Author Archives: ajsartjournal

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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

Being Human

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Being Human

 

Hello friends

Good News!  Dr Amy Johnson‘s new book Being Human is now available in paperback from Amazon.com and Amazon UK and above is the image I created for the cover.

I had a message from Amy the other day she was upset because all along we had both thought that the images (8 pages) I created to illustrate the inside of the book would be printed in colour.  Then at the last minute the printer, having produced a full colour proof for Amy to look at, informed her that if she wanted the 8 images in colour she would have to pay to have the whole book (of 272 pages) printed in colour.  This would have trebled the price!

Amy had a sleepless night worrying about this and then made the right decision and told the printer to print the cover in colour and the inside in black and white.  She thought I would be disappointed and I guess I was a little at first, but the truth is the images are just a tiny part of a really great book, and are not really that important. I feel truly honoured to be part of it and of course the book has to be affordable or people won’t buy it.  It’s the words Amy wrote that count not my funny pictures.

You can see all the pages in full colour on this blog, if you search for Being Human, and the Kindle edition out later this month will also have the images in colour.

The more I have thought about this the more I am looking forward to getting my copy of the paperback and seeing how my artwork looks in monotone, who knows this could be the start of a new venture for me.  Perhaps the beginning of my ‘black & white’ period 🙂 – (By the way I don’t really think that’s likely).

Anyway, I am going to recommend you buy this book and not because some of my artwork is in it but because it’s a really good book.  Amy Johnson is lovely and wise and her style of writing is easy to read.  It’s like having a casual conversation with a friend but the messages being delivered, almost without you realising it, are powerful and life-changing.

BUT if you are a member of my family then DON’T buy it because I’ll be giving you a copy for Christmas 🙂

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

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

 

© Janette Gregson and ajsartjournal, 2013 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.

 

 

 

Things that Count

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Things that Count

 

Hello friends

I hope you are well, I am pleased to say I am feeling much better this week.  This weekend has just zipped by and I can’t believe that I have to go back to work again tomorrow already!  Still never mind…

T has started to remove the tiles from the wall in the kitchen, so this means we have now definitely started with the kitchen refurbishment, but don’t hold you breath as I anticipate it is going to take months to complete.  We are going to have to purchase new cupboards, sink, cooker (and probably fridge and freezer), worktops and tiles.  That pretty much is going to break our bank so we are going to have to do as much of the work as we can ourselves.  It’s going to be difficult and will take us much longer than it would to have someone come and do it for us professionally, but needs must.  Although T has made a start, we are planning to purchase the stuff in the January sales and then I hope we don’t actually start the work until the weather warms up a bit as I anticipate we could be without cooker and sink for a some time as we try and figure out how to do it.  I have two weeks worth of leave from work that I have to take before the end of May.  So April/May time would be good for me however T is probably not going to be that patient and, to be fair, he has waited 20 years to get the kitchen sorted out.

As the fuel bills are going up by a ridiculous amount, I decided that we needed to put up thick curtains on all the windows that didn’t have any, in an attempt to keep the heat in the house and this weekend I have dyed, sewn and put up two lots so that has given me a sense of achievement.

A couple of really good things happened today:  first we bought a really nice dining table, it’s kind of ‘shabby chic’, it’s old and has thick turned and painted legs, a solid pine top and a little drawer.  It’s in keeping with our house which is old (built in 1860) and has a rustic feel.  Buying a table probably doesn’t sound like a big deal, but we have never really had much money and previously any furniture we had was either bought cheap or handed on from someone else.  But this year we have purchased a lovely wooden dresser for the kitchen and now a table.  I am beginning to feel like a grown up at last, and for someone in their late 50’s that’s not bad.

The second, and best, thing was that when I went to visit Mum and Dad this afternoon my Dad presented me with a file containing 77 hand written pages about his life.  My Dad is over 90 and he is always telling me stories about his life.  Some time ago I asked him to try and write it all down for me.  I never thought he would actually do it, but today he gave it to me. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet and to be honest his handwriting is a bit difficult to read, but eventually I will type it all up and it will be distributed to my two brothers and their children.  Hopefully after that it will be passed on to their children too.  I am so lucky to have parents who may be a little frail physically these days but are both still mentally alert. I am pretty sure that my Mum has also written her story, but that’s not come my way yet.

