Book of Days 2019 is being taught as a collaborative this year. This means that monthly we get a PDF of themed musings and daily prompts from Effy, a full lesson from Effy, an interview with and full lesson from a guest artist (who is a favourite teacher of EFfy) plus a bonus introduction to an emerging teacher (this month that's Marit).
January's guest artist is Sarah Trumpp. Her focal figures are quite different from mine, but I love her teaching style, her background ideas, her colour combos and it's so fun to watch someone else's process.
First was to layer up with collage (use credit card to smooth out bubbles) : gelli prints and paper serviettes - trying to stretch myself by using graphic lines and colours I don't usually use
I played with some transparent paints and then some stencils with some new heavy body acrylics
Feeling happy and at home with this process. I adore this background and had to sit and look at it for a few days before I was happy to move onto the next stage ♥
I decided I needed a face in my journal and I took a different direction from Sarah here, but am happy with the outcome.
I love gold pen detailing - see more of it by clicking on the photo to see it larger. January's PDF was themed around Hope, Desire and Joy. I've been writing in my Inner Work journal in response to some of Effy's daily prompts and these words became the perfect way to finish this journal page. Also Shine ♥
My goal this year is to be inspired by my art teachers but to then create in my own style ✔
Click HERE for Sarah's awesome Gelli printing demo on YouTube, and she sells awesome stencils too. You can sign up to BOD2019 HERE.
When I began the #100daysofstitch project, a new quilt was one of my goals. I had this lovely fabric and pattern
After some tweaking of measurements, stitching started in June, and when I celebrated my 8th bloggiversary I was able to show all my rectangular units laid out for consideration of placement for a day or 2 before putting together
When I shared quilt show inspirations in October I had got no further than piecing this together, but I took a photo on my clothesline and realised that what I needed was another row down one side to improve the quilt's proportions
My goal is to be using up my stash of fabric, so I played around and while I had quite a bit of the large poppy fabric left, I was a bit challenged by the rest. I had to join a couple of fabrics to cut the block sizes needed (but I don't think you'll see that once quilted) and I've had to use the green rose print for a block which I've only used elsewhere as a bar strip, but I think it works
Summer holidays have meant I've finally made time to layer and quilt this one. Because I didn't get it finished by end of 2018, I did get the bonus of 75% off Christmas fabric so my backing only cost $5/metre! Love a bargain.
At the point of just wanting to get this project finished without fuss, so straight line quilting was my best quick option - also doesn't detract from the gorgeous fabric.
The quilting isn't perfect (I just eye-balled it) but done is better than perfect!
and I bound it with the leftover large poppy fabric which worked really well
Thrilled to be able to share this at our first quilt club meeting for the year tonight.
You can find the link to get your copy of this free pattern by Valori Wells HERE.
Only a few more days left of school holidays for me. I am making the most of my free time to catch up with family and friends and to be creative. I've been eagerly watching and trying out ideas from online classes, and catching up on inspirational ideas on others' blogs. Book of Days 2019 is being taught as a collaborative this year. This means that monthly we get a full lesson from Effy, plus an interview with and full lesson from a guest artist (who is a favourite teacher of EFfy) and a bonus introduction to an emerging teacher. The emerging teacher this month is Marit - I recommend checking out her blog HERE for her take on daily journaling spreads.
Taking classes is awesome and it's great to support your favourite artists, but there are also lots of opportunities for learning online for FREE. I keep an updated list of free online art classes HERE - they are always available through the link top right of my blog and I have just checked all the links and updated that to be current with 2019 offerings as of right now. Please let me know if I've missed anything there.
I am often inspired by what other artists are doing on their blogs, and one I follow is Julie Balzer. She did a really cool post today about inspiration.
She says : You see, the only thing that is unique about me, as an artist, is me. That's it. Who I am. How I see the world. The things that happen to me. The choices I make. So, I have to find inspiration in living my life -- whether it's the things I do, the things I read, the things I see, the things I like. Read her post HERE - she takes fashion inspiration and shows how she turns that into art.
In case you missed it, when I did my post about My word for 2019 I also shared Kiala Givehand's blogpost where she explains about a Depth year for 2019 - going Deeper, not Wider. It really resonates with me and supports my intention of inviting Ease. You can read it HERE.
