About ajsartjournal

This blog is to share my adventures in art journaling. It's a journey of discovery and you are more than welcome to join me. A little bit about me … I’m English and live on the Isle of Wight which is off the south coast of England. I am retired and I’m married to the love of my life. We have been together as a couple since 1970 but only got married in 2007. before that we were just getting to know each other 🙂 We have had an amazing life together, travelled to distant parts of the world and lived life to the full. Sometimes when we look back at our life together we say “Wow! did we really do all that stuff?!” My husband has been very unwell for the past 10 years and I am his full time unpaid carer now. When he was younger he worked as an advocate supporting people who were detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act. He was also a musician and DJ. He is still interested in music and on good days our house is still filled with music. Me, I’m much more of a visual person, I love photography and images and now, of course, I love art journalling and being creative. We never had children, but we are now the proud parents to two beautiful cats called Bill & Jack (after Bill Burroughs and Jack Kerouac). They are getting old now and need more care and attention. Want to know anything else? Just ask 🙂 Big love AJ

Welcome to the House of Fun!

Posted on February 23, 2014 by ajsartjournal

Hello friends!

I hope you are doing well, things are pretty good here. The new kitchen arrived yesterday! It has completely filled up T’s room and part of the living room and kitchen. There is a lot of it! Now we just have to figure out how it all goes together – it should be fun (she said)!

So far we have checked the delivery and found just a couple of things missing and a couple of things that we didn’t order have been delivered.

Yesterday afternoon I had to go to the library immediately after the kitchen was delivered as Ryde Social Heritage Group had an Archive day there, apparently it was really busy in the morning. By the time I go there (early afternoon) it had quietened down a bit although there was a steady stream of people right up until we had to pack everything away at 4pm.

When I got home I built the shell of the first cupboard which all went very well (phew!), it still needs legs and doors fixing to it then there are another 10 cupboards to build and worktops and all those other bits and pieces to fix. We both have the first two weeks of March as leave from work and are hoping to get most it done then, but I think it will be several months before it’s completely finished.

We have been doing quite a lot of preparation work prior to the delivery and the kitchen is now a complete mess, I’m not really sure how T is coping, he hates mess and clutter and as he spends more time in the kitchen than I do he must be finding it difficult. He will want to get it finished as soon as possible.

Today we took Mum and Dad out for lunch to celebrate Mum’s birthday, which was actually on Friday, and we had a lovely time together.

I am really loving Teesha and Tracy Moore’s Artstonauts Club, there is so much to inspire and motivate me with my art there. If you would like to know more about the Artstonauts Club there is an open FaceBook group here and from there you can click on a link that will take you to the Artstonauts Club website with all the amazing goodies. You have to be a member to have access to the website, but it’s very reasonably priced.

I made one of Teesha’s ‘Amazing 16 page journals‘ from one sheet of watercolour paper. I have almost completed all the collaging on all the pages, except for the covers which I always leave until the very end, and I’ve started playing with pens. The page above is the first completed page. The title “Welcome to the House of Fun” is probably apt for the stuff that’s going to be happening in my home over the next few weeks (or possibly months).

Here is some fabulous news: I am going to be facilitating another Teesha inspired Introduction to Visual Journaling workshop at Ventnor Library on Saturday 29 March. It will be the same as the workshop I did for Ryde Arts Festival almost a year ago, you can read about that workshop here and you can see the book we produced here. This time we are not making a book (just the first pages for our personal journals) so participants will be able to take away their artwork at the end of the day. The workshop is being hosted by the Friends of Ventnor Library and there is a very small charge (only £2.50!) for participants. It is a whole day workshop from 09:30 to 16:00 with a break for lunch. The workshop is for a maximum of 12 people (adults only) so if you are interested please contact Ventnor Library on 01983 852039.

Right, now I have a stack of ironing to do so I am ready for work tomorrow. I’ll try and post again mid week but if I go missing in action for a while you’ll know I am busy with our DIY project.

Thanks for visiting it’s been a pleasure to have you here.

