Lisa's 80's journal

The 80s was the decade when we singles became couples, there were marriages, mortgages and lots of dinner parties. 

We worked hard and played hard. We were upwardly mobile. 

It was the decade our music went from Lp's ,vinyl to CD and Olivia Newton John encouraged us to get physical. 

When a shy teenager, Lady Diana turned into a princess and a fashion icon.

There were frills, legwarmers and lace.  Which was quite a lot to convey in one small spread. Hope it works for you Lisa. 

Sass Hammant Boho journal

I had quite a lot of fun creating the background for this spread. 

First I thought about what colours said Boho/Bohemian to me. I went with Aqua, Prussian blue and dark red. I put down a few pieces of tissue paper first and just covered the lot with acrylic paint. 

Stencilled a few bubbles for variety. 

Decided it needed more detail on the background. So painted some lacey detail in light gold.

Found some interesting wrapping paper in my stash and cut out some circles, then decided that they needed jazzing up. So distress inked some paper doilies but these were a little to dark. So added some light gold to catch the light.

Found some words on an old calender, added some white dots and all done. Hope you like it Sass. 

Rebecca's Gypsy soul.

And as my mind turns to the journey ahead,

My gypsy soul arises.

The words came before I had decided what I was going to do for this spread. 

I kept it very simple, just straightforward painting with acrylic paint. 

Blues, greys and dark red. 

Slowly out of the corner, the gypsy emerges. 

A bit of stencilling, a few bubbles. 

And the words. 

And it is all done. 

Flowers for Robyn.

Daisies are cheerful, roses are posh. 
Weeds are unwelcome but I love the lot.

As they greet me each morning, as I go on my way,
they brighten the garden and make my day. 

I didn't take many photos of my process for this entry in Robyn's flower journal. 

However, basically I put down a layer of gesso followed by soft yellow and turquoise acrylic. Once that had dried I added some Tim Holtz tissue papers and napkin flowers. Once that had dried I stippled it again until it was nicely blended. 

I added an F for flowers, plus a few paper flowers made from an old calender. 

Finally a few words and dots, and it was all done. 

Plant a garden and plant happiness.

Keep well and stay safe.

Home - The Retirement Plan!

by Lisa for Sallyanne

For Sallyanne's journal, about what home means to you, I decided to do some wishful thinking.  In 15 or so years, when we can retire, wouldn't it be nice to move down the beach?

My father-in-law has a holiday house in Ocean Grove, southeast of Geelong.  We love going there for a mini break, and are often there between Xmas and New Year.  We even considered moving down there when the kids were young - but I didn't want to leave Melbourne at the time.

Ocean Grove has become very popular now, and populous.  But somewhere down on the Bellarine Peninsula would be lovely; sell our Melbourne home for a good price and buy a few acres not far from the coast.  Nice to have a dream...

So I decided to have a bit of a go at the dream retirement home.  Since it's my dream, it must have a HUGE art room where I can just play all day.  And a decent kitchen.

A bit of land, so Scott can justify buying a ride on mower.  He's always wanted one... 😄

A spot for a vegie garden out the back, where Scott can grow some veg and herbs.  Not me though, I'll be busy in my art room.... 😝  Plus a verandah to keep the house shady, and a nice pergola for entertaining.  An open fire, timber floors.

A spot to park the caravan that we'll also buy, so we can go tripping around Australia.

It's nice to have a dream... 💜

The spread was gessoed, then everything inked in, and watercoloured.

Hope you like it Sallyanne!  Happy Arting all!

Cheers, Lisa 

Bee Happy Louise..

Louise's lovely little journal arrived rather late in the month and so I had to rethink what I was going to do. 

After talking it over with my good friend Jenny, I decided to continue with my obsession with Uni Posca paint pens. They are easy to use, dry quickly and keep their colour, which is handy when your in a hurry. 

I went with the flower image I used in Meg's Bucket list journal last year.

Jenny suggested that I use one of my bees. I have been playing with this little bee character in my personal art journals for about five years. There's sad bee, cross bee and queen bee, who went into Jenny's Bees knees journal last year. This one is Sallyanne bee.

The rest was just a colouring exercise, I doodle then I colour.

The wooden bee is just a reminder that in these uncertain times, no matter what, Bee Happy. 

Paperdolls for Jenny James.

I'm not really sure why it is but I get quite nervous about working in Jenny's journal, maybe it's because she is the only member of the group I know personally and I want it to go perfectly and it never does.

I'm usually full of ideas but not this time. So I thought I'd start with a background of ink in Jenny's favourite colour - green.

Then I had a play with some acrylic paint and did a few flowers but still no plan.

And then I found this lovely butterfly in my stash. 

Jenny has very kindly included some Tim Holtz paperdolls with her journal but I chose this lovely couple from my collection of Tim Holtz dolls. 

Decided it needed a boarder and a few words which I cut from an old calender. A few dots and doodles and it was all done. 

Jenny's Bees knees.

With the hot weather not being very condusive to acrylic paint and glue activies. This truly is a mixed media piece. 

I started with a bit of acrylic paint but it really was to hot and went all sticky and lumpy. So I switched to a bit of ink and some Uni Posca pens.Now my dear friend Jenny is not a big fan of Gelatos but I find I can blend them quite well with a brush or finger,  plus use them with a stencil and baby wipe.  ( be warned they do take a while to cure ) All of which was easier to play with on my dinning room table, indoors with the aircon going.

Now every piece of mixed media gets to that,  oh help,  what am I doing stage. This is a mess!

However I find if I step away for a few hours, have a cuppa, then things generally sort themselves out. 

So once I returned I felt the need for some collage. So with a few images from an old calender and some painted letters, I was nearly done.

