Journal 52 in March

I'm responding to Effy Wild's Journal 52 cards for 2022 on various small cards or tags that can become part of my monthly journal project. My rules : each small piece will include stitch, a found word, and be inspired by the project I've been working on that week or what's lying leftover on my work table. Each monthly journal is colour themed.

Week 9 : Spring. As you may have read in my post at the beginning of the month, I've been feeling a bit disconnected from northern hemisphere artists all looking forward to Spring. Instead I created a memory of Summer featuring a photo from my childhood and fodder school bits from December, January and February.

Week 10 : Sovereign. That week I was playing with alcohol ink printing on the gelli plate. I took a couple of my off cuts and put them together with masking tape for my base this week before I got the prompt. Then - can you see her? 

Week 11 : Prosper. "What's lying leftover on my work table" was the bottom layer which is my under paper

Week 12 : Reverie. Inspired to create a pocketed tag like my recently finished book. I cut the small tag from the leftovers of my book cover, and the large tag from some gorgeous gelli printed gold and orange card that I thought complemented the smaller tag. A hint at Autumn colours.

Week 13 : Wonder. 

I adore Butterflies and I was inspired by new tissue supplies on my work table this week purchased from Ribbon Rose - very excited about what they have on offer. $5 postage and arrived at my door only 2 days after ordered. 

I share these Journal 52 responses weekly on my Instagram.You can get access to the prompts by joining Effy's Wilderhood group on FB or subscribe to her newsletter. See all my posts about this project here. I'll be posting soon about how they appear in my March monthly journal. 

Tagged, Sewn, Connected workshop

I am not going to enrol in more classes this year UNLESS they are by teachers I adore, are attractively priced and I can see they will feed my creative soul. Enter Tagged, Sewn, Connected with Kristi Nazzaro (Soul Positive) and Kristin Peterson (Altered States Studio).

I love found words, tags, mixing fabric and paper with stitch...this workshop ticks all my boxes and it's so nice to support artists I love. I purchased this course as soon as it was available and watched all the videos, but it's taken until now to have time to make my own version. 

I am trying to use what I have without spending money if I can help it. I could have purchased a packet of shipping tags at the recommended size for around $11, but instead I went to our $1-$2-$3 shop and purchased an A5 Board pad for $4.50. It has 25 sheets of white card (tag weight). I printed onto some of them with Kristen's technique using alcohol inks and then tried this technique from Tiffany Goff Smith using isopropyl alcohol to get the ink off and get more prints. 

Make sure you are working in a very well-ventilated space but I'm loving that all of this is from one pass of adding alcohol to stencils on an A4 size gelli plate. I cut them into large and small tags and felt excited by how cool they look. 

I cut a few more from leftovers in my stash so I can create a book just using this colour theme and then I started playing with what I'd use for the pockets and dug through my stash of sari ribbon and I'm in love with how I can get beautiful variety

These are the large tags with their pockets

Small tags for inside the pockets. I'm sure you can spot some of my collage fodder making an appearance. Especially happy with how my handwriting on clear tape appears here.

And then it was time to join them together to make an accordian book.

I'm sure you'll enjoy this class. It's so reasonably priced at US$22 - you can get it here.

Cheap and Free online art class inspiration

There have been a couple of lovely free offerings again recently that I thought I would share.

Sketchbook Revival 2022 is a collaborative offering with some teachers I am excited to see, including Caylee Grey, Tiffany Sharpe, Tamara LaPorte and Faith Evans-Sills. I'm also looking forward to discovering artists that are new to me. Classes start on March 21st and all sessions will be available until April 18th (Easter Monday). I always join these because you don't have to watch everything, and just one artist might unlock something for more creative joy in your future.

Strathmore have free online classes every year. Their first one is now available : Easy breezy beach art with acrylics

And on the beach art theme, have you seen Alisa's latest video on YouTube which is a peek inside her art journal : Ocean inspired. She's promoting her class Ocean Alchemy which currently only costs US$15.

I am not going to enrol in more classes this year UNLESS they are by teachers I adore, are attractively priced and I can see they will feed my creative soul. I have purchased this class since I couldn't pass up the combination of one of my favourite soul places with the inspiration of one of my favourite teachers at that price. I've watched some of the lessons but haven't had a chance to properly explore that yet.

However, I have started to explore this class with Kristin and Kristi. 

I'm sure you'll enjoy this class. It's so reasonably priced at US$22 - you can get it here. Here's a peek at my play so far...more soon I'm sure

If you read my previous post, you would have seen I was demotivated. I think it's obvious that dropping something that wasn't giving me joy has led to a return of my creative mojo. I am so loving this project. 

Hope there's something there to inspire you with creative joy too xo

March update

We all have seasons of creativity and I'm feeling somewhat demotivated at present. There's a lot in my head and heaviness in my heart including, but not limited to, the situation in the Ukraine, the wave of Covid hitting New Zealand and the protests in Wellington. I feel disconnected from much of the art community, most of whom are in the Northern Hemisphere and my reality is so different from looking forward to Spring. I look at the productivity of others (eg. the 100 day project and output for fodder school) and feel frustrated and disappointed that's not my reality, but also recognise that I am not a full-time artist, I am not retired, I have an almost full-time job, and my art has always been my haven, a way to work through my problems, as well as a place for new learning and great joy. I'm sure that my mojo will come back. I'll continue to post as I have things to share. I post more regularly on Instagram, but I like to keep this blog going to get my thoughts onto the page for my future reference. 

This week I've decided that Anne Brooke's  #52flags project isn't for me. I'm just not motivated as I was with the tags last year and I'm not doing it if it's not a joy. These are my flags hanging on my wall in my studio but I've withdrawn from that project at present. 

Hopefully these will appear in some other form in my work in the future.

I'm still loving my monthly journal project as shared in my previous post

and I think I'll continue to respond to Effy's Journal 52 challenge, although this week's prompt is Spring (see above!). I also started a photo diary this year to help me recognise all the creative things I do - here's a peek at that from last week. 

No words, just photos of what occupied me for fun that day. It's valuable for me to see that I am very productive in the time I have available. Watching and reading, and social events all count as ways that fill me up. That last photo on the page above are my most recent art cards for happenings this month. I don't usually post before they're gifted, but feel I want to share them here. 

As you can see, Fodder creation continues to feature and I'm looking forward to our Fodder School lessons from a new teacher this month. I hope this post doesn't read too negatively, but rather stands as a snap shot of where I am right now. These are challenging times, and I hope you stay safe, inspired and make time for creativity. I know from experience that making art always makes me feel better.