The page above is a quick mixed-media page that I completed today in my altered book journal, it has layers of paint, papers, stencilling, some Zetiology stamps and a quote by one of my all time favourite people Albert Einstein.

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

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

 

 

© Janette Gregson and ajsartjournal, 2013 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.

Wild Woman

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Wild Woman

Hello friends!

I hope all is good in your part of the world.

I apologise I went AWOL again for a while mainly because I’ve been feeling a little unwell again.  Nothing too serious, just a bit out of sorts.

So the big storm came and went and thankfully we had no damage here, although other places did not fare so well.  I think I slept through the worst of it anyway.  Despite having hurt my back last time I blogged I decided to do the housework anyway and managed to vacuum most of the house that day.  Movement seems to do it good but it’s taken longer than I expected to recover and I am still getting slight twinges even now.

A week ago today I felt very lethargic and instead of updating my blog I sat and watched television for a couple of hours, that on it’s own should have informed me that all was not well, because I never watch television!  I got through the week and I wasn’t unhappy, just feeling kind of dull.  Then on Saturday I had another massive migraine and spent the whole day in bed trying not to be sick because that just made my head thump even more. On Sunday the pain had gone and I was able to do a couple of hours work with some friends on the next exhibition for the local history group and afterwards I visited my Mum and Dad for a short time.

I think I have finally worked out what is causing the migraines and I just need to figure out how to fix that problem and I’ll be back on track again 🙂  I hate losing whole days like that because I always have far more to do than I can easily cope with and laying in bed for a day means that the ‘stuff to do’ just keeps stacking up.  Fortunately I have managed not to get stressed out about this.  I feel like I’m not being very creative at the moment, but the reality is I am always doodling or painting or cutting and sticking something and really there is no law that says I have to create everyday – it’s just that I feel more complete if I do.

The page above is page 6 of my 5th Teesha Moore inspired journal which I completed a few months ago.  The quote is from Women Who Run With Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes and I dedicate the page to all the wild women I’ve had the pleasure to meet in my life.

Have a great week and I hope to be back again soon.

Big love

AJ 🙂

© Janette Gregson and ajsartjournal, 2013 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.

True Love

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True Love

 

Hello Friends

Hope your weekend is going well.  We are expecting a BIG storm here tonight, but at the moment the sun is shining and, although it’s blustery, it’s hard to imagine what it will be like tonight. I went out in the garden this morning to move some things I thought might get blown away if there are really strong winds.

One of the things I moved was a ridiculous wicker pig-shaped plant holder, and as I bent down to pick it up I felt a clicking in my back followed by PAIN! So now my back is very sore and I’m using that as an excuse not to do any housework today!

The page above is from my 5th Teesha Moore inspired journal and, as you can see, it’s about True Love. I was fortunate to meet my true love and soul mate when I was 15 years old and we’ve been together ever since (and that’s a really long time)!

Yesterday I took my parents to a party to celebrate someone’s 60th Wedding Anniversary. My Dad was (stand-in) Best Man at that wedding. The real Best Man got delayed with his travel arrangements so Dad was persuaded to step in at the last minute.  The hostess gave a lovely speech yesterday and thanked Dad for being best man, but he’s so deaf he didn’t hear a word of it!

My parents have been married for 63 years and, despite the fact that they bicker frequently, they still adore each other.

Me and T are never going to have a 60th, 50th or even 30th Wedding Anniversary because we had already been together for 37 years before we decided to get married in 2007. Even then I was only persuaded because we were on a tropical island paradise on the other side of the world.  We had a great wedding, there were only 6 of us there including the minister. We were on top of Mount Dillon overlooking Castara Bay in beautiful, sunny Tobago, the sun was going down and there was a rainbow in the sky. We didn’t have to make any ridiculous vows or promises either just affirm our love for each other.  It was touching, emotional and magical.

