Take 2.

Well, that was rather a long break....When I decided to start my blog, my family was going through the most challenging time of our life. It seems I was not ready to relax & reach out to the online art community. We have been under severe financial stress, an all consuming, stressful 6 months which left me emotionally & mentally exhausted. The situation is now resolved (or at least well on the way there) so I am re-starting my blog.

Where do I start?
I think with the present ;)

My current Art Journal is an altered book. This is the first 'real' old book I used. My previous Art Journals have all been spiral bound sketch books. I am really enjoying the format. Even though I pretty much block out any original writing on most pages, it's a lovely surprise to reveal a window with random statements here & there and get a slight hint of something underneath.



I tend to journal when I am churned up with some sort of internal conflict. This page was spurred on by ruminations on my "baggage". Nothing terribly deep, just a reflection on some personal issues.

In terms of the art, I wanted to try a book tearing technique that I saw recently. A few weeks ago, I visited some artists as part of a local open artist studios week-end. It was such an enriching & inspiring experience.
The tree is something similar to a technique that one of the artists does with incredible finesse (mine is a crude version of it). I also tried the shading method she used for her trees. Quite fun. The images I used were all from Google images. I also used a strip of the tear-off edge from old printer paper (for those of you old enough to remember them) ;) This was my symbolic "old" to go with the theme of the page.

Till next time,
Lena

The Beginning....

OK. It is time to take the plunge....

I have been planning to start this Blog for some time now. To quote a well-worn slogan: "Just do it"!

A bit about myself:
I was very creative as a child. I really enjoyed drawing and collage. As I came into my teenage years, arty play had to take a backseat to the 'more important' & more productive studying. I do not recall any art classes in school so they were obviously not very memorable. After 25 + years of focusing on study, work, being a wife and mother, my creativity has now resurfaced (with a vengeance).

The last 5 years has been a journey of discovery for me. My creative expression has progressed from card-making to altered art and mixed media. I voraciously explored the internet and learned scrap-booking techniques which I used in card-making. I knew that pure scrap-booking wasn't for me. I always gravitated towards mixed media type art. I then stumbled upon the one and only, Suzi Blu and discovered the world of Art Journalling.

Interesting how things have come full circle. I am now doing what I was attracted to as a child. Faces and busy & dimensional collages. Hmmm....funny how some of us take a while to listen to one's soul.

I am not exactly sure what my blog will be like but I am prepared to just let go & share my Art and my thoughts and see what develops. That is a lesson I have learnt from art journaling.

Until next time.
Lena :)