Simplicity, the continuing journey, and an art journal page

The last two, three years have been a journey of change in many ways for me. But I feel that I still haven't arrived. I'm still trying to figure out the life I want to live, and how to get there. Blogging, the internet, has played a big part of this development so far. I found inspiring online workshops and met like-minded artists around the globe, all having an impact on my own work. And my way of painting has changed a lot through these experiences. New techniques, new paints, new ideas. Painting, art, have become a much bigger part of my life than it ever had in the whole of my 15+ years of painting, and there are things I'm now beginning to feel are possible, which I'd never even dared to dream of three years ago. It is all part of something I don't yet have the right words for yet. Part of the journey. 

I'm reading a book at the moment, which I came across on a blog, the way you find these things in blogland, by one click leading to another and another... The book's called "Less is More", ed. by Cecile Andrews and Wanda Urbanska. It's a collection of essays on the concept of Volontary Simplicity. As someone who never seems to be able to get rid of the chaos, I'm naturally drawn to the idea of simplicity. But most books just seem to be practical instructions on how to declutter your home and get rid of half of your wardrobe. Which is not a bad thing as such. But what I like about this book is that it's about the bigger picture of living a simpler life, which includes such issues as sustainability, commuty etc. It's not just about having a home with less stuff in it, but about a fundamental change of our society, about the way we live, what we value, and what ultimately makes us happy. I find it very inspiring, and it makes me think a lot about my own life, and how I want to live it. It's yet another step on the way. 

It also inspired me to create a page in my art journal. First a layer or two with some vibrant colours.

Then trying out the new liquid acrylics I bought during my long weekend in England two weeks ago. Absolutely love this metallic pink!

The last step was adding the word with the help of a new stencil alphabet. I first wanted to do the letters in colour, but at the end decided that the outlines would work best here. Keeping it simple.

Linking up to the wonderful Paint Party Friday, which is such an inspiring place.

And a big Thank You to all of you out there in blogland, who have been, and continue to be, such a great inspiration, and who help me to keep continuing on my journey in so many different ways.

Tucked away, until it's time to bloom

I've brought someone to the party with me today. Her name is Lotta, and she's so excited to be here. Actually, she has already made an appearance once before on my blog, but she wasn't feeling very well that time, as she was suffering from the worst cold ever. But thankfully, that's passed, and Lotta is up and well again.

She's especially happy to be able to go out again, playing in the snow and chasing snowflakes. She loves winter and snow, it just makes her so happy.

The year before last year, I signed up for the Mondo Beyondo class. I never made it through the whole class, I'm afraid, but I did write my Mondo Beyondo list, and tucked it away in an envelope in an art journal page. That's as far as I got that time. I've never read the list again after having put it away in the envelope, and I can't remember everything I wrote on my list that time. But I know that at least one thing has come true since then. And it's one of the best things that happened to me in a long time. Reason enough to write a new list for the new year. Again, I tucked it away into an envelope, as part of an art journal page. And of course there had to be snow. As Lotta, I'm very fond of snow myself, too. I'm also going to work my way through the class again, on my own, and in my own speed. One and a half years ago, I wasn't quite ready yet to fully believe in my dreams. But I feel that now, I'm ready.

Happy Paint Party Friday!

The worst cold ever

It's cold and flu season, and while I'm lucky enough to have "only" a cold, and not that nasty flu, this cold is bad enough and certainly the worst one I ever had. It's been bothering me for about four weeks now, and it had me staying at home for these past three days now.

I don't know how many packs of tissues I used, how many sore throat tablets I've eaten, how many hot lemon drinks I've drunk... It was a lot, and I don't think they were very helpful. But it's the kind of thing you do, because you feel you have to do something to try and get better, don't you.

But there isn't really much you can do, except stay at home and wait till it's over. And make a little journal page when you feel a little better and able to drag yourself off the sofa for a little while. And it helps to at least forget your sore throat and bad cough for a an hour or two, and to lift your spirits. Today, I'm finally feeling a bit better and I'm positive that by Sunday, I'll be over this worst ever cold. Well, it's about time, and especially now, as the snow has come back, and I want to go out and enjoy it!

Linking up to the fabulous Paint Party Friday for the first time in ages.

Have a lovely weekend!

Capturing the different stages of a painting

It starts with a sketch, and at the beginning, one does not always know how a painting, a journal page, will turn out at the end. The process, the evolution is part of the fun. I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do. A portrait in grey tones, with only a little touch of colour.

