Letting Go!

Yesterday was the last day of a couple of 10 week Art Journalling Courses.  And nobody wanted it to end!

For most of the people who attended the sessions they have been a golden moment in a stressful week of caring for others much more than they have had time to care for themselves. Spending those golden moments being creative and learning ways to make beautiful art changes lives!

So when the courses ended, there were such mixed feelings: Joy for having been there and sadness that the weekly fix of making art in a safe, supportive cocoon has ended for the moment. It can be so difficult to let go.

But they are all ready to fly! Really firm friendships have been made that will last forever, skills have been learned and talents found that many of them couldn't have dreamed of. Their Journals are exquisite, and very, very precious.

So fly my friends! You haven't really had to let go. All the support is still there for you. And we will be making Art together again really soon.

This little sketch was made with Derwent Inktense pencil in Chinese Ink and a fine black pen. 

From my Heart 

I am always doodling, drawing and making hearts so it probably is no surprise that I have an Altered Book with the title From My Heart which has LOTS of hearts in it. I wanted to experiment with lots of different textures for the backgrounds of the pages and the hearts are all made with different materials. 

Some are found fabrics, some are Kantha stitched, some are paintings or drawings. I've used some of my precious scraps and embellishments too because there is no point in having a stash that I never use! Ha! Good resolution!

Some of the background textures in the book need something added to them and the great thing about sketchbooks and altered books is that you can keep going back to them and adding to them. Many of mine will probably never be  properly finished.

So today I decided to do a little flower sketch on a painted cotton gauze background. 

The gauze was cut up and pasted onto the gessoed book page and then dry brushed over with white and duck egg blue matt household paint. Yes! the stuff we paint our walls with!

It  gives it a really tough finish and great texture.

Today I sketched the flowers around it with a black drawing pen.

This was a bit scary... firstly I knew I needed a robust but fine nib to draw on such a rough textured background. My usual favourite Pigma Micron pens wouldn't have stood up to the job. So I used an Edding 1880 pen with a 0.7 nib. These are amazingly tough for a drawing pen and the ink lasts really well. It is still as good as new after me treating it so badly and will live to draw again! The second scary thing was that I kind of liked the background as it was and I knew that there would no turning back. 

It is worth embracing the scary stuff sometimes. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out and will sketch some more stuff on the facing page sometime soon.

I'd love to know what you think.

Oops! I forgot to say how I made the heart! I will do it tomorrow and show you some of the other hearts in the book if you like? x

Happy New Year

Wishing you a wonderful, healthy, happy and creative New Year.