Tag Archives: collage

Imperfection is Beauty

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Imperfection is BeautyHello friends!

How are you?  I hope things are good with you.  Here everything is ticking along nicely.  I am working on several creative projects at once and it feels good.

I have started to prepare a poster and leaflet for the first Art Journaling workshop I am going to run as part of Ryde Arts Festival.  I am looking forward to sharing my passion for art journaling with others, I think it will probably be at the end of April I am just waiting to hear when the venue will be available for me to use.  The work we produce will be part of an exhibition for Ryde Arts Festival week in July.  I am excited and a little apprehensive about it, I’ve never done anything like this before, but something tells that I just need to do it 🙂  I just want to be well prepared…

The page above is from my second Teesha Moore inspired journal.  Things seem to be getting a bit surreal now in my artwork, but in all honesty, I don’t have a lot to do with that, I just go with the flow and see what happens.  Sometimes the result is beautiful and sometimes just downright weird 🙂

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

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

One Little House challenge Abstract with Discarded Material

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Sweet Dreams

CLICK ON IMAGE TO SEE FULL SIZE

Hello friends!

This spread in my recently started ‘Altered book journal’ is a response to a challenge over at One Little House.  There is a free group called One Little Book Club and Jeanette, our host, was inspired by Mary Beth Shaw’s book “Flavour for Mixed Media”.  I have to be honest here and say I’ve never heard of this book before and never read it.  However Jeanette created a fantastic page and I was inspired to respond.

I went though my rubbish bag and also through the piles of mess on my work desk and this is what I found:

The StashThe journal already had paint on the pages becasue I had some left over from another project, and I found some used (paint covered) baby wipes, old photos, bits of torn map, some jigsaw puzzle pieces, an old letter, a bingo card, some die cut scraps, a quote cut out from a magazine, various scrap papers and some pieces of ribbon. I began to collage it all onto the pages:

CollageAfter that I randomly added gesso, paint, texture paste, stamping, some plaster tape and glitter.  Towards the end of the process I decided to add the thin black ribbon.  It was really difficult to get it to stick to the pages and to be honest with you I thought I had ruined the whole spread.  It did not look good.  So I just added more ribbon and in the end I was pleased with the results.  I hope you like it.

I have had a very productive weekend – I am making progress with sorting out the mess in my art room and today I took 4 big bags of rubbish to the local landfill site.  T and I have made a start at redesigning the kitchen, it’s  difficult as the kitchen is long and very narrow, but we think we have worked out how to maximise on the space.  It is going to be hugely expensive and disruptive once we start, but at least we now have a plan. 🙂 Today I’ve done some housework and we purchased a lovely oak dresser which will eventually have a home in what will be our ‘rustic’ kitchen.  We had also planned to go and get a new computer for T, but after buying the furniture it was too late so maybe we will do that tomorrow?  We need to get it while it is still on Sale price.  Anyway we have both been feeling quite well this weekend so all is good.

I hope your weekend has been productive too.

See you soon

Big love

AJ 🙂

Let Your Heart Soar

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Let Your Heart SoarHello friends!

It’s the middle of the week already!  Thank you all for your kind wishes.  I am feeling much better, T is still suffering and the doctor says it is some gastric problem and has prescribed some tablets which will take a while to start working.  In the meantime he feels sick whenever he eats and is having to drastically alter his diet.  Fortunately his mood has improved though.  It is always a worry when he is physically ill as it can trigger a bipolar episode, usually a massive low.

Today I went to our head office at work and met my manager for the first time.  He talks to me on the phone several times a week but today was out first face to face meeting.  I got a good vibe from him.  I spent the rest of the day with one of the team who showed me some of the complexities of the database I use.  Wow!  I was really impressed, what an amazing woman!  It was a good day.

The snow has just about gone now which is good but it’s really cold and wet now (not so good), I’m looking forward to spring and some warm weather.

The spread above is from my 6×6 journal, it’s actually the last page in the book.  I only have the first page and cover to do now and it will be complete. 🙂

I hope you are all keeping well and happy

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

Weird & Wonderful

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Weird & WonderfulHello friends

I hope all is good with you.  We have had a little snow here which meant I struggled to get in to work on Friday.  I called my boss to explain the problems I was having and he agreed I could take the day as annual leave.

I spent the day tidying up my art room and achieved quite a lot, it’s going to take at least another full day though before it has any semblance of being ‘tidy’.  Unfortunately since then we have had sickness in the house, both of us have been quite poorly.  It’s hard to say who has been the worse.  I spent the whole day in bed yesterday being sick everytime I moved, which rates as quite bad in my books.  T, on the other hand, has been feeling poorly for much longer than me and he has now sunk into a very bad depression which is horrible on top of feeling nausious all the time.   I am hoping he will get himself to the doctor tomorrow.  I am feeling a lot better today, I have manged to eat some food and not been sick once, but my head is still feeling a bit odd.  I reckon I will be fit enough for work tomorrow.

