I'm back

Well well well, I certainly haven't been on here in a long time, nearly two years in fact. Its not because I gave up on the blog, oh no, it is in fact because it appears I gave up on the art. That doesn't mean I haven't dabbled here and there and not been in a swap or two over the last couple of years but I haven't been really doing that much. And when I did, I wasn't getting the joy I had before, Ideas were hard to come by, I wasn't motivated or inspired. And that makes the fun bit tough.

But today I was inspired. It was a lovely day and for once I wasn't busy with plans to dash off across the country to see friends or go to gigs, I had the day to myself. So I decided to go sit in the sun in a park and on a whim I decided to take a journal I have had for a couple of years from a swap which has been sitting on my windowsill for a couple of years since I moved to Cardiff. So I did some general sketching in my sketchbook my friend Ad bought me for christmas to motivate me to get back into art but so that it motivated him too. Then once I was settled I got out my coloured pens and the journal and for the first time really read the few pages that were already in there. And the thing that got me was Secret Terrabite's zine which is in there and tells the story of how she got into art and started on the journals and how this was no. 136. And reading it, I felt I had let her down, for still having the journal for not having worked on it and passed it on. But also it reminded me that art isn't about pressure to be a certain something or for someone else, but to just play with idea's and have fun. So the first page I did was an apology for her which still needs to be finished off. But the I just outlined idea's on pages of what I would want to do for pages. And by the end I had 8 or so pages of idea's. It was funny how easy they came and so it feels nice to be back in it, to have idea's flowing again. I wonder where everything has been going, what have I been doing with all my idea's and imgaination. And I am not sure, but it feels good to have it back.



So as you can see I got the acrylic paints out this evening and have done some backgrounds. I had a brain freeze when it came to mixing and clearly though blue and yellow would make me purple, of course it didn't, it made me green, but that worked for another page so I made use of it. And then I mixed the purple I wanted. Hoping for another sunny day tomorrow and for dry pages so i can get cracking with some of my idea's.

Drums drum drums

Thats right my drums inspired me saturday morning and having had a new rhythm magazine turn up, I got straight to work. The background of the page was already painted from the previous person but the colour seemed perfect and I had my most recent drum piece on a bit of paper and it all just seemed to fit.
So i mish mashed it all together, added in what I wanted to say and shazam a page was born. Its been a while since a page was born but I was happy whilst making it and super pleased when it was done. Hopefully this will stop the art block I have been happening but we shall see.

Journal Home Safe

Finally my journal from Seren's group swap is home safe and what a treat it is. There were six of us in the swap in the end adn each artists pages are soooo different. I have taken a picture of a double page from each artist so you can see the difference. Its so exciting to leaf through and just touch and look at each page. I know that I will find something a little different each time. So thank you to Nadia Munarolo-Kurjata, Linda East, Karen Chew, Nathalie Davis and Seren. I have enjoyed this swap and although it took longer than expected, I would do it all again in a heart beat.

Bits and bobs

I've got a journal at the moment which is a proper collaboration journal where you can do anything you like on any page. It is actually quite odd as I am used to think about a page as a whole and kinda planning it. It seems odd to do bits on a page and not finish it. I am trying to just do bits and pieces here and there but it feels like I am not really creating anything. So here are a number of pages I have done bits on.
I did do one proper page as such with the tree and the tissue paper, but someone could always add to it. I have also done some writing bits on other pages which people can then create over.

And it gets worse

After thinking woohoo I will do some more updating, I can see it has been probably a couple of weeks since my last post. I don't know where the time has gone and its not because I haven't done any art because I have done little bits and pieces. Admitedly I have been busy at the weekends and busy with work during the week but you can always make time for updating therefore I need to be better.
It was a busy couple of days Thursday and Friday with me working like 10/11 hour days both days cos we were busy with shortlisting. So I was so glad to get to the weekend. Today I bought a scooter (I will post a picture tomorrow). I would have preferred a motorbike but what I want to use it for, getting to the station quick for work, nipping here and there without worrying about parking - the scooter is going to be perfect because I can just get on it and go and leave my helmet under the seat. Its a Yamaha Neo's and I have named it Neil.
Then we spent loads of time digging big bushes out of our front garden to make an extra parking space.

