CHANGE AND CHALLENGE ...

 

There's lots of change around here as stuff gets cleared out, packed up or comes off the wall and there's just 36 hours to go before the removals company arrives ....

Obviously I made this a few days ago when I could still find my favourite art materials, but I have packed a bag of art journalling "necessities" to tide me over until my studio is up and running.

The page background was done with Neocolour II crayons and then I added the curved black edge with a Promarker.  The figure is a Modigliani lady I accidentally copied in black and while instead of colour - a very happy mistake!

The strong white on top is a Posca paint pen - these give very good opacity over most surfaces, so are my go-to white pens.

The writing is kind of "stream of consciousness" because this is what is swirling around in my head at the moment.  Of course life right now is crazy, and there's too much to do etc etc but how I respond to that is a matter of choice.  I can be threatened and overwhelmed or I can allow it to be exciting and positive.  I choose to look ahead to the new life we will be building, and to focus on the positives contained within that.  I don't always succeed in holding to that, but I keep working on it.

And as you can see I had a lot of fun just drawing and doodling on the rest of the page, which is the reflective part I like the best and find the most relaxing.  On this occasion relaxation was definitely the whole point of the exercise!!

So dear readers, I will see you on the "other side" - not sure when because my studio will not be high priority on the unpacking list, beds and kitchen having to come first!  There's also the small matter of a broadband connection which is booked to be done the day after we move.  Hope that goes to plan as life without the internet is NOT fun!

I'm looking forward to our new life, but not to the process of unpacking the old one and putting it all in a van.  Doing a great deal of God bothering and putting it all in her hands .....

I CAN GET THROUGH THIS!

 

This is the message I need to affirm to myself right now, so what's an art journaller to do but make a page out of it?  Sorry these pictures are a little bit dark - that's what the weather has been like here lately.

I'm not up to making complicated pages right now, but then again who says they have to be?  This is a simple coat of lime green paint over gesso, and then I grabbed my "blue" drawer of collage materials ....  That's how I organise my stuff - I have a set of shallow drawers on wheels and I have labelled them by colour, including neutrals, then words and people.  It works pretty well but is still something of a work in progress.  When I have time or am short of energy or inspiration I grab some magazines etc from the pile on the floor and rip out things I like, cut out shapes and file them in my various drawers.

I suppose there was probably a reason why I chose the lime green, but don't ask me what.  I only know I couldn't manage pink and red at the time.  Anyway blue and green is my favourite colour combination.  Below you can see how I added a grey shadow around the collage elements, and some lettering ...

The last stage was to  complete the lettering and then tackle the very plain background.  I wanted to keep it subtle so as not to detract from the main message, so simple circles with white and grey did the trick.

This is something of a mission statement - I've certainly gone back to look at this page several times this past week.  It does serve to remind me that all things pass, even the worst of times.  Not sure why I chose the bottles at the lower edge, but I assure you I've not turned to drink or anything like that!!

We are moving in 3 weeks and are almost ready for that to happen, and Himself begins chemotherapy in about 10 days.  Even with the help of amazing friends whose offers of help have been nothing less than heroic its not going to be easy, but with God's Grace we can do it - at least on the other side lies retirement and relative calm from which to approach the rest of the treatment.

SHOE FETISH? ....and a challenge?

I don't actually have a shoe fetish, more of a shoe problem as you will see. Part of my condition means that the balls and heels of my feet hurt a lot, but if I get shoes with a good thick sole (eg trainers) I can manage. Well I laughed when I saw this picture in a magazine because it exactly illustrates the tension between what I'd like to wear and the reality of what I need to wear ...
This is a Caran d'Ache crayon background - they're still my absolute favourite medium, and I am now saving up for a bigger set of colours, because 30 doesn't seem enough and 84 sounds brilliant!

I also revisited a technique I use sometimes of cutting out words from magazine (free materials!) and trying to use them to say what I mean. Then of course came the fun part of tackling the empty bits,which seemed to need filling up, and I used an Invoke Arts stamp to do the creeping tendrils or whatever they are which always makes me smile. I also added a stamp of a shoe which looks like several I own, and reminds me of ones I wore as a kid.
So (as ever) having dug out these secret longings this was an attempt to resolve them by making a page about my negative feelings. Sometimes it helps to work through them. On this occasion it didn't - my inner child is still shouting for peep toes and pink patent. Sigh.

But on a brighter note .... the picture below is the beginning of a page I was working on yesterday, when it occurred to me to issue a challenge! Are you up for it? OK well your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make your own journal page (or indeed whatever) on the theme of "it makes me mad"!! Leave a comment with a link and we'll all have fun finding out what really gets up your nose, and you'll have the therapeutic benefit of getting it out of your system ...