Somehow, it still always surprises me how a painting evolves and changes with every stage. And I like to capture the different stages on camera. It's good to look back and see what certain changes will do to the picture, where one went wrong, where one maybe should have left it. It may also give inspiration for another picture. I quite like the sketchy stage, where I first added some colours (left row, middle) and I'd like to do another one like it. But probably the most useful lesson of seeing the different stages is that it's always worth going on working on it, even if there are moments, when you're so frustrated that you just want to throw it out of the window. Just keep going. Until you're happy with it. It's worth it. (Most of the time, anyway).

Not all change is bad change

I've added a new page to my Change Journal, which I have quite neglected a bit these past few weeks and months. It was one of those pages where I had no idea what would come out of it when I started. I realised that I hadn't used much blue for a while, and that I even had some new blue paints that were still unopend, so I just started with painting a blue background.

I've been wanting to create a page using a vintage image for ages, and still not knowing what to do, really, this dreamy, happy girl just seemed perfect.

And lots and and lots of butterflies all around.

I started this journal only a few months ago, to help me work on my attitude towards change. And although there's still a lot of change I'm not happy with, I'm beginning to see that not all change is necessarily for the worse. Some changes are pretty good, really. And they come when you least expect it, and are brought about by the smallest things, like finally writing a long overdue e-mail. And suddenly, your world is turned upside down, and you'll find yourself smiling and dreaming and hoping that there'll be even more changes following that will change your life forever, and for the better.

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Back soon

A journal page I started but somehow got stuck with. I used two train timetables from Hamburg as a background. Both lines lead to the sea - to the North Sea, to the island of Fehmarn, on the left, and to the Baltic Sea, to Travemünde, on the right. The latter trip was the one I undertook when I was up there last month, and I once spent a night on Fehmarn many years ago on the way back from Sweden. I loved the Strandkörbe (beach baskets) at the beach in Travemünde (I didn't see any in Fehmarn at the time), and printed out some from the internet to glue on my page. But I didn't really know what to do next. So I played around a little bit in Photoshop Elements fo this post, to give it more of a holiday feeling (including some bamboo, which definitely does not grow on  the beaches in Northern Germany) and to add some text.

Hopefully I'll be more inspired after a little break. So by for now, see you again soon, enjoy your summer (holiday) in the meantime. I'm sure I will :)

Choose wisely - and paint happy butterfly flowers

Another journal page in my "change art journal", with more happy "butterfly flowers" and fitting quote to go with them:

Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.

I used a Japanese newspaper as a background, some round butterfly stickers for the flowers, and some patterned paper for the leaves and for some of the cut out words. The rest is all acrylics. This page was such  fun to do, and I really like how it turned out (it looks a bit better in reality than in the pictures).

I had some difficulties in taking pictures of this page, and getting the colours right, and I don't really have a photo of the entire page I'm really happy with. So I decided to try out PicMonkey to make a collage. PicMonkey is quite similar to Picnic, which was shut down earlier this year. I usually do all my post processing in Photoshop Elements, including collages, but sometimes, you just want it to be quick, and I love round corners, and in my version of PSE, they're not easy to make.

I'm having the day off today. There'll be some serious scrubbing of the flat, but the rest of the day and weekend will all be dedicated to checkingo out who's come to the party, and lots and lots of painting. Have a wonderful day, and a very happy Paint Party Friday!

There's nothing wrong with change...

I searched the internet for some quotes about change, and got a whole list of then now to use in my new "change art journal". For the first journal page, I chose this great quote:  

There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.

The decision for change is not always up to us, but the direction we take it in is. It's up to us what we make of it, and which way we take. It's all about making the best of a situation, any situation. It's all about attitude. It's all up to us.

I wanted to use bright colours with strong contrast: Indigo (oh, I just love that colour!), Cadmium Red and Orange and Cobalt Teal (quickly turning into a favourite too) were just perfect for this.

What better symbol for change than the butterfly, which transforms from a clumsy looking (I wouldn't go as far as calling them ugly, as they're pretty amazing, really) hairy little caterpillar into the most elegant creature, delicate looking but yet strong, flying lightly through the air and sometimes covering thousands of miles,to follow its destiny.

I got the inspiration for the "butterfly flowers" at the bottom of the page from Christy Tomlinson. I've singed up for her e-course Your Living Canvas. It wasn't so much for the art part that I signed up (although I enjoy that as well), but because it sounded like a great way to reflect and analyse where you are in life, where you came from, and where you want to go, and translate that into journal pages as well. We're now in the fourth (I think) week of the course, and I must admit that I haven't really started seriously working on the exercises yet. Instead I've just played around creating the covers and a few first pages. I feel like I still need a bit of time to prepare and to get ready to tackle the "big issues".

