Winter : Proud

It is VERY cold here in my part of the world. Was the shortest day and longest night last Thursday, and after that is when we really feel Winter's bite.....the hardest thing about doing online courses is that at this time of year many of the offerings are about Summer, and I'm so not feeling that! So I decided to go back to a FREE workshop offered by Effy in her Winter (December 2017) called "To See Us Through" - you can still get access HERE. It was aimed at giving comfort and support over the long winter months, so a good time for me to revisit this. This "So Proud" lesson was about celebrating how far you've come during the year. I've just celebrated my 51st birthday so thought I'd celebrate June-June. Begin an expressive self-portrait using graphite transfer paper or charcoal. Although I initially tried tracing as demonstrated in the lesson, the pages in my altered art journal were too large for my initial face size so I rubbed it out and drew with charcoal free-hand 

I circled good words in the background that I didn't want covered up then sprayed the charcoal with workable fixative before I started adding paint. You can click on any photo to see it larger.

She sat like this for a couple of days while I waited for the right words to come. Once they did, I typed a copy to keep in my Inner Work journal : 

You should try this exercise - it's really healthy to remind yourself of all the things you can be proud of about yourself. It got distilled down to this

She speaks my truth ♥

There's another lesson in the FREE workshop which can easily be applied to Summer like I did HERE. 

You can sign up for other classes with Effy Wild HERE. See my Flickr album of all art work inspired by Effy's classes HERE.

Wishing you warmth and happiness wherever you are as we head into July.

Still Stitching : quilt progress

I've accumulated a lot of fabric over the years and decided it's time to get stuck in and make some stash-busting quilts. I LOVE this selection of Poppy Fabrics 

and I also love this pattern by Valori Wells which shows off the fabrics.

You can find the link to get your copy of this free pattern HERE.

This quilt began because of my #100daysofstitch project. And I was inspired again recently by this article - better to leave completed quilts than fabrics ♥ The goal is to leave gifts for future family and for those in need - to leave completed treasures for my quilting friends - to leave proof of my creativity, passion, ingenuity and persistence. I'm not planning on leaving any time soon, but I've got a large stash to get through..... 
This project was last seen here before I decided to concentrate on one stitch project at a time. I finished cutting my fabrics last week

It was a bit more challenging than it might have been since I'm using fabric from my stash rather than purchasing the right amounts of fabrics. I've had to change some of the block sizes and block arrangements but it's looking good as I begin to put it together

I look forward to sharing more progress soon. I'm also very lucky that at work I'm able to lead weekly craft club sessions this term. The girls are making excellent progress on their quilts and are very excited that they are starting to stitch now. 

So rewarding to share this joy which will hopefully become a life-long love of stitching for some of them.

Book of Days : Magic

In my last art journal post my page started with one of Effy's lesson backgrounds and then evolved into something else. I was still keen to try her tilted head and flower lesson, but I know from experience that as I build luscious backgrounds with colour I just can't bring myself to glaze over them. This time I decided to start instead with black and white and just a couple of my iridescent colours

When I stopped to photograph my progress I could already see her head shape and knew I'd be doing a tree instead of a flower.

The darker shapes above her head invited words - gold and shine ♥

You can sign up for classes with Effy Wild HERE. See my Flickr album of all art work inspired by Effy's classes HERE.

Book of Days : Dream

I decided to simplify my creative intentions for June and since I want to increase my art journaling practice, I decided to focus on work in my art journal weekly. This week I wanted to do a catch-up lesson from Session 1 of Book of Days featuring my gorgeous iridescent paints

First lovely sprays

and then iridescent colours with a bit of black and white stenciling

I really can't capture the gorgeous shimmer in a photograph. 

Trust me - it's beautiful ♥ Love working in my altered book since the words add an extra layer of interest in the background. I add some masking tape to the centre join so I don't get any bleeding through to other pages. Next was to add a figure and a flower and since I'd like to include a quote, I went looking for that first. I love Mary Oliver's poems, so googled her name with "Winter" (our current season in NZ) and this took my breath away : 

Context : my lovely Dad died in February, and these past few days I've been hit with fresh waves of grief. Our theme for June in Effy's other year-long class, Moonshine, is to frolic. Those stanzas are from Mary Oliver's poem "Starlings in Winter" which you can read complete HERE. 

I only spotted the word 'grief' in the background right near finishing this page.

My page didn't turn out anything like Effy's lesson, but it's mine and it means a lot.

You can sign up for this and other classes by Effy Wild HERE. See my Flickr album of all art work inspired by Effy's classes HERE.

Watching and Reading

I've started June with A LOT of basketball watching - my eldest son was in the Under 19 Nationals Tournament representing Manawatu (in green) and they got Silver medals - there were lots of proud moments ♥

Since I've not had time this past week to make art, I thought I'd share a couple of lovely books I've recently had out of the library. Even if you can't get your hands on the books, I've provided lots of links so you can explore virtually ♥

Take a peek inside via Amazon HERE and read an interview and see more lovely photos from the book in an interview HERE. This book is a delight to look at - beautifully photographed and put together, with inspiring projects included. There's even 12 months of online lessons for purchase HERE. The book evolved from a class - see how it came about HERE in an interview with them both.There are a few projects I'd like to try, and it was also fun to remind me of the mandala project which I did with Faith Evans-Sills in Life Book 2016 HERE.

Check out the blogs of Faith Evans-Sills HERE and Mati Rose HERE. They continue to do lots of collaborative work.
Another very inspiring art book : 

Take a peek inside via Amazon HERE. You can see all Stephanie's blog posts about bible journaling HERE. The faith journaling part doesn't inspire me, but the lettering, doodling and stamp carving do. This book is worth checking out for the way she approaches art journaling generally. 

Check out other arty books I've shared on my blog HERE. I'd love if you shared some good arty book recommendations with me in the comments.