Megs "Time for a Cuppa"

Time for a cuppa

Sharon's lovely Art Journal arrived and thought who would love a cuppa

Well, of course, the Queen came to mind and so did a Dina Wakley Stencil

So started off using Gesso and Texture paste to lay down some background texture, Used Colour Blast  Colour paste for the Queens face in Snow White so she Glimmers. Then added some layers of rice paper 

                                            

Decided to find a Cup regally fit for the Queen. And sticky taped a piece of old fashioned Bake paper onto a piece of thick copy paper and printed my own homemade rice paper.

Then decided she needed a crown and a lovely quote.

Then shaded around the page with a mix of Golds and Black to add depth 

Don't usually go down the grunge path of dark colours.  We tend to be overcritical of our work so decided to stop and leave the page where she is

Hope you enjoy her 

Meg 

Vintage Circus Bear on a Tricycle

This is my page inside Sharon's Vintage Circus journal... the first thing I did was scour the internet looking for vintage circus ideas. But while searching through the really old photos, I found myself getting angry and teary at all the abuse and neglect the animals suffered (at the hands of people who should have cared for them). I printed out a few pictures and attempted to start... but the more I was scribbling and drawing, the worse I felt. 

It wasn't fair how they were all treated... its now all in the past but it will always be remembered. Thankfully, more and more people and organisations are looking out for animals and their rights. I know you all agree, animals deserve our love and respect. Always <3

Drawing them (above) with hats and signs saying "Free the Bears" didn't help. I wanted this to be a happy page, one that was positive not full of anger and hatred at humans. So it was put aside for a week or more because I wasn't coping.

A few weeks later, with a fresh mind I refound the photoshopped looking image of a bear on a tricycle I saw and used it as a reference as I drew my own bear. He's drawn freehand on Strathmore Watercolour Paper with pencil then inked with fine black felt tipped pen.

A few days later, I erased the pencil marks before painting with watercolour paint. I used sample spots (swatches) of Daniel Smith Watercolours (saving for the tubes now!) and my trusty waterbrush. The bike frame was painted first, then the wheels, all while reminding myself constantly, to let areas dry before going further.

The next day, after the bear's basic colours and shading was completely dry, I used a very fine brush (and the same colour brown) to paint in some fur structure, more shading and with a white gel pen, added highlights.

To start off the background, I stamped images from Tim Holtz Stamp Set, Theories. Tim's antique style engravings were perfect for this, as was his quote from the stamp set, Handwritten Thoughts : Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder. The characters were stamped using Ranger's Archival Ink in a dark brown and the quote is stamped using black.

The background was coloured using an Ink Blending Tool and Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pads... patchy blends of Antique Linen (cream) and Tea Dye (light warm brown) were first, then splattered and splashed with water (using a Water Spray Bottle) before being dried with the heat tool. Tumbled Glass (pale blue) was blended over the page next, then Walnut Stain (dark brown) was blended around the edge. More sprays of water were splattered and then it was all dried again.

The next stamps to be printed were from Tim Holtz's Psychedelic Grunge Stamp Set. The faded dots across the base of the page were stamped using Tea Dye Oxide Ink. The larger circles were printed using the Tea Dye and Tumbled Glass together, then across the base only using Tea Dye.

While the inky background was drying, I cut out my bear using scissors and a craft knife for inside the spokes.

The above photo shows my bear placed loosely on the page to see how he'd fit. He seemed happy enough so continued :)

Next... I stamped the bicycle of three riders (also from Tim's Theories set) onto the bottom of the page, then covered it with washi tape and the matted printout of the vintage poster because I didn't like it! lol :) I added stamped wheels to the left hand side of the page in black after stamping the bicycle at the top. The poster and bear are glued down with Ranger's Dylusions Glue Stick.

To finish off the page, I used a couple of stamps from Tim's Tiny Things 2 stamp set. I gave the bear some music to ride along and "tied" gramophone onto the high-wire with a brown fine felt tipped pen. Both images were stamped using the Distress Oxide Walnut Stain Ink Pad.

The back of the page features a picture I found at the beginning of this journey (bordered with washi tape).
While this historical photo is from the era of abused animals, I live in hope that these two were looked after well. They seem ok apart from being skinny and muzzled.
Rather than waste the printout, I've included it with a few thoughts (white gel pen)... Free the Bears!

The end result is a good one... my bear looks content to be peddling along his musical path while the circus world carries on around him.

