The Elements of Art Journalling week 4 - Water

This week we took the plunge
Deep into WATER
where we explored our more tender emotions
with the fabulous Effy Wild
in the forth part of our journey in
The Elements of Art Journalling
at Wild Precious

This is my Water mini book
where I keep my course PDF
right in my journal and handy for when I need it


This course is so much more than an art course.
It is really deep and transformative art therapy
and
Awesome art lessons all in one.

Our main focus with water was to look at our tender emotions.
We used contemplative meditation
and we learned a new technique of sitting with our emotions.
Effy took us on a journey to
honour and then to transform
these deep emotions.


I went deep into my emotions and I find that when I am really feeling deep emotions I like to doodle, I like to make intricate pattens and it is a form of meditation for me.

Whilst I was down deep I did get a bit lost and was having some trouble finding my way back up to the surface, I was stuck in the beginning of the process and I contacted Effy. I have to say how amazing a facilitator she is. She is so onto everyones issues, really quickly with kindness and solutions. Whether it is a technical issue, and in a big online class there are plenty of them, an encouraging word or a real life line for those who need one is this deep and challenging course. She is there. She looks at everyone's work and offers honest feed back and is so there for all of us on the course, and everyone else over at Wild Precious.
Effy you are a blessing.


Whilst I was down deep
I also found much beauty and knowledge in my soul
and I am so glad that I am taking this course.


There is so much happening over at Wild Precious
and if you haven't checked it out you really should.

Mother Earth ATC swap - part 4

Three more precious packages of gorgeous art works arrived today.

I think I am more excited than the kids,
we received 2 parcels from the parcel man
this morning and that had us
reaching for the globe to find the United Kingdom.

Mary Larner's cards


are all so soft and pretty,


just beautiful.


Mary used vintage quotes and images, inks, sizzix die cuts, and glossy accents.

The next package was from Lorraine Rigby


Her cards are so atmospheric and poignant

Deeply moving and thought provoking cards,
Amazing little shrines,
Lorraine has used Celtic knot work and cut out metal crowns.

The boys were just settling back down to our home school routine and it was Geography, and we just happened to be studying Canada today when the posties bike rattled to a stop at our mail box and they were both out the door in a flash to see what else had come in the mail. You can imagine their delight and excitement when one of the envelopes was another set of ATCs and this time from Canada!


Darcy Nalder
your gorgeous cards
could not have arrived with better timing,
even if we had tried to plan it, lol.


Darcy's cards are just gorgeous,
they all have beautiful colours and
have had so much thought and care lavished on them.


The last one is very special to my 8yo son,
as he was wanting to know what Canada looked like,
and now is certain it is where Mother Earth sleeps <3
so he is hoping we can keep that one.

The Elements of Art Journalling week 3- Air

This week in Effy Wild's amazing
The Elements of Art Journaling course
we have been working with the element of
AIR

Air is all about deep thinking and meditating, and as usual Effy had a swag of ideas for us to try and work with and the discussions in the studio and the work being done by the participants has been awesome. There is a great network forming here and it really is special.

I have been thinking about Air all week and really noticing things, the local sugar cane farmers are burning off the cane for harvest at the moment and there are a lot of raptors around. I love to watch the raptors soaring through the air, they are so powerful and masterful, searching the ground for morsels to eat.

I have been arting on this, all weekend and this morning I woke with the words to John Denver's Windsong in my mind, I had not heard the song in years though and could only remember tantalising snatches of the lyrics but they seemed to be perfect for my planned page so I had to google them with breakfast and they were just right for my raptor page.


This page was a snap shot of my days at the moment, it is so windy here and with 2 boys I have so much washing, I really appreciate the great drying weather the wind provides.
I had my lovely Mum come to stay through the week so I didn't get to my course work until this weekend, but I did get my Mum art journalling, and she went home with a lovely new journal and has done a few pages in it up here. She also went home with a good selection of supplies and a bundle of inspiration. It was so lovely for me to share my passion with my mum, and to have her take to it so readily, even though she thought she didn't have an artistic bone in her body. Yay Mum.

ATC swap- Dreams

This months ATC challenge
over at Willowing
is on the theme of DREAMS.


I have found this theme rather challenging and have started quite a few cards, so I was delighted when my gorgeous prize pack arrived from Artchix studio just bursting with inspiration. I adore seahorses and once I had a seahorse in my dream I was off on a piratical adventure.


My swap partner this month is the very talented
Laurie Sikorowski
and you can visit her Illustration site to see her lovely work.


And these are my 2 greatest creations :-)
doing a spot of research for our next oceanic adventure.

Mother Earth ATC swap - part 3

Our postie arrived today with more fabulous cards
for the Mother Earth ATC swap,
this time we had to find Italy on the globe.

Then we opened the parcel
to find Letizia's gorgeous textural cards.


Letizia has captured the textures,
colours and shapes of
Mother Nature beautifully.

Mother Earth ATC swap - part 2

There was great excitement
for my little one meeting the post lady
2 days in a row with a parcel from overseas :-)


Ruth Dailey's gorgeous cards arrived
all the way from America,
along with some beautiful calligraphy.

