Janie's Australia

 by Lisa for Janie

Janie's journal theme of Australia is a very broad one! There are some lovely spreads in it, and I had thought to do something to go with Dorothea Mackellar's My Country, but someone else beat me to it!  Not sure who, as they didn't sign their page...😢

Instead, I remembered an Australian song that I LOVE, by Redgum.  Great Aussie folk/political band of the 70s and 80s - even if you think you don't know any of their songs, you'll know I was only 19.  Every time I hear this song about the Vietnam War, it really gets to me.  I had an Uncle who fought there, and returned with PTSD.  I've been to Vietnam 4 times, and have seen what this country went through.  

But this is not about that song.  Another of my favourite songs on Redgum's album Caught in the Act is The Diamantina Drover.  It's just a beautiful ballad about the country, and the old days.

I started by adding recycled teabags to both pages, in wavy strips, to represent the land and sky.  These were adhered using matte gel medium applied over the top of the teabags.  

Once dry, I added teabag strings to represent hills and valleys, again using my trusty matte gel medium.

Next I added watercolours.  Tasman blue for the sky, and Pilbara red, Australian red gold, and yellow ochre for the land.  I love these Australian colours!  The blue ended up too blue, so I added a whitewash of gouache over the top to tone it down.

Next I added the chorus from the song:

For the rain never falls, on the dusty Diamantina

The drover finds it hard, to change his mind

For the years have surely gone

Like the drays from old Cork Station

And I won't be back when the drovin's done.

Lastly an old dead tree in black pen finished it off.

And the complete spread:

Here's a link to the YouTube video of a live recording of the song.  Please watch it and you'll see how beautiful it is! 💚

Hope you like this spread Janie; I really enjoyed putting it together and singing this song over and over again. 😄

Happy Arting all!

Cheers, Lisa xx

Lisa's 80's journal

The 80s was the decade when we singles became couples, there were marriages, mortgages and lots of dinner parties. 

We worked hard and played hard. We were upwardly mobile. 

It was the decade our music went from Lp's ,vinyl to CD and Olivia Newton John encouraged us to get physical. 

When a shy teenager, Lady Diana turned into a princess and a fashion icon.

There were frills, legwarmers and lace.  Which was quite a lot to convey in one small spread. Hope it works for you Lisa. 

Memorable Movie Time!

 by Lisa for Deb

I really enjoy watching movies and have so many favourites, that it's kinda hard to pick just one!

In the end I thought of a movie that I'd rewatched recently, and could watch over and over again (along with its sequels!) - The Hangover.  If you haven't seen it, I definitely recommend it for a good laugh!  Yes, it's inappropriate, and there's lots of swearing and a bit of (funny) nudity - but what a great story!

As usual, no progress pics, except one.  I decided to complete this spread using Derwent pencils - not my usual go to, but a change is as good as a holiday, so they say...

I drew the boys on their adventure in Las Vegas, and added Mike Tyson's tiger that they somehow stole.

Then, while I was adding the background - a failed attempt at night lights and bokeh - I decided that it just wasn't bright enough and needed some zing.  Enter Copic pens.

I ended up going over the whole spread - except the background blue - with Copics, and in the most part I was pleased with how it turned out.

My husband keeps telling me I'm shite at drawing people and should stick to animals... He may be right, but you're never going to improve if you never try, right?

So above are the Wolfpack members - Alan (holding Carlos, long story....!), Phil, and Stu who woke up missing a tooth.  Plus failed bokeh lights. 🙄

And the tiger looked much improved after adding Copics.

And here's the whole spread, including the movie name banner in lights, and that famous Vegas saying: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!

Hope you like it Deb!

Happy arting all!

Cheers, Lisa

Bohemian Florals

by Lisa for Sass

This journal is full of lovely flowers, so it was nice to be able to add to it!

I didn't take any progress shots, but I found a great source pic in Pinterest and went from there.

I did my background first in different shades of pink and peach acrylics, then added a flower garland.  I wanted the flowers to have more texture, so added some white gesso with a palette knife.  Once it dried, I added colour to the flowers, and then some greenery in between and around the flowers.

Lastly, I added a lovely quote that I found on Pinterest - Her soul is made of wildflowers.

And that was it!  Hope you like it Sass!

