March review

Happy Easter ♥ I've had another productive month and am happy to share this review for your inspiration and mine. I really love having this monthly record to look back upon.  I am still going strong with my weekly project #52cards2024 : to create a card that reflects the past week (ending Sunday). I must include stitch, the colour turquoise and a word.These are my March cards : there were 5 Sundays this month.

This month's tutor in Fodder School 3 was Shay Michelle. I managed to experiment again with modeling paste through a stencil which I haven't done for a while - love the look of these but that was all that I was inspired enough to try this month.

Grateful this class is lifetime access so I can come back to this when the mood takes me, and it did provide me with a focus for one of my weekly cards.

Monthly journaling in my JIYA Journal created from Megan Quinlan's class supported by Wendy's lettering class. Only a couple of spreads this month, but better than nothing! 

I've decided it's too much when I'm working full time to try and work in more than one journal, so this month I concentrated on my Summer Journal. While I didn't quite make my hoped-for deadline of the Autumn Equinox on 20th March, I did manage to finish it by the end of the month! 

There is more evidence of my lettering practice here. See spreads I completed in December here,  February here, and these are March :

See everything in the flip-through video

I love the satisfaction of holding a completed journal 💙

New Supplies : Gloss sprays by Ranger (ordered from Ribbon Rose) I've been wanting these for ages so got myself some favourite colours to try out. 

And first play with a couple of colours : 

They seemed to work better on the old book page and soaked in with less effects on the cheap watercolour paper. Megan Quinlan has an excellent video here on YouTube with tips and tricks for using them including cleaning up and making sure your nozzles don't clog up! More experimentation needed.

Fav free inspiration this month - the exhibitions of Paul Dibble and Boro embroidery at our local art gallery (if you are local this is on for a while). 

Paul Dibble is a renowned New Zealand sculptor of Bronze. He passed away at the end of last year, and since he was local, our city has many of his wonderful works. These are huia birds (now extinct) and a kowhai flower - cast bronze and gold leaf.

Favourite reads this month : 

And a pet update - the kittens and puppy are growing and becoming friends. Definitely still a lot of hard work, but we have lots of joyful moments too.

April contains 2 weeks of school holidays so I look forward to sharing more art, especially in the second half of the month. I post more regularly on my Instagram and Facebook Artist's page.

Cheap and free inspirations for December Daily Journaling

We're half way through November and no matter how much I don't feel ready, it's time to start thinking about what December might look like for you. I love a good December Daily, and I'm always tempted by the offerings at this time of year. I did manage one last year, although it was December Daily-ish. Last year I followed the Free prompts of Michelle and Tamara for #ArtJournalAdvent and they're doing it again in 2023.

They say "Art Journal Advent is all about mindfulness and selfcare in December. With daily journal prompts - from December 1st until the 24th - we encourage you to take a short 'time-out' by simply taking some time for yourself and your creativity. Our prompts are a wonderful mix of self reflection, mindfulness and creative fun!" All the links and info to sign up here. This includes tutorials on how to make your journal.

Next up another Free offering with Kasia Avery.

Formerly known as Kasia's Advent Calendar, Care December is getting ready to bring you daily caring, soothing and creative art journaling prompts and videos. I did Kasia's prompts in 2019 and I used her 2018 Prompts to create an Autumn Advent journal in April 2020! Kasia is also focused on taking some time for yourself and your creativity. Read all the details and sign up here.

And one more I've just found out about but haven't experienced before is with Liz Lamoreux called December Pause. 

Liz is a list maker and this is an ecourse series that invites you to explore the creative practice of writing lists to anchor you in the midst of daily life. It's about giving yourself the gift of presence and connection for a few moments each day and sounds like it would be a good way to start a writing practice, or give you ideas to include in a journal practice you have already. It's not free but is only US$15 - find out all about it and sign up here.

Make sure you prioritise self-care this December 💜

New Art Journal

I loved my altered art journal which started life as an old children's book. Very rarely did I wish for something different in the way of base pages which were thick and covered with text that showed through most of my finished art - an effect I loved. 

While I did work in a Watercolour Calendar journal (spiral bound and cheap paper) in 2014, and I created my own watercolour journal from the pages I used for my She Blooms in Ink class with Tam in 2018, I've never purchased and worked in a proper, quality page weight, bound watercolour journal. 

I am equal parts excited and nervous to work in this! So many choices of what I could do on my first page, and a very white blank page it was to start with....I decided that I would try a lesson from the Free Life Book 2021 Taster event since it's only available for a couple of weeks. Inspired by a watercolour mixed media portrait lesson by Toni Burt. If you click on her name you'll find some free tutorials to try with her. 

Brave beginning - my non-dominant (left) hand with non-permanent pencil. 

Watercolours, black permanent polychromos pencil and a little collage with Daler Rowney ink in the background and my first page in my new art journal is done. 

Happy Sunday.

