A Colourful Journal Layout Share

Aaaaaaaah....Sunday.......

*Sigh*......Peace, quiet, relaxation.......HA! No chance this week. I don't know WHAT has been going on outside my flat today but it sounds like a 'Die Hard' movie out there! There've been idiots on motorbikes revving the damn things on and off throughout the day - I have the greatest of respect for bikers, but these aren't bikers...they're morons riding what sounds like amped-up sewing machines on wheels! The police helicopter's been swooping up and down accompanied by police car sirens, apparently  unrelated to idiots on sewing machine bikes, plus some genius decided to demolish a wall with a drill and a sledgehammer (though no Myley Cyrus wrecking balls, thankfully!) It's been VERY noisy! The Colonel is not amused and has forsaken his spot in the garden in favour of curling up and sulking under a blanket ...poor little fluff-bag.

Strangely though it's been quite a good day! With all the hubbub outside there's no relaxation option so I've been cleaning the flat and tidying up - something I've neglected for...ooo....a while....a looooong while!  Shelves are dusted, nik-naks and doodads are cleaned and polished and sparkling, I've re-organised SOME of my books and even made small inroads on fixing the armageddon that is the studio. Productive! Maybe next week a sinkhole will open up and a tornado will hit and I'll actually jump-start that vacuum cleaner.... or not!

Today I've decided to share some of the pages of my current journal with you. This one is a wonderful little leather-covered book , 5" x 6,5", from a company called 'Authentic Models'. I've had this for YEARS so I honestly don't know if they make these any more. The paper's GORGEOUS though and takes anything I throw at it.

I've mentioned before that every journal I keep seems to evolve differently and have its own style. It just seems to happen. It would appear that this little journal wants to look like an illustrated storybook, so that's what's happening! I'm going to share some pages so that you can see how I've set it all out. I'm hoping that the layouts might be helpful to prompt some ideas for those of you who want to have some journaling fun. It's very much intuitive rather than planned and the pictures don't always happen at the same time as the writing. (Obviously, because this is my personal journal I've removed most of the written entries 'cos they're all private an' stuff. )  So then, here we go with my intro page (all my journals have their own intro page!) -

A simple way to find illustration space is to leave a little gap at the top or bottom of the page. It's a small space to fill, not scary, and suits any kind of doodling, especially something like zetangling -

You can sort of see that I've turned the book so that on these pages my writing goes in a different direction to just plain old left to right. With other pages I've illustrated across the spine and open spread but kept my writing a little more traditional - it just adds interest both when I'm journaling and when I look back at pages I've finished. This is my St George's Day page, illustrated across the top (I'm on the side of the dragon! This one ATE St George!) -

 
 ...and this one is an illustration (across the MIDDLE of the page) of the banner my mum made for my last birthday with her -

On other pages I split the open spread into quarters - four blocks. I like to illustrate one or more of the blocks and write in the others - these are from one such page split -

Here are some close-ups - 

They're not uber-detailed, but it's the colour that makes me happy. I doodle in black indian ink with my favourite nib pen, then when I want to wind-down or switch off my brain I'll go back and colour them. I'm using a lot of Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paints so the illustrations are bright and shimmery. These are from another page spread with the same layout -

(The scanner's flashed out the shimmer quite a lot but you kinda get the idea I hope. )

Some pages have panels on the left and right sides of the open spread and space for writing in-between -

This one is a similar idea but I chose a shape that reminded me of stained glass windows -

....not coloured-in yet, but then I think I like them as they are. I dunno..we'll see... The box-borders are wiggly ("organic" in art-speak!) but that's how I prefer them to be. I'm not a big fan of straight lines.  On the 'window' theme, I have a greedy little fox awaiting some blinging-up as well -

(I'm SO not good with text!! NOT my forte!)

The next two pages were inspired by some beautiful photos from Valerie's blog, Bastelmania. She shares the most wonderful images, not only of her own work, but of the wildlife, landscapes and scenery around her. (I did ask her a while ago if it was ok to borrow a couple of her images, don't worry!). I'll re-share her photos and the doodle that resulted from them -

I decided to add some of my favourite poems and verses into this book - something I have always loved to do. On a day when I WANT to journal but have a brain made of peas and cheese I make a page like this to kickstart some THINKIN'! Doesn't always work, but at least I have a pretty page with happy writing!

