Trees - the Last Page in Louise's Journal

Louise's Journal arrived safe and sound after a short vacation via the South Pole I think, even though I didn't find any penguin feathers attached.  Louise visited just after it arrived so she was able to see it was safe and sound but had to wait a little while longer for its return.

My page started with my desire to use a favorite leaf stamp around the edges of the page and a quote I had seen online.

The background was just a gentle touch of color using my Pan Pastels and a little bit of stenciling, before adding the leaves, some of which were stamped and colored directly on the page, others cut out and stuck on.

I roughly drew and painted a border to frame my main imagery and quote.  The poem/quote took up a entire page and I drew a simple tree on the other side coloring it in with Posca Paint Pens.

I am planning on delivering this now completed journal back to Louise in person in the coming weeks.

Thanks to everyone who was in this round and worked in and on my journal which I also have back safe and sound, I loved seeing the imagination of each of you and taking inspiration from all these beautiful pages.

I look forward to joining a round again with you all some time soon.

Danie xx

MY TREES FOR LOUISE

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year and Many Blessings for 2018.

Working in Louise's journal themed TREES, I, at first, couldn't think of what to do...yep, the theme was right there for me but I wanted some sort of different trees, something that showed a little dimension...I ended looking at  so many pictures of trees that my mind became waterlogged and I lost my creative urge and this then put me in a slump to actually get something, anything on the page. So over the course of about two weeks I slowly started to work in Louise's journal...

I decided to split the pages up and use the right hand side of the larger page for this spread below. I put a layer of paint on the background and then softly sketched the tree I wanted. I used a brown and cream paint to paint in the trunk and branches of the tree and cut a leaf shape from a kitchen sponge and used a few shades of green to paint the leaves.  I was very happy with the way the leaves were progressing but the tree trunk and branches were way to plain so I decided to use hot glue on them and add some texture. A light shading of gold paint on the trunk when the glue dried and a trace around some of the leaves with a white signo andit bought my tree to life.

I re-sized and cut my sitting person out of a piece of patterned paper, placed her under the tree, added a little shade and then finished it off with the saying...

"SOMEONE IS SITTING IN THE SHADE TODAY

 BECAUSE SOMEONE PLANTED A TREE A LONG TIME AGO."    

        -Warren Buffet-

Below is a close up of the texture using the hot glue.....I so love it!!! lol

I started on the left hand side of the page roughly the same way as the right side. Put a layer of paint in the background, sketched a tree, in a different style and the painted the tree in.For the texture on this trunk I used some wood shavings, gluing them onto the trunk and branches. Now for the leaves, something total different...I went with these awesome tealy coloured feathers. Watching leaves fall from trees reminds me of delicate, soft feathers, yep, so why not use these feathers for the leaves.

It also added another texture, a softer one, to my layout. I went over the background but the right side bottom of the page looked too plain so I added some stamped images of trees and then the saying by Robert Louis Stevenson. I really love the outcome of this layout.

Below a close up of the textures using the wood chips and feathers...really cool!!!!

This only left the little flap on the left side... and as I am still a sort of silhouette frame of mind, I decided to go with a dark full moon night and just stamp a tree image on the page using a stazon ink. A very simple but effective layout. I glued the word GROW down the bottom and called my flappage finished.

I hope you are pleased with my work in your journal Louise, after finding it hard to get started, I ended up having fun trying out some different textured materials for the tree trunks. You can also view the video of my process below...Thank you xox

Advice from a Tree by Janie O'Brien in Louise Kirby's journal.