Big love

AJ 🙂

© Janette Gregson and ajsartjournal, 2014 unless otherwise stated. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Janette Gregson and ajsartjournal with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

You have the Power

Posted on February 16, 2014 by ajsartjournal

Hello friends

I hope you are all keeping well, dry and warm. We had a sunny day today, it’s been fantastic and I went out for walk. By comparison on Friday we had heavy rain (nothing new there) and storms. The ground is so saturated now, after weeks of mostly rain, there is nowhere for the water to go so on Friday we did have some fairly serious flooding on the Island. The local newspaper put up a map of the Island on their website and by evening the map was completely covered in ‘road closed’ or ‘road flooded but passable with care’ signs. When I drove home from work it was quite exciting as I had to drive through several streams that were crossing the road!

On Saturday I had to drive over to the other side of the Island, I was going to postpone my visit but when I got up the rain had stopped and when I checked the map most of the signs had been removed. I had to take rather a long route to get to my destination but it was much better driving than the day before.

And today we’ve had glorious sunshine all day 🙂 It’s been so good for my soul to see the sun again. I went for my walk on the same beach I visited at the beginning of the month. This time the tide was out far enough for me to be able to walk on the beach and I noticed there was a lot of storm damage, a couple of trees had fallen over and look at this small getty. The photo on the left was taken on 2 Feb and the one of the right was taken today. The tide was out today so you get to see the horrible seaweed instead of the lovely sea. Although it was rickety looking a couple of weeks ago it did have some planking whereas today there are only the posts and a few cross bars left in place 😦

The page above is in my Artstronauts Journal and it’s a reply to the page I posted in the middle of the week. I am much happier with this page, the head and hat are a Zetiology stamp and I like the contrast of the black and white against the colourful page.

Right, I need to do some chores and get ready for work again tomorrow. Have a great week and I’ll see you soon.

Big love

AJ 🙂

Where’s my Sparkle?

Posted on February 12, 2014 by ajsartjournal

Hello friends

I hope things are good with you. Here it’s rain, rain, rain and it’s getting to be a drag. I shouldn’t complain as we’ve had no flooding here but some people have had their homes flooded since before Christmas! It seems every day more and more people are struggling with this atrocious weather. I hope things calm down and dry out soon. We need some sunshine and warmth.

The page above is a page from my Teesha inspired board book. I’m really not sure what to make of this one. Overall it just doesn’t ‘do it’ for me, but there are some things about it I really love: the colours and especially the piece of collage that looks like it’s been wired (or stitched) to the page, I like the girl’s face which is one of the stamps I bought from Teesha a while ago and I liked taking the image of the girl and completely changing her with collage and pens, but as a piece of art it’s just not ‘floating my boat’. Ah well never mind, I’m sure the next page is going to be better 🙂

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely rest of the week.

Big love

AJ 🙂

Be the kind of woman…

Posted on February 6, 2014 by ajsartjournal

Hello friends

I hope you are having a good week, I am struggling a bit with mine. Today I came home from work, had a bath and was in my pyjamas by 6pm! Well at least I am warm and comfortable now and it looks like I’m going to have a lazy evening.

Today’s image is from another of the little books I made as Christmas presents. This one was for a colleague at work who always impresses me with her dedication and motivation.

On the back of the book I wrote my Christmas message and also “I think you already are that woman”.

Have a great rest of the week all and I’ll see you soon.

Big love

AJ 🙂

It’s been a good day :-)

Posted on February 2, 2014 by ajsartjournal

Hello friends!

I hope all is good with you. I didn’t post mid week because for some reason my mood flat-lined on Wednesday and I had no motivation. It didn’t really worry me because I knew it would pass, and it has.

I have had quite a productive weekend, yesterday I did loads of housework then spent the rest of the day cutting up magazines and making collage pieces for my new 16 page Teesha Moore inspired journal. I also managed to throw out the stack of magazines after I had cut them up, so that has made a little more space in my art room.

Today has been sunny so I finally got out for a walk. My aim was to walk on a deserted beach and I went to Binstead to walk on Players Beach, there is hardly ever anyone there, but when I got to Binstead the tide was in and I wasn’t able to walk very far. I tried going up into the woods, but it was very muddy and the path was blocked by a fallen tree.

Here are some photos I took while I was out.

Still it was nice to be beside the sea and out in the fresh air.

