Lisa J's Summer Journal - Home!

I sent my Summer journal off on its journey some 13 months ago and it returned home a few days ago.  Some of the pages were a surprise as not everyone blogged about their entries.

So here it is in its entirety!   I made the journal after checking out a few videos online, and it hasn't fallen apart which is very pleasing!  Here's the cover:

On the first page I wrote some stuff about me, and my rules/requirements for this journal.  Basically, what does summer mean to you?  

I did the first page in watercolour, from a photo my husband Scott took at dusk, down at the beach we like to frequent when we can get away for a weekend.  Which is not often enough with work and kids' sports!

The next page is a collage done by Robyn.  So bright and colourful!

Gail's page is also a collage, and I think some may be napkins?  I really love the quote, it's so true!

Next is Pam's entry - a mix of painting and collage.  The sand has little tiny beads through it and the water has heaps of texture too.  Love the bathing boxes!

I hadn't seen Nat's entry, so it was a wonderful surprise!  A gorgeous painting of a girl up close with a soldier crab.  And the crab has great features that you probably can't see well enough in a photo.

Next up is Wendy's cool surfer dude!  This page is a mix of painting and collage and I love how it turned out.

Lee's page was another that I hadn't seen.  It's a digital piece that has been printed and it's so different and quirky!

Deb's spread is all about looking out the kitchen window to the view beyond.  Wouldn't it be nice to look out at the beach and see the sun setting down over the ocean!  I love all the elements in this page.

Rose's page is so simple but so effective!  She likes to watch the tennis in summer.

Joan's page is a wonderful mix of painting and collage.  All the elements flow so well in this piece and I really like the composition.  Great waves too!

This page didn't photograph very well.  Each January, the ABC play old Countdown episodes on Rage on Saturday nights!  Unfortunately they often start around midnight, but if you can keep your eyelids open for an hour or two, it's so great to watch!  I've always loved music, especially 80s stuff.  So this page is a homage to Countdown and Molly Meldrum, and some of my favourite songs of that era.

I found this cool saying in Pinterest so decided to use it in my journal.  Who doesn't like ice cream?!  When we go down to Ocean Grove, we'll often go to Queenscliff - to wander the town, and buy a double ice cream from the wonderful Nordic ice cream shop there!  

And lastly I put some blank tags in pockets in the back page so the artists that did a page in my journal could tell me a bit about themselves.  Thank you to those that filled one out!

I went a bit overboard with putting my journal together so I still have heaps of blank pages left.  I won't post it out again; at A4 size it's a bit heavy and pricey, but I'll fill it up eventually!  I've asked my daughter Mel to contribute a page when she doesn't have so much homework (year 11...)

Thanks again to everyone that contributed to my journal; it's a real treasure and something that I can keep and look back on forever!

I know we had heaps of problems with the last two swaps, but I can't wait to participate again!

Cheers, Lisa

Deb's Pinterest - Water Girl by Natalie S

Hi everyone, I've created this journal page for Deb's Pinterest journal. I've used Pinterest as a means to teach myself how to journal with different mediums. In this piece I started out with gesso stencilling a few ferns. Then I watered down blue, green and yellow acrylic paint to create a wash. I used these colors to create my background. Then I drew in my Water Girl using Derwent Color Pencils and markers. I then made thicker mixes of green and blue paints and gave her hair. I hope you like her xx

Lisa J - Working in Natalie's 'Emotions' Journal

Natalie's journal is a nice A4 size binder, though when I received it, I didn't actually know whose journal it was - sorry Nat, your instructions have gone missing along the way!

A check back through the blog showed what Natalie was looking for in her journal.

I decided to base my pages on the green eyed monster - envy, greed, jealousy and all those other unpleasant emotions.  Sometimes the grass does look greener on the other side of the fence, or we try to keep up with the Jones' (easy for me, since I'm a Jones!), but a reminder now and then to look at the positives in your life and be happy is always good!

I started with a gelli-printed background with some collaged bits and some stamped flowers.  

On the right, same background, then I painted a green eyed girl on it.  The writing in the background is the lyrics to Jesse J's 'Price Tag' which I thought went well with the theme.

And both pages:

I enjoyed doing this spread, hope you like it Natalie!

Cheers, Lisa

Deb's work in EMOTIONS

This piece for me was very personal. It developed as a result of finding out my nephew (who is four and a half) got diagnosed with Leukemia, and other members of my family falling seriously ill with cancer as well. I just seemed to worry and the downward spiral continued. I wanted to show that although we all go through bad times, the real courage and strength comes through when we decide we've had enough and need to look for positives. This is HARD process that needs to be reinforced and controlled with a will like iron which I why I have ended the spiral with positive words that I am going to focus on.
Anyway.. I messed about with the background for a month. I hated it all, I lacked inspiration and energy, so I just kept slapping on paints and stencils, then gesso and starting again. I used Greek texts to collage with as sometimes that is what I thought the Doctors were speaking. Worry (the portrait) literally emerged this morning as well as the journaling..it took me 3 hours..and my heart feels lighter for it. This is a mixture or acrylic paints, Gelatos, Big Brush pens, Posca paint pens, impasto medium, stencils and sprays. I'm afraid I haven't described the artistic process very well, but I'll try for the next one. Until then, I wish you Love.