My Word for 2019 and introducing my new art journal

While I've followed the practice of choosing a word of the year for about 10 years now, I wasn't looking for a new word this year. I've had SHINE for the last 2 years and I think it's with me for life ♥ but while watching Effy Wild's first live broadcast for 2019, she mentioned the word EASE and my heart answered. This year I am looking for lightness, self-care and compassion. I want to slow down and practice gratitude for what I already have. I love Kiala Givehand's recent 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. 
In my past practice I've focused on a word for each letter of Shine and this year I'm really excited by my change of focus words

My Word for 2019 is SHINE with a focus on EASE

S = Self-care 
Stitch and make Art - do what recharges me
Develop relationships - support others and accept support 
Believe in myself
Share - I'm an extrovert so this also recharges me
H = Healthy
Good eating + Gym habit = Energised
Be mindful
Rest
Reflection = improvements to habits
Nurture body and Soul
I = Inner Work
Affirmations
Self-care and self-compassion
Continue to explore my intuition and inner wisdom via Tarot and Oracle cards
Reflection 
N = Notice
Embrace joy - seek it out - sit with it
Practice gratitude and love
Be mindful
E = Ease
A gentle approach - self-compassion
Following the path that feels good for me
Letting go of the unrealistic expectations I wouldn't hold for others

Making space for silence 

Rest
Going deeper, not wider - finding value in what I already have 

And the day after I'd decided all that, Victoria Erickson (huge fan here) posted this poem ♥

I began the year with gratitude and ease - read about my family holiday in Hawaii HERE. Now I'm ready to begin 2019 with a new art journal. I loved working in my previous altered book so much, I decided to go with another recycled old book. Trying to use what I already have, I looked in my stash and had 2 choices 

I love the cover design of the Girls' Treasury without alteration but it's just too small for me this year. The book that I've chosen is still quite a bit smaller than my previous journal but it's good to be stretched in different ways, and if I do as many stitching projects as I intend to this year, it will be great to spend less time filling smaller pages in my art journal! 

The new pages measure 7 1/4" x 9 3/4" (18.5cm x 24.5cm) and they are old-fashioned thick ♥

Given my previous journal ended up bulging, I've already taken out some signatures. There's a mix of glue and stitched signatures. In places, I clipped the stitching and lifted a folio of 3 folded sheets out before taping over the seam left

I have pulled out 6 signatures of 3 folios each = a total of 72 pages. In my book I still have 82 pages so I've removed about half. 

That stack of signatures is ready to be turned into another journal in the future ♥

I have left the damaged top of the spine at this stage (you can see the exposed glued signatures) in case I need to split the spine and rebind as I did in my last journal. 

I usually save doing my cover art until I complete the journal. See details of my previous journal cover completed HERE. 

My new journal will contain my art from Effy's Book of Days 2019 (which is a collaborative this year) and may contain some interpretations also from A Year of Rumi, although I have a different project in mind for that class : Klimt in the Garden with Rumi. Despite my initial trepidation about beginning a new journal of such different dimensions, after preparing it all I couldn't wait to get started. 

My first art journal spread is inspired by the Opening Ceremonies lesson from Effy Wild focused on our word of the year. This post would be huge if I went on to share the full story of my first spread so check back for that tomorrow...

Hawaiian Holiday review and Traveling Art ♥

This week we returned from a family holiday of 11 nights in Hawaii! Can't quite believe I can write that ♥ Our eldest has just finished high school and we don't know what the future looks like so we're making the most of this time together...it could be our last big trip as the 4 of us. I went anticipating lots of amazing experiences but also hoping for some transportable art time... I tend to overpack art supplies when I am traveling within New Zealand so I tried to keep my supplies limited 

Before we left I created a gelli journal inspired by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's online class so I had a journal of backgrounds to doodle on and took my Inner work journal to write in (note the perfect Hawaiian cover - a lovely coincidence cos our holiday wasn't booked when I purchased it ♥)

No idea what to expect in terms of realistic art time or shopping for art supplies....here's what happened. First part of our stay was in Maui - we had a balcony that was perfect for morning coffee...and art journaling

afternoon wine...and art journaling

journaling of any kind at any time really ♥ 

I shared base pages in my Gelli journal HERE. Maui was very relaxed and I actually managed to complete 3 pages in my journal whilst away! These are the base pages and the finished : 

I've left the inside front cover at this stage. 

Lots of metallic pens on the above - lots going on but couldn't stop!

As far as art supplies go, I was very disappointed with what was available. (Please don't advise me now about where I should have gone!!) Only purchased the following in Maui from Ben Franklin Crafts 

- lovely stencils that helped me with my page above and I can't wait to try that really large one. The pens and ink pad were cheaper than NZ, but I had been hoping to see Jane Davenport supplies and Art Foamies by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and many more stencil designs but alas it wasn't to be....
Once we got to Honolulu for the second stage of our holiday, we spent a lot more time out in the city at night, and I only kept up with my written journaling. I purchased the Southern Hemisphere PDF Planner for a Magical 2019 to print and use weekly, and it was good for brief notes of what we did each day

I really like how there's space on the page for me to print out 3 photos of highlights of each week although it was hard to choose for this fortnight! Then I wrote more detailed notes and was thrilled I kept this up daily. 

Now for the inspiration - the hotel in Maui was a resort - lots of palm trees 

and I especially loved the architectural and furniture patterning which I photographed for future art inspiration :

Loved the pineapple details in our room

In Honolulu our hotel was much more modern and inner city - they did have this very cool tiled floor in the bathroom - this way up they look like pansies

And I can't finish this post without a few favourite photos of me loving every moment of my Hawaii experience

Don't forget it's the middle of winter in Hawaii and perfect temperatures for us - blue skies and 28 degrees every day and it only rained at night

 

On our last night I purchased this calendar for my studio - a reminder of my Hawaii experience and to remember the good things in life. The beach has always been my happy place ♥ 

I have begun 2019 so grateful for the opportunity to travel with my family and soak in so many new experiences, but also with renewed love and gratitude for the beautiful land which I call home...and now I'm going to work in my new altered journal. Sharing tomorrow ♥