Lazy Days

How wonderful is it to sit in your own little world and create something that is just special for you. No pressure about whether it will be good enough to sell or give to someone else, just for you and if you like it, the colours the textures the materials etc., then it has passed the test. I wanted something to put on the wall in our new media room which is predominately brown tones with a few turquoise touches here and there (pillows, throws, candles etc) so wanted to pick up a tiny bit of that colour in the painting. It was a collage of sorts and I was quite pleased with the result althought the camera always washes the colours out a bit. Once I had the bug I was into another one to put into our spare room. I had recently bought a new doona cover with browns but some gold highlights and wanted to pick that colour out, plus I love the richness of gold in paintings. For something different I added some broken purple glass as the purple colouring looks fantastic teamed with gold. The thing I dislike about an open plan house is there are just not enough walls to hang all my creations on. Maybe we should have included a gallery wall when we built it because I definitely don't have any plans to stop creating anytime soon!
Enjoy the weekend

More Art

I finished off a few more pages in my journal today.I'm going to miss this when I go back to work next week. I can't believe how much I have enjoyed being out of action! This one was inspired by the image of the mask.  I coloured it and added some feathers and a jewel. I then cut some shapes from a random piece of paper which I had been experimenting with, mixing colour and overstamping. I'd almost thrown it away! The background was a wash of Paynes grey blotted with a serviette, painted a few swirls and added some thoughts of the theatre. I'm not sure if I've finished this page yet? This second page is a bit different to my usual style, it's a bit like a bad dream really.  I just started doodling and ended up with this. Stuck to two different colours of paint, they are actually a bit brighter in real life. I have since added pink spots between the ovals on the right hand side which makes it look like a necklace. Did the feathers with a pemanent marker, they were fun. I would probably rip this out under normal circumstances but I learnt at a recent art course that every piece is a record of your journey and so, not only do I retain it but I post it on my blog, what a step for me! Hoping to get back in my craftroom tomorow although I should be doing my husbands end of financial year books so that I'm not faced with doing it after work next week. I wonder which one I will choose?  Enjoy your day, Janet xx

Battling on

I continue to try and get my head around the features of the blogging world, I can't believe how many hours can be spent moving from blog to blog veiwing all the incredible artwork. I have spent a few fruitful days in my craft room doing some journalling as I am currently home from work recovering from a small op. It is a rare opportunity for me to enjoy some uninterupted time on my own, I've even set the phone to silent! I created this layout the other day, it was challenging because I had pieces of wet texture paste all over the page and I was impatient to continue working and kept smudging it. The licorice allsorts were the hardest as the template I cut had tiny slits to allow the colours to layer, anyway I got there in the end. The entire black background was for the benefit of the licorice! I then used the leftover colours of the texture paste and smeared them together to create the pastel flowers, the whole thing reminded me of a trip the ice cream parlour and all the different choices. Painted the leaves, very random!

This page was fashioned around the image I had of a penny farthing cycle. I used permanent

markers to doodle the background and stuck the transfer image of the cylce over the top. The image got me thinking about pennies and the other page emerged. I scanned some old pennies to create images and added a bit of writing and an old theatre ticket. I was especially pleased with the background for this, did a wash with brown and olive green paint and then placed some paper towel over it and pressed. It left the imprint of the towel, looks great. I still have trouble being spontaneous with my creations. I am a draughtsperson by trade and unfortunately my trained "drafting eye" always wants to line everything up evenly and balanced, I really have to work against it at times. I love the colours in this page. I didn't really have a design in mind it just evolved. I did the black swirls first and everything else followed. I'm always impatient to finish the page because I already have the idea for a new one and I'm seriously comptemplating having a few journals on the go at the same time so that I can jump around a bit. I often lay in bed a night and have to resist the impulse to jump up and go back to my paints with a new idea that just emerged. Am I mad? Mind you it wasn't like that when the kids were at home, too tired.

My eldest daughter is getting married in a few months and I am busily tracking down supplies to make all of the decorations. Fortunately she has chosen a theme close to my heart so it is a pleasure to create. Antique creams and coffees, mixed with a soft russet colour, laces, pearls, ribbons, candles it's dreamy. I will be very busy between now and then though. They are giving each guest a wine glass as a bomboneire and I am making a beaded wine glass ring for the stem of each one as well. I've done a prototype and was quite pleased with the result. I am waiting for supplies to arrrive as I want the ring a bit smaller and I am contemplating dying the rosebuds a bit to make them look more antique. I discovered a wonderful product during a recent art course that was right under my nose and I had no idea about its properties (thanks Kerryanne). Parisian essence has been my best friend ever since. I think I'll try dipping the edges of the paper rose in it today and see what I come up with. Fortunately my daughter is an angel in disguise and I will do anything in the world for her. Best sign off, I can hear those brushes and paints calling. Wish there were more hours in the day.

Enjoy yours.

Janet

Well this is my first post and as I'm new to the blogging world I'm sure to make some monumental errors but I'm determined to keep trying. I recently participated in an online course entitled "Embracing the Passion" which was facilitated by Kerryanne of Woodberry Designs http://www.woodberrydesigns.com.au/. I came away from the course with so much inspiration and enthusiasm and can't speak highly enough of the direction the course gave me. I was in the middle of a bit of a creative block and needed a kick start to get back into what I love doing the most, which is spending time in my craftroom, surrounding by my "supplies" and lost in a world of creativity. One of the many pieces of advice that I received from Kerryanne was to remember that if you are creative you are not alone and there is a whole world of like minded artists out there willing to share their experiences and knowledge. So here I am having a go at reaching out to this world. I shared my artistic experience more so with Lee from the same course than anyone else and she shared quite a bit of her work and I was able to see the different slants that interpretation brings. It was so interesting and encouraging to realise that there is no right or wrong way, only your way and if it makes you happy then that is all that matters. As part of the course we were encouraged to start journalling, by either prompts given to us for inspiration or just by use of daily experiences. I tended to stick to the prompts although did veer off on a tangent at times. It was a vey liberating excercise and one I am still enjoying. I am in a new phase of my life at the moment having just had my youngest and last child move out of home and I guess I was really ready to plunge my energy into something like this. I guess too, for the first time in years I have time to spend on myself without feeling guilty. These are a couple of the pages I created, each one a challenge and each one very different but so rewarding.I can't believe just how excited I can get when I sit to start creating on a new blank page with all the design ideas swirling in my head.