MAKING A DIFFERENCE ...

  

This is a deceptively simple page using one of my favourite colour combinations.  As you can see below it began with a simple coat of lime green paint - just the ordinary craft kind.  Next I drew some curvy lines with two colours of purple Posca paint pens, then I just began to doodle around the edges, adding a white wavy line, and a checked strip over the lime green.

I added the Modigliani lady having copied the image in black and white, and used a Promarker to give her some pink cheeks and altered her eyes to give her a slightly less anxious expression!  Then I couldn't resist adding yet more layers to the frame - I was just having FUN.

You can also see above the difference a grey shadow makes - I added this one with a Promarker.  The text is about how much I hope I can make some kind of positive difference in the world.  I like to think I can - and being mostly at home I do have TIME to listen to people who need that.  But sometimes I doubt myself and feel like I'm just a waste of space .... so this page was about affirming for myself that my life has real meaning and purpose and does make a difference, to someone somewhere, sometimes.

Then a bit more doodling, and little collage to fill some gaps, and it was done.  Sorry this is just a short post, I'm particularly tired at the moment so its more of a lie on the sofa kind of day .... and I have an art journalling magazine to take with me!

MAKING A DIFFERENCE .....

I'm still challenging myself to love paint and this was a very painty background ... I even splodged it around with a baby wipe on this one!  The result was quite pleasing - a bit like a stormy sky perhaps - if somewhat darker than it was really meant to be!

Then I had a good rummage in my box of magazine clippings and came up with the "how to make a difference" headline, which seemed like a good theme.  Now you might wonder what the house is doing there, and so did I once I'd pasted it down.  It was the colours that were just perfect really, but I concluded eventually that it was also there because when you're talking about the simple things in life it always boils down to home, doesn't it?

The typewriter?  Well that's  just there because its blue I think, anyway I can't come up with any more complex explanation, I just liked it, and that's a good enough reason to put it in in my book!

So once again this is a page in which I'm pretty much thinking aloud.  Because I'm now disabled and not able to hold down a job it is a repeating theme of my life to wonder occasionally what I'm "for" and whether I can still make a difference in the world when I can't even get out there independently any more.

But as you can see I came to the conclusion that it isn't about big stuff like founding Child Line or walking through minefields like Princess Diana.  It's that "bloom where you're planted" thing - you may not be able to go out and touch thousands of lives, but you can touch the people you meet on a day by day basis, and you can make a difference to them just by having time to give, and being willing to listen ....  I don't get out of the house as much as I'd like to, but people ring me or find their way to my door, and that's fine by me.

And because this insight is a very simple truth its a relatively simple page.  I did think about doing lots of doodly bits but it just wasn't right here.  I might even do more simple pages.  Yes, I know, its not that likely to happen is it, given my propensity for drawing and doodling and filling in the spaces.  The leopard doesn't change her spots because she LIKES them ....... :)
Rosie

I MUST BE GETTING OLD ...

It must be that I'm getting old, because I finally resigned myself to the fact that I'm never going to fulfil most of my youthful dreams. Well I gave up on being a ballerina in my teens when it became clear that I had two left feet ....
But all the big things I'd imagined turned out to be unimportant, and if I want to be remembered for anything it would be as somebody who tried to make a difference. On the days when I feel like life has conspired to make me somebody who has to stay home and sit down a LOT, it helps me to remember that I can still do that! That's what was in my mind as this page began - and that little chap is the "one person" I hoped I could make a difference for.

So that's what I was rambling on about as I worked on this - and look at me not writing in straight lines! Quite a revolution for me ...
I recently got a book on zentangle doodling and it has definitely influenced my journalling - I liked to draw on pages before, but on this one I was trying to take it to another level. Well perhaps the next level anyway!
Had a lot of fun with this as a result - well I expect you can see that! I've always been somebody who liked lots of fiddly little details, and as you probably already know I just can't resist filling up pages with all sorts of drawings and doodling.
So this is the finished result, completed with a dotty/swirly stamp which is one of my favourites. I'm very pleased with this one - I really like this colour combination and I'm SO proud of my efforts at not writing in straight lines! This leopard is clearly not too old to change her spots ...

Somebody said the other writing was hard to read so I reinstated this (more boring font). Not as much fun but I did think legibility was an important element!