Happy arting all. 

Cheers, Lisa xx

Finding My Gyspy Soul

 By Lisa for Rebecca-lee

When I received Rebecca-lee's journal, I had no idea what Gypsy Soul actually was - so to my trusty Pinterest I went!

I found quite a few images and quotes that inspired me to do my spread.

Firstly I gessoed the pages, then drew a girl sitting in a meadow.  I did take a pic of her, but being pencil it was a bit light.  So I won't share it!

Next I watercoloured her.  Sometimes you get great effects watercolouring over gesso... and sometimes you don't.  I quite like how her dress turned out though! 💗

I also watercoloured the background, which turned out a bit wishy washy.  No matter though, because of the meadow flowers I was adding with acrylic.  Firstly though, I added a black outline to my girl, because I thought she may not stand out enough amongst the flowers.

On the other page I added the quote that I had found:

Wanderlust consumed her; foreign hearts and exotic minds compelled her.  She had a gypsy soul and a vibrant hope for the unknown.

Then I added lots and lots of pink, purple and orange flowers around her, and the quote.  

A big blue sky with some clouds, and a big yellow sun, and I called it done.

Hope you like it Rebecca-lee!  Happy Arting everyone.

Cheers, Lisa xx

Flowers for Robyn!

 by Lisa for Robyn

I've got into the habit of not checking which journal is coming to me next - anyone else doing this too?  It makes it nice to get a surprise in the mail!  

So when I received Robyn's Flowers journal it was indeed a nice surprise.  Inspiration came quickly for this, as I'm currently making some sunflowers for a canvas that I'm doing.  I had extra petals left over so thought, yes!  That's what I'll do!

I even remembered to take some progress pics, woo hoo! 😄

So these petals are made from recycled teabags, that have been dried, emptied, and glued onto either white cartridge paper, or an old school dictionary.  I then watercolour the papers, and cut them out.

For my background, firstly I covered the journal pages with a layer of torn cartridge paper.  Mainly because Robyn's journal is made of signatures, and I wanted the two pages to stay together.

Then I added teabags to the background.  Same method as above, except the empty teabags were cut into circles, and glued directly onto the cartridge paper background.  Overlapping the circles gives a really interesting effect!  

The beauty of gluing teabags is that, because they're porous, you can just plop them down on your page and glue over the top instead of having to glue each piece from the underside.  Genius!  I use matte gel medium for my glue.

After gluing the background, I added a few layers of blue watercolour.  Some colours react better than others, and the colour that you end up with also depends on the type of teabags you've used! 

Next I added the sunflower that I had made.  The centre was cut from another piece of cartridge paper and teabags, then watercoloured, and tea leaves added for texture.

A leaf and stem were also added to the page, created the same way.

My spread was almost done, but I wanted to add some text.  I couldn't find my letter stamps - put them away somewhere during an iso tidy up 😩...  So instead I grabbed a scrap of cartridge paper, ruled it into rectangles, pencilled my letters in, and scribbled them in with a Pitt pen!

After I cut them out, I outlined and smudged them with a water activated pencil.  Easy peasy!

And this is the end result!  I think it's a happy little page, which we really need right now.  High fives to the other Victorians putting up with Stage 4 restrictions, and well done to those living in other states for keeping it at bay - please don't get complacent though! 💜💛

Hope you like this Robyn!  Happy Arting everyone. 

Cheers, Lisa xx

A Bit of Whimsical Dancing....

by Lisa for Louise

Louise's Whimsical Creatures journal is a really cute little journal - I guess it's whimsical! The fact that it was Pam's journal, and Louise has put a page together with both of their work - heartwarming. 💛

I wasn't really sure what kind of creatures to do, but Louise's page gave me the idea - it says Australia, home to many whimsical creatures.  So I came up with the idea to do some dancing brolgas! 

Whenever we go used to go to Sydney, we'd usually end up at Darling Harbour - Scott and I love it there.  I've always admired the statues of the dancing brolgas there.

