Tash's Entry in Reniet's "Laughter in the Face of Pain" Journal

Hi everyone,

I am the "Hitchhiker" who was picked up along the end of this journal's journey, after a visit to Louise's, led to an invitation to contribute a page to this touching journal. I must say, I have felt truly honoured to be allowed to make a contribution in what is my first travelling journal and it was lovely to see everyone's entries along the way.

I was very touched by the backstory to this very personal journal and I wanted my page to be a celebration of light overcoming darkness and of survival.

I loved the quote by Josh James Redbook, which is exactly what I wanted to express in this page:

"Laughter is the Evidence that we are still here, the proof that our tragedies will not define us forever. Laughter is the language of the Survivor".

My page depicts Faith among a field of colour; happy, laughing and blowing the bubbles which have pushed the darkness away. I think anyone who is a parent can remember a time when their little one expressed immense joy and laughter at the simple act of blowing bubbles. This was the joyous scene that I wanted to encapsulate. Those simple pleasures that we all want to retain forever in our minds and hearts.

To Reniet, Faith and her family, I hope you enjoy this page as much as I enjoyed making it for you and may I wish you all Love, Light, Joy and Good Health.

Tash Daly

My spread in Reniet's Journal - Laughter in Spite of the Pain

The "smile" page represents how hard it is to smile when in any type of pain. I covered the page with Paynes Grey acrylic paint. It seemed more appropriate than black which was my initial idea. I then used some stencils and a baby wipe to move some of the colour and add some texture. I also did some  stenciling through the stencils with the paint. I printed out the clip art on matte photo paper and added them to the page. Again I did some stenciling to incorporate them into the page and to show the "smiles" through the pain. I printed out the words and went over them with black pastel glider. I added a bit of colour to the letters. The circles are from a napkin and are there to balance the page. I did some outlining with a brown permanent pen and edged the page with metallic green paint from Pentart.

The clown page - I started by stenciling the whole page with the Paynes Grey paint and added some metallic paint from Pentart to add some colour.  I then gesso'd the area where the clowns would go so that they would stand out more.They were also printed on matte photo paper. I printed out the quote and coloured the letters with neon pens (no name). I coloured over the cut out quote with gelatos to get rid of the white. Outlined the quote with gold paint pen and a black gel pen. Edged the page with metallic paint and added a bit more colour to the page with Pitt Big Brush Artist Pens. I also added the buttons coming out of the trumpet as the birds in the original clip art piece were too hard to save!!

Jan has Laughter in Spite of Pain

Well this was truly a pertinent time to have this journal! Having fallen off my bike and broken my right arm! Anyway! All good and getting on the mend now. My pages in the journal were done mostly with the left hand and the KISS principle. But I enjoyed doing them and reading the other entries in the journal.

I got a neat Seth Apter stencil and that was great to work with.

I added a glow in the dark sheep to the other great and colourful things on the spine!! You can see her at the top of this page. A journal to treasure.!