Thanks for reading! Hope it creates a smile :D xx Jenny

Sharon's Vintage Circus with Pam

Well this really tested me and I had a lot of help from my friends, thank you Janie, thank you Colleen.  I find it very difficult to work with ready made ephemera and so the thinking cap had to come on, due to my very limited drawing skills.

So to begin I slapped down some bright clolours and this reminded  me of clowns.  Happy clowns, not scary ones.

Referring to my private tutor aka Wiki-how I drew myself a clown.  My thoughts were to print a couple and use one as a template to cut out his clothes and then collage them on.

I coloured the parts with neocolor 11 water soluble crayons and then went ahead and added the collaged pieces.

 He he is all dressed up and ready to go.  He also got his tinsel on, what's a clown without a bit of glitter?

And then he was stuck down on the original background.  Banner at top was stamped and heat embossed.

Other side, same bright colours and I envisioned the scene as we arrive at the circus with all the colour, move,ent and excitement of a big day out.

 

Sharon's journal is a very interesting design, and very easy to work in, but sadly I did my second page UPSIDE DOWN!!!  Sorry. And I didn't take step by step pictures.  Hope you like it Sharon.

Joan's page in Lisa's "Enchanted" Journal

I started by using a thick gesso on both pages, as I wanted to use dylusions dyes I was worried they would seep through the previous page.  Even with that, and working with plastic sheets between the previous and next pages, because of the holes in binding it still leaked a little, so I ended up gluing two pages together.

I used spray dyes, dylusions paints, watercolours, gellatos, twinkles and collage on page. 

 The fairy and the Cheshire cat were coloured in using markers. I stamped some flowers and used texture paste with stencil to create some foliage. The title is stuck on and outlined in white and black pen.  The Cheshire cat is designed to stand out away from page if book is standing up and open.  

On the left page I made a pocket with the previous page and put some Alice in Wonderland related journalling cards in there, I used one to sign in, as there is no designated place in journal to do so. I added a little decorated paper clip to close the pocket.

Jan's Page in Vintage Circus for Sharon.

This is such a lovely journal with some gorgeous work already done. I was glad of the wee lull in the Round 2 journals moving their way around Australia because I had to have an operation on the elbow that i broke just over a year ago when round one was going around and was in hospital for a few days and incapacitated. However with Physio and rest it is getting better.

I was given a lovely roll of washi tape for a birthday pressie a while ago and was really happy when Sharon announced the theme as I thought yay! I can use the tape.

Then I thought it would be great to include some of the photos from a show my daughter created all the costumes for in 2010 that was a vintage circus theme. The link to some of the photos is <www.behance.net/gallery/209862/lunamorph-show>

She did an incredible job (her ability to design and sew has me in awe) and all the performers were amazing. I had the strong man, Sharon, but no bearded lady. (That's another photo shoot!)

I base coated the page with Gesso then included my circus washi tape and collaged some vintage papers and then bit more gesso to tone things down.

I then got some frames and cut out the pictures and arranged them. My theme was Postcards To Home. Based on the story line of "They called me a Freak and so I ran away and joined the circus"

Hope you like it. Sorry it is a bit more like a scrapbook page but that's how it worked out. =)

Just discovered the link may not work very well. When you get to Behance.net just search Lunamorph... hope that works

Wendy's page in Sharon's circus journal

I had a lot of fun doing this page in Sharon's beautiful vintage Circus journal. Although, I never went to the circus as a child, I did see a huge elephant in their parade down our main street when I was younger. I was in absolute awe of it's size which is why I have based my page on the elephants, the gentle giants of the circus.

Round Two. Welcome to the Circus

I have always loved the circus. 

When I was growing up, the circus and carnival used to come to town every Summer. I think it is partly the memory of the anticipation and sheer wonder of it all that fuels my enjoyment of all things circus today. 

In order to further wallow in these memories, I have chosen vintage circus as my theme for round two journal swap. It is only a small journal with two signatures and a pocket at the back. I have put some 'admit one' tickets for everyone to include on their page.  Either use it in the background or somehow really creative. 

Please keep the colours a bit muddy in the vintage theme. 

Feel free to draw or collage or both. 

If you are stuck, check out the early part of the movie "Water for Elephants ". I love that film. Sad but so beautiful. If you are not movie fans, think of the strong man, the merry go round or the prancing ponies.  