Ruth's cards are so delicately beautiful,
each one a little tree scene.

Ruth has used pen and ink and watercolors,
with the addition of tissue on True Gold.

Thank you Ruth for your lovely cards.

Mother Earth ATC swap - part 1

I am hosting an artist trading swap,
over at the wonderful
Milliande's Art Community for Women
and I have chosen the theme as
~Mother Earth~


Today was very exciting because my first lot of cards
arrived from Christine Stuart in England.

Christine has done some lovely work stamping
into gouache and they are really lovely in real life,
my photo's don't do the detains justice.

Thank you Christine.

I will be sharing my joy as the cards arrive here
in this my very first time hosting an
ATC swap.

The Elements of Art Journalling week 2- Earth

This week I have literally been in my
ELEMENT.
I am such an earth girl,
and I love our
Mother Earth
so much,
so when Effy Wild
from Wild Precious Studio
asked us to really think about Earth
and about ourselves as well,
I had lots of fun.

This weeks lesson focused on texture,
on working up a background using tissue paper,
I had all of these other lovely earthy papers that I was keen to use instead so I just did it my way, and was pretty amazed when this curvaceous goddess popped out of my page, and she was wearing thigh high boots! The boots were a wonderful serendipitous coincidence, I stuck a torn piece of burnt umber lizard skin textured paper onto my page and it turned into the boots.


I have been thinking about earth all week,
walking in the rain forest,
digging in the dirt,
and one of Effy's extra suggestions was to have a nice big meal of root veggies and journal about that, and I just happened to read that suggestion the day I was baking beetroots.

So onto the journal page went the tops and tails,
and they left behind such pretty marks.


That led me to an even greater appreciation of beetroot.

Did you know it has been cultivated since ancient times?
Babylonia, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome all enjoyed this wonderful plant, leaves and roots.

It is even said that Apollo himself dined on it.


Each week Effy sends out lots of video
and she also sends out a PDF,
that I have reformatted
so I could make it into a little mini booklet
and add it to my journal,


all that wonderful information
will now be stored right where I need it.


and I will do a mini booklet each week
and add it to the relevant section.


With all of the earthy contemplation I have been doing I have been waking up filled with enthusiasm and ideas of what to journal about, if only life didn't get in the way of making art I could fill a whole journal on earth.

On morning I woke with John Seed's
INVOCATION
on my mind,
and I had to get up and get that into my journal as soon as I could.

This is actually the first page I did,
before I watched Effys videos.
I just felt moved to do an Earth page
and this is how it came out.
I have been going to add more to it,
but I think that is all there is-
Shelter Me.

The Inspiration

This week in The Elements
the fabulous on line art journaling course I am taking
at Wild Precious Studio
we are deeply exploring Earth
and being a rather earthy girl myself
I am totally enjoying it.

Earth to me is so many things
it is everything and in everything
and it is
TREES.

As a confirmed tree lover
I adore getting into the bush
or the rain forest.

After sharing with you the little fig tree I am making
I thought I might share the trees who are
the inspiration.

Look at these gorgeous trees,
at there wide and strong buttress roots,

at their adaptable
and spreading
firm hold on the earth

at their wide and many branched trunks,

this one even has doors and windows
tunneling through its base

such majestic beauty.

Deep Roots

I live near a rain forest,
and in the rain forest live 2 magnificent old fig trees.

They are so big and so beautiful,
one of them has tunnels through its roots,
its great big buttress roots,
that my youngest son loves to play in.


These amazing buttress roots form walls of a fort,
dams to hold back the invisible tide of imagination,
and offer a wonderful natural balancing beam.

They also go down deep,
deep into the earth,
on the banks of the mighty mighty river.

They have held on through so many years,
so many floods,
over hundreds of years
they could tell you a story if you came and listened.

I love my river and the fig trees
and they inspired me to create one of my very own.


This Fig tree is a special tree,
it has messages in its leaves,
and wide spreading branches to bear special fruit.

I made it with paper mache over a wire frame
and used my favorite baby wipes
and more wire to make the leaves.


This is Sapphire, he is a wild rainbow lorikeet,
they are a local rain forest species,
and he knows my fig tree is special.
Sapphire is in love with our pet lorikeet
Emerald, and they had babies last year,
it seems he is back to spend more time with our Em
and he is quite comfortable
coming in to our home,
and getting into my art supplies !!!!!
and perching in my fig tree.


I hope he doesn't want to eat
its special fruits though.

The Elements

This week has been very inspiring over at Wild Precious Studio
and I have been finding it hard to stop arting :-)


I have done a few more spreads on the elements
it seems they are just itching to get out of my head and onto my page.
Here are a couple.


I have really enjoyed the aspects of The Elements of Art Journalling that have been happening inside my head as well. I have always related to the elements in a very physical way but have been contemplating them as aspects of my self, not just the energies around me.

Another aspect of this class and Wild Precious Studio that I adore is the supportive healing environment Effy has created over there, some serious soul bearing is happening and it is so brave of the women who are sharing and so healing for them and for others offering some light for their journeys.