Serendipity and Synchronicity Prompt!

Journal prompt from True North Arts, here is a link to Kathryns fabulous blog to have a look and maybe enter your own journal page!

http://truenortharts.com/

Thought I'd re-load picture of journal page, the first one was scanned and for some reason it won't open to enlarge on the blog page but jpeg pictures do. Just so you can all see the detail of those inchies and read the words around the page.

Have a lovely day, Angie ox.

Art Journalling

Finished one of the True North journal challenges, my first journal page.

Very exciting to have it done!

I must admit I found it difficult at first, didn't have all the materials so I improvised with what I had, and I got stuck with what images to add to the compass. Eventually I did start to relax and found the flow in the creating process.

The image is of a home made compass, where you put water in a bowl and with a metal object you allow the magnetising to turn the needle to north. The blue represents water, words floating around it are the answers to the questions asked by Katheryn. The images around, I used 'inchies', are of 1inch squares painted in acrylics and decorated simply using what ever I had on hand. Some are drawn with black ink, others I used pastel pencils, glued on numbers found in news papers and stickers.
Most of the images are of things which has special meaning to me like -

• the female form represents creativity, female energies, the muse....
• the all seeing eye is soul/spirit....
• swirling shapes of water/nature
• images of nature, birds, flowers....
• the letter T for teaching, words of expression and meaning....
• things I like to do in my own art doodling, painting....
• my lucky number 5!

Hope you like the first journal, it is one of many more to come. I am wanting to loosen up and experiment some more with colour and form.

Have a great week, Angie ox.

Time for hibernation into the art cave.

This week has been slower and quieter, lovely really. As I am still recovering from a head cold.
I needed some time for self, so I have also had time for creating, some research (surfing finding new blogs, some great creativity going out there!), time with family.
As things have slowed down I have had lots of time to think and was able to really write in my journal, this is a book that I write my thoughts on art, things I want to make and how to work some projects, collections of pictures I like, brainstorming ideas etc...It really helps with having a clear mind on what I want to create, which of late I have not.
I have wanted to start an Art Journal and took on the Serendipity Compass challenge from "True North Arts".
I got half way and got stuck for ideas and kind of froze for a while, so then I took out my trusty journal and started writing out ideas, rough sketches and I am going to add to my compass some 'inchies', something I found out about whilst researching, they are one inch cardboard squares decorated and embellished how ever one wants, so I will try these out and post soon.
Didn't actually realise how small an inch was! (in Australia we work with cm)
Anyhows, I am going back to my art and finish those tiny inchies.
Here is a doodle I did a few nights ago, hope you all have a great week, Angie ox.

Let the beauty we love be what we do

Rumi

Playing catch up!

What a week I have had ! Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, lots of catching up with family, visiting from Sydney, and friends moving up to Queensland, birthdays and now feeling a little tired but very happy.

Unfortunately no art has been created but lots of thoughts where there for you all, wondering if Hybrid J was feeling better, wanted to know how Bev was going with her 100 challenge (wish I could of started it too, little too late but) and also how Leone was going with all her paintings. I on the other hand have produced nothing of late and really need to pull my finger out.

I did manage to doodle a front cover of one of my new Journals. This one is small so as not to intimidate me, I like to do it to relax at night infront of the telly(T.V.).

Even though I am tired, feeling run down, and we are all coming down with a cold, I feel this great energy, seeing friends and family has really infused me with positive spirit!

Let's just hope it can last and I can make some art.

Here is the journal page. I like how I wrote on the 2009 sign with wings how "time flies, so don't waste it!". Yeah, I should listen to myself more often. Enough critisism, more art please.

I have also had some time at nights to read and I got this fabulous book for my birthday from hubby, by Eckhart Tolle 'The Power of NOW'.

I have been so interested in it, every thing he is saying makes so much sense, it has really opened my eyes, and from it I have been trying to be more aware of my thoughts and take time throughout my day to just stop and live in the moment, I think this is the reason for my extra energy, my positive outlook.

How are things for you?

What do you do to keep your mind quiet, to live in the now without the noise of your unconcious mind?

Art could be a good answer!

Angie ox

Out of Routine

I have been meaning to write more often in the blog, but always seem to manage once a week. I would like to write a few more times in the week, I am sure there is no sure and fast rule to it, but I do like to have things set out so I know what is happening and I can keep track of things too. I am getting easily distracted lately and seem to be doing very little art or creating.

Last week I did manage to make some book marks out of felt, just as gifts and to try out into a

plait format. It was easy to do but I must admit that every time I finished one I had no idea how I managed it, it sort of seemed to come together by itself. A sort of intuitive twisting and folding of fibers, it was very calming to make them. Here they are, what do you think?

Some I added beads, some I threaded yarn, some were felted with a felting needle. Like I said they were such fun to make.

The book marks look and feel to me like forms of nature like tree roots and tree limbs twisting and looping like the fibres felted on the felt.

I need to beckon my muse I feel a little uninspired today, but I also have this huge urge to get my paints out, but I have been so busy with the children, this week.