I'm so motivated to work in this journal that I just had to go on, and by now I've got another finished page (with more "butterfly flowers") and two works in progress (with one of them I'm a little bit stuck at the moment). I hope to manage taking some pictures and sharing them later this week.

Finished "change art journal" cover

I finished the cover of my special "change art journal". At least I think it's finished, for the moment, anyway :). It looks quite different now than it did last week. I had bought some new colours on my trip to the art supply shop, and I just had to try them out. And then I just got carried away...

I saw some small cardboard letters in the shop, and thought that they might just be perfect for adding to the cover of my journal. So I picked up all the letters I needed to spell "change", and was as pleased as punch, and really excited to go home and stick them on to my journal straight away. They really were just perfect. Their size was perfect for the cover, and the word fitted the length of the journal perfectly. Total and complete perfection. Right?

Well, no, actually. You might have noticed that the "C" looks slightly odd. Well, yes, you see. When one picks up a number of individual letters in order to put them together to spell a certain word, it does make perfect sense to check all the letters in your basket again before you pay and leave the shop, just to make sure that nothing's missing, and one really has all the right letters, right? Yes, exactly, that's what I was telling myself that I should have done back there at the shop when I got home and unpacked my stuff. Instead of just throwing the letters into the basket, totally convinced that I had all the right ones. Which of course I didn't. I could have kicked myself when I realised that I had managed to get two Gs and no C. I mean really. It's not such a hard word, is it? And it's only 6 letters! I mean that should be possible to get right?? And yes, of course, that was the same day I bought the wrong frame...

Anyway. There I sat, itching to paint and finish my journal covers, with two Gs and no C. I considered finishing the covers and adding the letters at the end, after another trip to the art supply shop the following week. But I wanted the lettes to be part of the whole thing, and not a seperate addition stuck on top of it all. So what to do? Wait with the cover until I had the right letter? Or maybe trying to cut off some parts to make the G look more like a C? Of course I tried the latter. First it looked as if the material was too strong to cut, but eventually, I managed to cut off a piece, although not without breaking the whole thing in two in the process.

Well, it might not look like a perfect C, and my scissors are probably ruined now, but at least it does not look like a distinct G anymore. And I guess that in the end, this whole business is just very approrpiate. Because after all, change isn't always going the way you want it, and sometimes, life throws a G at you when you desperately wanted a C, and you can either give up, put your dreams on hold, and feel very sorry for yourself, or you can just try and make the best of it, and turn that G into a C that works for you.

Anyway. I didn't show you the back cover last time, so here it is. When I was finished with my journal covers, I wasn't quite sure what to think of it. Did I like it? I just couldn't make up my mind. It turned out so completely different than I had in mind, and somehow not really "me".

It was the little splatters that I wasn't really happy with, especially the golden ones where a bit too much. I've added some white circles around them and even covered up some of them since I took these photos, so it's looking just a tiny little bit different now. But I like it a lot better now. So maybe I might not paint all over it again soon, but instead just leave it as it is. .

I also did a first journal page, but I'm going to save that for another post, because this post is already far too long, and it's now time to go to the party
 Happy Paint Party Friday!

Preparing for change

I bought a new art journal and have started to paint the covers in the evenings after work, to make it more personal. I meant to use my at the moment favourite colours, purple and green. But after having completed a first green layer, I just had to add some orange and red the following day.

It is actually already looking different again, as I've been working on it some more. I just didn't manage to take new photos yet. A lot of the red and orange has been covered up again with different shades of purple and some blue. And I've added some patterned paper too. 

To continue working on these covers, and to keep changing them until it all feels right is actually very appropriate for this particular art journal. Because this journal will be all about change. I've been thinking a lot about change recently, big and small, wanted and unwanted. About all the changes I want to make in my life, about how to turn negative, because unwanted, change into positive opportunities, about attitude towards change and how to influence it. It feels like now is the right time to start and make some changes. Maybe not start with all those big, scary but also exciting ones, and not everything at once. But at least start taking the first steps. Sit down with a journal and make some notes, turn the one or other little idea into action, put your mind to it, and get the focus and attitude right. And believe that everything will turn out okay somehow. And make lots of inspiring and encouraging and most of all honest and authentic art journal pages on the way.

Linking this up with the wonderful Paint Party Friday, a truly inspiring community.