Just a Moment

I've belatedly joined Instagram having only recently got a smartphone and been dragged into the 21st century! I'm finding it fun to use and have started doing the 100 Happy Days project which is enjoyable and (sometimes) quite a challenge. If you haven't tried it, give it a go and let me know what you think.

Lots of stuff going on chez Every Colour at the moment and I don't seem to be getting a lot of time to make arty crafty goodies, though I did do a quick video a week or two ago where I muddled my way through a journal page - complete with goofy mistakes!

I'm currently quite obsessed with making notebooks and journals again. Having just discovered the wonderful world of Midori and the 'Fauxdori' idea - basically making your own version of these utterly gorgeous leather journals - I have been doing lots of research and dipping my toe into working with leather, something which is totally new to me.

Here's my first attempt. It's sized to hold Field Notes or A6 notebooks and I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out. I also plan to make a traveller size and I'll post pictures when I do.

Be Happy Here

Just finished another video, this time it's a walk through one of my journals followed by a process piece as I make this page. You might be surprised by how it looked to start with when you see where it finished up, but that's part of the fun of creation. I often don't know where things are going until they get there, and that's ok once I let go of any preconceptions I might have and let things just happen!

Gelli Journal

 

I have been gelli printing a lot this last couple of weeks and decided to go ahead and make my new art journal with a pile of the prints I'd done. I'm really looking forward to working in it too!

Check out the video below if you'd like to have a guided tour of how I created it.

In The Background

Working in my journal trying to make something that would 'pop'! Think I succeeded.

Look at all these fun brushes I picked up for just over £1. They were in the children's art and craft section at the home and garden store. Well worth checking out!

House Of The Spirits

More from the journal. The page didn't start off going in this direction, it just kind of happened along the way. I like it when things evolve and take on their own life!

October Colours

I love this time of year, especially for the wonderful colours. Here's another journal page trying to capture it all.

Saturday Journalling

Finished this off today. It's been languishing for a while because I wasn't happy with how it was going, then this morning it just seemed to come together, inspired perhaps by the lovely autumn sunshine!

A Little Extra Something

Sometimes I like to just stop in the middle of splashing ink and paint around and see if I can get some extra mileage out of what I'm doing. The page directly above started life as the right hand side of the spread in the top picture and when it got to this stage I put it into the computer so that I could play some more with it.

I like it as a potential background for other pieces just as it is, so now I have it in my picture files I can print it out whenever I want. I will probably also use Photoshop on it and it'll end up with a whole range of different looks by the time I'm done.

This is what I did with the eggs here. On the left is my original photograph of a stamped book page and opposite is how it looks after being manipulated a little. You don't always have to create brand new images and backgrounds - it can be fun to do a little recycling and reusing of what you already have! 

True Confessions

I have too much paper. There, I said it. My studio has several deep drawers and boxes stuffed full of interesting scraps - prints of my earlier artwork, book pages, painted book pages, scrapbooking papers that I've only partially used, little things that I've saved 'just because'. Then there are the junk shops books which I've collected because they had pretty illustrations or were in French or Chinese or wonderful gothic-fonted German. And don't get me started on old Ordnance Survey maps because yes, I have piles of those too!

I know I should part with a good chunk of it. There's enough there to last several arty lifetimes. But, like my fabric stash, I find it impossible to decide what I can really live without. And I know I'm not alone: I can almost see many of my fellow mixed media makers nodding in shifty-eyed agreement. There is, you see, so much possibility in these pieces of paper. They talk to each other, gathering together in pleasing combinations within their confined spaces so that when I pull out a seemingly random pile I discover that they are speaking to me too, including me in their conversation. It would feel rude to interrupt.

Occasionally I print copies of older pieces of work in various sizes so that I can reuse them. The tag and the journal page here have details from just such a piece. I like a bit of repetition sometimes.

Journalling Again

Another page which is the other side of the spread from the previous post and carries on the sunflower theme I'm playing with. This journal I'm working in at the minute has 8"x8" pages but I'm thinking of making one with a larger area to mess about on.

In case you're interested here's what I used for this page:

Materials

• vintage book pages and sheet music
• commercial scrapbook papers
• acrylic paints - Liquitex and Golden
• various stencils
• Faber drawing pens
• Hybrid gel pen
• bee stamp with Stazon ink

Journalling

I recently started working in my journal again, trying some new stuff out. My fave find recently has been a white Hybrid gel pen which actually seems to work over other media - I do not have a good track record with white pens but am enjoying this one so far!

Taking My Own Advice

A journal spread on the theme of encouragement. I'm sure I'm not the only one who looks at photos of themselves as a child and wonders whatever happened to that carefree, all-singing, all-dancing creature. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of what we're about.

More Journalling Fun

Another journal spread using some of my favourite colours and techniques but combined in ways I haven't necessarily done before. It's very freeing just to play with materials and see what happens without there needing to be 'art' at the end of it!

Just Playing

I recently joined Effy Wild's network on Ning and it has given me a bit of a kick start to keep up more with my journalling. It's a great group and whether you're a total novice or have been doing arty/crafty things for years you'll get a warm welcome and lots of encouragement (and who doesn't appreciate that?). One of the weekly journal prompts was all about patterning and this was my response to it. Lots of fun was had making this I can tell you!