Anyway on to the art. Here are a couple of journal pages I have been working on recently. I have done a couple of others in another journal which I will look to update about tomorrow. These have been done at random times, in random places whenever I have had a little time and been inspired. This first one I did when I crashed at a friends after a gig and woke up earlier than him. I had a magazine with me and when I saw this picture I had to journal it. There is something so great about the super woman picture and I like the shape of the person I cut out as it gives the writing a boundary. You can imagine you are the person who can't be seen.

This is a work in progress, I had something to say and wanted to get it down but the page is plain so I want to add to it but am not sure what yet. I will see when inspiration hits me.

This is me having fun with the inkpads I bought a while ago. I bought 30 small inkpads which were in sale and had not even opened them. So i opened them one by one and onto the page they went. I like the effect although unfortunately it went through the paper slightly. So it is a background but again I have not decided what to add to it but I know it when I do :)

ATC

I decided to make a Zen ATC before heading to bed because its relaxing plus its been a while so it was nice. I made use of some of the other coloured pens I have, because normally I only make zens in silver. But the blue really added to the Zen.



Been very busy at work so not much else been going on although I did do a journal page tuesday after getting back from an awesome walk in the woods but I am not completely happy with it so might add to it.

bits and bobs

Its fun making use of the leftovers and using the cut-off's of the photo's I used for the scrapbooking was super fun. There was something intriguing about the bits of photo's being put together. Its like you are looking in on something but you don't quite know what it is so you have to put it together yourself. Well thats what I think anyway but thats the beauty of putting it all together. What will the viewer discover!

Here is an update of the cockerel stitching, see bit by bit it is getting there, who knows I might be finished by the middle of the year :) Well hopefully sooner than that, then I can find a new piece to create. I need days and days of free time and no work to catch up on all the fun and arty things and turn some of my idea's into reality

Sorting leads to more mess

I have a couple of days off work which is nice. Got leave to use up so took a couple of days. I was trying to sort through some stuff yesterday which only led to me rediscovering fab bits to use plus a couple of pieces of stitching I had started. So I decided to finish one of them which is a halloween piece. Its all completed not although there are supposed to be lots of french knots on it but I tried and tried and could not do them so I am leaving them off. Its look fine without it. I managed to do french knots well once for a Tatty Ted piece but rarely use them so then when it comes to doing them somehow they just don't work out.



I have also been doing a little journalling. Am planning to hit the post office tomorrow with many packages so wanted to get some things completed. One of which is Shirley's journal, part of the swap. I will be sending it on although have not received another one yet but thats good because otherwise I'd worry. Here is a page from it, I did a couple of others but don't want to give it all away cos I might not do anything else and then what will I chat about :) Although with the free time I am hoping to do some fun pieces :)

Slow and steady

I have been plodding along bit by bit with my stitching and so it slowly progresses. So much for my at least one a month from the calender. Its nice to get one a day but how would anyone stitch one a day :)



Been doing little bits in this journal which is part of a swap in my penpal group on livejournal. I need to get it sent on but still want to do a couple of pages. So I need to find the time. Plus its finding time to go to the post office. Damn them and their being open only during working hours :) Got many packages to send which I need to pack up and get down there. Still haven't had a proper chance to enjoy my awesome scrapbook kit and the many other bits I have bought from hobbycraft recently. Maybe this weekend.

Mail in, Nothing Out

It was my birthday at the weekend as that kept me busy with drinks out with friends saturday night and then family do on the sunday as I share my birthday with my Grandad and he turned 80 this year. So not much art took place but quite a bit of drinking and eating.

Mail had been slow recently but now we have fit february it has perked up again which is nice. The cookbook that the blindswap ATC girls had been working on finally turned up and a beauty it is too. So many recipes inside as well, I am looking forward to giving some of them a go.