So, as usual, I didn't take any progress pics.  But I gessoed my pages so I could watercolour them - the pages of this journal aren't very thick.  I then added some lovely Art Spectrum Australian watercolours - Pilbara Red, Australian Red Gold, Yellow Ochre and Tasman Blue!  Once dry, I sealed the pages with Micador Matt Spray. Stinks, and I can't stand the smell, but it works... 😑

I found some pics of dancing brolgas on Pinterest, and sketched them onto a scrap piece of paper first.  I then drew them freehand over my pages with pen in a really messy style. 😄

The sun was added after watercolouring - so much easier!  The white bits at the bottom were an attempt to add salt - memo to self, this works sooooo much better on watercolour paper!

I added the words in pen, sprayed it all again with the sealing spray, and called it done. 💜

Hope you like it Louise!  

Stay safe everyone, and keep making art!

Cheers, Lisa xx

Playing with Paper Dolls

by Lisa for Jenny

Jenny's Paper Dolls journal has a lovely vintage feel, so I wanted to do a spread that tied into this.

Paper dolls in art journalling are a bit foreign to me, so I didn't really know what to do.  But I have a pic of my mum and her brother from probably the early 50s, when mum would have been around 7 or 8.  I've always loved this photo, and have drawn it before, so thought it would suit this theme!

As usual I forgot to take progress pics... 😖  I drew the figures of Pam and George on brown kraft card - great stuff, thick enough to cut out, but not too thick.  I then inked them in and cut them out.

I then used heaps of vintage look scrapbook papers from my stash, as a base for both pages.  I remembered that I had this great leaf stencil and mask set from Dina Wakley - still unopened!  - so played around with acrylic paints.  The leaves were outlined with brown Pitt pen.

My kids looked like they were floating on the page, so I added a bit of grass to ground them.

I found a lovely sentiment on Pinterest to use on the other page: 

Childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons.  I wrote these words out on the remaining kraft paper, outlined them in ink, and cut them out.  After adhering them with matte gel medium, I added white gel pen highlights.

And here's the complete spread!  Hope you like my entry Jenny, and Happy Arting all! xx

Cheers, Lisa

Home - The Retirement Plan!

by Lisa for Sallyanne

For Sallyanne's journal, about what home means to you, I decided to do some wishful thinking.  In 15 or so years, when we can retire, wouldn't it be nice to move down the beach?

My father-in-law has a holiday house in Ocean Grove, southeast of Geelong.  We love going there for a mini break, and are often there between Xmas and New Year.  We even considered moving down there when the kids were young - but I didn't want to leave Melbourne at the time.

Ocean Grove has become very popular now, and populous.  But somewhere down on the Bellarine Peninsula would be lovely; sell our Melbourne home for a good price and buy a few acres not far from the coast.  Nice to have a dream...

So I decided to have a bit of a go at the dream retirement home.  Since it's my dream, it must have a HUGE art room where I can just play all day.  And a decent kitchen.

A bit of land, so Scott can justify buying a ride on mower.  He's always wanted one... 😄

A spot for a vegie garden out the back, where Scott can grow some veg and herbs.  Not me though, I'll be busy in my art room.... 😝  Plus a verandah to keep the house shady, and a nice pergola for entertaining.  An open fire, timber floors.

A spot to park the caravan that we'll also buy, so we can go tripping around Australia.

It's nice to have a dream... 💜

The spread was gessoed, then everything inked in, and watercoloured.

Hope you like it Sallyanne!  Happy Arting all!

Cheers, Lisa 

Feeling Comfortably Numb in Wendy's Music Journal

by Lisa for Wendy

I love music.  I love singing.  I do it often in the car, where no one else can hear me.  Unfortunately I'm shite.... 

But anyway.  When Wendy announced that her journal theme was Inspiring Music, I thought yes!  I have so many favourite songs, or pieces of songs, or lyrics.  It was actually a bit challenging deciding on which song to focus on.

In the end I decided on Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb.  This song was released in 1979 as part of The Wall album, and what a masterpiece this album was.  I think I first heard it when I was about 16.  I love music with a story, and this whole album is a story, about a musician called Pink and his struggles with depression and drugs. 

In Comfortably Numb, Pink is drugged out and holed up in his hotel room.  His entourage breaks in and gives him more drugs so that he can get on stage and perform - the show must go on.  During this time, he's thinking of his childhood during WW2.  

This all sounds really depressing and dreary, but it's a beautiful song with haunting music, amazing guitar solos, and great lyrics.  You can check it out on YouTube here! 