 I did not take photos of my earlier processes, suffice to say it was all completed with painting and markers. The poem was written in two colours and it is difficult to read, so I'll post it here for you:

Dear Friend,
Stand Tall and Proud
Sink your roots deeply into the Earth
Reflect the light of a greater source
Think long term
Go out on a limb
Remember your place among all living beings
Embrace with joy the changing seasons
For each yields its own abundance
The Energy and Birth of Spring
The Growth and Contentment of Summer
The Wisdom to let go of leaves in the Fall
The Rest and Quiet Renewal of Winter
Feel the wind and the sun
And delight in their presence
Look up at the moon that shines down upon you
And the mystery of the stars at night.
Seek nourishment from the good things in life
Simple pleasures
Earth, fresh air, light
Be content with your natural beauty
Drink plenty of water
Let your limbs sway and dance in the breezes
Be flexible
Remember your roots
Enjoy the view! 

by: Ilan Shamir

My finished journal, now with the only collaged bird components added.

 There are beautiful pictures is your journal Louise, and I hope mine does justice to their loveliness. I wish you well.

When you walk by, you see a tree

Louise’s Tree journal.

When I first got the journal I thought I would do a spread about ‘Green men’.I thought they sounded like a fun thing to do. I found a lot of info online and lots of reference pictures

I began by sketching one out with a green watercolour pencil. But it just wasn’t happening, the sketch was fine but I just didn’t like the feel of the spread. So I went looking for more inspiration, and I came across this poem by Sophia Cupcake that hit the right spot and the spread came together with ease and fun. I only used part of the poem but I did write the whole poem out on another piece of paper and put it in the journal. I used acrylic paint,a handmade stencil and collage.

I wet my watercolour sketch of my green man and while that was drying I found some tree words in the dictionary and then I collaged them down and added green paint. I sketched in my dryad and gave her some skin tone. Next I added some branches.

J

 Then I stenciled some leaves from a stencil I made out of a page protector

I then found some more leaves on a paper napkin, so I cut them out and collaged them and gave her face some final details.

Lastly I wrote the first few lines of the poem 

When you walk by,you see a tree 

But when no one  there to see

A dryad

Melts out of the tree

And flits

And floats

And light-heartedly leaps

The leaves swirl around her

Like a cyclone

Like a whirlwind 

And suddenly there’s not just one,but many nymphs

I had a lot of fun with this journal ,I hope you enjoy it too.

AASJ 5: Tree as Spirit for Louise...

Hi!!

Sharing my pages in Louise's "Tree" Round Robin Journal.

At first I was a little unsure how to tackle this theme but I found a great quote that gave me some inspiration and I had some digi stamps that I thought were just perfect to make this page in "my" style of journaling so I hope Louise likes what I have done - I'm really happy with how it turned out!

I started by coating the pages in gesso and then adding some acrylic paints in tree and sky colours and I used my brayer to move the blobs of paint around on the pages to cover them.

I added some stencilling to both the top and bottom of all the pages using white paint - I love the effect this gave - nice and subtle.

I printed off the digi stamps I wanted to use on the pages - they are from Vera Lane Studio - I'm on the DT so I really love creating with these great designs!!

Quite a bit of colouring with my pastel pencils - then sprayed with fixative - took awhile and then had to fussy cut everything out!!!!

I also printed the quote out on kraft coloured paper, tore each word out individually and arranged on the front flap - adhered everything and added a few paper leaves as well.

Some close up pics of the main images:

And here are the pages - I loved having the flap to work on as part of the pages - it made a great place for the quote to then open out to the full pages with the characters and TREES!!!

Happy Journalling!!!

Sharon



Tree (as Spirit) is ready

I have been making my Tree journal
 for the next round of the Australian Art Journal Swap
 that I run through our facebook group
 the Australian Art Swap Group

I am a passionate tree lover 

and see trees as sacred and have so many ideas
 of pages to do on this theme

My journal is made using Stonehenge print making paper for the signatures - this is my favorite mixed media paper ever and I usually use it for any hand made book binding I create, and I used some repurposed Arches heavy weight water colour paper for the covers. I wanted a really heavy strong cover as I knew I wanted to include a "tree" 

 The tree I wanted to include I found in a local street it is an actual branch but resembles a whole tree and has been flattened by being run over by cars but was still so beautiful I saw it as a metaphor for life, so often we can be run over but we do still have a real beauty.