ENFORCED REST

Resting is something I have to do a lot of - very often when I'd rather be busy and active and "out there" instead of stuck in here .... Hey ho. When I made this page I was trying not to mind that it was the result of having overdone it a few days earlier but on something I hadn't much wanted to do anyway! I mean, you'd feel differently if you'd thoroughly enjoyed yourself or danced all night wouldn't you? Anyway I was trying to think calm, accepting thoughts and I made these layers of blue and green, one of my favourite colour combinations, using my trusty Caran d'Ache watersoluble crayons.
Then I laid down some writing, doodling and a bit of collage - which is mostly how all my pages develop. I think I just love fiddling about, colouring, drawing and doodling ... and I certainly do find that very restful. I seem to go off to this place inside my head where my creative self lives, and whenever I've spent time there I feel so much better. I hope you know what I'm rambling on about?
On this occasion the process proved very good for my soul, and I hope this isn't too whining or self pitying. I was pleased that I hadn't attempted to fill every last inch with stuff - the page feels more elegant and understated, which sort of fits with the subject matter. These are the pages I like the best - which don't begin with any very definite ideas and just grow and develop as I go along. The final statement feels powerful and affirming - that even though I do have to rest a lot, I'm still making that time fruitful. That's good to remember on days when I feel life is passing me by ...

FRIEND WANTED!

I must have been feeling a bit lonely when I made this page ... which was only partly tongue in cheek! As you can see below, it began once again with my efforts to draw/write first and add colour after. It still feels slightly odd, but is definitely an interesting way to work - although "colouring" feels a bit like something I should be doing with children!!
Sometimes I draw a bit then colour a bit, and so on, but here I did draw the whole thing out in black and white before I added any colour (except for the picture in the centre). A major advantage of working this way is using white space, which can be very creative, and is something I've not really thought about before. From the point of view of travel journalling this technique would work really well, as you could do all the drawing and writing on-site then add colour when you got home, which would save carrying anything beyond a simple kit.
Its also provided an opportunity to further explore the possibilities of my Promarkers - all the colour here has been done this way. I am now a serious fan of these (as you may have noticed). There doesn't seem to be much difference between Promarkers and Copics, so I went for Promarkers because they British - it seemed right to support the home market in these tough times.
You might also be glad to know that, around about the time I made this page, I was developing a relationship with a local lady which has already blossomed into something special. Making this page prompted a decision, and I sent her a jokey email requesting her friendship - done like a job advert as here, but carrying warnings she might like to take into account! To my great pleasure she responded positively ... although I keep telling her that she doesn't strictly meet the criteria as she doesn't drive! I can but don't any more for health reasons, which leaves us reliant on other people for transport. Am sure we'll work something out - we can always get on the bus which stops right outside my door! As for lunches and craft shopping expeditions these have already taken place ....!!

SAD PHONE GEEK

I've recently been rather taken with journallers who draw little pictures of objects from their daily life. Well my phone was on the desk, and I couldn't help noticing (again) how pretty it is, and so I drew its picture .... see below. Also had a chance to play with my new typewriter letter stamps. The statement speaks for itself - from the heart, sad but true.
The page ended up being quite different to my normal style with these big blocks of colour (using my Promarkers), but I rather like how crisp and relatively simple it is. Makes a change anyway from the busy busy pages I usually do!
And even though I added a few twiddly doodles, I didn't go overboard (unless you think I did)!
I don't use it all that much - but that's increasing, and since I bought the new pink and white floral (kind of Japanese blossom) glossy hard case, its more beautiful than ever. OK I admit it, I don't know how to use half the things it does, but I don't care. It works for me. It gives me joy every time I pick it up, and it was a present. What's not to like???

TOUCHED A NERVE THERE ...

For once I responded to a challenge with this page - over on the Stampotique Designers Blog - to alter a book page, with the option of using a Stampotique image. Well I love this scribbly face by Daniel Torrente, she looks so fierce and cross and I use her a lot. Hmmm maybe that says something about me? So I pasted a page from the old hardback I use for such purposes onto a journal page and set to work ... completely forgetting to take my usual stage pictures.

But you can probably see why ... this subject is something which has been on my mind for some time. I can't understand why any woman would describe herself as "not a feminist". All it means is "pro-woman", and my Other Half describes himself as one too! I fought a lot of battles against sexism and patriarchal attitudes in my younger days, and sad to say I still see a lot of things which need to change. So rude words to the whole concept of post-feminism - if we girls can't stand up for one another who will? And I want things to be better for my girls and my grand-daughters ...

Oh yes, and how do you like the brilliant ink pad rack my nephew made for me? Super innit? I couldn't find anything (affordable) to house these larger ink pads and we did a spot of bartering - I made him a scrapbook album of family history, and he made me this. Result!

TROUBLE WITH MY BRAIN ...