So back to my spread!  The lyrics I've chosen to highlight are about a boy, who I've drawn with 2B & 6B pencils on tan Strathmore paper.  I love vintage papers and have heaps of Kaisercraft  scrapbooking paper, so just collaged my favourite bits.  

On the right, more Kaisercraft papers plus some old music paper I found.  I printed out the lyrics using a typewriter font - and then thought, why didn't I just use my typewriter???  This was on white paper, so I steeped a teabag and gave it a tea wash.  Matched perfectly!  Plus I kept the teabag to use in my teabag art at some stage. 😊

So, once I worked out what I wanted to achieve this came together quite quickly.  And I'm really pleased with it.  And thanks Wendy, for making an A5 journal (as I have too) - they're so easy to work in! 💜

Hope you like it Wendy!  I hope that everyone is coping okay with this Covid-19 situation and restrictions.  I'm still working, so am thankful of the Easter break.  Happy Easter everyone, and Happy Arting! 💙🐰🐣

Cheers, Lisa xx

Lisa's 1980s journal page created by Janie O'Brien

"Pictures at an Exhibition"

my interpretation and fleeting impression left by the 1980s decade.

• watercolour background 
• collage images make up the art and the fussy cut people looking at it.
• Word & thought bubbles in idiom of the time.
• Cheers Lisa; hope it's acceptable.....
  

Dancing through Melissa's Ballet Journal

by Lisa for Melissa

Melissa's journal theme is Ballet and I initially thought, what do I know about ballet?  I remember going to a recital when I was little, and more recently watching a friend's daughter perform in Peter and the Wolf.  But what to do?

...And then I thought of one of my favourite ABC shows - Dance Academy.  I love watching people dance, and this series was fantastic.  Great acting, great dance scenes, great themes.  If you haven't seen it, I really recommend giving it a go.  Yes, it's about teenagers, but it's not just a kid's show!

One of the scenes that really stuck with me was just after Sammy died, after being hit by a car on the way to the Opera House to dance in the Prix de Fonteyn.  Tara wanted to dance The Red Shoes in the same competition, which is a ballet about a dancer who has to choose between her love of ballet and the love of her partner.  It is a dance of passion and heartache.

Saskia, who is in the Australian Ballet de Corp, tells Tara that she does not have the emotional experience to dance this part: "You're a child, arrogant enough to think that you are an artist!" 

Tara decides to go ahead with the dance, with thoughts of Sammy beside her to help her through, and earns a standing ovation from the audience.  It's such a beautiful scene to watch.

You can see a short vid of this scene on YouTube here .  I cry every time I watch it.... 😢💜

Sorry, no process pics!  I did this spread in acrylics, and really enjoyed putting it together.

Hope you like it Melissa!  Happy Arting all. xx

Cheers, Lisa

My 80s Journal!

Ahhhh... The 80s.  Who doesn't have fond memories of this decade?!

I was a teenager in the 80s, growing up in country South Australia.  So the 80s to me brings back memories of high school, first loves, fantastic music, great movies, and fabulous fashion!

My journal is about A5 size - compact, but big enough for a good spread.  It's made from 225gsm watercolour paper so will stand up to most stuff! 

Here's my back cover - apologies for the sun glare, it's bloody hot outside today!  Wham! was a big favourite of mine growing up, and I loved George Michael's ethos - CHOOSE LIFE.

The 80s came with a lot of quirky designs - here's my take on one of them.  This pattern is on both my front and back inside covers, and was made by sponging acrylic paints into squares, using scrap paper as borders.  I then made a few masks (circle, triangle, square), and sponged different colours into them.  Then added weird squiggles.

My journal instructions!  Pick something you loved from this decade and let loose!  Please don't forget to sign your work!

And my double page spread - Pat Benatar was an amazing singer and I just loved the costumes and drama of her song Love is a Battlefield.  

Great verse for empowering women - and a lot of her songs were about strong women. ✊💜

And the full spread!  This was done in watercolours and brown Pitt pen, with some Perfect Pearls added to the background for some more shimmer.

I'll be sending this journal off to Janie at the end of the week, for the start of its journey around Australia.

Enjoy the trip everyone, and Happy Arting!

Cheers, Lisa xx