Waves of Creativity

I haven't had chance to make much this week due to a round of appointments - hair, eyes, teeth etc so thought I'd show you my art for Journal52 - it's a group on Facebook with a prompt every week.   I'm using A5 card/watercolour paper and try and do the first thing that pops into my head!! 

Week 1 - Pathways, New beginnings etc. I used an old birthday card for the image.

Week 9 - Restricted to a Colour and Shape I chose Green and Circles

Week 10 - Colouring an image downloaded Its supposed to be therapeutic but I'm a neat freak!

Week 13 - Messy coffee rings and splatters

This Week 15 - Playing Cribbage Every evening on holiday with friends!!

They're a bit of a mixed bag as you can see but it's great fun to just go with the flow and not worry about whose products to use.  I've used Oak House Studio stamps on the circles one and most of the backgrounds are Distress Inks.  I didn't really want to cover the last one as I loved the mix of reds so much!!

Anyway the sun is shining and the garden needs attention so best go.  Thanks for looking!!

Elaine x

New Year, new me...clean craft space etc etc.  I decided to clear out my Bit Box and to be honest I have no idea why I've kept some of the tiddy little bits.....when am I ever going to use them?  This photo shows the pile that's destined for the bin.   That yellow bit is 3" by 1/8" - I have no idea why I thought it would be useful!!


In doing this I found a few nice bits so used those for my Journal52 page.  It's a Facebook group with a prompt every week.  I did every one last year and thought I'd do it again - it's a way of testing out ideas, using stuff up etc.  This week the prompt was Conversation Starters.

So I've cleared one box, the problem is I have another Bit Box to clear.  I'm very jealous of those people who can store offcuts by colour etc rather than just a jumble in a box.  I now need to find some Twinchie and Inchie challenges to use some more up.

Thanks for looking!!

I'm still playing catch up on all the challenges I do and have 9 weeks worth of Journal52 pages to create - I really enjoy this challenge and have decided that I have to go with the first image that pops into my head otherwise it'll end up contrived.

So I'll just add a few pictures - Firstly, Under the Sea


This one is an blue-green inky background with Oak House Studio Sea Life stamps, Mountain Ash for seaweed and Oak Tree for the corally bit.   This song from Little Mermaid popped into my head and I thought it was very apt.   Below, the theme was Travelling - we have a caravan (not quite as dinky as this) so a few stamps on an inky background.  Oak Tree again for the grass/hedging and the Map stamp is PSX I think.


The theme below was Courage - difficult to do but I decided to go for pink.  I'm not a pink person but I can just about cope with this mix of deep pinks......pastel pink...oh no!!


 Above is Nostalgia - we've been to New Romney in Kent various times over the years and have just come back from that area.  So reminiscing...definitely.   The steam train postcard is Crafty Individuals.      Below is Nature Inspired - an inky green background overstamped with Chocolate Baroque stamps ....a glade in the woods!


This last one was fashion - well I have no stamps that helped so I just went with colours.  The shops seem to be full of acid yellows and greens - not my choice but in nature, very much so! 

I'm behind again with my Journal52 pages - it's a challenge on Facebook where each week there is a theme/idea to work with.   Week 15 is Party Animals and Week 16 is Recycled Art.

The top page is my recycled paper bag - my DH nearly got it in the recycling bin but I saved it, used the main image and added some Tim Holtz blueprint stamps to carry on the woodland theme.


The second one is my Party Animal.....well Owl really.  My most used Chocolate Baroque stamp which happened to be in proportion to the party/clown hat stamp from Paperartsy.  With the addition of the Oak House Studio Union Jack stamp and some hand cut bunting,  I decided to go for a party to celebrate St George's Day.....Enjoy!

A quick post today with my Journal52 piece for week 14.  The prompt is Rain or Shine - what sort of weather do you like.


I've done a rainy side with Brolly Man and a sunny side with Sun Rays and greenery.  I've just hand drawn a rainbow using Sharpies.  I don't like rain, but thunder and lightening and snow are all good as long as I'm inside looking out!!  The plants need the rain but why can't it always rain at night and be lovely and sunny during the day!!

Guess we are never satisfied ....or stop talking about it!!

This week's prompt for the Journal52 project is STARS so here's my night sky showing Ursa Major!



I've used a Hero Arts star with white acrylic paint and holographic super sparkle embossing powder for the stars - it's quite twinkly in real life!!   The background is a swoosh of Distress Inks - Faded Denim, Stormy Sky (of course) and Chipped Sapphire with a smidge of  Picked Raspberry and Shabby Shutter with coarse sea salt to add a few Galaxies!!  Here's a close up:


I'm really enjoying this challenge as you can do whatever you like and be more experimental.  Hope you like - dream big and laugh often!

