Haiku Art - Hungry are the Fish

Dragonflies Hover
Above the Waterlilies
Hungry are the Fish

by Jenny James

Who knew I could write poetry? There's a first for everything! My watercolour painting skills are constantly improving, proof that with practice one can achieve anything.

Here's how my page for Pam was created...

In the beginning... it always starts with scribbling out ideas on scrap paper then nutting them out in my journal.

Writing a poem with the correct number of syllables was interesting. Once I worked out what I wanted to paint or create (dragonflies and waterlilies) and realised it didn't have to rhyme, it was much easier.

It was planned to be a pair of giant gold fish swimming underwater, as viewed if you're also underwater.

Less is more... so I started with water and pencils as I'm always heavy  handed when I use paint. I then waited an eon for it to dry. Well, maybe 10 minutes...

Still trying to be "less is more" but pencils weren't giving me enough paint, so dug out my Winsor & Newton watercolour sticks... I've included this closeup to show the amount of paint used. I love the texture of pencils and sticks!

I painted more water onto the page and let it dry again... the second fish decided it didn't want to join us, so that's where the quote is going.

"Trust the Mess" ... that's what we're told to do so many times with abstract art and other types of creativity, but its as hard to do as waiting for paint to dry! lol :) Took a couple of hours this time.
This photo is showing what happens when you give up on micro layers and just go for it. Thank goodness its meant to be water hey? At this point, I was happy with the clouds and tiny forest in the background :)

This is my favourite palette! This pic was after adding pink gouache to the petals, brown to the stems and shadows in the water.
Things we take photos of when waiting (again) for paint to dry...!

I really love painting with watercolours... especially when its working! All that's left to do is all the bubbles, the fish's details and other bits and pieces.

Here fishy fishy... a giant goldfish eyeing off the dragonflies above the flowers. The bubbles have white paint pen highlights and brown paint underneath to make them appear round.

The above pic is my finished painting. Hope you like it Pam :)

Sorry, no progress pics for the dragonflies.... they weren't behaving! Thank goodness the turned out ok... quite happy with the wings.

I used more pencils and dry watercolours to add depth and shadow to everything. The quote is drawn freehand with pale blue pencil then again with black pencil. Then using the blue pencil again, I added extra words to make the dodgy bits look like they were meant to be there (of course they were).

Then the 3 little fishes with their teeny tiny bubbles were drawn in too, just because. The writing is all a bit crooked, but then again, it is underwater! lol

So that's my Haiku Art Page for Pam... Thanks so much everyone for reading my blog post. Hope it makes you smile!

Have a happy creative day!
:)
Jenny

The Great Gatsby Party

Janie's collaged creation in Roz's Art Deco journal; my theme is a Great Gatsby Party.

This is the background paper I chose which was printed for me by Spoonflower. Roz's journal was a most unusual size as each page was approximately 7 x 11 inches, making a double spread about 22 inches wide. I decided to make separate but similarly themed pages. 

Left hand side page; spraying with Lindy's iridescent sprays and adding collaged elements sourced from Pinterest.

Left hand side completed; "The arrival"

Right hand side completed: "The dance"

Magic

I had bought a Fairy digi pack which I was longing to use so I decided this was the perfect project. 
I gessoed the pages, then started to add blotches of paint. I wanted to try to create a magical night sky...the sort that Fairies love. 
I next added a stencil to create the sense of a garden...the sort that Fairies frolic in.
I then overlayed it all with a metallic blue to give a shimmer. I tore my images and placed them on the pages. It was really starting to come together. 
I had researched various poems about Fairies but there was one that just stuck. It was a quote from W.B.Yeat's poem, The Land of Heart's Desire. I felt it worked well with the images I had created.
I still felt more sparkle was needed so I added glitter and then used a brush to flick even more shimmer from some Tattered Angel's Glimmer Mist. Finally, I Mod Podged the spread.
I hope my layout takes you out of this, '...dull world' for a short time.

Who am I ?

Who am I ?
Such a tricky question for me, I wonder is it tricky for everyone?

I don't really think I have ever known who I am and I ponder it pretty often, lol- and my favourite place to ponder is my own private retreat, my bathroom. 

This is an accurate drawing of my plant-filled oasis except it has way more plants :) and a big sea turtle kite on the wall my girlfriend bought back from Bali for me, and a kitty on a striped mat and a poodle on the floor. 

My first love is drawing 

I always have a pen in my hand to draw what I see or what I imagine, and always have had.

All of these plants are in my bathroom and I drew them at mums when I was feeling a bit homesick, now I am home and missing mama. 

AASJ7: Sharon's Pages in Pam's "Haiku" Journal

Hi Everyone!

 

Here are my pages in Pam's "Haiku" Journal!

