Words to Inspire

How goes it with you?
I am in quite a reflective mood today. I am in this mood quite a lot actually, I am a very self-reflective and evaluative person. It is both a weakness and a strength, mostly a strength, but sometimes I wish I could be on auto-pilot and not have to process every action and emotion.

It makes me very happy to go on Pinterest and gather up some inspirational words, snippets of wisdom passed from person to person as our elders would have done in the past, and something which is gaining a resurgence in modern popular culture - the quote. Be it song lyric, ancient spiritual, or ancestor...there are any words out there to keep us afloat.

I find that these little chunks of worldly wisdom, scribbled into a book, journal or printed out and pinned on the wall, help to keep me grounded and focused on my goal - to be a spiritually enlightened and evolved human being.

Here are some of my favorite quote from my Pinterest board 'Inspirational Quotes', layered over some photographs my daughter and I took on a night walk at the beach. These are distant lights photographed with movement, on a evening when we were both feeling stuck, static and needed to break free and spend time with the sea and stars:

Do you have a favorite quote that brings you comfort, strength or inspiration?
Love, me x

Life Lately...Weeks in Pictures

Watcha homies...
Life has been pretty busy lately but that doesn't mean I haven't taken the time to look around and appreciate - ya dig?

I don't even want to bore myself you with what has taken up so much of my time and energy. I refuse to accept that this is what life is about, and I struggle with it: work hard, stress lots, tired all the time, little money to spare for fun times. Some days are worse than others.

I decided that since I have a week off I will use it to reconnect with me through all the fun things I like to do (and can currently afford): time with family, see friends, cook healthy meals, eat lots of fruit, relax, have coffee times, sleep lots and walk to the beach daily.

Here are some snapshots of the days:

1. me in the lift 2. my street 3. studio window 4. window reflection 5. starbucks breakfast 6. window view 7. laundry day 8. the tree from my bedroom window - you will see a lotta this guy 9. first primroses 10. shadows 11. a cold picnic

 

How do you connect with your inner world?

 

Love, me x

January Art Journal ----> Complete!

Hi Peeps...

It's time to share some more Art Journal with you. This time it is the completed January book which I am super pleased with! You can find a DIY on how I put this together and the things I use to create it here.

I am going to try and tell you a little about each page as I go. I get inspiration from a number of places: books, like this one I am reading at the mo, my students, pinterest, friends, photography and just looking around. I gather it up in my Creative-Mental-Filofax and then spew it all out in ways like this and others such as Textile Art ( I will share some of this soon). I am a creative being (as I believe we all are), and this is the perfect way for me to communicate and demonstrate what I have stored away. Anyhoo...I ramble:

 

Front cover: I took a quote from a song, and mainly used a fineliner, then stuck yellow tissue paper over the date, I wanted it to look a bit like highlighter pen. 

 

I used photographs and magazine imagery together with fineliner drawings and marker pen detail of a railing I saw locally. I stuck on the frame from a page of postage stamps and them printed a weave pattern using embossed foam and a stamp pad.

I stuck napkin to the surface with Pritt Stick (this is one of my favorite techniques), I drew Boscombe pier in felt pen, added watercolour. I used my stamp letters and full stops to make the text on the right and dots. I painted lettering in gold paint on the right. I used felt pen wording on the right too then watered it to make it run, working well with the tissue background.

I wrote a song quote in pencil and shaded around it. Here I like how some drawing elements from previous pages become part of what is going on. I love happy accidents.

I don't like this page. I used batik wax and waterclour pencil.

This is one of me faves. I used a song quote and black ink on a newsprint background. The blue was made with acrylic paint squeezed between two sheets of paper...a long time ago and made one of the pages.

This is just about my Photo-a-Day challenge and a bit of drawing. Oh and I see some date stamping there too.

I really don't like this page. I used a fineliner, calendar page, date stamp and receipts.

I used the tisue method again on the right ( a Costa napkin), fineliner writing using a different style, marker pen on the right to draw me plates-o-meat.

Fineliner writing, chinky marker word on top, watercolour around and ink and pen for the black bold text.

Finliner birds, chunky marker for the tree, fineliner writing, date stamp tree texture.

So that was goodbye January. The February one is coming along well but it is already trying hard to live up to the glory of January.

I am having a creative boom at the moment and want to make things all the time. Right now I am working on some Art Textiles pieces that I am very much enjoying. Half term is great for catching up with me.

What are you guys creating at the moment?
Love, me x