Have a great week everyone and I’ll see you soon. I have decided that if the wind is as strong as they say it’s going to be tonight, I am going to sleep downstairs.  One of the disadvantages of living on top of a hill is that there’s not much to protect us from the wind and it will be safer on the ground floor.

Be safe

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

 

© Janette Gregson and ajsartjournal, 2013 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.

She Made Up A Story…

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She made up a storyHello friends!

It’s mid week and I am feeling better.  We had a fantastic storm here last night, lots of lightning and thunder followed by heavy rain and today by lunchtime, when I went out for my walk, the sun was shining 🙂

Above is the last page I made to illustrate Dr Amy Johnson‘s book Being Human, which should be available by the end of November, and hopefully we will be able to get it on Amazon UK – I’ll let you know as soon as I know.  This page has Amy’s daughter Willow, her son Miller, their pet dog and my own photographs making up the rest of the collage elements.  The section of the book it illustrates is about how we tell ourselves stories and then after a while if we are not careful we start believing them.

I told myself that I was going to get in to trouble at work because I was too sick to phone up on Friday to say I was too sick to go to work.  I was quite anxious on Monday morning when I phoned my manager (who works in a different location to me) to tell him, but he was cool.  He asked if I was OK and said I was not to worry about it.

Today I volunteered to attend some training on how to give presentations to schools and groups about the industry I work for.  Apart from anything else it will mean that sometimes I get to do something other than sitting at a computer all day inputting data 🙂  I already give presentations for my local history group so talking in front of people is not a problem for me and who knows I may pick up some new tips and ideas.

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

Big love

AJ 🙂

© Janette Gregson and ajsartjournal, 2013 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.

Enjoy the Journey

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Enjoy the Journey

 

Hello friends!

I hope all is good with you, I’ve been poorly but I’m feeling better now.  Sickness probably accounts for the ‘Senior Moments’ on Wednesday, on Thursday I really struggled to stay motivated at work and when I came home I sat and watched television (I never do that!), I just really felt out of sorts.   Then on Friday I woke up with a humdinger of a headache and was really sick, all day long.  I stayed in bed but every time I moved threw up,  Obviously I didn’t make it to work, I’m supposed to phone in and let them know if I’m not going to be at work, but I just couldn’t manage the phone or even to tell my husband to phone for me.  So I’m probably going to be in trouble tomorrow…

I’ve had this problem before and, by a process of elimination, I think I am beginning to work out what the cause is.  I used to think it was a problem with my neck, but I now think that because I have a weakness in my neck that’s where the pain tends to go.  The bottom line is, I think I need to change my diet.  It’s got to be worth a try because being sick like that really knocks me for six!

I’ve been reading a lot recently, obviously Dr Amy Johnson‘s new and previous books and other similar works about how our thinking shapes our personal world and that our default setting is always well-being.  It was comforting to me, while I was feeling so unwell, to know that my body was just working through some issues and eventually I was going to be OK.

Yesterday I was still feeling washed out but I did manage to get out for a walk and I did some easy art (shown above) in my altered book journal.  I’m not that impressed with the result to be honest, but art is always good therapy so I’m sharing it anyway.

I started off with gesso’d pages, stuck old dictionary pages over them (these can no longer be seen), then I painted them turquoise – I didn’t mean to paint the whole spread that colour but the paint tube was blocked and when I managed to unblock it I got far more paint out than I really needed, then I used some foam stamps to stamp over the turquoise with orange acrylic and gesso, a Crafters Workshop stencil called paint lids to add the purple and a Tim Holtz reflections stamp to add some word texture.  The girl is cut from a magazine advert and then painted over (I am still really rubbish at faces and hair) and I put images of the universe into her glasses. On the left hand side of the page I did some image transfers, but they didn’t work out at all, so I gesso’d over them and then painted over with green acrylic.  I used joint tape as a stencil to add the hatching, printed out the quote (I don’t know who to attribute the quote to) sprayed it with blue and yellow spray inks, ripped out the words and stuck them down, I highlighted the wording with a white pen. Finally edged the page with black and orange Stazon ink.  That’s it.

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

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

 

 

© Janette Gregson and ajsartjournal, 2013 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.

