Messy monday

Messy Monday was originally an excuse for my friend Clare from Paper Pen and Plan and I to push ourselves out of our comfort zones and create journal pages, usually with a heavy helping of paint and ink involved. Already a lover of messy journal pages, I encouraged Clare to embrace her messy side which resulted in some amazing backgrounds. We had lots of fun with it and I think we both miss those days.

Clare mentioned it again a few weeks ago among the members of the Paper Pen and Plan Facebook group so I thought I’d try and bring it back in some form or another. Now to be absolutely truthful here I did start this at the weekend. I left it open on my worktable and added a bit to it every time I went past, which was often!

I started with the first layer of charcoal scribbles then added some acrylic paints in smears before taking a watersoluable crayon and smearing some blue/grey here and there. That was yesterday, this morning after a walk in the forest it reminded me of the low Autumn sunlight through the trees and so that was where the theme came from. With a small collage and a title it was finished.

Happy Messy Monday

Jaine xx

Happy December And Hello Daily Journal 2017

The madness has really started with shops heaving and roads full of traffic. I think this is why I prefer to do alot of my shopping on line to be honest. If I’m off to the shopping centre it’s to look at the pretty lights and get ideas not shop like a headless chicken for something I’ve no idea what.

Anyway that said, the best bits of the season have kicked off and that includes the first page in my daily journal for December which I’m doing in colaboration with Paper Pen and Plan. Day 1 is “One Happy Moment” which was most definitely going out with Cooper in the morning in the first real snow fall of the season. He loves it.

So far I’m not sure how it’s going to pan out using a junk journal for my daily with some of the pages being made out of thinner paper. This might restrict me from using too many wet media like paints and sprays. I’ll have to play it by ear and just see how it goes. If I have to use gesso or glue in extra pages then so be it. That’s just how it goes.

Have a good first weekend of advent everyone and I’ll speak soon.

Jaine x

What’s On My Desk Wednesday – Multi Tasking With paints

Two projects, two different styles and two very different finishes are on my table today. I’m flitting about between the two here, while one dries I add something to the other one. It’s a bit mad to be honest but while the ideas are in my head I have to do it otherwise it’s gone.

This top one is in the Traveling Art Journal for Canvas Corp Brands and I’m truly happy with how it’s progressing. Some acrylic paints, some watercolour and a bit of collage is all I’ve done so far. I’m finding at the moment that my journal pages aren’t as dark as they used to be and I’m leaving alot more white space. Maybe it’s a phase.

On the other table and in complete contrast I’ve got my sketchbook open to finish off a sketch I started yesterday in the garden. If you were to look at the sketch and the garden side by side you’d see I’ve enhanced the flowers big style. The border isn’t looking quite as blooming as that! After a cold and wet couple of weeks it’s gone into Autumn mode with several of my plants going totally to seed.

It’s my sketchbook and I can do what I want in it, right?

We’re getting ready to go off to Ireland at the end of this week but I’ll be back with a quick post on Friday.

Happy Wednesday

Jaine xx

The Word Of The Week – FOCUS

Focus, it’s a good word. One I use often but totally ignore. I’m one of the worlds worst procrastinators so my to do list just gets longer and longer. I’ve been trying to get through the list this week before I go away at the end of the month but I think I’m finally there.

I’ve been so good that today I actually had some time to do a bit of art journaling. Oh I have missed it. I can’t remember the last time I got the paints out and just created something. The starting point was the feather picked up on a walk this week. I used the Dylusions paints from the shop for my background and glued in the feather. A bit of collage and journaling finished it off and I think I’m a happy bunny again.

Here’s a closer look at it.

We’ve had some pretty sad weather this week, for August anyway. Not as bad as some folk in the UK but still cooler and at times wet, so an afternoon of lovely warm sunshine was very welcome and provided the perfect opportunity to get outside to do some sketching.

I made a start on this weeks planner pages laying down some watercolour and marking out my grids and days.

This is how it looks today, friday and almost finished. I’m loving this sort of layout and for the moment I don’t see myself changing it at all.

After the success of last weekends felt TN launch in the Etsy shop, I added to that family some pen holders also in felt. I’m very proud of them all and I’m hoping they’ll be as popular as my notebook covers. To find yours you can follow the link here.

Well that’s it for today. Have a good one where ever you are and stay creative.

Jaine x