Jan does The Art of Transformation in January

Sorry this took so long to get done, life intervenes!

This is a beautiful handmade journal and I was tossing around several ideas as to what to include.

I decided to document a bit of the transformation that my art practice has gone through over the last 50 years!

I hope you like it Louise. I think I could do a whole journal just on this theme.

Started off with stencils and spray inks and added some pictures from napkins and washi tapes and some lovely Japanese origami printed papers.

The Art of Transformation Comes to WA

I have journeyed further than I possibly should have this time.  Have I strayed off track you ask but to my mind my entry fits the bill well.  My spread is called "Ancestor Guardians". It is based on my journey to Borneo a few years ago. This small island has affected me deeply. I was so impressed with the reverence the people have for nature and the way art is deeply embedded into their culture.

Ancestor guardians combines two of my photos: the tree of life of the orang ulu or mountain people and the two guardian figurines that protect the longhouses of the Iban. These wooden effigies -one male and the other female stand at the entrance to the grounds surrounding the longhouse and protect the inhabitants. Each one is created when the long houses are built and are often dressed in clothes but left out in the weather to rot in the elements until they are barely recognisable.

But how does this fit into the Art of Transformation?   The transformation that I looked at was that of former  head hunters into a deeply religious people who revere the plants and animals around them and their strongly superstitious beliefs regarding their ancestors and evil spirits. This is easily discernible by looking at their wooden statues and the tattoos on the elders of the tribes.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this slightly off track entry...Sharon

Transformations by Monika

This month I had the great pleasure of working in Louise's beautiful journal "Transformations".

Inspiration took a while to come but suddenly it all started to come together. I based my entry on the phases of the moon.

Here is the pale moon maiden with a moon phase halo that rotates.

The Moon Lady holds a silver heart that opens up to reveal:

The poem: "That Sweet Moon Language" by the ancient persian poet Hafiz.

On the outside I added some bling to the spine of the journal: A moon pendant I bought over twenty years ago in a far away place. Since then it has moved with me to many places always waiting for this special project where it would fit and it finally has found its place.

I hope Louise will like it.

xoxo

Reniets page in The Art of Transformation

Well I'm done in Louise's journal. There were so many possibilties with this topic. As Lou explains in the front everything around us is constantly in the state of transformation.

As my art supplies are very limited I've kept my spread basic. I have always loved Cicadas and decided to put them in somehow. I chose a page that had a flap so i could put the cicada shell on it and then open up to the Cicada that we see above ground.
I used oil pastels for the pictures and was happy with how it turned out considering i haven;t drawn anything since i was a child.
The background colour behind the shell is done with ink pads and behind the Cicada with chalks and set with hairspray (didn't have fixative lol).

On the right hand page i layered two different coloured acrylic paints and then wrote the meaning of transformation from the dictionary. I had used white chalk behind writing to make it stand out but when i sprayed it with fixative (finally bought some) the chalk basically disappeared.
I used crackle medium between the layers of paint as i had it lying around.
This spread was also the first time i used Gesso.

Setting Up a Journal for a travelling journal swap

There are many ways to set up a travelling art journal,

I am just setting up this one for the Australian Art Journal Swap

I like to have a title on the outside and a title page when the front cover is opened.

I also have a little mini booklet just inside the front cover to welcome my fellow artists and to share any hopes or guidelines I might have for that journal.

I tend to offer a variety of different pages, here there are pages with extra flaps and others without, I also do the initial spread to set the tone for the journal. I think it might be harder for others to be the first to work in a pristine new journal that belongs to someone else.

In the back I like an area for each artist to sign in.

Here I have included tags in pockets.

I also have a bigger pocket in the back of the journal for people to leave anything extra they might like to leave.

The Art of Transformation - Louise's journal

I finally the time and space today to make my new journal this afternoon.

I am doing Soul Food this year 

and just watched Grace Howe's beautiful journal making class.

We have only just started this fantastic art course that is covering so many creative possibilities, in 2 weeks we have done a beautiful mixed media piece, some fabulous drawings, a really groovy collage and the journal making- all of the "Sous-Chefs" are sharing some delicious recipes to feed our bellies as well as our souls, so if you want to join us its certainly not too late.

 I combined some of Grace's techniques with my own.

- writing intentions for my journal on the first layer of the outside cover

and using stencils,
I am so into stencils lately that they would have been in there anyway

adding the layers to the outside cover

 and the inside cover is coming along 

my traveling art journal, ready for me to do some work inside now.