Tag Archives: Doodles

Good things are going to happen

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Good things are going to happen

Hello friends

I hope all is well with you.

We are still living without kitchen sink or cooker, it’s been a week and half now, but we are coping OK.  Things have progressed with the kitchen and tomorrow (weather permitting) someone is coming to cut, join and fix the worktops for us.  We thought about trying to do it ourselves but decided to pay someone to do it properly.  When that is done we can have the sink and cooker connected.  Yay!  We still have the kickboards, some doors and handles to attach and a couple of cupboards to fix to the wall and the last job will be tiling the walls and fixing the splashback at the back of the hob.  I reckon we are still some weeks from completion but it does feel like we are getting near to the end now and the bits that are done are looking good.

The page above is the second page in my Teesha Moore Amazing 16 page journal.  I did lots of penwork on this page, some of which I like and some not so much, but that’s how it goes 🙂  I do like the bright colours.

If you haven’t checked out the Artstonauts Club I recommend it.  The Facebook page is an open group so you can see on there much of the work produced by members.  The website is members only but it’s an absolute bargain to join, really there is just so much inspirational stuff on there.

Next weekend I get a whole day off from DIY as on Saturday I am running my Introduction to Visual Journaling at Ventnor Library, I am so looking forward to it, it’s going to be a great day 🙂

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

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

 

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

Your Heart is as Big as an Ocean

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Your Heart is as Big as an Ocean

 

Hello friends!

This is the last spread in my board book experiment.  I just have the cover to do and it’s finished 🙂  It’s been an interesting experiment: I started off with a child’s board book and stripped off the wipe-able shiny paper which left me with a plain cardboard book.  I gessoed the pages and let that dry before painting the backgrounds with acrylic paint.

The background is quite rough and scratchy, not smooth like watercolour paper, and it’s not so easy to collage on, and always get a good fix. or to write on.  On the other hand I like it because when it’s complete it’s going to be a good sturdy book.  There are only 5 spreads in the book, so it has been quick to fill up (at least it would have been if it was the only project I was working on).

So, to be honest I didn’t reach any definite conclusion from the experiment. 🙂

I really like this spread, I think the colours work and, as I am sure I’ve said before, I really love underwater stuff.  I recently found a book about tropical fish in a charity shop and it’s been great collage fodder.

For me the collage is really like a canvas.  I like the collage because I can’t draw and collage gives me some shapes and structure to work with.  My favourite bit is playing with pens – altering and embellishing what’s on the page.  Sometimes I just get ‘in the zone’ and there is no thought about what I’m doing other than ‘playing with pens’, that’s when magic sometimes happens :-).

The quote is by Rumi (who always makes my heart sing)

The DIY project is progressing slowly, we’ve made some progress, but it’s not as easy as I thought it would be.  The construction is no problem at all, but understanding the instructions is taking some working out, like when you are given two completely different sets of measurements to work to which should you go with!?  Still it’s all cool, we’ll get there – eventually.

See you soon

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

 

 

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

Welcome to the House of Fun!

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Welcome to the House of Fun

Hello friends!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big love

AJ 🙂

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

You have the Power

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You have the Power

 

Hello friends

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

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

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

Binstead getty

 

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

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

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

 

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

Where’s my Sparkle?

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Find your Sparkle

Hello friends

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

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

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

Big love

AJ 🙂

 

 

 

 

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

Standing in the Centre of my own Circle

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Standing at the centre of my own circle

Hello friends

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

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

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

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

Anyway, this is how far we got today:

Kitchen refurb part 1It looks a bit messy doesn’t it?!  The cupboard had to be taken out because those pipes running along the wall have to be moved somehow so that the new fridge and freezer can go under the small window.

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

 

 

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

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

Big love

AJ

 

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

Glory

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Filled with Glory

 

Hello friends

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you soon

Big love

AJ xxx

 

 

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

 

 

Chaos

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Chaos

Hello friends!

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

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

See you soon

Big love AJ 🙂

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

Let your mind start a journey…

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Let your mind start a journey...

Click on image to enlarge

Hello friends!

Well after just under two weeks holiday from work, it’s back to the daily grind tomorrow for me. 😦  I wish I could say I feeling joyous about it, but to be honest there is a slight dread in the pit of my stomach right now.  However I’m sure it will all be fine once I get there and once I get used to getting up early again!

I’ve managed to achieve quite a lot in two weeks.  I had 22 things on my ‘To Do’ list, there are 6 left now but I’ve made a start on 4 of them so progress has been good.  More importantly I’ve had time to create some art and that has been so good for my soul. 🙂

The spread above is in one of my board book journals and was inspired by Teesha Moore’s Artstonauts Club.  I’ve also been working on some mixed media pieces, started making some prayer flags, made a new junk journal and had an attempt at tidying up my art room.  This last task was only partially successful and now I’ve run out of time so it won’t get completed.  Still it’s better than it was 🙂

Here is the main wall I sorted out (T says it still looks cluttered!)  I found some interesting stuff that I had forgotten I had!

Art room organisationIf you click on the image you can see it bigger. The things hanging from the ceiling are papier mache fish, there are a group of 6 of them swimming about above my workspace 🙂

The weather here has been pretty bad since before Christmas –  lots of rain and wind.  In some parts there has been a lot of flooding and damage.  Luckily we haven’t suffered in that way and I feel for the people who have, it must be awful to have your home flooded.

I hope your New Year has got off to a good start and I wish you a creative and joyful rest of the year.

See you soon

Big love

AJ 🙂

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

…And we’re off!

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2013 book

Hello friends

I hope your New Year has got off to a good start.

For me it feels like there is an imperative to start new projects, but today I spent nearly all of my time finishing off last year’s ‘whole year’ project.

This time last year I was putting away the Christmas decorations and I had a stack of Christmas cards, I didn’t want to throw them away so I decided to make them into a book. I made up signatures consisting of 4 or 5 cards and then I covered them with scrap book papers and various bits and pieces from my art room.  I made 13 signatures in total, one for each month and an extra one for the introduction.  For every day last year I wrote (or sometimes typed) a diary entry and put it in my book.  Today I have made the cover and bound it all together.

I didn’t find it easy doing something every day, but I managed it and now my 2013 book is complete.  Below you can see a slide show of some of the book.  It measures 6.5 inches by 5.5 inches and the spine is 4 inches thick.

If the idea of a daily practice appeals to you I recommend that you visit my friend Gretchen Miller’s blog Creativity in Motion.  Gretchen had just completed a project where she made a piece of art every single day of 2013.  The completed project is just THE MOST AMAZING thing, and today Gretchen has started a new year long daily project.  Really, please go and have a look at Gretchen’s work you will be amazed and enthralled.

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions any more  normally between Christmas and New year I make a Revo-lution Book.  This is something I learnt from Gretchen – the idea is to make an art book and on every page put an intention for the coming year and illustrate it with your art.   This year I have decided to work on my Revo-lution book during the year rather than have it all finished at the beginning of the year.  I am going to be using a large sample book I bought in a charity shop which I will be altering, ‘artifying’ and filling with my intentions.

For my ‘year’ project for 2014 I am going to be altering a pack of cards – one card a week for 52 weeks – hopefully that will be slightly easier than forcing myself to do something every day.

What ever your intentions are for the coming year I wish you good health and success in all your endeavours.

See you soon

Big love

AJ 🙂

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