When you're playing with art in your book there's also nothing wrong with going 'full art journal' and just illustrating a whole page just for the sheer joy of 'arting'. This is the joy of keeping a diary - anything and everything you do is fine!

Equally, there's no need to place everything in a formal panel....just draw what feels right -

Beltane

Some of mum's favourite flowers

I also have pages with doodles, scribbles and splashes of colour still waiting for me to write on them.

I think what I want to do by showing you these pages is to support the idea that when you keep your own journal anything goes. You don't have to follow a prescribed format or style; you don't have to compare your journal with ANYTHING or ANYONE - it's yours and it's a part of you. It's the same as working with textiles, or beads, or felt, or clay, wire or wood...whatever you create is a part of you: the only difference is that with a journal, no one will see it unless you show them. It's a part of you, created BY you, FOR you. It's special, it's unique and it can look however you like.

I have some more thoughts on journaling (surprise! ahaha) so there'll be more rambing on the way (apologies in advance! Break out the gin and cd of whale-song for recovery!) For now that's it, as the cheesey peas are already taking over my brain. That's what happens after a 'Die Hard'/housework combo day! Back tomorrow, so 'til then, have a big ole bunch of  squooshy hugs from myself and the Colonel (the snoring lump in the blanket). We loves ya! xxxx

The 12 Books Of Christmas - Part 3 (The Last Stand!)

Happy Friday!

WOW! - Another week gone...some grotty stuff, some annoying stuff AND some good stuff, so the month's balancing out so far! Now THAT'S a relief!

Very shortly, I'm going to share the last few pages of that Christmas book, but first I'd like to share some thoughts on doing commission work and I'd love to hear your experiences and opinions if you can spare the time.   Over the years - despite being wedged firmly into tedious jobs with LITTLE joy - I have found some small time for art. When people find out that ya draw, they tend to ask ya for pictures ...mostly as favours, and because with me, like with most arty people, confidence doesn't seem to come naturally, I'd do stuff free of charge, thereby avoiding any potential upset from my 'customer'. Let's face it, once cash is involved people tend to get picky and things can get awkward, and when you're not TRYING to be a self-supporting artist, that hassle's better avoided. That being said....there are people wandering through their lives now with my work tattooed somewhere about their bodies! There are cartoons and the occasional pet portrait floating round on walls here and there..... and it brings a [nervous] sense of acievement and, yeah, maybe some pride to know that people like my work enough to have it in their lives. But I've never charged a fee for a private commission.

I've had friends in the art world tell me horror tales of private commissions that never end...the picky client with a million things they want to add or alter for no extra charge. It puts me off completely. But then there are bills to pay.... and a commission opportunity comes up - and the person asking is THE most lovely person possible......  What then? I've been asked to produce a piece of work that is NOTHING like I'd normally do. I would LOVE to be able to help, but the more I look at the plan, the more I know it's so alien to me that I will have to decline. And that sucks. Massively. I've gone through page after page of a sketchbook this week and the more I work, the worse I feel about the project. I know I'm the wrong artist for this commission and I'm going to have to tell a beautiful human being that I can't help. Sucks.

The thing is - I'm not the kind of person to take a deal or a job "just because". That seems dishonest, saying I can do a thing when it's blatantly transparent that it's so far out of my remit that it's a kind of Bizarro world kind of job - my polar opposite, as it were. A challenge, I relish...but this is not for me. I'll give it a few more days in case something 'clicks'....you never know....  I'd HAPPILY look at a brief that fits my skill set - and I need the work, so I hope some of them are round the corner.

How do YOU feel about private commissions, as opposed to the professional publisher-type gig or the gallery/shop sale? Do you look forward to them, or dread them?  Do you have criteria for accepting or declining a job? Have you ever gone ahead with one against your better judgement - if you did, what happened? I'd love to know.

Ok. That was my dilemma of the week. Kind of. Now to some colourful piccies! We were up to......

