What a week

Well I have had one of the busiest weeks at work for me with the end of the financial year. My head is so full of numbers, payroll, tax and money that it has been really hard to do anything else each night other than chill out and sleep. Luckily tomorrow is the end of the working week for me and I have one week on holidays at home so I will be getting back into my art journalling course.

It has been a great journey for me creatively and internally. It has made me spend time each day on ME which, when you start doing that you realise how much you didn't do it enough before. It has made me ask questions about myself like what really makes me happy, what I think is positive about me and what are my favourite things. After getting over the first hurdle of the blank white page, I feel less afraid of marking it and cant wait to jump in and create each time I get it out. Now the challenge is getting it out every day.

Here are two more pages that I finished last night. The first is the 10 positive things about me.  The second is an indication of where my mind has been this week at work surrounded by numbers.

The course is almost finished now and Kerryanne has set her little chicks free to fly on their own. I must say that I feel a bit like its my first day at big school saying goodbye to Mum for the first time. I want to run back into her arms but I'm excited about being independent. I want to hold on to the security of what I know but know I have to spread my wings.

More art journalling

Firstly thankyou to everyone for your lovely comments. I really do appreciate the feedback. 

Well I have been immersed in art journalling this week. It has been such a great way to let go and try different things. I love it. I am hooked. Now I need to convince my boss that another day less at work, and therefore at home able to do more journalling, would be a good thing. LOL. Dont think that will go down well! Anyway here are a couple of pages from my journal

In this one we had to journal about what we are grateful for. I had fun with an onion bag and texture paste.

This one is about quotes that are inspiring to me. Those of you who are fans of Wayne Dyer, Colette-Baron Reid will understand why these are so inspiring.

This is one I completed today and it is about the best things in life. I chose to doodle and stamp about the best things in life that are free. I think I will do another page on more best things because how could you leave out chocolate and art supplies!!

I hope you had a great weekend savouring your best things in life and will be back later in the week with some more pages. I think I have a few zendoodles ready to come out onto the page after being inspired by a very creative woman, Janet, here is her page and I am looking forward to seeing what prompts Kerryanne has in store for us this week.

Namaste
Lee

Art Journalling

After being told I have a bulging disc last week, I have been unmotivated to do anything much in the way of creative expression, but I have come out of my self-pity party and have started my art journal as part of the Embracing the Passion online course being offered by Kerryanne at Shabby Art Boutique. It has really got my creative juices going and I have just completed my first journal page which is all about Me.

This weekend in Melbourne is looking like being cold and wet; the perfect weather to stay inside and create. Have a good one

this and that.

Its a rainy day here in Melbourne, the perfect weather to stay indoors and do something creative. I have couple of ideas running through my head at the moment and hope to get into them today.
I am working through The Sound of Paper by Julia Cameron at the moment and it has been a great motivator to look at where I want this art to go in my life and to become more aware of who and what is really important to me and to pinpoint where I waste time and where I need to focus more. The questions are thought provoking and enlightening. I like it too because the book is structured in such a way that you can sit down and read a chapter and do an exercise in half an hour if that is all you have.

Chroma has asked all of their artists to send them scrapbooking and related ideas to them for publication so it has spurred me into doing something with some of those ideas that have running around in my head for the last couple of months. Also visited my local scrapbooking shop yesterday(very dangerous) and came out with a lot more ideas in this already crowded head (oh and an emptier wallet!). Ahh need a few more hours in the day I think....

Getting back intot the swing of things

Well I was inspired to have a go at blogging again after a long absence by my friend Anna. I dont know whether I can do it justice but we'll see. I hope it will be a way to connect more personally with friends and people who are interested in what I am. It may be a bit of a journal of my journey to get my creativity on paper, canvas, beads, etc. Also may be a bit of rambling.

Today I have been at home with sciatica and maybe a bulging disc so I am not the happiest of campers although it was the most glorious day in Melbourne today and it gave me chance to sit out in the sun and enjoy just being in the now. It also gave me a chance to begin doing some journaling which I have wanted to do for a while, using the Julia Cameron book Sound of Paper. I am then hoping to tackle the Artists Way although the Morning Pages sound a bit daunting. I have heard of so many people getting so much out of this book that it is definitely on my to do list. My other favourite author Sonia Choquette is a great friend of Julia"s and recommends her book to many people who call in on her radio show. I also find that when I am forced to rest I find that I have so many ideas running through my head and then cant do much about them except in 15 minutes blocks of standing or sitting. Very frustrated! I am trying to have a notebook or sketch book handy at these times so that even if I get the ideas in words on the paper I am halfway to creating something. I think I will have to learn to write while lying down.

I haven't been able to do much painting lately but have really got the bug in the last week so I have also gessoed some canvases ready for painting today. Hopefully I will get some time on the weekend to actually put paint to canvas. In the meantime here are some of my most recent creations.























The purple iris was sold at the recent Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show as is going to be taught as a workshop at the True Blue Conference in August. The small rose is also going to be taught a the conference.

This is another one I put in the flower show. I was playing with a tonal study and textured background.

Well, I have been sitting for long enough so will have to lie down to get this back right. Hope to catch up soon.....

My try at Absolute Matte Paints

Well, I have just tried the new Absolute Matte paints by Chroma. It took me about an hour to get used to the way they work but I am hooked now. I love the way you can reactivate these paints to blend in another colour or layer. At the same time though you can blast it with a hairdryer and paint on another layer by glazing. Here is my first attempt

I laid down a light layer of white to get the placing right and then when dried, painted a thicker layer of a light cream made with Titanium White and Yellow Ochre. Into this I blended in the greytones which was a mix of Burnt Umber and the cream mixture. I when happy with the tonal values I blasted the canvas with a hair dryer to make sure it was really dry. I then started glazing in the colours with a soft angle shader and filbert brush. The colours were Permanent Brown Madder which gave a lovely red glow and Arylamide Yellow Light for the yellow glow. I also strengthened the highlights by adding white to the cream mixture on each layer of highlights till I was using pure Titanium White for the brightest accent highlights. The green I used was Olive green. Shadows were blended in with Burnt Umber mixed with Olive green. When dry, I glazed over these with Permanent Brown Madder.

Well, this week I hope to do more to a larger design I have started incorporating these roses which are out of my garden. We will see how much I get done.

It's all about Art.

Hi everyone, this is my art site to share my artwork and experiences with everyone.