Natalie's page in Gail's "Days Gone By' Journal

I chose Holly Hobbie and swapcards as the main ideas to my page. My mum was right into Hobbytex and everything she did was Holly Hobbie based. I had hankies mum had decorated. She even went as far as dressing my baby sister in a Holly Hobbie dress...but she did look cute. Swapcards were pretty big in the 1970's...and I had the hugest collection (mum gave me all hers too). I've still got them. I was also a massive collector of stamps. These stamps were given by one of our Australian Art Swap members.

I played with acrylic paints and water colour in the background. I do hope you like my take on Days Gone By xx

Natalie's page in Robyn's Journal "Travel the World"

I chose Africa as my country I would most like to travel to.  I have never been out of Australia as I believe you could spend a lifetime just travelling around our beautiful country...but if I was to travel, this is where I would want to be.

The lion is the most iconic animal of Africa, and in my opinion, the giraffe is the cutest animal of Africa. I used acrylic and water color paints for the background, and printed my favourite animals. One of our family favourite songs was "Africa" by Toto so it made sense to add my favourite line. I hope you like this page Robyn xx

2nd Page in EMOTIONS

I've had a very productive day...a little bit of gardening this morning and then spending all afternoon at my art table doing my second page in Natalie's journal. I started with the background, of course...lol...and got it to were I was happy with it.

I found the focal image rummaging around in some magazines and thought it was perfect for one of those "OMG" moments.

Feeling rather at ease with working in Natalie's journal,I decided to do a double layout spread with this "OMG" emotion and that's exactly what I did...I went for it and the other half contains a saying to help you move out of your comfort zone and accept things that happen in your life. I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and that reason is there to help us learn and grow as a person.

I think there is a bit too much light in this pic as the wording looks confused, it is clearer in real. So the finished double page is below and now I have it ready to send to the next lovely lady to work in. Hoping you like it Natalie.

Thank you.

AAJS Round 3: Wendy's entry in "Emotions."

Today I had the pleasure of doing a page in Natalie's EMOTIONS journal. Natalie wanted us to share the emotions that made us who we are and of course, I had to pick LOVE! I would say the majority of my emotions do stem from love. I am loving life right at this moment, I love where I am and who I am and even when I get angry with someone, its because I love them...if I didn't love them I wouldn't care, so no emotion would arise. Anyway, I hope you enjoy my page of love and yep,...I had to put my 3D hearts somewhere on the page...lol

Thank you!

Working in Pam's Journal "Monotones"

Hi everyone,

Wow, talk about nerves galore when I received my first ever journal to art in that belongs to someone else...and a theme to follow !! Well, she's arrived...I've opened the careful packaging and found the most beautiful handmade journal. The cover is luxurious and the paper is to die for !! Once I opened that journal I just couldn't wait to get started...what a silly waste of emotional energy earlier haha !!

Firstly, Mishmash shared a picture on Facebook of baby owls...haha, the idea started to sprout. I just love baby owls...don't you? Anyway, I thought, I can do a monotone with brown baby owls. The drawing part came pretty smoothly and the coloring was so much fun but I didn't know what I would do with the rest of the page. Luckily, stamping, printed book paper and a poem finished it off. I favoured Derwent Inktense (without activation) pencils, gouache paints, and acrylic and water color paint.

I really hope you enjoy it Pam as much as I did creating it !!

Love Natalie

AAJS Round 3: Natalie's Journal "Emotions"

Hi everyone,

Hi everyone,Hi

I’ve never blogged like this before but here goes. In fact, I’ve never journalled before either...until now. I’m pretty excited to be a part of this swap, and have chosen the theme of ‘Emotions’ for my journal.

 Emotions rule my world and are, usually, the basis for most of my decisions...some good and some not so good. I’ve always been proud of my emotions as they are what make me ME !!

 I’d love for you to share the emotions that have made you YOU !!

 I want you to use whatever products you love the most, and it’s a 30 page journal so you can do more than 2 pages if you like. I’ve not included any bling, etc as I want this to be your interpretation not mine.

 My journal is a cheap journal made from recycled cardboard and paper...and its awesome value for $10 from Big W!! The folder can also be pulled apart to remove the pages (now that’s a bonus).The covers were done with lots of texture and cheap paint lol ! I also used a black inkspray. I found this really funky textured paper so I tore it up and stuck that down too !

 I love my Derwents and chose to do a drawing called “Control” using the Inktense series. The poor girl just needs to cut those binds !! (I'd add pictures but I seem to have lost them somewhere in Windows 10 !!

I’ve not done a title page either so if you could all write your titles on the loose leaf page I have pinned to the back page that would be awesome, thanks !!

 I look forward to participating in this awesome lil adventure !!

 Thanks heaps,

 Love Natalie