Dream of good things, art journal spread

Hi

This is something I made last year but couldn't add it to Instagram because I couldn't successfully show the 'before and after' so I thought I'd add it here.

Below is an art journal spread I completed last year.... I think for the product release....  but there's something about it that I just don't like.

I'd flip past it (quickly), or clip it shut and was seriously considering sticking the pages together so I didn't have to look at it (I've done that before on pages!)... 

So, I decided to take drastic action - I painted the whole art journal spread black.  Oh it felt good to do that!!!  There's something about a page covered in black gesso! It looks so lush!

I remembered I had some sample flowers left over after teaching my 'Bloom' online workshop (sample below) - the flowers would look stunning on a black background!!   It would be really interesting to have two versions of the same project in dramatically different colour schemes.....

So that's what I did! I used most of the same flowers and foliage die cuts, & used the same stencil to add background detail using Arteza' Pearl Space Gray' metallic acrylic paint (it gives a really lovely shimmery grey/almost black finish).

LOVE LOVE LOVE this journal spread now!  lol

I really like that the 'history' of the page can be seen - the black paint didn't completely cover the embossed white flowers of the original spread, and I don't mind that at all - it gives interesting texture to the back ground.

I think its a gorgeous transformation... (I've already painted several other journal spreads that I didn't like.... NB I always take a photograph of the original pages because I think there is always something to learn from things that go wrong, or that are disliked)

I'd recommend covering up pages/spreads you're not happy with - cover them with paint or papers - alter them in some way.. part of the fun of art journaling and you'll learn something along the way... I know I did.

Thanks for stopping by

PS: The 'Bloom' workshop is still available as a Facebook Live class, please contact me on FB if you'd like to join.

Christmas Alphabet

Hi

During December I made a 'Christmas Alphabet' book.   This was an idea I had stemming my alphabet game (when I can't sleep I pick a subject and find things to do with that subject for every letter of the alphabet (I may have mentioned this before) (eg:  countries: Albania, Belgium, Canada, Denmark etc etc etc you get the idea).  Then I heard a song by Dickie Valentine called the 'Christmas Alphabet' that is THE most retro, heartwarming christmas song I've heard in a while - it topped the Christmas music charts in 1955 (way before my time! lol) - look it up - its totally charming - I warn you though - its an earworm. I apologise in advance.

I made this book (5x7inches) as a way of working on a Christmas project without actually documenting christmas.  I got as far as 19 letters which I think is pretty good!  I stopped because I set a time limit - not because I couldn't think of anything to do with certain letters - though Q was, and still is, a bit tricky! (so if you think of something please let me know, add it to the comments.  Thanks!)

I posted all the pages on Instagram but I wanted to put them on my blog too - so here it is - my Chritsmas Alphabet! 

A: Angel

B: Baubles

C: Candles

D: Donkey, Decorations,..... ??

E:  Elf

F: Father Christmas

G: Gift

H: Holly

I: Ice Skating

J: Jingle, Jolly (I was struggling with this letter and then DH said 'er, how about Jesus?!' Oh my goodness how could I have forgotten the main reason for christmas!  Shamed, straight onto the naughty list.)

K: Kings ('we three kings of orient are....')

L: ??

M:  Mittens, Mistletoe, Mincepie

N: Naughty or Nice

O: Ornaments

P: Poinsettia

Q: ???

R: Reindeer/Rudolph

S: Snow

T: Tree

U:  Us (yes, I was stretching the christmas theme with this one but due to Covid restrictions (we're in Tier 4) it was just the two of us this christmas so I felt it was justified.

V: ???

W: Wreath

X: Xmas

Y: Yule log

Z:  was going to be lots of little Zs to illustrate sleeping - inspired by 'twas the night before christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse....'

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy New Year!!

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Well hello!  

Its been a while... almost 6 months...  

In that time so much has been going on in the world hasn't it - I hope you are all doing ok.

I, like a lot of people, has had to adapt to these new circumstances - find new ways of connecting with people... new ways of teaching my classes etc etc etc. 
So I started offering my classes online (as many tutors have) through Facebook - its a fun way to teach but takes some getting used to - standing in my workroom/studio talking to myself/ the camera...  but I'm glad I offered these workshops - it connected me to some lovely people, gave me purpose and I hope it inspired people.

My plan for 2021 is to spend more time on my blog - its nice to write something more substantial than short texts that accompanying photos on Instagram....  aaah Instagram - I do love it but it is a time vortex!! ....very easy (too easy) to get sucked in!  In a good way, obviously!

aaaanyhoo - I'm going to start slowly getting back to writing my blog - I'm aiming for once a week to start with and see how that goes - its all about building a habit isn't it - good habit.

Thanks for stopping by, and all best wishes for the coming year.