Unreliable brain cells were the subject of this page - I'm sure you know the ones, which refuse to release info you know is in there, or absorb new stuff that you need to remember ...? Yes I thought you would. The basic outline below isn't an original idea, but one I saw somewhere (probably in the Stampington art journalling magazine) and rather liked. I actually drew it on the page some time ago, but had quite a long wait before inspiration struck.
I drew the black flames (well that's what I thought they were) with a Promarker pen, but the rest of the colour was added with Caran d'ache watersoluble crayons. I make no apology for the colour scheme - I LIKE pink, and my hand just automatically reaches for it ...

And that was the point at which I wrote the large white words on the "flames" ... probably because I'd been going to write about something else, but forgotten what it was before I could do so. Yes, you know that feeling too, right? Anyway, I was thinking about cogs slipping and whathaveyou, wondering why my mental gears were always crashing (for those of you who drive automatic cars, that's to do with using a manual gearbox, when the gears don't mesh and you get the most awful crunching sound).
And so it went on, with me whinging away in similar vein, although I would really REALLY like to know the answers to these questions. I used to be quite clever (honest, I was) but a combination of menopausal brain death and Fibromyalgia fog have reduced me to the mental capacity of a gnat ...
Still it made a nice page didn't it, and I got it off my chest!
By the way, I bought some Pilot drawing pens for journalling that I'm really pleased with - right from a very fine 01 to a nice wide 08, and of course the white pen is the superb Uniball Signo, the best I've found. The pilot pens don't blur or run whatever you throw at them, including Promarkers, and seem to suit me better than the Letraset ones.

Persons with similarly recalcitrant brain cells that won't remember mobile phone numbers or the names of the persons standing right in front of you (even if they are related to you) may now leave sympathetic messages ..... We're all in this together sisters!

A COUPLE OF QUICKIES ....

For various reasons (I think my Dad was ill at the time) I did some pages where I didn't manage to do my usual stage photos, but thought I'd put them on my blog anyway. The one above started as one of my attempts to do more with paint, and even has a gesso base!! If I sound a bit unconvinced its because I think I am, but am willing to persevere. I can't now remember exactly what sparked this, but have a vague idea that it was a close friend putting herself down that made me cross and set off this train of thought. I told her not to do it, pointing out that there are always plenty of people willing to do so for us! With her I think its one of those make fun of myself before someone does it to me things .... and I wouldn't mind but she's a brave, strong and talented woman, if also a fragile and vulnerable one at the same time.
This page began because my beloved brought me a bunch of rosebuds (from Aldi) which are mainly white but have this incredible edge of vivid pink on the petals. "I saw these and thought of you" he told me. Now he's not normally a very demonstrative man, he'll never surprise me by whisking me off to Paris or a posh restaurant, but he has always brought me whatever flowers he could afford ... I think that makes me lucky after 30+ years, and I wanted to celebrate that. It isn't one of my best, arty pages, but its about something real which makes me feel warm inside.

OH GOOD GRIEF ....!

This was a very heartfelt page made after my beloved had had to cut up my food for me! I admit it, I panicked a bit ....! It's hard not to mind about increasingly losing your independence, but I managed to laugh about it eventually, and making this helped. I'm rather pleased with it as another step in my progress as a Promarker user, as I learn how to combine colours and do shading.
But it started like this - inspired by some work I saw in Stampington's Art Journalling magazine. As before, the work is prepared in black and white and only then is colour added. It's something that doesn't quite come naturally, but I have been pleased with the experiments I've undertaken so far. As you can see below, I didn't complete the whole page without colour, but added it here and there as I went along.
Its funny but colouring around the journalling and drawn shapes is actually easier, so this might be the way I'm going to go. Working like this and developing my drawing skills seems to be pressing my buttons anyway, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it!
And this is the finished result - it seems to work really well leaving some white space around things, which is just as well because the pens do bleed somewhat on this watercolour paper. They come through to the other side as well, but that's OK because I always glue two sheets together to make a thicker base to work on. Even then it can still come through a bit, but I've learned the hard way what techniques will and won't work on the reverse of one of these.
I'm looking forward to doing more pages like this anyway. Does anybody know of any Promarker tutorials or classes you can go to - there must be so much I need to learn about these.

A BIT RANDOM REALLY ...

If this page looks a bit different that's because it IS. I was having a go at a new way of doing things and the result is a bit random but I might well do it again ....
Looking at someone else's journal (duh, I forget whose) I realised that they began with all the writing and drawing FIRST, and then laid down colours around this. It made perfect sense except that that's not how I've ever done it. So I thought I would have a go and the above is the beginning of the process.
Then as you can see above I put some basic colours on the page using my Caran d'ache watersoluble crayons. It did feel very odd to be working around my drawings and at first I tried to do that colouring within the lines thing, before realising that I really didn't HAVE to, and in fact it looked better with some white space.
And of course I couldn't be doing with the empty bits in the middle so inevitably added some more stuff, although you can see that what I've written is more about what I was doing than a deep reflection on the meaning of life! Both are legit as far as I'm concerned!
And it was pretty much inevitable that I finished up filling every available inch of space, in my usual fashion. I rather like how wild and colourful it turned out, so this experiment did encourage me to work beyond my usual tidy boundaries! It was odd to work in what is, for me, the reverse way of doing things - I usually lay down a background colour first - but I did enjoy it. I can see that working this way gives me a lot of control over the relationship between what I write or draw and the colours around that, so I'll probably use both techniques in future.

