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.!

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.

Monika's entry in Reniet's journal

Reniet's journal has been challenging for me not least because of the (for me) difficult theme of  "Laughter in spite of pain". 

 

I had an idea for starters which promptly went away as I dove in with wild abandon first by sewing a mask then with collage and then layer upon layer of water soluble crayons, acrylic paint, markers, and gel pen. 

I did not let my lack of direction worry me but rather trusting myself that it would all work out in the end and enjoy myself.

 

 It was a wild journey with many twists and turns and layers but after several days all the disparate pieces finally fit together yesterday.

 

I have added some more bling to the already gorgeously colourful spine.

 

So thank you Reniet for challenging me and helping me grow and think outside the box and trusting the journey rather than a plan. I hope you will like the page.

xoxo

Laughter in Spite of Pain - Reniet

Well I've mastered the blog lol. Seems i was trying to sign in with the wrong email address.
I chose the topic after having to spend a few years in the world of pediatric oncology. These kids were enduring some terrible things yet they still managed to laugh whenever they could.
But that then made me realize how many of us smile or laugh in spite of any sort of pain.  Putting on a brave face so to speak.  I for one am a master at laughing when I'm in physical pain as a way of coping.
I'm not much of an artist in the sense of painting and drawing etc. I tend to have a more analytical mind then creative. As such my journal (as a first time) is some what basic but we have to start somewhere.
The cover was about the pain i was feeling, very dark with sharp stabbing parts. The laughter starts as small on the outside as the pain is greater.

I should add that my almost 15 yr old daughter is helping with this.  On the inside we decided that the laughter was bigger and the pain (represented by black heart) had become smaller.
I also put 3 pictures of Faith smiling during times i know she was in pain as she was my inspiration.
Beth put bright beads and ribbons on the spine to show the laughter side of things.

I made a little book with different scrap booking papers i had and bound it with some ribbon. I made a pocket on the inside cover to hold the book.  I thought if anyone wanted to write a little note about what they had done in the journal they could do it here.

Hmm the pic is upside down sorry lol.
I had also planned to journal on the next page a little about how i came about the spread i have done.  It was a bit of therapy for me in a way.
Well thats it for now i hope everyone has fun.