Tag Archives: collage

AJ the Mermaid Clown!

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AJ the Mermaid ClownHello friends!

It’s been a while since I posted on my blog, my only excuse is that if I thought I was busy before the last couple of weeks have been mental!

The Mermaid Circus online workshop with Teesha Moore and Jane Davenport is quite sensational, but I’m struggling to keep up with it all.  In the first two weeks we were tasked with making a shaped book and filling it with mermaids and sea creatures with a circus theme.  This was a huge challenge to me because I have absolutely NO interest in Mermaids 🙂  However I have made my book and so far I have populated it with three performing mermaids and the Ring Master who is an octopus.  There are still at least 6 mermaids or sea creatures to create and the cover to do (I will leave the cover till last).

I decided to include myself in the book.  I have a photograph that I took of my face from underwater when I was snorkeling in Tobago and I was going to use that, but it didn’t work.  So I ended up painting the face based on that photo.  Of course it looks nothing like me so I decided to turn myself into a Mermaid Clown and also to give myslf long flowing red hair!

I’m a bit stuck with the shaped book now because the next challenge is to draw a face, copy it and collage it into the next piece.  I’m not very good at drawing so I’ve been doing lots of practice.  I think I’m improving, here is my first attempt and a later one.

first attemptGirl with roses in her hair

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think it’s going to take a bit more practice before I’m really ready to use a face I’ve drawn in my book though. So far I have had about 12 attempts so I reckon if I do another 88 and I might be there 🙂

On top of the Mermaid Circus I also did my very first Art Journaling workshop last Saturday, and it went REALLY well I had a great day with an amazing group of people.  I did loads and loads of preparation and that really paid off. We created journal pages in the style of Teesha Moore – collage and penwork – and everyone completed one page, a couple of people managed two!.  All the pages will be temporarily bound into a book that will go on display during Ryde Arts Festival 27 June – 7 July.  After the festival all the participants will get their art work back and I am also hoping to turn it into an e-book which I will post on my blog.  I was so impressed with the work everyone did.  We had a lot of fun.  Here is a picture of the group hard at work  on the collage elements:

Art Journaling workshop

 

I am hoping to do another workshop with a group of my friends very soon to create something a little different, and I’ve also been asked to give the same workshop as i did last Saturday to a group of young people who live in sheltered accommodation in the town, I’m going to talk to the manager about that next week.

So that’s pretty much all my news, the weather has been lovely this past week too which is an added bonus.

Now I just have to catch up with all the other stuff that I’ve been falling behind with while I’ve been concentrating on the above.

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

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

Nonsense!

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NonsenseHello friends!

I am so happy, my art journaling workshop is now fully subscribed!  So in just over a week’s time I will be sharing my love of art journaling, and especially the style of Teesha Moore, with 12 lovely ladies.  Gosh!

The Mermaid Circus online workshop is now into it’s second week and we have already been given loads of stuff to work on.  This is really taking me out of my comfort zone in so many ways, I am finding it quite a challenge, but I am also enjoying it very much.   Teesha and Jane both have a similar philosophy to encouraging people to be creative and both are very generous in sharing their knowledge.   This week’s challenge is drawing faces, something I would normally avoid doing, because that annoying little voice in my head tells me I can’t draw faces.  Well I’ll show you!

I would be enjoying the Mermaid Circus a lot more if my computer didn’t misbehave all the time. 

This evening when I got home from work T said to me “If I can’t fix your computer I’m going to buy you a new one, no-one should have to struggle like that with technology”.  He is on holiday from work this week and he logged on to my computer today to quickly (or so he thought) print something and couldn’t believe how problematic everything was. 

I did get a slight reprimand from him too, he said “You know your computer is like your art room – it’s just full of clutter and rubbish”!   I honestly thought that the maintenance software I have cleared out all the rubbish, but apparently it doesn’t.  T has cleaned up a lot of things for me and it does seem slightly better this evening, but I still think I might get a new machine for my birthday in a few weeks time.  (Fingers crossed)

The page above is another page from my third Teesha inspired journal with a wonderful quote by Dr Seuss.

See you soon

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

 

Embrace your Uniqueness

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Embrace your uniquenessHello friends!

It’s Sunday night and I am just about ready for bed, I’ve been fighting with my computer for a large part of the day and it is driving me slightly nuts.  I wanted to post this image earlier but for some reason my computer couldn’t find my scanner.  The scanner was switched on, plugged in to the computer and clearly working but the computer refused to acknowledge its existence.  Several reboots of the system didn’t sort it out, so I gave up in disgust and switched everything off.

Now a few hours later I have come back switched everything back on and it’s working fine.  I don’t understand ;-| ?

This page is another from my third Teesha Moore inspired journal.

Teesha’s and Jane Davenport’s online workshop starts tomorrow and I am really looking forward to it.  I just hope my computer doesn’t decide to finally give up the ghost before the workshop is finished.  Keep your fingers crossed for me 🙂

It’s been a busy weekend.  Yesterday we had a sunny and fairly warm day for a change.  This was fortunate as my friends and I spent the whole day from early morning until late afternoon at the Pier Head where there was a ‘Party on the Pier’ and we had our exhibition on the history of the pier on display.  We had a great day and spoke to lots of lovely people.

