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