Revel in the Experience of Being Alive

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Revel in the experience of being alive

 

Hello friends!

It’s mid week and I’ve had a very strange day, well not entirely but a couple of weird things happened.  I think the appropriate term for them is ‘Senior Moments’!

I was running a bit late this morning and rushed out of the house only to realised that I had locked myself out and my house and car keys were still inside.  It was raining and cold. Still never mind, I thought, T is home, still in bed, and he spoke to me just before I left so he’s not in deep sleep, I just need to wake him up.  It was almost an hour before he finally came down stairs in a daze and asked me what I was doing on the door-step.  In all that time I had been banging on the door and phoning the house phone constantly.  Fortunately the porch is covered so I was able to keep out of the rain and I had a cat for company most of the time.

So I was late for work, not a good start to the day!  The day at work went OK and I managed to get all my work done.  My job means that I just sit at a computer all day long so at lunch time I always try and get out for a walk.  As I was putting my coat on at lunchtime one of my colleagues told me I was mad as it was pouring with rain, but I said ‘It’s only water and besides I need to stretch my legs”.  By the time I got to the door the sun had come out and I had an enjoyable break.

This evening after work we went to get the weekly shopping, on the way we had to pick up Mum and Dad as they wanted to shop too, and also collect a parcel from the depot (because it wouldn’t fit through the letterbox).  We got to the store, parked the car and then I realised I didn’t have my handbag.  So while they went in and did the shopping I drove home again and collected my bag which I had left in the kitchen.

Sometimes I just have to accept the fact that I am a complete idiot and that’s OK because I’m not an idiot all the time in fact sometimes I am pretty smart (just not today) 😉

The image above is number 7 of 8 illustrations I did for Dr Amy Johnson‘s new book Being Human. Due out in November. The page is reproduced here with Amy’s permission.  It features Miller, Amy’s son, from a photograph Amy sent me, the collage elements are mainly my own photographs and the Buddha body is from an image that is in the public domain.  Then everything was altered with various pens.

I hope you have a great week and I’ll see you soon.

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

 

© Janette Gregson and ajsartjournal, 2013 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.

Paint your Future

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Paint your Future

 

Hello friends!

I’m back after a busy week and what a difference!  Last Sunday the weather was glorious, sunny and warm, today it’s been wet and cold.  Still that’s UK weather for you and it hasn’t dampened my spirits and in reality, at this time of year, is only to be expected.

I managed to progress my Story Box, but it’s still not finished.  The Story Box is about The Theatre Royal that used to stand in the town, it burnt down in 1961.  I used an ordinary office box file and put a picture of the theatre on the front, then I found lots of vintage theatre posters to cover the rest of the outside of the box.  I lined the inside  with movie posters because in it’s last years the theatre was turned into a cinema.  I finished my little book of pieces found in various publications about the theatre, found images of people who had performed at the theatre and printed them out and also printed out display sheets and information the group has used previously about the theatre.  I am intending to get another small book to put in the box for people to write any memories they might have of the theatre.

Story Box

It was finished enough to take to the Ryde Social Heritage Group meeting yesterday morning, several other people also took story boxes and it was interesting to see all the different styles and contents.  This is going to be a great project 🙂  The meeting was excellent, I really enjoyed it.  Afterwards 8 of us went out for lunch so the fun continued.

The page at the top of this post is the 6th of the 8 pages I did for Dr Amy Johnson‘s book Being Human which will be published next month.  The page is reproduced here with Amy’s permission and it features Willow, her daughter. The chapter is called The Importance of an Empty Future and is about how we don’t have to let things that have happened in the past influence our future.

I have just finished reading Amy’s first book Modern Enlightenment (which I bought on Amazon.UK) I think it’s a great book, really easy to read and jam-packed with wisdom.  It’s like Amy gives you the seed of an idea and does not labour the point, it’s up to you what you do with it.  I have incorporated many of her recommendations into my life and, for me, they work.  It’s a very cool book and has made me even more excited about the new book Being Human.

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

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

 

© Janette Gregson and ajsartjournal, 2013 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.