Page 9: A Fairy Went A Marketing by Rose Fyleman

"A Fairy went a-marketing, she bought a little fish;
She put it in a crystal bowl upon a silver dish.
An hour she sat in wonderment and watched its silver gleam,
And then she gently took it up and slipped it in a stream."

*

This is a very special little poem as my grandma used to sing it to me almost every night that I slept at her house when I was a little girl. As I got older she used to add some little mimes and arm-dance actions to make me laugh, and it was charming - truly charming - to hear her sing it when she was very elderly, still with the silly mimes and the a cheeky "Tra-LA, tra-LA, tra-la tra-la tra-la...POM!" at the end of every verse. I can hear her singing it RIGHT NOW and it makes me smile to think of her, rather than feeling sad at missing her.

I used Derwent watercolour pencils, almost exclusively. The colours do exactly what I ask of them, which makes them a joy to use. 

I used fine line and gel pens to add detail, and Winsor & Newton gold ink WHICH, when added over a pewter coloured gilding wax and super-heated with a heat gun, makes a really deep silver/gold reflective finish... who knew? *happy face*

The die-cutting worked really well on this page. At this point I was very happy that I'd chosen to go ahead with that as an idea. I look at all pages with an eagerness to hack at them with a scalpel now!! Mooowahahaha!

Page 10: The Whale by Erasmus Darwin

..lin fact... Whales. In General. Go with me here...

I love whales.... Don't you? They're incredible creatures and I've been FASCINATED with them all my life. This page is kind of representative of whales in every genre - poetry, literature, art, movies, err.... the all-whale production of 'Cats' ..um ...something  else.....

It started with Monstro the whale in Disney's incredible animated adaptation of 'Pinocchio', who I thought was AWESOME! When I grew a little older, I read Moby Dick and that was pretty awesome as well. I then learned about the complexity of whales - you know, ACTUAL ones, not the RAARRGH ones from movies and books... Discovering that they are so intelligent, gentle and graceful just blew my mind. Then they were in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. That sealed the deal... I love whales!

I used the blend of watercolour pencils and Neocolor II soluble wax pastels, and added smooshly lovely gold ink while the paper was nice and wet, heat drying it to achieve a flowing, blended look to the water, and a more blotchy look to the whale. Once dried, I sprayed it with the Chestnut satin acrylic lacquer, then used a black gel pen on top so that the ink would stay wet enough to splodge about, which worked well I think. I like the contrast of the orangey-gold of the fish - they have a shimmer from adding Tattered Angels 'Orange Crush' Glaze, but you can't really tell in the scan...pfff..

Oh - and I had fun with the white gel pen, and the scalpel again ....heh heh heh....

Page 11: The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Yes, ALL of them. This is an incredible series of books. Of course, academics will tear them apart, word by word, sentence by sentence, and try to cover up the sense of magic and beauty with the frankly BLATANTLY obvious layers of spirituality and social commentary (evident to even the dummest of thickies), yet still, it's that magic and spellbinding narrative of Narnia that captivates children with each new generation. It's a beautiful escape and it STAYS with the reader, even after the trauma of 'The Last Battle'.  Narnia and Aslan will forever be in my heart and I care not who titters or sneers - I'm richer for reading these books, for loving the characters, for closing my eyes even now and seeing the rolling green hills of Narnia and the shining spires of Cair Paravel.

This page took me the longest to do.... I imagined all my favourite scenes from all the books, but when all is said and done, it HAD to be Aslan. Again - you can't really tell from the scans, but I added gold to his eyes so that they'd catch the light, which they do in the original page.

Like most of the previous pages, I used a combination of the Derwent pencils and the Neocolor IIs, but I added them in several layers. Both can still be reactivated if you re-wet them after drying, but combining them slightly retards the process, allowing for greater freedom and opportunity for manipulation. I used Uni Pin fine liners (0.3, 0.1) to add detail, and white gel pens for highlights.

The beauty of this technique, combined with the (hoo-hoo-haaaaa-haaa!) scalpel-frenzy die-cutting is that it's not essential to add every last hair to achieve the look of a mane. I do appreciate hyper-realism as an art-form as the attention to detail is immense and impressive, but I PREFER a more illustrative approach.