Afterwards I visited my friend Razzle’s grave in the local churchyard, he died in a motor accident in 1984 aged just 24. When ever I am in the area I visit his grave and say hello, it’s been a long time but we still miss him.

As the sea at Binstead was preventing me from walking along the beach I got back in the car and drove to Appley and took a longer walk along the beach there. There were lots of people about as it’s a popular place but it wasn’t crowded and I came home with a few stones in my pocket which I am going to try and paint.

After the walk I went to see Mum and Dad for a cuppa and a chat.

Oh, and apparently today is my wedding anniversary, I didn’t remember until T told me this morning. Seven years ago today just before sunset we got married on Mount Dillon overlooking Castara Bay in beautiful, sunny Tobago. I wish I was there now soaking up the hot sunshine and chillin’ with the locals. Prior to that we had been together for for 37 years so it wasn’t something we rushed into 🙂

The page above is another from my Mandala book.

Have a good week friends and I’ll see you all soon.

Big love

AJ 🙂

Standing in the Centre of my own Circle

Posted on January 26, 2014 by ajsartjournal

Hello friends

I hope you are well and had (or are having) a great weekend.

We have been quite productive here. Yesterday T decided to repaint the kitchen ceiling again, so while he was doing that I took out one of the cupboards, dismantled it, packed all the bits in my car and took it to the local tip. When I took the kick board off from the bottom of the units I was surprised to see just how much rubbish the workmen had left when they installed the kitchen in 1996. So I cleaned all that up too.

In the evening I prepared a sheet of paper to make a Teesha Moore inspired 16 page journal, which I have cut and stitched this afternoon and started with the collage.

This morning I slept very late and was woken by the sound of banging coming from the kitchen. When I eventually got up T has removed some more tiles from the wall. Unfortunately when the kitchen was done just before I bought the house the tiles were put straight on top of the plaster board and in removing the tiles some of the board has been damaged beyond repair so we have had to replace it, so we worked on that together today. Now we are wondering if we could put a skim of plaster over the walls ourselves or if we need to employ someone to do it for us.

Anyway, this is how far we got today:

It looks a bit messy doesn’t it?! The cupboard had to be taken out because those pipes running along the wall have to be moved somehow so that the new fridge and freezer can go under the small window.

We have to get a plumber in to do that for us as we wouldn’t know where to start and as brand new cupboards are going along that wall we definitely do not want any leaks.

The page above is another from my Mandala book, I have a poster on my wall at work that has all these motivational words on them and I thought it would be good to incorporate them into a mandala (of sorts).

Have a great week and I’ll see you soon.

Big love

I am because we are

Posted on January 22, 2014 by ajsartjournal

Hello friends

I hope you are well and happy today. I am doing fine, happy to be over the ‘hump’ of the week and flying towards the weekend 🙂

Today’s post is another of the little books I made for a Christmas present. This one was for my brother. Before he retired he was a primary school headmaster and a few years ago he went on a school visit to South Africa, he really enjoyed the visit and was completely taken by the philosophy of Ubuntu which is all about humanity. So I made him this book to remind him of that visit and I think he was touched by it.

Have a great week and I’ll see you soon.

Big love

AJ 🙂

Glory

Posted on January 19, 2014 by ajsartjournal

Hello friends

It’s good to see you again 🙂 The weekend is nearly over, I just have a stack of ironing to do this evening and then I’m ready for the week ahead.

I don’t feel I’ve been very productive this weekend, but perhaps that’s because I’ve done bits of several things instead of concentrating on one job?

T and I painted the kitchen ceiling, twice! When we bought the house the ceilings in every room had been Artexed (a different pattern in every room). We hate the stuff, so a few years ago we had the living room ceiling plastered over to make it smooth and a few weeks ago we had the kitchen ceiling done too. Unfortunately shortly after that we discovered we had some broken tiles above the kitchen and when it rained (which it has been doing a lot recently) it came through. We got someone to come and fix it before too much damage was done. It’s going to take another coat of paint (at least) before it’s finished but we have to take it fairly slow as it’s hard work for us. It made my arm ache painting above my head and standing looking up made me really dizzy a couple of times.