I have to go and visit my parents now as I haven’t seen them since before it snowed and they might be in need of provisions.  I am hoping they are just staying in and keeping warm, they are too old and frail to go out on slippery pavements.

So above is another page from my 2nd journal inspired by Teesha Moore I hope you like it.

Take care and I’ll see you soon

Big love

AJ 🙂

Be Audacious!

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Be Audacious!

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE IT FULL SIZE

Hello friends!

Wow it’s a beautiful sunny but cold winter’s day outside, the perfect day for taking a walk and taking photos, but I really have to stay in and do some housework today.  I need to try and get some sort of order into my art room, the chaos is even getting to me now and generally I can put up with quite a lot of chaos!  I think the problem is that I am trying to squeeze too much into too small a space.  I keep trying to use stuff up, but ‘someone’ keeps buying more supplies and starting more projects!

So I hope you are all well and happy and have had a great start to the New Year.  I am doing fine although I have been a bit under the weather.  I had to take Friday off work as I was sick all day.  I was in bed all day, I hate it when that happens it feels like such a waste of a day!  But I needed time to rest and restore and I am sure that my imagination was working overtime.

Yesterday I had to chair a meeting of the Local History group in the morning and I wasn’t sure I was up to it, but once I was up, showered, dressed and prepared I really enjoyed the meeting.  Despite really horrible weather lots of people turned up, everyone was really friendly, our guest speaker was fantastic and we all had a great time.  I LOVE being part Ryde Social Heritage Group it is so rewarding to work with people who are so enthusiastic and helpful.  We make a great team!

Above is the second page of my second journal inspired by the lovely Teesha Moore.  I have that quote printed out and stuck on my phone at work … because sometimes I just need to remind myself.

Have a great week everyone.

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

Be of Good Cheer!

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Be of Good CheerHello friends!

It’s Sunday morning and I am trying to catch up with a load of stuff that is really overwhelming me.  What makes it worse is that my workroom is a total mess.  I REALLY need to tidy up in here, I think it is becoming a bit of a Health & Safety issue, trip hazards on the floor and surfaces covered in precarious stacks of things!  Why can’t I be ‘super tidy’ like my husband?

Anyway, even though I am surrounded by chaos and my ‘To Do’ list just grows and grows, I am still of Good Cheer today.  Yesterday T and I completed a big project (well it was big for us).  We relocated the washing machine from the kitchen to the cupboard under the stairs.   We have done a load of washing and (so far) there are no leaks!!!!  That’s stage 1 of the kitchen refurb complete…  At the moment there is a horrible big hole under the worksurface where the machine was.  We were going to put the freezer in there but it won’t fit!  Well it would fit if we forced it past the water pipes that feed the boiler but we are too worried that that will cause a leak.  Just getting the washing machine out of the space was scarey enough.  One thing we have to make sure of when we finally do the kitchen is that that space is made bigger.

I am working on a number of creative projects at the moment – several differend journals and a 16″ x 20″ canvas.

The page is above is the first page from my second Teesha inspired journal.  I LOVE this style of journaling and my collection of lovely pens is growing almost by the day.  I need to find a good way to store pens, does anyone have any ideas about that?  I like to store them flat so I need some sort of boxed racking (cheap).   I think probably I could get something at Ikea but we don’t have a store locally that I can visit.  Oh well I’m sure something will turn up.

Have a good week everyone, I’ve just been summoned to go and help measure the kitchen so we can start planning the next stage of the kitchen!

See you soon

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

A Bit Strange & One of a Kind

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A Bit Strange & One of a KindHello friends!

I hope you are well, I’ve just realised I forgot to post mid-week and I’m not sure what happened there?  I must have just been busy which seems to be my natural state these days!

This post is dedicated to the memory of “Razzle” (Nick Dingley), drummer with the band Hanoi Rocks, he was killed in a car crash in America in 1984 just a few days after his 24th Birthday.  You made a big impact on our lives man, and we won’t forget you, you will stay forever young!

Here is the front cover of my Teesha Moore inspired journal which is now complete.  I have actually finished another journal  since I completed this one and I have also restarted working on my the very first journal which I started in February 2011 also inspired by Teesha.  I got so far with it and then other things took over and it’s been neglected for months now.

Things seem to be better in December than they were in November.  BUT I’ve made no preparations for Christmas yet and haven’t even started shopping, so I am beginning to feel pressured about all of that.

Yesterday I spent the day at St Thomas Heritage Centre for Ryde Arts Festival’s ‘Green Festive Wreath’ making day.  I volunteered to serve the teas and coffees all day.   It didn’t get warm in the building all day, but it was lovely when a group of children from a Dover Park school arrived and sang Carols for us.

I also had all my completed art journals on display.  I wanted to see if there would be any interest if I run a one day Art Journaling workshop for the Arts Festival in the summer.  A few people showed some interest which was good and best of all I met Sami!  We have been friends in blogland for a while and here is her blog which is called Luna.  Sami lives in the same town as me but we have never met before.  It was lovely to meet her and her son.   I got a good warm vibe from both of them.  Yes Sami, let’s meet up for coffee and a chat soon!