Page 12: The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

This is a beautiful story about a little velveteen rabbit who longs to be real. It's a classic for good reason - an incredibly gentle, poignant and moving little book which should be read by everyone! Because I want you to enjoy the wonder of this book, here's a digital copy for you - just click the image right below .....

Did you click it? Why not? Go and click it and read it right now - it won't take you long and your life will be better for it! Go on!

*

I'm assuming you've done that then? *sniffle*....another weepie! Oh I cry every time, but I love this book so much. It's responsible for everything I own having a name, though, including my computer, my printer, pots, pans, heater and even shoes! Dammit.

I used the Neocolor II soluble pastels quite copiously on this page because I wanted the colours to be vivid. I chose this as the last page because the story begins on Christmas Day.... and that's when my book was being given to mum! AHA! Also - and I only remembered this after I'd finished the page, because I'm an idiot - I did four illustrations for this book as part of my A level art exam when I was 18. Weird huh? I also went MENTAL with the Winsor & Newton gold ink again! Shiiiiiny!!!

In order to just add another layer to this page, and finish the book, I painted one last page -

*  *  *

That's it then! That's the last of the book. I really hope you've enjoyed that. If you have any questions please just ask - I'm happy to help and look forward to your comments. I'm going to look forward to Sunday, when I've planned in a couple of hours to drink my coffee and look through your wonderful, gorgeous and inspiring blogs, which I've not had time to do at all this week. I can't wait to see the amazing work you've produced so far this year! Sending love and hugs out to the Universe and you too. See you soon - Shroo :) xxx

My New 2014 Journal & The 12 Books Of Christmas: Part 1

Hello Lovely!

Have we all been busy little bees this January? I always find it's a weird time of year with SO much to do but not a great deal of motivation...whether it's the stormy weather, or the long, dark nights, or the cold I dunno, but those warm blankets seem extra snug in the mornings! Have to crowbar myself outta them!

I have been busy though. I'm setting about re-organising my art studio/craft room (again). It's a mess after all the hustle before Christmas so I figure that instead of just jamming stuff back onto shelves, I should take a little more time and make a bit of sense of things. Makes the job longer, but more worthwhile. As my grandmother always said, "If a job's worth doing at all, then it's worth doing it well."

The reason - aside from just the simple "ARGH!" moment when I look at a mess like that  - for the intensive re-organisation is that I've re-opened my Etsy shop after my Christmas break and now I have to fill it with STUFF as lovely, LOVELY people have bought things! Fabulous! I need more journals in there, so I've been cutting and folding papers ready to get going.

LOVELY colours! I have some gorgeous scrapbook papers to add to them as well. It's good to be prepared! I've also treated myself to a brand new cutting mat in the January Sales - just £2.00 for an A3 size! Awesome!

I've made myself a new 'everyday' journal too. I had a stack of empty sticker backing cards that have been sitting in a pile for a while now, so I rounded the corners and covered the sides with designer paper scraps and hey-presto! One big ole' stack of journal pages. I used some of my DCWV Garden Tea Party stack for the covers and for the first page. That paper is GORGEOUS!

I bound the pages together twice - once with brown waxed linen thread, then again with black. It gave a really cool ridged caterpillar effect which I like a lot.  I left the 'tails' of thread - and added a few more - because I wanted to have these beads as decoration. The paper stack - as always with DCWV - gives a great selection of 'cut out-ables' so decorating is easy and fun. I just added a little shading with pro-markers and embellished with gold gilding wax to make it look more yummy.

I wanted my first page to be a happy thought so I cut out a phrase from the paper and used that - it seemed ideal!

So that's my new journal. It measures 18.5cm x 12.5cm and I love it!

Now - I promised I'd show you the first instalment of the anthology I gave mum for Christmas. The idea stemmed from the anthologies of poems and prose that I put together for 'speech & drama' exams as a teenager, all of which mum has kept. I chose poems and prose that had a significant meaning for me when I was living with her, growing up.

The book I used is a Bockingford watercolour 'fat pad', A5 size with a 140lb heavyweight paper with a cold-pressed finish. This is exCEPtional paper - it takes ANYTHING you throw at it, gives excellent texture, but also allows for detail. I'd most highly recommend! You can find them at good art stores, or online. Here in the UK I'd recommend JACKSON'S ART SUPPLIES for price and excellence of service as well as a great range of goodies for artists to drool over. I actually picked an A4 version up on ebay so you may want to check there for bargains before you spend!