Just the face to play with and a few gold pen dots and swirls. 

Now what has all this to do with the topic of The bees knees. 

Well anytime I can sit and play with all of my art supplies, that's the Bees knees to me.

Sharon's Tea Time journal

This is a lovely little journal and a fun topic. However as I'm at the tail end of it's journey, all the usual topics such as High tea, Mad hatters tea party, Japanese tea ceremony have been done. I didn't really know what to do. 

Sharon very kindly supplied some tea bags to go with the journal. So I challenged myself to see how much art I could do while drinking a cup of tea. 

Using some left over torn pages from another project and a cup of Lemon and Ginger tea, I laid down the background. 

Next day with one pair of scissors, the remains of an old childrens book, ( unfortunately it had lost it's cover so I can't attribute the work), glue and a cup of Camomile, Honey and Vanilla, the main character came together. 

Third day, one more cup of tea, Earl Grey and it was all done. 

So no more "I haven't got time to create " all you need is the time it takes to drink a cuppa tea. 

Thank you Sharon.

Who Am I?

by Lisa for Sallyanne

Sallyanne's A4 size journal is a great chunky thing that she's going to love when it gets home!

Her theme is "Who are you?" which can actually be a daunting thing to journal about.  Pam's entry is now especially moving, as she's no longer with us 😢💜.

A few years ago I'd done a self-portrait as part of a weekly drawing challenge I was in, so I decided to recreate this piece but make it a bit smaller.

As usual, I forgot to take enough progress pics!  Jenny always puts me to shame!  My usual medium is watercolour, but for this journal I opted for acrylics.  I have stacks of stencils so wanted to use them in some way. 

So I ended up using all the colours!  😁

Afterwards, I thought it was a bit loud, so used another favourite stencil to add some white over the top, then spritzed it with watercolour.  Also added some white Molotow pen to make it whiter.  Can't please me!

Next I watercoloured strips of paper and wrote bits of trivia on each one, about myself.

And on the right hand side, I also added my little self-portrait, doing some of my favourite things - reading a good book, drinking a glass or three of chardy, and eating M&Ms!  Don't think wine and M&Ms really go together, but not letting that stop me.

So here are all my bits of trivia!  

Family - I've been married to Scott for 25 years and we have 2 kids - Riley, 20, and Mel, 18.

Home - Scott's family have always been in Melbourne, but I moved here in '91.  Before that I lived in Pt Pirie SA, Newcastle NSW, Golden, Colorado USA, and Mt Isa Qld.  We moved a lot with my dad's work!

Art - I've dabbled in different arts & crafts all my life, but it's only in the last 5 years or so that I've been happy to call myself an artist.  I love using watercolours and doing collage with teabags that have been recycled.  I try and make art every day!

Sport - When I was younger I played netball, softball and tennis.  Arthritis in my knees put an end to my sport, and I had a partial knee replacement almost 12 months ago.  Now I try to walk regularly!

Smells - I love the smell of brewed coffee, vanilla and orange.  In the supermarket, I love the smell of the tea aisle and shampoo aisle!  I hate strong smells like petrol, textas, oil paints, some flowers, and lavender!

Community - I'm the secretary of our local cricket club, the membership secretary of the netball club, and life member of the junior footy club.

Work - I've been in banking since I was 16, first with Commonwealth Bank, and now almost 17 years with Bendigo Bank!  I do Home Loans and other consumer lending.

Travel - Scott and I have been to Vietnam 4 times, the last in Sept/Oct this year.  We've met many wonderful people there.  We've also been to Cambodia and KL, and will hopefully go to Thailand next year!

Pet Hates - Rude people, people with no manners.  Please and thank you are important!  I also hate incorrect grammar and spelling!

Beliefs - I've never been religious.  I believe in treating people how you'd like to be treated.  Kindness goes a long way!

Music - I'm an 80s girl and believe this decade to be the best for music!  Love INXS, Cold Chisel, Fleetwood Mac, Human League, and new stuff - Ed Sheeran, Chainsmokers, Cold Play, Miley, Birds of Tokyo, James Blunt.  I love to sing in the car.

Food - Unfortunately I have a sweet tooth, especially for chocolate!  And caramel, and M&Ms... I try not to buy blocks of chocolate because I will eat the whole block...  My willpower is poor!

Books - I love to read and do it most days.  I prefer real books and have way too many.  Fave authors?  Diana Gabaldon, Stephen King, Melina Marchetta, JK Rowling, Justin Cronin, Anita Shreve, Geraldine Brooks.  

Movies - I love going to the cinema but Scott doesn't - Mel and I usually go together.  Love Harry Potter, Avengers, rom coms, thrillers but not horrors, lots of genres!

Left - left handed and proud of it.  One day we'll take over the world! 🙌

Hope you like it Sallyanne - happy arting!

Cheers, Lisa xx

Janie's Nature Journal

Another lovely topic close to my heart. 

I'm an avid gardener and love to spend as much time as possible in my garden. 

I'm also a member of a sustainable living group, whose  aim is to encourage everyone to plant a tree in their garden, no matter how small. Even if you only have room for a small citrus in a pot. 

I have a large lemon scented gum in my back garden which I love. Infact I love all trees. So with that in mind, I started Janie's pages by laying down a base of recycled papers. 

I cut out a cardboard mask of trees and scumbled the whole area with a mixture of blue acrylics. 

Once the mask was removed, it looked rather funny but once I added a bit of shading to create some definition it started to take shape. 

I then added a few branches and a suggestion of leaves.

I lighten the sky alittle and added a few dots because I like dots.

Lastly l added a message dear to my heart. 

Plant more trees.