Also from a penpal group on Livejournal we are having a journal swap and the first one turned up for me to work in. Its a good size so looking forward to just having fun with it. Shirley also included a little book for me which is nice. Its always nice to receive extra's.

Apart from that been chatting a little online with people, getting to know some of the people on Artistic Avante Garde a bit better which is nice. Its always good to get to know new people who you can share your art with and learn from. Managing to keep on top of updating my blog, not as often as I'd like but have been doing it at least once a week so keeping to my resolution so far :)

Journalling

Its been a good art week as having finished my exams I have had some time to spend as well as having had idea's and wanting to try out new thins. So I took a couple of the backgrounds that I painted last Sunday and added to them. The blue one made me think of reeds at the edge of a river so I didn't want to add to much to this so instead commented on what I saw in it. The other page was created as I had been flicking through magazines and had seen some images I liked so had picked them out to possibly play with at a later date. This image of the girl appealed to me, there was something swedish feeling about it. I had just torn it out so hadn't really though about the words surrounding it but when I started looking at the article with it, some of the words I associated it with the picture so decided to make use of them as well.

This final page I had been wanting to try adding the extra of the picture myself through drawing and although it didn't it quite go as planned I still enjoyed it. And it is something that I will keep working on as I think it creates an interesting effect. I kept the other half of the page to help me draw the image but I did the grafitti myself. I had planned to put more grafitti behind it but were unsure what to put. I might use the top half of the picture for another page and see what I create for the grafitti behind it.

Shopping and Art

This weekend has been an awesome weekend firstly because I had no plans, no commitments, nothing I had to do. That included any thoughts about college or work, having been off work for a week so no idea what I could worry about and having had my final exam Friday and had many drinks to celebrate it meant this weekend was all mine. So having started working on my cockerel I decided to pop to hobby craft to get the extra threads I need to complete it and ended uo buying all this stuff. As you can see I bought my threads but also picked up a book on rubber stamping which was on sale as were the 30 ink pads so hoping to have some fun playing around with all that at some point. Then picked up some ribbon as it was 3 for 2, plus are great for sending to other people.

So having been to hobby craft I go busy and made a couple of ATC's which I haven't done in ages which was nice. One is complete, and one is nearly complete. They are both so I can send returns for my unusual alphabet swap which I am very behind with.

Having had that fun, I spent some of last night and today continuing my cross stitch whilst we watched Hitman which was cool. And then I have done some more today. After Sam left this afternoon I decided to paint some journal page backgrounds which was fun. Its been a while since I got any paints out and I bought some new brushes the other day so having a bit of a play around was good. So they are currently drying by the patio doors whilst I had a quick flick through a magazine and got some great bits and pieces from it that I am planning to use for some journal pages of the future. I have quite a few journals on the go at the moment. I have one that is going between myself and Lia, I have a journal in a group swap so I am just working in the final one for that although we might start a new round. Can't wait to see mine. Then I have joined a journal swap on a penpal community on Livejournal which is just starting. Then I have a journal from an ATC group swap although this might be the last one as due to them having taken so long and been way-layed we are sending them back to the owners. So as you can alot of journal action has been happening all whilst ploughing along whilst watching tv with my cross stitching which is starting to take shape now.

Inspiration

Thats right, amazingly now when I need to concentrate on revising and am not having to worry about work, now I am being hit by bits of inspiration and I don't have the time to think about following it. But I still keep doing bits anyway because I don't want to lose this inspiration. So this WIP I had previously I finished off with some writing today in the library.
I have been taking it with me to the library everyday so that when I take breaks or get hit by something, it is there to hand. And so some art has happened.
I have continued with the cockeral stitching as well so there has been a bit more progress with that as well.

Once my final exam is over tomorrow and I have had many drinks, whilst recovering on Saturday I plan to use some of the time to develop some of the idea's I have had over the last few days.

Cluck Cluck

Firstly I made a start on my cross stitching project that I showed previously. As you can see its not got far yet but I an working on it, my exams are weds and fri so then I will have more time for these sorts of things.