Today it has been sunny but colder.  I took Mum and Dad out for a drive and a walk this afternoon.

It’s late and I am tired so I’m off to bed now.

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

Confusion Reigns & the Universe Delivers

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Unquestionable WonderHello friends!

Because I work full time having bank holidays is a special treat and this weekend especially as we had Friday and today (Monday) off work.  But the change of pattern confuses my brain.  In the UK we changed to British Summer Time this weekend, the clocks were supposed to go forward on Saturday night, but in this house we put them forward on Friday night.  I think this was because Friday felt like Saturday to me and I convinced T to alter the clocks.  Consequently we spent the whole day on Saturday in a different time zone to everyone else!

I’ve had a busy weekend though.  Lots of art on Friday, on Saturday we went to the local DIY store.  We couldn’t understand why there was hardly anyone there, but now realise it was because we arrived just after it had opened.  Then I spent the rest of the day breaking up a large lump of concrete so we can replace the rotten wooden gate post with a concrete one.  Oh my that was hard work!  It totally wore me out and I had a hot bath and realy night that day.  Yesterday I also felt exhausted all day but I went to a Cemetery Open Day in another town on the Island and then visited my parents in the afternoon.  T had a go at breaking up the other piece of concrete holding in the other gate post, but it was too difficult for him.  We have been wondering if any of our friends have a pneumatic drill, it doesn’t seem likely does it?  Today I’ve had time for more art :-).

The weather this long weekend has been bright and sunny, but still very, very cold, I’m beginning to think I’d like to emigrate to a warmer climate, but then there are the cats to consider…

Talking of the cats, the Bengal Boys were three years old this weekend and had a special fish supper to celebrate.  For the past 6 months there has been a bit of a power struggle going on between them as to who is Top Cat.  I wish they would sort it out because I don’t like it when they squabble.  They are both still very sweet, but not with each other.

Early this afternoon we were visited by our friend Russ who we have known for at least 30 years but hardly ever see.  He said, “I was just passing so I thought I’d drop in and see you”.  He stopped and had a cup of tea with us and said he noticed we had been breaking out the concrete by the gate posts.  T explained what problems we are having and  Russ said “I’ve got a pneumatic drill I can lend you”, he went away and has just called back to deliver it.  It seems so unlikely that that could happen all I can say is “Thank you Universe and Russ”!!!

The page above is the from my third Teesha Moore inspired journal.  I also got some inspiration from the sculpures of one of my favourite artists Jean Miro.

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

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

You don’t have to be perfect

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You don't have to be perfectHello friends!

OK I am officially obsessed with the weather and it is still very, very cold here.  Fortunately we have not had snow again, but other parts of the country have.  It is however still very wintery and I don’t like it!

On Saturday I was going to do some work in the cemetery, recording inscriptions from memorials,  but it was just too cold and wet.  Instead I spent the day with my friends in the Learning Centre setting up display boards for our next exhibition.  It was an enjoyable day spent with lovely and enthusiastic people.  Even though we had the heating on all day, it never warmed up.  We had to keep our coats on all day!

This weekend I have had to download a copy of the history group‘s website to my external hard drive (because we are moving it to another host).  The website is so huge that it took from 7pm until nearly midnight on Saturday and from 7am till 6pm on Sunday.  I didn’t want to do anything else on my computer while it was downloading just incase it messed things up.  So I didn’t have time to post to my blog yesterday.  I spent the time preparing some more pages for a new art journal.  There is always a good side to things that seem a problem 🙂

On Saturday I went to the Library to see how registration for my workshop is going and was delighted to hear that there are only four spaces left.   It would be great if all 12 places were taken up, as I have prepared goody bags for 12 people.

The page above is the second page of my third Teesha Moore inspired journal.  As you can see another strange creature  popped up to join me on this page.  I have no idea where they come from but I suspect there are plenty more just waiting to materialise themselves as soon as I give them a chance 😉

Have a good week everyone and if you are in the UK I hope you are managing to keep warm.

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

See the world through fresh eyes

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Fresh EyesHello friends!

It’s the middle of the week and all is well here. It is officially the start of spring and we even had some sunshine 🙂  I have been enjoying myself at work which is somewhat surprising considering how boring and repetative my current job is.  This just helps to prove to me that being happy is definitely a choice I can make.   I hope life is being good to you too.

The page above is the front cover of my third Teesha inspired journal.  The journal was finished before I got the new Molotow pens to play with.  So how are the new pens?  They are lushious!   (I know that is now how it’s spelt but this spelling seems more appropriate to me).   I don’t know if the Molotow  are better than Sharpies or Uni Posca pens, but there are more choices of colours AND they are refillable so those are two points in their favour.  I just love pens of all kinds, it’s good to have a variety and selection and, personally, I don’t think it’s possible for me to have too many pens.