The prompt this week was to choose a picture and make something with THREE COLOURS.  I love all blues and turquoise, black and white is always a striking combination.  This car ad was the first thing I saw in a magazine so I went with that.


The background is sprayed with Oak House Studio's Ink in a Bottle - Totally Turquoise, Jubilee Blue and Bobby's Grey.  I've added typed words and punched some leaves out of various shades of blue card to make some flowers.

I tend to use blue in most of my projects, but then the last thing I did was green and February seemed to be all reds.  I guess I like all colours as long as they are bright and crisp - I don't do sludgy or pastel!!

Thanks for popping by to look.  All comments are very much appreciated.

Week 8 of the Journal52 Challenge is to find poetry - take a book or magazine page, highlight words with meaning and create a poem.


I chose a newspaper article about monarch butterflies as I liked the photo, highlighted words with a marker and then just painted out the other words with Shaded Lilac Distress Stains.  Here's my poem entitled the 'Faltering March of the Monarchs':

Great spectacles on this planet
Migration of the Monarch Butterfly
Mobile shards of a stained glass window
Extraodinary
Win hearts and minds
The great wonders of the world
But no
The lowest point
The world gets a little duller.

 

Well it's raining yet again so I decided to have a play and do my week 7 piece for the Journal52 challenge.  The prompt this time is When I Grow Up. 

I had no idea what I wanted to be at school but I did like Maps.  I remember this conversation with the Careers Officer at Uni which was obviously before online forms were commonplace.  I said Maps, he thought I said Maths and advised me to do accountancy.   I had to laugh!!   I like Maths but not for a career.  The old maps are beautiful and you can stare at maps for hours and still see something new.


So my page today uses the Map Background stamp from Darkroom Door,  the Vintage Map from Hero Arts and I've inked through a Studio Calico Zigzag mask for some waves.

I'm still dithering whether to bind all the pages together or just use split rings so that's why there's a gap to the left.  Hope you like my piece this week and thanks for looking.

I've joined in with the Journal52 project on facebook and am keeping up with the prompts so far.  Today I did the week 6 prompt - the Lost Art of Love Letters - so thought I'd show it as I really liked the result.

I chose the saying by F. Scott Fitzgerald and took my inspiration from the art deco style card below  as  they were both the same era.

I thought I'd show you what I've been up to this week.  Now I'm really not an artist but it's good to get out of your comfort zone once in a while.  Week 2 prompt of the Journal52 challenge is Somewhere - a Simple Place. 

My first thoughts were sitting on a mountain admiring the view, in a garden by water, by the sea watching the waves crash etc so I've tried to combine all three.  The background is just done with Distress Stains swiped across the page - a quick and easy way of painting!!  I've added white dabber clouds, and some greenery with stamps from Crafty Individuals (CI-207) and 7 Gypsies (Nottinghill).  I think I need more practise with the writing!!

We visited Aysgarth Falls in the summer and carved onto some wooden seats along the river was the phrase - sit a while and listen to the sound of the  water fall.  Doesn't matter if its a powerful waterfall, a babbling stream or waves crashing on the beach ... it washes your cares away!!

Well I did stormy seas last week and water this week - I wonder what this is telling me!

Lynnda at Oak House Studio has challenged everyone to create a postcard to send to yourself, pin on your notice board or put in a frame, with a message.   Here's mine:



I  decided to go for Spread Your Wings ie try something new, find some new challenges to do, use different colours etc.  All the stamps - Thoresby background, Butterflies and Sentiment - are from Oak House Studio.    Why don't you have a go - you may win something!

My "Something New" is to have a go at Art Journalling - I've signed up to Journal52  which provides weekly prompts and I've decided the only way I'm going to carry on with this is to go smallish (A5) and do the first thing that comes into my head.  She who procrastinates is lost I fear  - I'll just end up doing neat and tidy with straight lines. 

The first prompt is Up, Up and Away - so Soar, Kites and Stormy Seas.  I hope you can see all this is my first attempt.  I used inks and paints and the words are all from dictionary definitions or quote sites online.  I've added Soar in Thickers but they are too pale to photo so may alter that.  I'm not sure I like it but if I don't post it, it'll end up in the bin and I won't have a go next week!!


I've no idea where this is taking me and I might not post my art every week but it's good to have a go!