I also did a journal page today whilst watching Phantom of the Opera and catching up on correspondence. Got a thing about patterns but I did enjoy creating it, there is just something about the squares and the way they are made up of squares.
Apart from that its been all work and revision round here. But not for too much longer.

Where does the time go?

I cannot believe my last post mas mid november, we're close to that in December! That is awful of me! So I am back, plodding alot with some christmas crafting when I get the chance. There is so much going on with work and studying and general house stuff that art has been taking a back seat. My plan for making Christmas Cards hasn't really happened, I have made 2, yes thats the same amount as when I last posted. I have a couple of WIP's but not enough to cover my whole family so some bought cards it is going to have to be this year which is a shame as I know they like receiving my handmade cards. I just don't know if I have the push in me to make some in time for last posting dates but I am sure I will try.

What I have done some work on however is a Christmas book swap which I signed up for. I am part way through mine but must finish tonight to send it tomorrow for last USA post. These are some of the pages. It didn't have to be a christmas themed book however that's what I fancied doing. I have made some raised embellishments and on another page are baubles which are also flaps but I haven't decided what to put under them yet. Its either gonna be pictures or some nice christmas phrases. I am sure I will be inspired by something (well I hope!)

Thats about it for now however I have done a couple of journal pages recently but I'll save them for another day. Maybe I'll have some more christmas cards to show soon or maybe the finished book.

No craft from Paris

I did no crafting in Paris so there has been an absence of crafting recently. Last night I did some cross stitching whilst watching Catch and Release (I had seen it once already but wanted to watch it with Sam too). It is still the Noah's Ark piece which I find tough to work on, normally I would start doing a small piece and come back to the big piece but with my resolve to finish it before starting something new, this has not happened. I just need to get it out at all times whilst watching TV or something and keep working on it.So this is the last Round III Journal I worked in. You can't read the words but its just saying about the journey of live, growing as we go and learning lessons. It was nice to make use of some of the material flowers as often I am unsure of how to make use of these. When I saw the journal and then this paper I knew I wanted to make use of this paper so when I was hunting for how to embellish the flowers seemed perfect. A nice colourful page I think. Just a couple more round III journals to work on at the moment so I need to have look through and seem what inspires me :)

What to do with all the Art?

I do so much art and take part in all these swaps but I guess the ultimate question is what to do with it all. There is so much lovely stuff and I would like to display some of it but there is only so much space in the house and if I am to display it - How?
I have had in my mind for a while about making my own coffee table book with ATC's in it which would mean making the whole book myself and different pockets to display the ATC's - hopefully making pages in a theme to relate the the ATC's being displayed (I don't have a coffee table) but one of those kind of books people see and have a urge to flick through.
Apart from that I am unsure what to do with it all as well as the many postcards I have collected from penpals and such. I don't want to throw them away because that would be a waste but I don't think storing them forever is the way forward either! Hmmmmm

I did a journal page for the journals we are doing as an ATC group so that one is on its way to Belgium. I did take a picture but don't have my camera at work so will add the picture at a later date. The theme of the book was about the journey of life so I did a page with plants on it showing how we grow.

I am off to Paris tomorrow for a long weekend for a hen do and plan to take a small journal with me (yes I bought a moleskin) so it will be coming with me to capture any great moments or thoughts. My plan is glue, scissors and a couple of pens to keep me going. Don't want to be carrying too much stuff round!

Been quite a while since an update

and for that I apologise. I had intentions to add those pictures the next day and even started a post but never finished it or added the pictures, last week was a very busy week with work and I was travelling all week hence no update but I have done loads of artwork which I want to share with you guys.

Firstly to the buttons which you were all expecting. So as you can see I had lots of fun making paper buttons and put them to good use making many things. First I made a background for an ATC not exactly sure what I was going to use it for but then inspiration hit me and an unusual alphabet ATC appeared which was nice as it had been a little while since I had made an ATC having founf they were turning out right so it was nice to make it without the pressure. I have quite a few unusual alphabet ATC's to make to send back to people but I am trying not to push myself on them otherwise I feel they are not turning out as well as they can.

