. I'll show you a couple of holiday snaps and you will see why I can't wait to get back there.

 Every morning I enjoyed a nice hot cuppa 50 steps from our van......

 Each day we walked to the main beach at Anglesea for a swim and lay in the sun...

 the sites are huge so we have plenty of room to put our camper, annex and sun shade...

Each afternoon after a hard day at the beach and a walk we relaxed before dinner, my eReader, some nibbles and a wine - very relaxing.

 Here is the boatramp at high tide, where I sit with my cuppa and sketchbook...

It was so relaxing to sit here at sunrise and dusk.

While I was gazing a the ocean, I did a couple of doodles.

 I reflected on why I feel such a strong connection to the ocean and how it makes me feel.

 I have always felt drawn to the ocean and holidays by the sea rather than by a river, say, even though I love visiting scenic inland places, the ocean is just relaxing to me.

 

What about you, where do you prefer to holiday, by the ocean or inland?

Since I have been home I have been working on a couple of submissions to our annual art group conference so I haven't done anything in my art journal but I will share tomorrow a page I gave you a sneak peak of in my last post.

I had trouble picking my favourite ocean quote so here are three to share

“Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.”
- Robert Henri

“It’s hard for me to put into words why I like the beach so much. Everything about it is renewing for me, almost like therapy...Beach Therapy.”
- Amy Dykens

 

"I could never stay long enough on the shore; the tang of the untainted, fresh, and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought."

-Helen Keller

Have a great day

Namaste

Lee