Days 14 & 15: Sometimes it doesn’t go so well

Over the last couple of days I have added some bits and pieces to my latest journal spread. First, paint and collage materials; then today, I added some stamps.

I’m not too please with how the stamping went. Some of them are very blurry & splodgy. I thought my ink should have been ok on painted surfaces, and some of the stamps came out ok, like this one:

And others were a blurry mess, like this one:

I’m not sure what the difference is attributable to!

I did read on the back of the ink pad that it is “ideal for glossy or coated papers”. So maybe not so good for matt, porous, painted papers! But this doesn’t explain why it was ok on other parts of the page.

I think I might abandon this spread for now. I am slowly realising that the pages in this book are just too big for me to comfortably work with, at least when trying to develop a double page spread. I may try it for single page spreads, or move into a smaller journal for now. It’s just not really doing it for me!

So, yeah – art – sometimes it doesn’t go so well

On a more positive note, I was thrilled to receive a little package in the mail from the lovely Andria of Drawing Near:

Check out those super-sweet little matchbook notepads! Andria is actually having a giveaway on her blog this week, so why not hop on over and enter to win some fabulous prizes!

Flying and Bouncing: Days Ten & Eleven

Continuing with 30 Days of Get Your Art On challenge, I have added a little more to my latest art journal spread. The bird image is from here, and I coloured it with Inktense pencils. The words “Had I but wings like thine, Free bird of flight, To scale the heights that only wings can reach” are from a poem by Martha Lavinia Hoffman which you can read here.

I have also been doing some more drawing, joining the boys in this week’s Sketch Tuesday challenge, which was to sketch something that bounces:

And I have been working a bit more on a stitching project that I will tell you all about next week. Here’s a little teaser:

Move and Fly and Soar: Days Seven and Eight

I have been practicing using “pebblyism” (thanks to Clare for coining this term!) to give dimension to my drawing with this pepper pot:

And today I have had a little play in my art journal, adding a couple more colours to the lilac spread I showed you before, as well as some words and images cut out from an old physics book for kids:

Days Six and Seven: Most Enjoyable and Satisfying

A couple more days of 30 Days of Get Your Art On and I have done a little painting in journals, preparing a lilac page in one:

And starting a bit of a collage in another:

I’m not sure where I’m heading with either of these…but it’s the process that counts

And today I took my sketchbook along to the swimming pool. I was a little nervous, as this term I am not only watching Gman in his swimming lesson, but afterwards I am going for a swimming lesson of my own. I figured it was finally time I learned to swim properly! For those that can’t read upside down (!) it says “Intense dotty doodling to try & take my mind off impending swimming lesson. No, it didn’t really work! But I think it looks kind of cool!”

I drew a chair, but was tempted to try drawing some people, after being very inspired by Rebecca’s sketches of people at her child’s karate class. Check her sketches out here.

Quiet Please! Introvert at Work

I would rather go to the library than to a nightclub.
I would rather stroll through the woods than the city.
I like books better than movies.
I like home cooking better than meals out.
I prefer emails to phone calls (and letters are even better).
I work better alone than as part of a team (though I may not put this on my resume).
I value my friends and family but I need plenty of time to myself too.
My idea of hell on earth would probably look a little like Disneyland.

My name is Viv and I am an introvert.

When I read Daily Prompt #57 One Word Journal Page I knew straight away what my word would be. I am reading Susan Cain’s book “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” and it is both a revelation and a comfort. It seems that there is evidence supporting what I have always thought – open plan offices are an abomination, team brainstorming doesn’t work, not all good leaders are extroverts and most creative ideas happen in solitude . I’m not sure the cult of the extrovert is at quite the same level in this country as it is in the United States, where Susan Cain is based (there is still some room for the traditional British reserve), but I think we are increasingly headed that way, and I’m not sure that is a good thing. So this “quiet” page is my ode to introverts. There are plenty of us about and we have lots to contribute. Just don’t shout about it!

In Praise of Paper

I love paper! Did you know?!

