Tag Archives: AJ

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.

Life Works Like Nature

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Life Works Like Nature

Hello friends

I hope you had a great weekend, mine has been quite productive and I’m happy with that. Still got a ‘To Do’ list as long as my arm, but that’s always going to be the case and I am happy that I have achieved some things in my two days off work.

T has also been very productive, his garden has produced a fantastic crop this year and he has been busy making jam, dehydrating things, freezing stuff, making chutneys and preserving other produce in Kilner jars.   We will have a good stock of goodies to call on over the next few weeks and months.  I am so fortunate that my husband is a great gardener and a great cook, particularly as I am total rubbish at both 😉

Above is another illustration I did for Dr Amy Johnson‘s new book Being Human (which will be available before Christmas this year), and has been reproduced here with Amy’s permission.  I really like this page all the collage elements are from my own photographs, the flowers were growing in T’s garden this summer.  I love the quote and the message it gives.  

This section of the book is about Big Mind, Little Mind.  Big Mind is like the universal mind and it’s where we get our intuition, creativity, dreams and passion from.  Little Mind is our thoughts, the ones that rationalise everything, point out all the risks and reasons why we shouldn’t do things and, very often, talks us out of doing what we really want to do.  The truth is though that if we paid more attention to Big Mind and less to Little Mind everything would work out just as it’s meant to.  It sounds good to me 🙂

I’ll leave you to ponder on that thought 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.

We are the Architects of our own Happiness

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We are the architects of our own happiness

 

Hello friends

I just felt like getting messy with some paint, so I got out my old, mixed media journal which I started in June 2012.  It’s a proper book that I am altering, mainly because I don’t like the wire binding in the other journals I’ve used for mixed media.  I like doing double page spreads and wire binding distracts from the whole image .  When I first started this altered book I ripped out half of the pages and gessoed the remaining pages, leaving some of the illustrations showing through.  It was a book about shells that I picked up in a charity shop and I’ve since seen several copies of the same book, so I don’t feel bad about transforming it into something else.

This page was already started.  I can’t remember the entire process but there are pages from an old book on English architecture, handmade papers, Zettiology stamps (purchased from Teesha Moore), red and pink paint, an image transfer, spray inks, distress inks and a quote hand printed onto ordinary paper sprayed with inks.

I’ve been reading a lot recently about how despite what we may think, our happiness is not dependent upon external factors like possessions or how we look, it’s simply a choice that we make for ourselves.  So I’m choosing to be happy and I hope you are too 🙂

See you soon

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

 

COPYRIGHT

© 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.

No One is Truly Mean

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No One is Truly Mean

Hello friends!

I hope you have had a great weekend, mine has been busy and interesting.

On Friday evening T and I went to see Alexi Sayle at the local art centre.  Normally Alexi is a stand up comedian, but for this event he was doing a book reading.  He was still funny and we both enjoyed the event.

Yesterday I did some voluntary work in the cemetery, I was cutting turf from around the kerbs of graves so my friend could record the inscriptions.  We did that for a couple of hours and it was a pleasant way to spend the morning.  Then I had a short walk into town to do some shopping and spent the rest of the afternoon working with a couple of friends in the Learning Centre in the Cemetery on Ryde Social Heritage Group‘s next project.  As soon as one thing ends we have to start work on another. 🙂

Yesterday evening T and I spent a lovely time together, we had a nice meal and then sat up late watching films and talking.  Unusually for me I stayed up very late and as a consequence today has been a bit of a wash-out.  We both slept in late and have had a slow day.  I did manage to get out to visit my parents this afternoon as it is their 63rd wedding anniversary today.  Heard some good news, that my brother who lives in France will be visiting for a short time in October.  That will be lovely for Mum and Dad.

The page above is the third illustration I did for Dr Amy Johnson‘s book Being Human.  I am working really hard to try and absorb this message, which in my heart of hearts I know is true. There are two people in my life who I find to be really mean and obnoxious and occasionally I have to deal with them face to face.  I find it difficult and up until now I don’t think I have handled the situation well. I am working on being kinder, more compassionate and more understanding of them and of myself.

Have a great week

Big love

AJ 🙂

COPYRIGHT

© 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.

What’s the problem?

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What's the problem?

Hello friends

Here we are mid-week and everything is just about back to normal, just a few things still to catch up with, but I’m getting there 🙂

This page is my second illustration for Dr Amy Johnson’s book Being Human. The section is about problem solving and it was a revelation to me.  You know how sometimes things are really obvious but you just can’t see them until someone points them out to you? Amy wrote about how many of our ‘problems’ are just the result of how we think about certain conditions and if we think about them in a different way they might not be problems at all. Wow!  But you will have to buy the book (when it goes on sale) to find out more 🙂

I really loved using my own photographs to make up the collage elements of this page. There are images from my garden, a holiday to Barcelona and from the town’s carnival. Then lots of pen work and great quote by Amy. I hope you like it.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your week and I’ll see you again soon.

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

 

 

COPYRIGHT

© 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.