 

Breathe, Calm, Connect

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Breathe, Calm, Connect

 

Hello friends

We have had fantastic weather in my part of the UK this weekend and I’ve been busy.  I hope your weekend has been great too.

Yesterday I go up early and prepared for some voluntary work in the cemetery then did two hours work.  I was clearing grass and weeds away from the stones and carrying the waste to a bin nearby and my two friends were writing down the inscriptions from the memorials so we could add the information to our website.  I think I must have jarred my neck in doing the work because it’s been feeling a bit uncomfortable ever since then.

In the afternoon I did some work on my Story Box.  I have to have a story box completed by next Saturday, several of us are making them to show as examples of how people can use archives to tell a story.  My box is about a theatre that stood in the town from 1813 until 1961 when it burnt down.  One of the things I am putting in the box is a small book containing all the newspaper items that we have found.  I think there must be hundreds of them, it seems like that anyway.  I have typed them all out using a Old Newspaper style font, printed them, aged the paper by soaking it in tea and now I am tearing around the edges of the typed items, distressing the edges of the paper and sticking them in the book. This is just to give the ‘feel’ of ageing, I’m not trying to pass anything off as antique.

The ageing with tea took all yesterday afternoon!  Fortunately the weather was good so I was able to do most of it outside and didn’t drip tea all over the kitchen, that would have driven my husband crazy.  I worked on the tearing, distressing and sticking all evening but didn’t complete the job.

I started today by doing some updates to the RSHG website.  Then we drove over to the Garlic Farm to pick up some garlic bulbs for T to plant in the garden and to the big hardware store to picked up some items he needs for a project he is working on.

As it was such a beautiful day today I thought I would take Mum and Dad out for a drive and a walk this afternoon. Dad however said he would rather stay at home and watch the football on tv so must Mum and me went. We went to the village where I grew up and found the grave of my paternal great-grandparents in the church graveyard then we went for tea in, what I always thought was, a posh hotel. Surprisingly the service as abysmal and Mum complained about it!

This evening I’ve been doing more tearing, distressing and sticking and I’m still not finished!  As well as the book I have loads of stuff to print out to add to the Story Box which has to be completed by Saturday morning and I’ve got to presentation to prepare too.  I’m feeling just slightly under pressure right now.

Anyway, enough of the trivia of my exciting life.  The image above is a mixed media spread in my altered book.  I was just having fun with paint, papers, inks, printed tissue paper, collage and penwork.  I was going to say that I wasn’t sure what the words meant, they came to me out of nowhere, but now I realise I know exactly what they mean 🙂

I may not have time to post again until next weekend, so, in the meantime, I hope you have a great week.

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

© Janette Gregson and ajsartjournal, 2013 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.

Bouncing Back

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You're Always Bounced Back

 

Hello friends!

It’s been an odd sort of week so far, can’t quite put my finger on how or why though, so I’ll just have to keep going with the flow and see what transpires.

This is number 5 of the 8 illustrations (well actually 9 if you count the cover image) I did for Dr Amy Johnson‘s book Being Human (which is getting closer and closer to publication all the time and I am sooooo excited).  The page is reproduced here with Amy’s permission.

Amy asked me to include some images of her children in the collage elements but I did half the pages before I could pluck up the courage to start messing about with her two charming children. I am not sure why I was so reticent as Amy has been so easy to work for and so accepting of how I interpreted her words with my art, but I knew that inevitably I was going to make her children look ‘strange’ in my artwork and was worried that she, or they, wouldn’t like it.  Anyway half way through the project I realised that I had to take a deep breath and start including the kids.  So this page features Amy’s daughter and son – Willow and Miller – and their little dog.  There are also some other elements from photos Amy sent me.

The children were perfect for this illustration for the section Bouncing Back.  It’s about how, like children, we can all bounce back to our natural well-being when we perceive, or imagine, that things have gone wrong in our lives, as soon as we stop dwelling on the problems.

I have learnt such a lot from doing this project I can’t even begin to tell you how beneficial it has been for me.

Have a great rest of the week.

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

© Janette Gregson and ajsartjournal, 2013 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.