Casper

I have recently tidied up my art space (a trestle table next to the family dining table) leaving only my current projects on top. My cat Casper took a liking to the new cleaner table. This is how I found him, 2 days in a row.

 On Saturday, unceremoniously planted right on top of my canvasses, happily snoozing away! (I woke him with my camera flash)

On Sunday, after I stacked my canvasses, left my Art Journal open with collage papers spread out. He still wedged himself in. Ahhh...the life of a cat! ;)

Some older journal pages...

Thought I'd post a few older journal spreads until I have something current to show...

This was a fairly simple page where I made my first paper stencil (just folding a piece of paper in half and cutting out a freeform image) which I then gesso'd around. So much fun! I have to say I still love this page, it really does achieve the intended effect for me ;)

This was my first attempt at a more 'loose', graffiti-style page. It looks very timid from where I stand now but I do like the colours. I have just started an online course Doodles Unleashed with Traci Bautista through http://www.strathmoreartiststudio.com so looking forward to being more confident with paint doodling. I have been a follower of Tracy's blog for a few years and love her style. So good to see her process. I'm yet to put paint to paper. Have been enjoying the holidays too much and spending lots of decadent time on the computer (we are on summer holidays here).

My family and I are about to go on a family holiday for 11 days so I will have to wait till we come back.

Both of these pages were done in my favourite art journal, my only altered book - a hard-back fiction novel. My other journals are all spiral sketchbooks. There is something very special about this journal, can't quite put my finger on it...it's somehow cuddlier ;)

Paris Canvases

Have been working slowly on some canvases, adding a layer here & there....Life sure does get in the way of art :/
Finally, after a few weeks, have 2 ready and 2 still in process. At a recent get-away with my family to a coastal town, with time to look around at the many girly decorating and gift shops, I spotted some French-themed serviettes(paper napkins). I have had a bit of an obsession with using serviettes for layering in my journal pages for a while so had to snap them up!

The final result wasn't really what I originally had in mind but I think I like them. I thought the serviettes would be more of a background but ended up having them (or more precisely the Eiffel Tower) as a focal point. I have never used serviettes that had a significant image like this before, usually use patterns, flowers etc Quite a different experience...I was going to use dimensional embellishments and perhaps words of inspiration but felt they were superfluous. I found it a bit hard to know when to stop, just kept adding layers until I felt that I could do no more ...Now that I've let them sit there for a while, I think I like the result ;)

"Love is..." canvas

I made this canvas for a dear friend a few days ago. She is a true inspiration to me. She is creative and very organised which is reflected in the way she keeps her house - warm and beautiful just like her. I can only strive for that beauty and energy ;)
A group of my friends and I went out for dinner last night for her birthday. We had 'pre-dinner drinks' at her house where we toasted her and gave her our presents. She loved my canvas and immediately put it on display. It looked great in her house I must say.

The canvas took me many hours but was lots of fun to make. Loving the shabby-chic look at the moment. I intended it to be more white but happy with the way it turned out. I used my favourite mixed -media techniques. The first painted layer was fairly dark peach. I white-washed it with gesso (how did I ever live wthout it) ;) Then many layers of bubble-wrap stamping,, collaged music papr, torn tissue strips. I made a heart out of my off-cuts of embossed paper and shaded with oil pastels.

Thinking of perhaps selling them via Facebook but not sure if I could simplify them enough so that they are quicker to make and are financially viable...Hmmm....

Lena :)

Some backgrounds

Life has really been getting in the way of art lately...Been working on 2 backgrounds in my 2 current journals. Very slowly...a layer here, a layer there. Finally have something to show for it :)


This is inspired by a member of my Blissfully Art Journaling Yahoo group. She posted a "Layered faces" tutorial to her Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/feliciaborges/sets/72157627033435415/ It's reminded me how much I adore making credit card technique backgrounds. Love the unexpected magic. I used velum for the image, the only transparent paper I had in the house. Bit stiff & 'crunchy'. Will have to get some tracing paper for next time.
As I was about to scan, was just thrilled to discover, as so often happens with Art Journaling, a beautiful serendipity. I wasn't terribly happy with my weird sea-weed-like doodles (I'm not an illustrator) ;) Just realised that the dictionary scrap on the right-hand side has a definition & a partial pic of roots. Wow! Perhaps a meaning there...I think I will leave this background for a while until the right page 'reveals' itself.


Another background in my other journal - a hard back novel. It's my first altered book (first time I used a book without spirals) I have a special, almost a spiritual connection to it...
I used torn strips of my 'art paper' (where I use up any paints left over on a palette) I also used, for the first time, a piece of kitchen paper towel that I use for blotting/blending. Interesting texture...I think I like it. As is obvious from the magazine image used, you don't want to see this page after it's been journaled on. Suffice it to say, the pic very accurately depicts my feelings in a recent situation I will write about :/
Thanks for visiting.
Lena :)

Lucky market find

Spent the morning yesterday leisurely scouring a well known market here in Melbourne, Australia with my 14 yr old daughter. A treasure-trove of junk and lots of fantastic clothes (wish I was young again) ;) All the while I was bemoaning a lack of 'paper items' ie anything I could use as journal fodder or ephemera. Mostly novels & boring books or collectors' items too good for cutting up. Suddenly happened upon a little stall with odds & ends, among which were some hand-made journals. Some of them were made out of Little Golden Books. They were not perfect work - the young woman cut into the spines & inserted some signatures & taped them up fairly roughly with clear tape. They were not what you see really talented ladies are making at the moment on Etsy etc but better than what I could do, and they were cheap! I took all 4 of them.




Photos showing the spine and the inserted signatures interspersed with the original pages.

My first few journals were spiral-bound art diaries. I do love them but the spirals are somewhat limiting & slightly annoying :/ I have since altered a children's board book and my current journal is a 'real book', a hard-cover novel which I absolutely LOVE. There's something mysteriously satisfying about arting up a book... I am really looking forward to journalling in a Little Golden Book. Has anyone tried this? I'm thinking I would only Gesso very lightly over the original pages if at all? Any ideas and tips would be appreciated.

I also made another crazy purchase. Check out this lace drum! That's a lotta lace for a non-sewer. I almost feel guilty. I got all that (an unknown amount) for $10!!! Just to give you an idea of the value, a coffee from a coffee shop here is approx $3.50.
I am excited to have a never-ending supply of cream lace that I don't have to scrimp on. I think I will go on a vintage frenzy in my cards, ATCs and in my journal ;)

Dimension!

Had a long-awaited art play-date with my friend and got inspired to do something a bit different and rather radical. I was finishing my journal page while my friend was making some greeting cards using her butterfly punch. I was looking at a bare patch on my spread and thinking aloud: "what am I going to put there?"....My friend said: "How about some of these butterflies?" Art Journalling serendipity yet again - I don't own a butterfly punch and had access to one as I was finishing a page...the page needed something but any more doodling &/or elements didn't feel right...got a bit of a different perspective having a different kind of paper-craft near me being created....and voila! my first dimensional element on a journal page. And why not?! There are no rules right?
Lena :)