 

 

I have to say I was a little apprehensive about this "theme" as I really wasn't sure about writing a Haiku but I had some brand new stamps from a US Design Team I am on and the idea popped into my head and the "Haiku" verse just popped into my head to match the stamped/collage images I wanted to create LOL!

 

 

I used paper doll collage elements by Art Tea Life - you know by now this is my fav store - I always feel inspired and creative when I'm working with these elements along with the fab new rubber stamps by Blank Page Muse "Vintage Scents Perfume" set.

 

I started adding a layer of gesso to the page backgrounds and then added strips of scrap papers, tissue papers, book pages etc.

 

 

I added yellow, pink & white paint to the pages with a sponge.

 

 

I stamped one of the perfume bottles from the set over the lower half of the pages - then I added white gesso through a stencil to add some interest to the top and bottom of the pages.

 

 

I used little alphabet stamps to "write" the Haiku verse and added the wording and collage gals plus muslin cloth and diamantes to finish the page!

 

scent of a woman

capture the perfumed fragrance

does it make you sneeze

 

 

Pam I hope you enjoy my pages!

 

Sharon

 



Bee's Knees with Pam.

This month I have had the pleasure of working in Jenny James' Art Journal.  Her theme is Bee's Knees but she also welcomes other kinds of critters except those with eight legs and hang of ceilings.

A little while ago we had a DAJ swap with a bee theme and I was very pleased with the end result of mine, and as a result I thought it would be good to also do something similar when Jenny's AJ arrived.  Good plan, yes?  EXCEPT Jenny was my swap partner for the DAJ!!!  So with the old and not very imaginative brain on board, coming up with a new plan was pushing the envelope.  So Jenny I hope this makes you happy

Jenny's AJ was a challenge to photograph because it is an A4 sized pad opened in a landscape format and so it is sitting on a chair..

 This is the beginning.  Heidi Swapp sprays and then some wiping off through a honeycomb stencil.

Some embellishments on corners, a little bee stamp and then some Viva gold through a stencil to give the bees some flowers to gather from.

And now to add some bees.  These are images that I printed on tissue paper and collaged.

Here are some close-ups of details.

The finished work with the journalling.  Bees do have a smell you know, and if they don't they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.

Looking up to the Galaxy!

by Lisa for Amanda

Okay, wow.  This is the quickest I've ever done a journal page!!! 

I received Amanda's great Galaxy journal yesterday, checked out all the fab pages in it, and thought about what I could add.  For some reason, my mind kept jumping to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy but I didn't go there!  Lots of fodder for another journal page though maybe - love these books and movies!

Then I started googling pics of stars and galaxies, and found some epic pics in Unsplash.  If you've never heard of Unsplash, it's full of amazing photos taken by peeps, on every subject, and all are available to use for free and without copyright.  Perfect for arty inspiration!!!

I found a gorgeous photo by Greg Rakozy of a wondrous night sky, so used this as my inspo.  Here's a sneaky peek.

No process pics!  I used a piece of 300gsm watercolour paper which I will glue into Amanda's journal, since I wanted to use watercolour.  First I used a thick black Pitt pen to draw and colour in the ground and the silhouette of the girl.  The beauty of these pens is that they come in many different sized tips, and they're waterproof.  So no worries about the pens bleeding or smearing!

Then I got out my watercolours and used all the colours 💜💛💚.  I dropped some salt on, but didn't really get the desired 'starry' effect.  So added more watercolour!  

After my watercolour was dry, I gave it all a spray with matte fixative, so I could add gel pens on top.  Then it was dot time - lots of dots.  First, black around the edges, two different sizes.  Then my trusty white Signo, then silver Signo and a bronze pen left over from my Creative Memories days.

Lastly, more black dots using a fine point Pitt pen.  Added a great quote that I found on Pinterest: 

Look at the stars, instead of the dark.

And then I was done!  There's a link to the original photo I used here .  

Hope you like it Amanda!  I had real fun with this one. 😍

Happy Arting!

Cheers, Lisa xx

AASJ7: Sharon's Pages in Roz's "Art Deco" Journal

Hi Everyone

 

 

Sharing my pages in Roz's Art Deco themed journal!

I love how Roz has used an old art Deco themed hard cover diary for her journal base - a clever idea and I loved that I would apply thin layers of paint/stencilling and still have the deco themed pages showing through!

 

 

I started with a thin layer of gesso so I had a base - love that you can still see the page lines and pics through the gesso!

 

 

Next I used some soft pastel coloured chalk paints through an Art Deco style stencil.

 

 

I then added the Deco style collage elements from Art Tea Life which I printed and fussy cut!

 

 

Hope Roz likes the finished pages!

 

 

Sharon