Wednesday 16 September 2015

JUST A QUICK ONE...

Sorry there was no post at the weekend - I was just a bit overwhelmed by all the things that were going on .... I kept MEANING to do a post and never actually getting around to it!

Anyway thought I would just quickly share my journals - as you can see above no.11 (I know it looks a bit like 22) is now finished, and the blue journal no.12 is all pristine and just waiting to be worked in.  I LOVE starting a new one, it seems full of possibility somehow - I don't date my pages but I do
write the start date in the inside cover, and later add the date I finish.

Below is a quick snapshot of some of the pages in no.11 - its interesting to see how my style changes and develops as I look back over them.
And here below is the finished no.10 and no.11 all ready to go ... that was back in March.  I seem to fill about two journals a year, but am not counting or setting myself any standards.
These books are Pink Pig journals, nothing fancy - the pages are 8 x 8" and I glue two together for strength.  The paper isn't watercolour standard or anything like that, since I gesso every page first and throw a lot of mixed media layers at them it really would be a waste of the best paper.

I decorate each new book individually when I can see that I'm getting near the end of the current one, so there is always one waiting.  I add ribbons and tie on charms etc., but not too many to begin with because it can make working in the book a bit awkward.  I add more decorations when the journal is finished and they make quite a show up on my shelf with their decorated spines and numbered labels.

Life is a bit more exciting than I really want it to be right now.  I'm still grieving a number of losses this past year, we're in the middle of Himself's cancer treatment and the roller-coaster and steep learning curve which that involves, while at the same time trying to downsize a 4 bed house plus studio into a two bed flat plus studio plus balcony.  Retirement and move is planned for early November - it will be such a wrench to leave our church and the very special people in it, but it is undoubtedly time to put our own needs first.

3 comments:

alexa said...

So glad to hear the waft of - perhaps optimism is too strong a word, Rosie - but of a kind of let's-do-this-acceptance? And I've enjoyed reading how you make and put together your journals. I didn't realise you gesso'd first ... Told you we need a class :). When I took Dad to The Christie this morning, I thought of you, and what you'd said about cancer taking you into a whole new world. Continuing to think of you both x.

Anonymous said...

Rosie, your blog has been a favorite go-to place for me since Lisa Vollrath mentioned it awhile back. I keep going back and looking at your prior posts and I love your part in Lisa's latest issue of "Bad Influence." You're an inspiration -- both emotionally and artistically. I really appreciate the way you show the progression of your art journal pages and describe how you do them. Thanks for being there.

Rosie said...

THANK YOU Anonymous, whoever you are - its so nice to know that someone has enjoyed the work in Bad Influence, my first time of being published!