I have been continuing with Daisy Yellow’s Daily Paper Prompts. Prompt #52: White Page has been my favourite so far. I have thrown everything at it: gesso, acrylic paints, collaged pictures and text, fabric, hand stitching, machine stitching, oil paintsticks. What fun!

I have also completed prompts #47 & #50 – stamping circles & colouring book:

I have also had some lovely paper-related post in the last week. First of all some papers received in a private swap from La Wendula:

Oh my!!! If you haven’t come across La Wendula’s wonderful collaged artwork before, I strongly suggest having a look at her Flickr photostream here. Her artwork is just amazing.

And then, today, I have received a wonderful prize from Tammy of Daisy Yellow:

It is a set of art journal “bingo” style prompt cards. I never need be stuck for art journalling ideas again!! If you would like some of these cards, Tammy has them for sale on her site – read all about how to use them here.

Did I tell you I love paper?

Finding Poetry and Other Adventures with Paper

I am a great admirer of Natasha White’s art, especially her found poetry (check some out here) so when one of the Daily Paper Prompts was found poetry, I was keen to give it a try. I snipped words from this 1960s book I picked up in Oxfam:

I had a pre-prepared black and pink journal background that I thought was perfect for the poetry:

The poem on the left reads:

that dreary street
the dispiriting view
a mizzling rain was falling
there were no flowers

seemed a pity

The one on the right hand side:

blue and pinched
the drab little maid
cried herself to sleep

then came back
softly reproachful
“I hate her. I hate her!”

a parcel of lies

I think there’s a story there!

I must admit I really enjoyed this found word poetry, in the same way as I enjoyed the book spine poetry a few weeks’ back. Maybe one of these days I will be brave enough to attempt to write a poem using my own words

As well as the found word poetry, I have tackled a couple of other Daily Paper Prompts.

This page was prompted by Daily Paper Prompt #34 Puzzled:

The wordsearch was entitled “Creating Art” so I couldn’t resist snipping that and using it. And I couldn’t resist some more sewing on paper, so I laid some glitzy gold sheer fabric over and zigzagged along the edges, before “underlining” some of the words I liked. This was then stuck into my altered board book. Not sure what the snake is doing there.

I also tackled Daily Paper Prompt #37 Block Letters. The task here was to create block lettering by colouring the negative spaces. For some reason, I found the letter “E” particularly tricky to do this way. I don’t know why. But here’s what I wrote:

Can you guess what I had been watching that evening?

EDM #108 – Draw a Lightbulb

Daily Paper Prompt #28 Garden Sketching

August has just flown by and we haven’t participated in any of Daisy Yellow’s Daily Paper Prompts – until now, that is. Prompt #28 is to go out into the garden and sketch what you see. And we did just that.

Here’s Waif and his muddy knees observing some flowers and stones:

And here are his sketches:

Gman assesses the progress of his sketching:

And here’s his finished sketchbook page:

For me, this assignment was somewhat bittersweet. I enjoyed sketching, and found curling and decaying leaves and flowers to be particularly gratifying to sketch…but it did all feel like rather a reminder that summer is, indeed, all but over . Here’s my page:

The Time to Wake Up is Now

Rodney Smith, in his ego-shattering book, “Stepping Out of Self-Deception” notes three ways that lay Buddhism is inhibited. The first is the belief that monasticism and long retreats are the only way to realise one’s true nature. The second is misunderstanding the teachings of the long-enduring mind so that we believe that awakening can only arrive after a long, protracted practice history. The third, Smith says, is investing the sacred only within particular practices and conditions.

Reflecting on these, I created this journal page:

The time to wake up is now

What am I waiting for?

I don’t need to join a monastery or go off on year-long retreats.
I don’t need the perfect meditation cushion, a Tibetan singing bowl, Japanese incense, a beautifully carved wooden Buddha (nice as these may be!)
I can stop dividing my life into the sacred and “the rest”. Instead I can recognise that any moment can be a spiritual moment.
It doesn’t have to take years and years of diligent practice (unless I convince myself it does).

The question is: Do I want this or not?

I don’t need to wait for the future to be fulfilled.

The time to wake up is NOW! What am I waiting for?