I even love clowns. 

I hope you have fun

Sharon

Things that make me truly happy by Sharon

When it comes right down to it there are a million and one things that make me truly happy. Most of them are little things like the first time I uncap a new tube of paint or smell fresh hot cinnamon doughnuts. I love watching fireworks and fireflies. 
 love new places and revisiting old favourites. I'm really happy on a quiet stretch of beach amongst the seaweed or the deep green depths of a rainforest.  

So what on earth should I choose for this journal?  It's not easy to choose just one thing. 

Eventually I decided that it is a process not a thing that makes me happy and content. It is the process of learning. 

I realised that I love to understand what is going on around me. The process of seeing something and going back home to research further. To google, to read and digest so that next time, even if I don't remember the specifics, I will understand the generalities of what I'm seeing. 

My post is headed observation and understanding. I'm have layered up a loose seascape using inktense blocks then added a couple of stamps to represent memories of places and things I have discovered. Then I used images and some text from a 100 year old text book that I bought from a monastic town I stayed at several years ago. 

Here is the combination of childlike wonder with the more logical and science based adult looking at the world through the eyes of an artist. Hope you like it. 

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

The Music is You

This page is based on the many happy camping trips in have this year.  When I began to think about music types and what would I put in the journal that represented me, I stumbled for a while. Then I realised that since the kids have left home, live music or recorded music hasn't featured strongly in my life and I missed it.

But then I realised that I am surrounded by music every day, that of the bush.  Every morning I hear the morning chorus and each night I can hear the birds singing in the wetland behind our house.  

then I found an article in the Smithsonian about some studies from Cornell University  that piqued my interest.

Apparently there are a lot of simarlarities between human and bird song.  Some birds choose to sing in tune!  they are even fussy about what scale type they sing in. 

Anyway it just seemed like something interesting to put in the background. There isn't a lot of it visible in the finished piece. It's hidden, just like the birds that sing such wonderful songs, hidden from casual view but definitely there if you bother to look with care. 

There is also a added extra. I did a quick extra spread in a spot everyone was avoiding. There was an empty spread where one signature finished and there is a gap between the start of the next signature. It screamed out for a simple entry.  Rhapsody in Blue has long been one of my favourite pieces of music. So here is a little entry inspired by that piece of music and the colours of the ocean over Summe r

Oriental by Sharon

When I was a child, Nanna used to save up very hard and go on cruises.  She saw the orient from the huge cruise liners of the 60's and 70's. It was a big thing in our family. We would drive her to Fremantle to embark on her journeys.  We threw streamers and watched as she sailed away.  When she returned we would all gather again to hear of her escapades and watch as she unpacked her suitcase. Out of that case came all manner of wonders.  There would be clothes for captains dinners and shift dresses for day tripping and souvenirs form exotic lands.

I still have many of those treasures.  International dolls, kimonos from Japan
and most treasured of all, one of her travel diaries.  It's filled with tales of the food she ate and some of the folk tales from the lands she visited.  

My page is dedicated to her amazing life of travels and the huge amount of love and creativity she showered on me. 

A Touch of Alice -

When Sharon's gorgeous travelling art journal arrived I could not wait to see what was inside this beautifully created book case. It was like a birthday present.

It opens right up to reveal a beautiful art journal, wont you come for a wander through the woods with Alice to see all the beautiful pages created so far.

This is Sharons cover, a lovely mixed media page using some papers I have in my own stash and they never look so good when I play with them.

Sharon has obviously lavished love and attention onto her gorgeous journal and included beautiful gifts for us all - this is her front page, I covered up her details with a dragonfly for the picture.

Sharon also did this first spread and it has an extra surprise in that cuppa, 

and with the mad hatters tea party a scene from Alice we have lots of  tea taking pride of place in Danielle's spread.

I have fallen in love with Nicoles distinctive quirky style and her page is adorable. 

Jan takes us back to the tea party with this gorgeous stack of cups and so many Alice inspired details and layers.

Roz's page actually inspired me to read Alice and Mr11 and I also watched the Alice movies one weekend. I dont think I had ever read it before. 

Janene's pages are so lovely and whimsical and textured. I love the variety of interpretations and styles we are collecting in our journals.

These are my pages I wanted to play with the woods and the checkerboard landscape.

I even gave Alice a themed package to wing her way off to Reniet and there is my handy dragonfly to cover up another address.