My exciting news is that I signed up for the Mermaid Circus an eight-week online workshop with Teesha Moore and Jane Davenport.  It starts in April and I’m looking forward to it immensely.  The workshop I did with Teesha at the Art Retreat last September was the best and I really would love to spend more time with her.  Teesha is not only a great artist but she is a beautiful,  lovely and generous soul.  It’s unlikely I shall be able to afford to get over to Seattle where Teesha lives so an online workshop is going to be the next best thing for me.  The workshop starts on Monday 8 April (that’s 20 days away) and  I am sure that it is going to be a good investment for me.

I made a little video of my completed 6×6 journal:

That’s all my news for now folks, see you soon.

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

Madness

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Madness in LoveHello friends!

Woo! What a good weekend I am having.  I’ve done loads of art – I’ve have four journal pages in various stages of completion to use in my workshop to demonstrate the process AND I’ve started a new (Teesha inspired) journal and have completed the collage, shading and outlining on four pages.  I love doing the collage but I really love doing all the penwork and lettering.  So let the fun begin 🙂

Yesterday I went to a friend’s 80th birthday party and that was great fun.  An afternoon spent in good company with excellent food and a fun quiz thrown in too!

Today is Mother’s Day in the UK so Happy Mother’s Day to all you Mums out there.  T and I are taking my Mum and Dad out for lunch.  We were intending to go for a walk afterwards, but I’ve just been outside and it is very cold again, probably too cold for Mum to want to walk.  In fact they have forecast snow for tomorrow here!  What is happening?  It’s March for goodness sake, winter is supposed to be over by now!

The page above is the front cover of my second ‘Teesha inspired’ journal.  Thanks to my friend Jeanette House over at One Little House I also found another source of inspiration for this type of art journaling – Sandra van der Geest who does fabulous work.  Check this out : http://youtu.be/LpKUCC5CNmg It makes me happy 🙂  Sandra also has a great blog here.

I hope you are keeping well and happy.

Big love

AJ 🙂

An Invitation

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Invitation

Hello friends!

I am now fully committed to running my art journaling workshop and some people have even signed up for it!   It’s quite good that for my first attempt at this type of thing I can do it without charging as Ryde Arts Festival are going to pay me to do it.  In return for this I and the participants in the workshop are going to produce pages that will be temporarily bound into a book that will form part of an exhibition during Ryde Arts Festival week June 28 to July 7.  After that everyone gets to keep the pages they contribute.

I am getting on with my preparations for the workshop and I just have a few more pens to buy so there are enough for eveyone to use on the day.  That is an excellent excuse for me really as I LOVE buying pens 🙂

I hope your weekend has been good, mine has been fairly productive but I am still wishing for warmer weather.  Come on!  It’s March and time to warm up!

Have a good week.

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

Play!

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Play

Hello friends!

Well that’s another weekend over with and it went very fast.  I delivered the poster for my Art Journaling Workshop and the information sheets to the local library on Saturday, but the poster won’t go up until the manager returns to work mid-week and (hopefully) approves it.  Because I work full time I need somewhere in the daytime where people could go to enrol for the workshop.  The library seemed the best place.  I spoke to the manager a couple of weeks ago and she said it would be fine, but she wasn’t there on Saturday.  It has been put on to her desk awaiting her return to work.

Apart from that I’ve been producing display sheets for an exhibition being put on by Ryde Social Heritage Group later in the year and I’ve been doing some work on the RSHG website.  This would all be so much easier if my computer wasn’t so damn slow!

The page above is the back cover of my second Teesha Moore inspired journal and it’s about the importance of play.  The hanging balls (which look a bit like Christmas decorations) actually started out as eggs!  And just to prove that here is the page before I started playing with the pens.  Actually looking at the page now I think it could do with a bit more penwork so it may well still change.

Eggs!

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

Big love

AJ 🙂

Nourish your Spirit

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Nourish your eye and spiritHello friends

I hope you are doing well.  We have just returned from our trip to London and I am feeling quite tired.  It was a good trip and we enjoyed eachother’s company.  Yesterday evening we went for a lovely meal in a vegetarian restaurant and then to the excellent John Prine concert at the Barbican.  The hotel we stayed in was very comfortable and we had a good night’s sleep.

The trip back wasn’t quite so good, the heating on the coach was on full and the little things in the ceiling that are supposed to blow cool air at you didn’t work.  I felt like I was in a slow cooker and began to feel a bit queazy.  When we got to Southsea, the last stop, we had just missed our connection to the Island by seconds and had to wait an hour.  I just wanted to get home because I thought I was going to be sick, but it was so good to get off that stuffy coach and be out in the fresh air.   It was a beautiful sunny day so we took a stroll along the promenade and slowly I began to feel better and the hour passed.  The hovercraft trip only takes 15 minutes and T had arranged for a taxi to collect us and bring us home.

It’s good to be home!  I think I will be having an early night tonight 🙂  Hopefully snuggled up with Billy Kat if he ever forgives me for going away for a night and leaving him – he’s being a bit aloof with me at the moment!

So, above is another page from my second Teesha Moore inspired journal.

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

Big love

AJ 🙂