One of the challenges we all face is finding time to create. I've done a number of posts on this topic. My main ideas are to make the most of micro-movements (using 5-15 minutes at a time) and also to commit to doing 'something' every day. This led to my new habit since November of taking daily photos as a record and motivation to #arteveryday. It's motivating to create something I can photograph, and it's also heartening to look over a week and see that I AM making progress. Although I haven't been sharing the daily photos, I'm continuing to keep up with the challenge. My weeks were a bit flexible over the holiday time, but I'm back into the swing of a normal 7-day week now. My rules are that anything related to creativity counts : a purchase of something creative (supplies or classes), immersion in a class (screen shot from the computer), progress photos of how a project was left that day...here's what 3 "weeks" of this practice looks like.
Week 8 : Boxing day until we left on holiday (26 Dec - 3 Jan)
Week 9 : 4 Jan - 18 Jan. Art and purchases whilst on holiday, and art once home.
Week 10 : 19-15 January. Back to a normal week of documenting #arteveryday (I've started to date them as well)
Today begins Week 11 and next project on my list is quilting my poppy quilt. I'm hoping to devote a lot of time to it this afternoon since the other members of my family are all busy today.
Hope you are having a creative weekend and that there's something in this post which continues to inspire you as you settle into daily routines for 2019.
My next spread in my art journal this year is inspired by the first two lessons in Effy's Moonshine class. Full Moon is for being with what is - to celebrate/express gratitude for what has come to fruition or to acknowledge something being good/right in my life. For me at the moment I have enormous gratitude for my holiday time to be creative, all the beautiful ways in which my year has started, and the wonderful scent and look of the stem of Lilies my mum gave me which are sitting on my dining room table ♥
Because I am working in an old book, the pages have a browner tinge than I am used to. For this lesson I wanted to go light so began by brayering on some gesso. I hope some of the text still shows through by the time I've completed the spread.
I began with yellow for our summer sunshine and tore some favourite Tim Holtz tissue since it includes butterflies (a recurring symbol for me) as well as words about memory and travel, before brayering fine silver over it all
Time to add the blood moon and masked lily shapes
Detailing added to lilies by lining with white ink applied with fantastix, followed by dots with posca and finished with gold uniball signo
While thinking about how to finish the page, I sprayed it with workable fixative so that gold pen doesn't move with any future additions
I think I need a little more background stencil detail, maybe some splatter,
and definitely some words....I decided to cut words out of the lovely poem by Victoria Erickson that I shared when I explained about my word for 2019.
Here's my completed spread - in gratitude ♥
You can join Moonshine or any of Effy's other 2019 offerings HERE.
This month's Rumi quote is about being grounded in the present moment. This month I'm on Summer school holidays. I had 11 nights in Hawaii with my family, so my initial thoughts for inspiration are Hibiscus and Plumeria flowers, pineapples, the beach and colours of turquoise and gold. Let's see what I can gather first - remembering that my base watercolour card is a 5 3/4" square.
I always start with lots knowing I won't use it all, but now I'm thinking this might be a month where I do a card AND something in my art journal. My fabrics are very cool but Effy used a monochromatic palette and my gatherings are far away from that....
OMG - I just found this piece with Hawaiian holiday flamingoes in my multi-coloured fabrics. I think it might be my backing...
To get started I got some gorgeous inks for Christmas
so used them (except the white) over gold for the background as I did for the first project card.
I started layering using machine stitching in gold thread as a nod to Klimt
and then hand stitching around the Rumi quote and to attach special pieces. I don't think the card is overtly Hawaiian but the rooster will remind me of the chickens we saw roaming around and hibiscus flowers were everywhere
I love the wee button which is from my grandmother's stash and reminds me of the colours and patterning in our hotel in Maui
Other touches of Klimt in the garden = as well as the floral selections, when trying to decide on fabrics I went with the spirals and gold.
This is very much a mixed media piece - the base is watercolour paper, the quote and hibiscus flower printed on recycled book paper, a mix of cotton and sari silk for the fabrics plus various embellishments.
I'm dating the backs of these cards on the fabric with Micron Pigma pen
I've ended up with Klimt in the garden with Rumi beside the beach in Hawaii ♥
Grateful for sunshine, grateful for summer holidays, grateful for memories of happy family times, grateful for being right where I am in this moment.
I decided I liked the fonts/format of the quote I did on my first piece so have printed all of the year's quotes in the same way on some old recycled book paper. I like how the paper tears and it will give an element of continuity to these art cards. Here are my first 2 cards together :
Read about the beginnings of this project HERE. Find out more about the "A Year with Rumi" class with Effy Wild HERE. You can also enjoy this class by joining Effy's Patreon account and paying monthly.