MUSINGS ABOUT HOME ...

This page began in my head when I was in the middle of writing a sermon, and had turned to my journal for rest and distraction. The text for that day had to do with the stranger and the alien, which got me thinking about home ...

I used a page I had previously prepared with a Distress Ink background, adding Promarker and fine black pen doodles, and something which made me think of the roof of a house. I got this far and still having the sermon themes in my head, realised that home is nothing to do with houses, or indeed bricks or mortar at all! That's when I wrote ... "where can I go from your presence".
So that's what the page turned out to be about - which wasn't what I'd intended, but it often works out that way ... so I added a lot more reflection around the ideas uppermost in my mind. I was also thinking about those words which describe God as a "strong tower", so that's why my house has bricks (I think that comes from a hymn, but can't remember).
However, lest you think me very holy indeed (as if) I'm bound to admit that the reason I write all this stuff down is because I often forget these truths, and need to be reminded of them! If I could always remember them I probably wouldn't need to journal at all!!

SCARY DEMONS

We all have scary demons that keep us awake nights - right? Well lucky you if you don't, but I do! But I have found that from childhood monsters upwards, things are more frightening when you allow them to grow and become huge in the dark. So my policy has been to bring fears into the light and take a long hard look at them. Somehow they are almost always less scary when you do this, and just occasionally they disappear. That's what I was trying to write about here.

I was also trying to be more adventurous with colour sprays, but ended up with a background that was truly vivid but a bit dark for writing on!
This page makes me smile whenever I look at it. I don't think of myself as brave - I'm prey to all kinds of fears and worries, as we all are. But I do try to overcome these things. It even works sometimes ....

IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST .....

I've been poring over the latest edition of the Somerset Art Journalling magazine - so full of inspiration you hardly know where to start! Anyway, I wanted to challenge myself to try some new things, or techniques I hardly ever use. I took inspiration from Joanne Sharpe and her use of black line on sections of vivid colour.

But first I did this ..... I stuck down a sheet of torn text, then gessoed over it , before adding patches of paint colour. I knew I'd want to draw around the colour panels so thought about the shapes I was laying down. Some of the colours were deeper than I really wanted, so I experimented with lifting some of it off, sort of blotting it with a baby wipe. It seemed to work.
Then I set to with a really fine pen to doodle around - this part was fun! I am conscious that this owes a lot to Joanne's style, but I like this technique and hope to make it my own on future pages.
And this is what I finished up with - rather more space than I usually leave, but that's what Joanne's pages are like and I wanted to make myself do it! It was a struggle but ....
While I like the finished result it isn't quite "me" somehow, but I learned a lot doing it that I'm sure I'll take on into future pages. That's the whole point of trying out something new isn't it, and why I never ever mind if people are inspired to use my pages in their own journals - we all take from one another and a variety of sources don't we? Still, if you do, a mention is always nice ....

By the way - thank you so much to all of you who responded to my last post! You've let me know that what I always hoped is true - that the things I do in my journals resonate for you also, both the ideas I write about and sometimes the techniques I use. If I am ever able to inspire or encourage someone else's art journey, that's what I do it for.

I'M SO PLEASED WITH THIS ONE

Well I probably shouldn't say that (blowing one's own trumpet being generally frowned upon) but I AM pleased with this - which turned out exactly as I wanted it to. Can't say that very often!! A couple of weeks ago I wrote this "psalm" and wanted to include it in my current journal. I knew that (unusually for me) I'd need to do a double page spread, so began with this Basic Gray paper as a background. Being so focused on the motherhood of God idea, I wanted to express that visually, so began to sketch a pregnant mother ....
Then I started to give her some colour and (I hope) personality. I used my Promarkers here - I'm loving them more and more as I slowly learn how to use them to best effect, and must also say that they're wonderfully fast. Now that might not be an important attribute to everyone, but to someone with a sieve brain such as myself it means I don't forget where I was trying to go while I'm doing it!
The next stage was to write out the words and gradually add more decoration. The gold pen I used here seems to add a whole new dimension, and I used some more of that fine gold mist too but you can't see that here - it gives the figure a very slightly twinkly look.
Then it was time to start working on the other side - again by writing out the verses, and I knew I wouldn't have room for much more illustration. Focusing on the words allowed me to see how much space would be left for decoration, and once I'd drawn the leaves and flower I went back and added some of these to the left hand side to link it all together.
And this is the finished product, and as I said for once I'm very pleased with it. Some days I like what I've done, and others I don't, but then just occasionally I pull off something I didn't think I could do .... and this is one of them.
You may of course be happy with the image of God as Father, and the idea of mother might seem positively alien? Both are entirely legitimate, since God is neither male nor female, but we can find understandings of God's nature in the best of human nature and experience, whether of men or women. There is a redemptive aspect too for me in a motherly God, since my own mother was pretty deficient in that direction ....

Please tell me if you like it, or how you respond (or not). So many of you follow but so few comment, and sometimes its just nice to hear from you and remember that you're out there! I'm grateful for all feedback.