October Review

Time to share my completed October monthly journal and I've decided to include a review of all I've been doing during the month. I began October by completing this gorgeous book which has it's own blog post and more photos here. 

It was our school holidays for the first 2 weeks of October. I had a wonderful time getting started with Gelli printing lessons with Rebecca Sower in Fodder School 2. Although I adore colour, I'm especially happy with my neutrals since I often forget to print these.

See my other printed papers from this session on Instagram here or my FB Artist page. I haven't managed to do Rebecca's project which is making framed collages (I love the ones Lucie Duclos made, and check out Megan Quinlan's results) but I know our next teacher, Drew Stenbrecher, is also a gelli print artist and will have more ideas. Plus I have papers and projects from Fodder School 1 which I can have fun combining when I get the urge.

I managed to finish some more cards created from this master sheet with inspiration from Laly Mille using metallic watercolours. I really enjoy what happens when you cut a master sheet into smaller pieces and can appreciate beautiful details.

My base file folder colour for October was Green. I used a piece of the master sheet above on the cover

and a few techniques from fodder school 1 for the base pages. 

Stencil layers on a sticker sheet begins 2 spreads 

I was really lucky this month to have some trips away to our national quilt symposium and the annual WOW - World of Wearable Art - show - incredible. Lots of artistic creative goodness to fill me up.

My art in my monthly journal is created in response to Effy Wild's Journal 52 cards for 2022. My rules : each piece will include stitch, a found word, and be inspired by the project I've been working on that week or what's lying leftover on my work table. You can get access to the prompts by joining Effy's Wilderhood group on FB or subscribe to her newsletter. 

Week 39 : Harvest. Spring in New Zealand - harvesting lemons and eating delicious asparagus

 

Week 40 : Tender. I adore Klimt and was thrilled to purchase some lovely papers during my holidays. This image is a favourite of mine, perfectly representing the word "Tender". I also used some of my gelli prints (mentioned in the session above)

Week 41 : Dissent. With a nod to the collars of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

Week 42 : Believe. Struggling these last couple of weeks to be motivated to make art and that must be why my face looks a bit sad. Face Stencil by Dina Wakley.  This prompt was a reminder to believe this is just a temporary state for me and the feather is a reminder to be gentle with myself. 

My back cover included a piece of one of my book pages from the beginning of the month. It will be an instant reminder of that project when I see this.

In general, I've been struggling to be as excited about my monthly journal - it's a big commitment to do the same format for a whole year. I decided to take a photo of them all together so far, and that has motivated me to not give up on completing this project for the last 2 months of the year so you will see one for November (Yellow) and December (Red).

However, when Megan Quinlan announced her new class Journal into Your Art I decided to take the leap and join with the early bird price and my subscriber's discount (Get the subscriber discount code if you sign up to her newsletter - this extra discount available until 31 October - and early bird discount until 6 November). 

See her video on Youtube about this class here. So far I have watched all the videos and got re-enthused about my stencil collection and how I can use this class to reignite my art journal practice. Watch this space....

Writing this post was good for me as I realised that I've actually had a really creative month, even though I don't have many finished projects to share. It's been a month for absorbing lots of new ideas and filling my creative cup. And writing that reminded me that another thing that happened this month was a free livestream weekend to promote the new Wanderlust 2023 class (only $99 USD until 31 October). 

I watched some really cool sessions with Claudette Hasenjager, Francisca Nunes, Rachel Greig, and I really related to the conversation that Kasia had with Consie Sindet - it is still up on youtube HERE as I publish this post (and there's a link to join Wanderlust there). My takeaway reminder from this : A Daily Art Practice doesn't have to be just doing. It includes being inspired by watching a class, listening to an interview, reading a book or magazine, checking up on insta/FB posts, touching supplies and thinking about what's next. On that basis I definitely have an almost daily art practice. I saved this a while ago and it's so good : 

Only 9 weeks left of the year! Remember to make time for creativity and self-care 💜  See more regular postings from me on my FB artist page and Instagram.

September monthly journal review

Time to share my completed September monthly journal. My colour was Pink and I began with a photo of my glorious magnolia tree. 

My art in these journals is created in response to Effy Wild's Journal 52 cards for 2022. My rules : each piece will include stitch, a found word, and be inspired by the project I've been working on that week or what's lying leftover on my work table. You can get access to the prompts by joining Effy's Wilderhood group on FB or subscribe to her newsletter. 

