Family is..... - Journal Page

WOO!

Back again! I've been staying with my mum for a few days to keep her company and to celebrate my birthday with her. She's so completely epic...she made me a wonderful garland -

and filled her house with fairy lights. We've always 'themed' our birthday celebrations in our weird little family, just for fun, and this one was 'colour and light'.  I also received this mental e-card that she drew with her newfound technological genius on her 'Paint' programme -

Awww - my mum's awesome!

Anyway - I noticed that in the blogosphere and on Youtube, many people are journaling pages about 'family'. Let's face it, families aren't always easy...but when I think about my own, small bunch of misfit relatives, I find that I mostly have very warm and happy feelings, no matter how many disagreements there've been over the years. My family have always made me feel safe and loved and forgiven me when I've been dumb or stroppy, supported me when I stepped out into life and been there to catch me when I stumbled. Now there's just me and mum, but strangely, the memories that I have still bring me the same feelings of support and comfort - and I wouldn't swap that for anything in the universe! I wanted to illustrate these things in my current journal and this is the page I ended up with:

I'd already decided to use birds for my image, so I found a picture I'd saved on Pinterest that fitted the bill and used it as a handy reference - 

 

I really love this picture and it just makes me smile every time I look at so I thought it was apt for the page I had in mind. I didn't particularly aim to have the journal page look exactly like the photo, I just wanted some pose reference. I used my Derwent watercolour pencils, shading basic colour blocks directly onto the paper, blending the colours with my handy Kuretake water brushes, then adding further colour while the page was wet, blending and bringing some depth to the shading by using the brush and pencils like a watercolour paint palette.

I used the same technique on the background, then added swirls with Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze once the page had dried. I added detail to the birds with black and white Uni Ball Impact gel pens, splattered some more glaze to bring a more random, haphazard look to the image as a whole. Last touch was a helping of Treasure Gold (in 'Classic Gold' shade) and the words 'The love of a family is life's greatest blessing'. 

I had real fun working on this page - I think, partly because it's a while since I simply painted wildlife from reference: I'd forgotten just how much I enjoy that. I also enjoy taking an image and altering it to make it mine - my style, my techniques, my finished piece.

I hope you like my picture. I hope you can find a way to journal the love you have in your life, from family and friends - and pets too! It's really good to acknowledge the people who are important to us - even if they're not here to hug any more, we can still feel their love around us all the time.

Thanks for visiting! I'll be back with a new post REALLY soon so please keep coming back, and if you like my posts please follow my blog or add me to circles so that I can send you details of my latest work. As always, please feel free to comment or tell me what you'd like to see more of here - I value your opinion! See you soon - love and hugs, Shroo :) xxx