Gina Lighting up the NightAfterwards I watched my beautiful friend Gina, founder of www.starmystique.com, do her fire dancing in the town square, she was great!

Gina has a huge amount of talent,  is a great performer with a winning smile and flashing eyes, and as I am sure you can see she is a very sexy lady,  but more than that she just exudes positive energy, she’s lovely!

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

Big love

AJ 🙂

Who We Were Born To Be

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Who We Were Meant to Be

Hello friends!

Happy Wednesday, I hope your week is going well.  I am still struggling with health issues and a fluctuating mood.  How I hate being miserable, I keep telling myself, it’s my choice and I can actually just decide to be happy, but it doesn’t always work.  The situation at work doesn’t help and I suspect if I took my blood pressure it would be sky high at the moment.  I had to do some calming deep breathing this morning before I left for the office, I was so wound up just by the thought of it.  I think things got better during the day and I managed to get quite a bit done and then the database I was working on decided to drastically slow down, I mean REALLY slow down, I was waiting for up to two minutes for each change I made just to register in the system.  I stand no chance of meeting my deadlines at this rate and staring at a computer screen just waiting for something to happen is such a waste of time!  Anyway enough of this whining!  Where is my ‘positive’ head?

Here is the back cover of my Teesha Moore inspired journal, I hope you like it.

Have a great week

Big love

AJ 🙂

Just Keep Breathing

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Just Keep BreathingHello friends!

How are you?  I am fine although I had a bit of a melt down at work yesterday.  I was doing OK until this lovely woman phoned me up and asked me how I was getting on in my new job.  I had to tell her I wasn’t very happy because it was so tedious and then it was like the flood gates opened.  Unfortunately I can be very emotional and my voice was breaking up, I started crying and I guess she knew that even down the phone line.   Anyway she was very encouraging and supportive and I think my discontent has now been passed up the chain a bit.  I don’t know if anything good will happen as a result of this though.  I am still trying my hardest to do a good job even though I find it totally boring and I am trying to stay positive about it.  It’s a challenge!  Anyway I felt a bit better today.  Sometimes it’s just good to talk and unload some of the crap.

So here is another bright and happy page from my ‘weird and freaky’ Teesha Moore inspired journal.  The quote is by Oprah Winfrey and is something I really need to keep telling myself.

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

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

Home, a place of safety

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Home, a place of safetyHello friends!

I hope you are all well and happy.  I have had a busy weekend.  Yesterday I had to make myself go and do the voluntary work in the cemetery, it was hard because I knew RoseMarie wouldn’t be there, but I also knew it’s what she would want me to carry on.  It was a lovely sunny morning and my friend Kate came to join me and we spent a pleasant couple of hours recording inscriptions from some of the memorials.

In the afternoon I went shopping, I was hoping to be able to buy some old National Geographic magazines cheap from one of the charity shops, but I couldn’t find any 😦  However in one of the charity shops I did find a rather fabulous scrap book of newspaper cuttings someone (unknown) made in the 1930s, I probably spent more than I should have done on it, but I couldn’t resist!  In the same shop I also got some good artist brushes for a bargain price.  Well you can never have too many brushes can you?

It is now 6:30 pm and this is the first time I’ve sat in front of my computer today.  I had to resist switching it on because I had chores to do today.  I got up early this morning and started to clear out and tidy up the cupboard under the stairs.  Eventually we intend to move the washing machine in there to free up some space in the kitchen.  It’s hard to believe that so much stuff could be crammed into such a small space.  I was ruthless and threw of lot out!  When my husband got up (much later than me) we spent time working out how we are going to deal with the plumbing and then we went to a big DIY store to buy the materials we will need.

It was too late to start by the time we got back so I went to see Mum and Dad, who are both fine, and I’ve just got back from that visit.

This image above is a single page from my A4 size journal and was done fairly quickly (I guess you can tell that) as part of the Fall Fearless and Fly challenge:

Headline prompt: Security, what makes you feel safe and secure? What rattles your sense of security? Where do you go for comfort and refuge?

Color prompt: Cool colors (blues, greens, violets, etc)

Quote prompt: You can’t make a place for yourself in the sun, if you keep taking refuge under the family tree. Helen Keller.

Well, my home and my art room make me feel safe and secure so that’s where I go for comfort.  I managed to get my two cats into the image, but not my husband, he is probably around the back of the house tending to the garden, either that or he is upstairs haveing a nap 🙂  By the way my house is not as big as the one depicted on the page.

I’m not sure who to attribute the quote I used to, I have seen several similar quotes attributed to different people, but nevertheless it is what I feel about home.  I feel that I ruined it with the terrible writing, but never mind…

Have a good week everyone and I’ll be back soon.

Big love

AJ 🙂