AN EARLY AUTUMN??

 

I made this page just over a week ago, one of those times when I'm recording life around me rather than wrestling with stuff I find difficult.  I do both.  Historically I've always dreaded the approach of Autumn - it comes from decades of living in old, cold houses with not enough money to heat them properly.  Every year I have to remind myself that I now live in a modestly sized house which has cavity wall insulation and double glazing, and that I won't have to huddle in 3 sweaters and fingerless gloves if I want to make art!

Anyway, this was one of those pre-prepared backgrounds I regularly make - in this case blue paint with Neocolour II crayons in fuschia pink around the edge, plus some ink blot/rings stamped in purple and burgundy.  I've got lots of ink pad colours because I like to use them as you might watercolours.

Then when I decided I'd make a page about the early Autumn, this didn't seem quite the right sort of colour palette, I mean shouldn't it be golds and browns?  Then I thought, it can be any colour I like, so why not blue and burgundy?  I had some new leaf stencils I wanted to play with so tried these out with gesso, added a wormhole or two and some bits of collage.  As you can see the white didn't really work too well for the leaves.

So I went back and outlined the leaves with a fine point pen, added a Modigliani lady who looks a bit cold if you think about it, and doodled some dots.  I still wasn't that thrilled with the leaves, but didn't hate them enough to trash the page.

My solution in the end was to introduce some some colour into the leaves, and that seemed to work out OK, although now I wish I'd left them black and white.  Never mind.  Anyway, I do rather like the finished page, particularly the colour scheme.  The burgundy dots were done with my Posca paint pens, as were the light pink doodles on the collage - this is where their opacity really comes into its own.

But best of all, where I am right now we're having a bit of an Indian summer, so long may it continue!  It won't of course, but I don't need to dread winters any more - maybe I'll do a journal page about looking forward to snuggling up by the fire in my favourite blanket and warm PJs, watching feel-good films on the TV as I wait for it to be Christmas ....

PS: Still loving this new square journal!

CLEAR SIGHTED? I wish.

 

Just a quick post because I've been away this week and am still tired.  This is a page I was particularly pleased with - I've seen some black and grey pages that intrigued me but didn't want to do without colour completely, so told myself I could have just one!

Unfortunately I was so absorbed in what I was doing that I forgot to take a picture until I got to the point below, but I think you can probably see its evolution anyway?  The background is Caran D'Ache crayons as usual, and I added a grey border with Posca paint pens.  I've made myself some collage sheets using Modigliani images (now out of copyright), and when making copies I accidentally pressed the black and white button instead of colour.  Great result, talk about serendipity, and I've loved using the black and white images, and of course the lady bottom right is one of these.

The glasses are the top are a stamp by Stampers Anonymous - a Memento ink pad works well over the crayons as long as they aren't too thick and waxy.  Then as you can see I let rip with the writing, except for the drawing of a life plan page, and some Posca Paint decorations in the top right corner.

The little panel in the bottom right is another home-made collage sheet - I borrowed an idea from Teesha Moore and made colour copies of some of my pages and cut them up to make collage images for future use.

Not nearly as much doodly drawing on this one because I actually like the spaces here.  Luckily I took this photo of the finished page BEFORE disaster struck!  I had used a very soft pencil to add shading around the figure and noticed it was coming off onto the facing page, so decided to seal this one using Mod Podge.  I THINK that what I'd used for some of the writing may not have been totally dry, so to cut a long story short the black lettering got smeared.  Aaarrgghh.  I've cleaned it up as best I can but the result is nowhere near as clean and crisp as in this picture.  Lesson learned.  I just love these colours though, and can't wait to use them again!!

And as for being more clear sighted ... well that's a work in progress, but I am trying not to be someone who is just swept along by things but to make and implement decisions to achieve the things I'm after.  Its all a bit hit and miss, what with the brain fog, and I don't have much control but I do have a BIT.  And that helps.  I'll keep working on it!

SOMETIMES ....

 

I made this page in the run up to Christmas at a stage when I simply had to take some time out to restore my sanity.  It appears the Queen and I are at one on the subject of reflection, since this was a strong theme in her Christmas speech.  God Bless you Ma'am, and that's a very cute grandbaby you've got there.

But it was actually one of those times when the page just grew, and I didn't actually know when I started out what it would be about.  I'm genuinely learning to love paint for backgrounds, and the wondrous properties of first adding a coat of gesso - which transforms the rather poor quality paper in my journals into a surface which doesn't just drink paint. 

So I picked out a cheerful colour and splodged away, before diving into my collage supplies to come up with these images - I love these Modigliani ladies, they're a sheet from Ceremony I think, and the square panel is Artchix with its central picture changed.

Noticing the reflective pose, I added the word sometimes ... meaning to write about something else entirely.  However, it got me thinking about how much I need space in my head just to think and be, and somehow the theme then got changed into what it needed to be.  

My subconscious does that to me sometimes, serendipitously mostly, and manages to tell me what's really going on in there that I need to pay attention to.  That's when journalling is at its best for me, listening to that inner prompt and getting down on paper something I didn't know I needed to express until I'd got it on the page.

So it seems that this is what it was really important, amid all the busy stuff that threatens to overwhelm you at this time of year, to take stock and figure out what really matters and what doesn't.  Actually my body was forcing me to slow down anyway since I fell victim to the most awful throat infection/virus, and am only just emerging from its grip.  There are times when God just has to trip you up to make you slow down ....?

And the page ended up a very simple one really, and my usual urge to doodle everywhere had gone away.  Perhaps its just that this basic truth needs no embellishment - it just is what it is.

Hope your Christmas was blessed and special - I like this pause between Christmas and New Year, when the world goes quiet for a while.  Well ours does.  It always feels like a gift to have time off at this stage, its when I get some of my best reflecting done ....