I then made the postcard not totally sure what I was going to use it for and originally thinking I would send it to a penfriend but instead I used it for an original art swap on swap-bot - my very first on there which meant I only had to make one other for the swap (partly breaking my not signing up for anything rule but only a tiny bit) and I made a zen postcard for that which I will show later.

Lastly I felt I should share my button fun and so I made this journal page in my journal which is heading to Lia to work in as part of our round robin. They all just look so cute on the page.

Following on from this I have been doing alot of work in journals, finishing up Linda's journal and sending it on to the next person in the group as well as doing some work in my journal for my round robin with Lia and sending that off as well.

This page was painted quite early on in the journal being with me, it was fun to do as I don't paint with acrylic often and I haven't quite sussed out how to stop it bleading onto other pages and such. Luckily it only slightly caught a couple which were my pages so it didn't affect anyone elses work. It looks so nice that for a while I didn't know what to add to it and so I ended up just adding some words to it so that you could still see the strokes the brush had made and still feel the texture of the paint.

This is a page about how our trip to Afan had to be called off leading to us driving back ome from Wales and needing a plan B as we had days off work and we didn't want to waste them. Then the page next to it is about our plan B and how we went to cardiffd for a couple of days having many boozy drinks and wandering the city. I added some bits about the places we went from leaflets and such.

This page was inspired on one of my travels with work. I was thinking about how much I love to touch stuff and so I drew the bit in the middle whilst on the train and then added the rest when I got home making use of many different textures. This page is more about how it feels that how it looks. I touch so many things in shops and with the journals I have look at the and feel all the pages as I feel like its another aspect to them

This was the final page in Linda's journal, a farewell page to see the journal off. The stamp of the butterfly didn't turn out as well as expected and I drew over some of it with a silver pen however you cannot see that in this picture :)

Buttons

This weekend it has all been about buttons but not actual buttons but paper buttons. I made an envelope a couple of years ago and I felt like making more paper buttons again. However this time I made an ATC background, a journal page and a postcard. Thats right I made an ATC this weekend - one about buttons for my unusual alphabet. I liked the way it turned out but then I didn't originally plan to make an ATC so maybe that was the key.
Due to having to come back from Afan due to bad weather (lots of rain does not mix with Mountain Biking) we ended up going to Cardiff for a couple of days which was cool. So when I got back I journalled a couple of pages about it.
Well I did a page about needing a plan B due to having to abandon Afan. I had already done a couple of backgrounds using ink pads so I could take the journal with me to Afan but obviously it didn't get used. I did take it to Cardiff but didn't write in it. However I did pick leaflets and such up from places we went so I could make use of them. Which I did when creating my page about our trip to Cardiff.

Pictures to be added tomorrow!

Ticking off the list

Thats right I managed to tick some thing off the list which I had to complete. A couple of things sent out which I needed to send out but still things needing to be done. Hopefully I will get there in the end.
Still working in the journals and loving it. I did a couple of background for journal pages yesterday so I could take my journal on our trip. I painted a background with blue paint which slight dyed the strong holding it together but only for a couple of pages - need to figure how to stop it doing that. I also used ink pad to lightly colour a couple of pages - one side yellow, one side red.
I have done some actual pages in the journal though - I added another sketch to the bottom of the other page although it didn't turn out how I wanted but I left it in anyway - after all its development.

I did a sex and the city page from last week where I went to see Sex & The City movie whilst I was in Leeds for Work. It is the first time I have ever been to the cinema alone so its about that experience and how it made me feel.

Another page I did was some purple striped paper as a background and originally I was going to write on it but then I thought, no this will look nice as just a picture page. So I got out my silver ink pad and some hand stamps and left lots of handprints all over the page. I like the effect it created so decided not to add any words as I don't think it needs it.

Thats was fun I liked it. I have alos been working in my journal for mine and Lia's swap but I will post them once we next swap back as I like her to see them in person first.