Week 35 : Breath

Week 36 : Grow - used some of a snippet roll for this one

Week 37 : Fantasy - a faux postage stamp and dreams of 'somewhere over the rainbow'

Week 38 : Wild - loved the colours on my underpaper so turned into the background and a lovely piece snipped off my book cover. So serendipitous

And after beginning with my magnolia tree, it seemed right to finish my cover with a photo of my first rose of the season! 

I really adored my pink journal. Let's see what I do with Green for October.

See all my posts about my monthly journal project HERE and Journal 52 HERE. 

I continue to post on my blog to inspire and as a record for me, but I am doing so less often. See more regular postings from me on my FB artist page and Instagram. 

August monthly journal review

Time to share my completed August monthly journal. My colour for August was Brown, although you'll see I quickly found my favourite turquoise featuring on most pages. The first spread started with asemic writing in black and white, before adding some white stenciling which also finished off my cover nicely. A few stickers and I thought this was a pretty start.

On my desk was my pile of papers from printing for fodder school. I tore this piece of paper down to my journal size and punched out circles for the journal blocks. 

I was able to use some of the punched out circles for flowers for Week 30 prompt below, and you'll see the others used for journaling my last few days of this month facing my Week 34 Prompt.

If in doubt, use paint and favourite stencils...and start some extra collage papers at the same time 💙

My art in this journal is mostly created in response to Effy Wild's Journal 52 cards for 2022. My rules : each piece will include stitch, a found word, and be inspired by the project I've been working on that week or what's lying leftover on my work table. 

Week 30 : Pleasure. Turquoise, texture, stitch and shine.

Week 31 : Longing. Was in my studio with the heater on and an extra cold snap happening in New Zealand, I am longing for extended hours of summer sunshine and swimming at the beach

Week 32 : Sacred. Children and nature - worthy of care and notice as precious. 

Week 33 :  Surprise. Playing with things you can do with master sheets - a surprise when you add gesso - a surprise when you cut a shape from the back 

This is how the adjoining journal spread looks

And because there were only 3 days left in August and the prompt came out at the beginning of that week, I also included Week 34 : Tenderness

You can get access to the prompts by joining Effy's Wilderhood group on FB or subscribe to her newsletter. See all my posts about my monthly journal project HERE and Journal 52 HERE. See more regular postings from me on my FB artist page and Instagram. 

I know we're already into September, but I'm a little behind in creating my new journal. It will be all sorted by the end of the week, I'm sure. A Pink base this month and a photo of my gorgeous magnolia in flower will feature on the cover. My pile of completed monthly journals so far this year makes me very happy. 

Enjoy your Spring or Autumn, depending on where you are. A day later my cover is finished so I thought I'd add it to the end of the post. Fabrics dyed in a fodder school lesson - so excited to work in this one

July monthly journal review

Time to share my completed July monthly journal. I chose Blue since it's a Winter month in New Zealand and chilly. Funny that I also chose Blue for January for the opposite reason! I already shared my first 2 spreads HERE.

Sometimes I wonder if I should prepare my journal spreads for the whole month, but it's special being able to respond to what is happening for that week. The below spread was created the day after we heard about the sudden passing of my sister-in-law Sue. In shock and not knowing what do with myself, I was still able to create this simple spread for her 

I wanted to create a piece of art to honour her on that flip out page and she loved elephants. After a bit of looking I found Tamara Laporte's elephant portrait which is now available on Youtube. That link also includes a traceable which I reduced in size to fit into my journal. 

My version is Week 28 below - appropriately the word for that week was Blessing.

My art in this journal is mostly created in response to Effy Wild's Journal 52 cards for 2022. My rules : each piece will include stitch, a found word, and be inspired by the project I've been working on that week or what's lying leftover on my work table. I don't usually overthink these and just go with what feels good in the moment. 

Week 26 : Reflect. Inspired by the materials I used for the Peace catcher I made with Lucie Duclos that week. I love the colours and reflected on how lucky I am to have a creative practice to help me process what's happening in my world.

Week 27 : Certain. I really enjoy doing tags so there are fabric bits that peek out of my journals. I started with an old end of printed watercolour paper and created my own tag shape

Certain that colour, stitch, and time spent making mixed media pieces will always make me happy

Week 28 : Blessing. Watercolour for the initial colouring of the elephant, also incorporating some leftover collage papers from my abstract landscapes that week.

Week 29 :  Resilient

You can get access to the prompts by joining Effy's Wilderhood group on FB or subscribe to her newsletter. 

Farewell to July and a sneak peek towards August - this next cover needs more work but I love the monarch butterfly. 

See all my posts about my monthly journal project HERE and Journal 52 HERE. See more regular postings from me on my FB artist page and Instagram.