Week 8 and some collages

Since I last posted, I have only completed one art challenge, but have done three collages - so not exactly idle, just a bit uninspired by the challenges. I'm finding it all a bit airy-fairy - too much soul searching and not enough technique. I suppose I must have a different expectation after doing last year's Documented Life Project. Anyway, onward and upward!!

Colour Me Positive Week 8 - FEARLESS

This week's quote was "Everything you want is on the other side of fear"  and we were encouraged to explore fear vs. creativity and use cut-out words on our page.

I used bold and bright colours, finger painted onto a double page spread in circular patterns. I scribbled circles and scrolls with coloured pens within the circles, and as usual, went with a different but relevant quote: "Be afraid of nothing. You have within you - all wisdom, all power, all strength, all understanding" - Eileen Caddy.

I then cut our butterflies to paste onto the page and wrote the word FEARLESS on card to cover up some staples from the previous page.

Journal 52 Week 8 - Hearts / Skulls or Crows

The challenges this week include exploring what your heart knows vs. what your head knows (from Effy) or to use skulls, exploring what wisdom is in your head or bones, or use crows in your picture (from Sarah).

I have to say that both challenges left me cold - I'm heartily sick of  hearts - in art or otherwise. And, as for skulls or crows - they have no appeal for me whatsoever.

So, in consequence, I have done noting for Week 8 of this challenge. However, I may come back to it later.

Collages - G, H, I

G is for GALLIVANTING in every possible way - walking, driving, socialising and moving any old which way!

H is for HEREDITARY. This is another digital composition with lots of old family photos including my favourite great-aunt as a girl, my convict ancestor and his wife, my elusive paternal grandfather, my mum as a baby, my dad and his sister, their beloved grandmother and her in-laws.

My personal  favourite is the 5 Georges - George Dale (my grandfather), George Dale Snr (my great grandfather - son of the convict), George Dale (my uncle), George Trowbridge (my other great grandfather) and Georgie Dale (my cousin).

I is for ILLUMINATIONS of every possible type - bright lights, lightning, fire, fireworks, the sun, the stars, the moon, and Melbourne's White Night.

I'm glad that I decided to use the small Dylusions journal for the collages, As I sometimes find it difficult to find enough images to fill the space. Once I have an idea in my head, I spend a lot of time trawliing through old magazines for suitable images.

Anyway, thanks for looking and I hope you liked what you saw. Cheers.

Art Catch-up

I haven't posted for a couple of weeks as I've been busy elsewhere - work, doctors, reading, cooking, etc, etc. But - I have kept up with the weekly challenges and here they all are up-to-date.

Colour Me Positive Week 6 - KINDNESS

As usual, I went looking for a different quote from the one given which was "Be kind wherever possible. It is always possible." - Dalai Lama, and/or do some stamping on the page.

I really wanted a longer chain to go round my family, but the bracelet I found in a jewelry catalogue was OK. The background is a mixture of Opal & Gold with Teal & Purple sprayed and dripped over. I raided that week's Target catalogue for my family and the whole spread came together really quickly.

My quote from Goethe, reads: "Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together."

Colour Me Positive Week 7 - HEART

This week the quote was from Confucius: "Wherever you go, go with all your heart.", and/or collage an image (or three) onto your page. Lisa also gave us some YouTube videos to look at and I was inspired by Nika in Wonderland to replicate her page.

The heart is glued down before being torn in half and then cut out and glued on the underneath page. Nika's heart got torn in this process - I made my hole deliberately heart shaped. This represents the hole in the heart I was born with that still gives me some trouble and means that I am on my fifth pacemaker.

I did some stencilling, used the challenge quote as well as Moliere's "The heart can do anything." Underneath the torn page, I have journaled about my experience with this page.

Journal 52 Week 6 - Beneath my Feet / Above my Head

The upshot of this week's challenges is to let the prompts lead you in any direction. Direction got me thinking of maps and where I come from, where I've been and where I am now.

So I printed a map showing the area where I grew up to signify what is beneath (behind) me - a solid upbringing rooted in family, friends, learning and work. Paired with that I printed some old photos of myself and my three siblings (circa 1961). The tree stencil denotes solid ground and the arrow stencil moving forward/growing up.

To keep to the same theme, I printed a map of the area where I now live and paired it with a photo of a beautiful clear, blue sky through my pergola. This signifies that ahead of me is my home, family close by, friends and retirement looming. I stencilled some roses and butterflies to finish the page.

Collages - F
Journal 52 Week 7 - Nerdy Love/Self Love

So I have two F words this week - flamboyant & fabulous. I did a collage on the computer using some of my photos from the Phryne Fisher Costume Exhibition that my sister and I went to last year. And as I have all the books by Kerry Greenwood and have seen all the episodes on TV, it should qualify as a Nerdy Love for the Journal 52 challenge.

I had no ideas and no time for Self Love - may get to it later!!!

If you've stopped by for a look, thanks heaps and I hope you liked what you saw.
Bye for now.

Week 5 Challenges

I've been a bit more productive since the last time I posted and had no problems coming up with ideas to complete the challenges.

Colour Me Positive Week 5 - DREAM BIG

This week's inspirational quote was "If your dreams don't scare you they're not big enough" and/or use bold colours on your page.

Well I immediately thought about losing weight and was going to do a mirror image - one before and one after, but when I had taken a selfie, drawn a slimmer version and cut them out, I suddenly thought about shadows. This, of course, tied in well with using the words "become a shadow of my former self".

The page was covered in paper napkins and stenciled in yellow oxide, white and pink, then the before picture was stuck to the page and painted black to become a silhouette. I painted the shadow directly onto the page. The words DREAM BIG (or smaller!) are stamped on the page and the other words are written under the shadow.

Journal 52 Week 5 - Monochromatic/Psychedelic

Sarah offered up the monochromatic challenge - to use the same tints or hues to express your mood, and Effy offered the opposite - psychedelic, using all colours to express your mood.

I actually started with the psychedelic challenge using book paper and bright green paint as a background. I then stenciled and stamped before adding lavender paint. This made the page look a bit dull so I rubbed some off with a baby wipe and added patches of pink, orange and teal. I painted over one of the stamps in teal, then did some pen work to highlight the shape. I'd call it more colourful than psychedelic though.

Excess paint and ink from the stencils and stamps was used up on the facing page. One of the stamps - a lacy doily - looked a little like tree tops, so I drew some trunks and scribbled in some foliage using a graphite pencil. The water brush brought out the colour more, as did more pencil marks. Not what I would call a good effort, but I had fun playing.

Collages - D & E

I am having fun doing these too. A trawl through some recent Royal auto magazines and a travel brochure culled enough "daredevil" type activities for the D page, and the Daphne magazines provided what I needed for the "encompass" page. I interpreted "encompass" as surrounding or encircling, so most of the items on the page are circular, and yes, that is a devil's tail coming out of the L in daredevil!!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by.