The fact that it's a spiral bound book didn't bother me much as I had a plan - which I'll show you now!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA--HA! Bauble-tastic! Yup. I said in an earlier post that I'd chosen the theme of 'baubles and decorations' for mum's pressies this year so I decided that I'd add a 'bauble' to each page, and on the back I wrote a reason why I chose a particular book or poem. These were such fun to make and look really bright and pretty.

**I've promised to make some extra baubles to decorate the cover...I just ran out of time before Christmas, finishing this as I did at about 2pm on Christmas Eve, shortly before traveling to mum's for the big day!!**

I'll start at the beginning, but will split this up into a couple more posts otherwise we'll be here forever!

Page 1: The Quangle Wangle's Hat by Edward Lear. 

I used my beautiful Neocolor II soluble wax pastels and Derwent watercolour pencils to sketch and paint the page. I then gave it a quick spray of Chestnut satin acrylic lacquer before adding detail with Uni Ball gel pens, Uni Pin fine line pens, and some fabulous rich gilding effects with Winsor & Newton gold ink.

I die- cut the pages by hand as I wanted to create a layered effect throughout the book, which becomes more apparent later on.

 The back of the page has a hand-written extract from the poem - including

 

Mum used to read this to me as one of my regular bed-time books. My favourite part is the list of amazing names - "Attery Squash", "Bisky Bat" and of course "The Pobble who has no toes"! I've always loved words and fantasy and fabulous imagination. If you've not read it then Google it - it's awesome, as are the rest of Lear's wonderful poems! Excellent for kids and adults alike!  Mum reading these to me really grew my love of words and the marvellous way we can play with them!

Page 2: Sonnet #XXIX by William Shakespeare

I love the works of Shakespeare. I know they're not everyone's cup of tea, but I can lose myself in his plays or sonnets and be happy. Sonnet XXIX is my favourite. It HELPS, of course, that it was recited to perfection by the divine Ron Perlman OH so many years ago when he played the character of Vincent in tv's Beauty And The Beast, opposite Linda Hamilton. Whenever I read this now I hear his voice. Awesome. 

I used the same media and techniques as with the first page, adding some Tattered Angels Glaze to the hearts which, although it doesn't show up much in photos or scans, does add a nice dimentional element to the page

For those who may wish to enjoy the sonnet - here it is:

*

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur'd like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

*

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand - last one for today:

Page 3: Love Of Seven Dolls by Paul Gallico

Actually, it was a pretty hard push to choose just one Gallico book as I have a love of so many. I Chose this one because it has so many layers of complexity...the story of a young girl, lost on the streets of France, who joins a puppet show run by a mysterious, reclusive enigma of a man, capable of expressing his emotions only through the characters of the puppets he works with. The book is truly (to coin a phrase) an emotional roller-coaster, as the reader follows little 'Mouche' from girlhood to maturity, finding love and friendship in the company of her adored puppets whilst fearing the terrible man who controls them. It's not a long book - you can read in a day. I'd recommend it most strongly. It had a great impact on me and the characters seem so real that they reach out from the page to involve the reader in every aspect of the tale. My favourite was Monsieur Reynardo, the fox (hence the piccy!) - cunning and devisive, filled with innuendo, but also loyal and fun.

 

Again, I used the same media and techniques, making greater use of the Uni Ball white gel pen to add the 'snow' on the fox and the pattern on the ground (which doesn't show up well on the scan but it's there - promise!) You can see the layering effect with the die-cutting more on this page, thanks to the colour contrasts:

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Okee - Hope you enjoyed those? Please consider leaving a comment - or a suggestion, if there's something you'd like me to focus on more; I'd love to hear from you! If you like my blog and would like to see more, please add yourself as a member (easy - just click the link in the right hand column!) 

I'll be back soon with more rambling and plenty more photos. In the meantime, look after yourselves, make art, be happy, stay healthy and I'll see you back here real soon! Love and hugs - Shroo :) xxx