We are starting now to do the preparation for the new kitchen which is due to be delivered in about a month’s time. We have both taken two weeks off in March to build and install it. When I told someone at work we were going to install it ourselves he made some strange comment and looked at me as though I was insane. I got the impression he thought I couldn’t do it because I’m a woman! Hmmm, I’ll show him! Besides T and I are going to do it together. We will have to pay a plumber and an electrician to do some some technical bits, but building and installing the cupboards and worktops will be down to us. I’m sure it will be fine. (she said).

This weekend I have also been doing lots of doodling, working on my junk journal and I completed the page above which was inspired by Teesha Moore’s Artstronauts Club. The two ‘lollypop’ people were inspired by some sculptures by Joan Miro, who is one of my all time favourite artists.

We had a bit of sunshine today which was lovely to see and I’m optimistic that I am going to have a good week this week. I hope you do too.

See you soon

Big love

AJ xxx

Chaos

Posted on January 15, 2014 by ajsartjournal

Hello friends!

It’s the middle of the week already and, as a friend at work said to me today, “We are over the hump of the week now and on countdown to the weekend”. I hope your week is going well, I am still struggling a bit with the tedium of work, but I do know that the problem is with me more than the job. So here are the good things about my job: It’s only 20 minutes drive from home, it’s fairly easy, I’ve got my own office (which is decorated with my artwork), I work with some really nice people, at the end of the day I can come home and forget about it until tomorrow (unlike many of my colleagues I am not expected to go out and fix things in the middle of the night or at weekends) and my manager is nice. I really need to keep focusing on the good things…

The page above is from my Mandala Book, I’m not sure it really qualifies as a mandala apart from the fact that it’s circular, but I figure if a mandala is a representation of a person’s universe then this is a fair representation of me and mine – my life is colourful, crammed full of stuff and a bit chaotic 🙂

See you soon

Big love AJ 🙂

The Wonders of Tea!

Posted on January 12, 2014 by ajsartjournal

Hello friends

How are you? I’m good but I found going back to work after the Christmas and New Year break quite a struggle. It’s not that my job is difficult or stressful, in fact it’s the opposite, but all week I was coming home exhausted and really lethargic. After two weeks of being creative a lot of the time it was difficult to get back into the flow of the mundane. I’m sure it will get better in time.

When I woke up yesterday morning we had no internet, at first I wasn’t too bothered because my ISP is usually very good at fixing problems. In any case I had a meeting to chair in the morning so I went out fully expecting everything to be OK when I got home, which was not until late afternoon.

There was still no internet and T told me it had gone off before he went to bed the night before. Of course the problem with having no internet is that you can’t go online to find out what the problem is. Eventually I managed to find a telephone number so I could ask what the problem was. Apparently the fibre optic cable had been damaged and they were trying to find the break and replace the cable. Unfortunately the break was in a part of the cable running alongside a railway line. Access to the railway was restricted and this was delaying the repair.

When I got up this morning there was still no internet! So I made a few prayer flags instead. Actually that was good because that task was one of the unfinished items on my To Do list and had to be completed by tomorrow.

Finally early evening I got connected again, so here I am!

I’d like to apologise to all the people who have left comments on my blog and not received a response from me. I am really sorry, I have been intending to reply, but have been really out of sorts this week. Please know that I love you and appreciate your support and I hope I don’t appear rude.

The page above is the cover of one of the little books I made for friends and family for Christmas and here are the inside pages.

As far as I can remember all the images came from the Graphics Fairy website. The book is a recycled child’s board book measuring about 3″ by 3″. I made 12 books (I think) in total, all different.

Have a good week everyone and I’m going to try and get my head back into ‘normal’ mode.

I’m off for a cuppa now, see you soon

Big love

AJ 🙂

AJ's Art Journaling

This blog is to share my adventures in art journaling. It's a journey of discovery and you are more than welcome to join me.

Author Archives: ajsartjournal

About ajsartjournal

Welcome to the House of Fun!

You have the Power

Where’s my Sparkle?

Be the kind of woman…

It’s been a good day :-)

Standing in the Centre of my own Circle

I am because we are

Glory

Chaos

The Wonders of Tea!