My oldest has a dress up ball to attened and I am trying to finish her butterfly costume or rather her wings need to be glittered and painted.
Also my youngest got into kindy this week and so I needed to sign and fill a gazzillion papers for that, I am so excited for her, she will make friends and learn lots but I am going to miss her so much, it is only for two days.

We have a bit on our plate at the moment so maybe I should allow myself to not create at the moment and let myself to just do what is needed.
We had a lovely weekend with friends over for dinner and a relaxing Sunday watching movies.

I got the movie "Marley and Me"and because we also have a labrador which is what the movie is about, when Marley(the golden labrador)got sick and eventually died, husband and I just couldn't stop crying, my husband really loves his dog.

Poor Nelson(that's our dog) he just looked at us and must of thought what is wrong with these humans, they are always weeping!


Hope you also had a lovely weekend! Angie ox

I've been tagged! and some art

Yeah I have been tagged!

Lovely Bev has tagged me to list 6 things which bring bliss into my life.
Well, they are the simple things in life.........

1. when my daughter falls asleep on my lap



2. slow Sunday mornings when I'm cooking pancakes and the girls are playing outside and we are all listening to Jack Johnson singing in the background



3. walking barefoot on the beach



4. celebrations with friends and family and food is spread out, people talking and laughing and lots of noise



5. quietly sitting in the warm morning sun with a cup of tea and a good book/magazine undisturbed



6. our dinner ritual, every night we all sit together to have dinner and catch up on the days events

So here they are, as you can see nothing too out of the ordinary, but definately bring me joy to know that I have opportunities in daily life to appreciate what I have.

I have no idea who to tag next but if I do come up with someone I will list who they are.

This week I have been finishing off work.
This acrylic painting has been done on brown paper, then with a black marker outlined and textured with some chalk pastels. I did write some words in it but the photo shot hasn't got
enough detail. (click on image to see more detail)The messages are:

"Reach for the stars"

"Create"

"Love Yourself"

They are meant to be like affirmations, to help the viewer achieve the positive thoughts.
The middle picture is a doodle painting, sort of like doodling with a pen except I used a small brush with paints.
What do you think of the idea? I would like to incorporate more of these doodle paintings in my work, once I have figured out which way I am going with my art. I have no style of my own and am feeling a little lost as to what to create sometimes.
But experimenting has been good too, it's allowed me to let go of, no expectations, freeing me up, as Leah in Creative Every Day has said to allow yourself to create ugly work, so I give myself permission to just create, and when the time is right my muse will guide me in the right direction. I feel like I am now gathering the tools, the experiences, to then go forth and create with more of my spirit/identity/personality (not sure what to call it?).

And here is some of my experimenting I did with inks. Love them but not so good with handling them. The first one is an ink blowing exercise , I used burnt umber acrylic ink,which you are meant to make the inks flow into a tree figure then with a brush and some water make some leaves on the branches, to go with the "Nature" theme. I did these on watercolour paper and I think it soaked the inks too quickly and I feel it didn't work.


The other two were just playing around, trying to blend two colours together, and an oil pastel using three different colours, brushed blue ink on top. Once dry I scratched different patterns out.

I had fun playing around with inks, might use them in some drawings in the future, or even in my journalling.

Last week went to an art shop and bought myself a journal, still sitting there looking at me. Once I get started I will be O.K. the ball will start rolling as such, but at the moment the journal in empty, how does one start a brand new journal? What do I put in my first page?Do I do an intro of my self, my goals, the journals purpose? How have you started your journal?

Angie ox

I am back on line and so eager to update on all that has happened.


Last week after my first blog entry husband and I went happily searching and surfing the net that we hadn't realised we downloaded all our down time. So we had to stop using the net. But now we are up and running with extra hours up our sleaves!


Not all was lost though. I did do art and painted and made some crafty things which I had wanted to do in a while. (will post the finished pictures of a doodle painting soon)


For the Creative Every Day Challenge I brainstormed some ideas about how I would express "Nature" in art.

• Draw something in nature
• Draw something using natural materials (thinking red earth?)
• Portray nature using collage of natural things I find (still collecting for this one)
• Draw a portrait of "Mother Nature". (this idea came to me as mother's day approached and the two seemed to have some correlation, mothers give birth and create life. Mother Nature also creates and gives life. I had no preconceived idea of what the picture would be like, just knew it would need a female figure, and show nature. Here I have a tree growing from her head the intuitive area, and the dry barren dessert behind her. She looks sombre and deep in thought like almost willing for the rains to come to nourish the Earth and bring life.

The female figure is made from charcoal, the background is in water paints and tried to get texture on the sand area by putting salt on it when it was still wet.(didn't really work)

This has been my first real painting in a long time and I am so happy that finally that big sleeping part of me is finally waking!

Below is a mixed media painting I made for mother's day for mum and it is a representational only. Words to express what she means to me and images of swirls, flowers, sun and hearts to convey all the beautiful things she is to me. This painting will go in her sewing room where she creates.




I used acrylics to paint the image and gel medium for the first time, loved it! I glued on the tissue paper hearts with it, and the sun out of tissue paper torn strips. The words were written in black ink.

I am so grateful to have this opportunity to share my art, thoughts and wishes with all of you.

Have a great week making art and expressing yourself!

Angie ox