Goddess Journals

I have been making little journals

repurposing old book pages,

pamphlets, maps and

and all sorts of beautiful things to inspire others.

 They are all slightly different with a variety of techniques used

in beautiful colours.

I have  used inks, dyes, stamps,

stencils, gesso , inktense watercolor pencils and acrylic paints.

and my imagination

 leaving plenty of open space for journaling

including some of my original art

(these are from a day playing with a printing press)

 

because these little Goddess journals 

were made with love and intention

for some of my friends.

BoD update 1

I have been really enjoying the process of working in my BoD

Book of Days with Effy Wild

Unfortunately I dont have a good internet plan living here by my river so I dont get to watch most of the video's, however I do get to follow along with the group on facebook and I just sort of go with the process now.

These are pages I have played on ready to journal with,

and I often start a diary in the new year but I do tend to let it slip pretty easily

I am finding combining my art journal with my diary = Bod is working really well for me.

Painted Pages

 I have been working through some personal issues and when I need to think I like to play, so I got out a stack of colorful supplies and some old book pages I had removed to make atlered books and I spent a lovely few hours.

 I played with acrylic paints and inks, silk dyes distress inks and alcohol inks.

I didn't have to think about anything, I just kept going until I was finished.

 Using stencils, stamps, punchinella and bubble wrap and some free journaling.

After all of that I was ready to commit to moving far away from my beloved river, and moving my family into a whole new advemture.

I have also been keeping up my BoD

it has been great therapy and a great tool keeping me on track

 

documenting my comings and goings and downloading out of my busy busy head.

 

I wanted to keep this little Facebook post as well so it found its way into my BoD.

Book of Days

 I along with almost 8oo fellow BoD'ers

have taken up the 

very generous  free offer by Effy Wild

to travel through 2012

working in a Book of Days together.

The group is a lovely supportive

  open and thriving community 

and all are welcome.

I have chosen my word for the year

it is

CLARITY

Effy is offering lessons

in mixed media and art journaling 

throughout the whole year.

This is a pocket I have added to my BoD

 

 It is a lovely collaboration of art journaling,

diary and community,

and everyone is being very inpired and very creative.

 

These pages are from my first week

and I am loving the discipline and the process.

 

 

I have prepped a few pages for future weeks

and have challenged myself to work in

warmer colors.

I have a page to store some inspiration

for things I am considering this year.

I think 2012 is going to be a big year of change for this river girl,

and am thankful to have my Bod and my word for the year 

to accompany me.

Owls

I recently came across these pics

from a series I did of birds

 and sadly these are the only 2 I have photos of.

That is a gorgeous Boobook Owl above.

This one is a Tawny Frogmouth,

not technically an owl no,

but often grouped with owls 

as it has the same nocturnal habits

 and is similar in many ways.

All of these birds in this series have flown to other homes.

And these little guys are whimsical owls 

hanging out in my art journal.

Sacred Moments

I have been working in Vera's

 "Sacred Moments"

Traveling Art Journal

This theme was a bit challenging for me

because I tend to find the sacred in every moment,

 as we have just passed summer solstice

here in Australia,

I chose that sacred moment,

of breaking dawn

on the longest day.

The writing on the left of this page

 is a quote from

"Life as a Verb"

by Patti Digh.

and reads

"We inhabit ourselves without  valuing ourselves

unable to see that here, and now, 

this very moment is sacred, 

once its gone- its value is incontestable"

by Joyce Carol Oates.

Vera has made a unique journal,

she has a crotchet spine

and the pages are all sorts of thing,

paper bags, recycled envelopes,

 tarot cards, and even cardboard packaging. 

It is a fun and funky journal.

Happy New Year

 It is the start of a new year

 and there are so many juicy offerings 

of wonderful free classes online.

I have taken up quite a few of these offers

 and I hope I have not over committed.

I am doing the 365 Project and so are my boys.

It is photographic documentary of your year and my boys have both got cameras now so I am hoping we will all improve our photography skills and the boys will enjoy being part of an online community. I'm not super confident we will all post every day but we will do it as much as we can.

I am also taking  the Strathmore Online Workshops

There are 3 workshops on offer

 and the first one is with the fabulous 

Traci Bautista Doodles Unleashed

It is a 4 week course and I am so excited about this one,

There are 2 other work shops as well

Water color sketching with Cathy Johnson in March

and 

Force Drawing with Michael Mattesi in May

 These images on this page 

are from another course I am doing

at wild precious life with Effy Wild

2012 Book of Days

It is a year long art journaling course,

and I am already inspired.

So far we have altered  our books and 

are searching for our one word for 2012

I have narrowed my choices down to 

AWARE  / AWARENESS

or

CLARITY

I have also decided to play along with Jan Fox

and her 52 Playdates

with weekly prompts for arting.

I don't plan on doing all of these 

but sometimes

 its nice

 to have inspiration delivered right into your inbox!

I am also slowly working my way 

through all the fabulous lessons

in 30 days with Gulfsprite

I love these lessons

 and I love Christy's teaching style and artistic style,

she is so inspirational.

I have recently joined a wonderful ning platform

Flutterbye

with the fabulous and so very generous 

AMy McDonald

So many free groups and lessons,

videos and tutorials .

I am also participating in 2 round robin art journal swaps,

 although I only have 2 more art journals 

to work in for the International  Art Journal Swap.

Oh and Artist Trading Cards's

I will have to be joining in on various ATC swaps 

as I am loving my growing collection of these,

If anyone wants to do a swap with me for ATCs

 please leave me a comment and we can do a trade.

So that should keep me

 artistically motivated throughout the year.

I am going to need my word  

and my book of days to keep me focused.

Bright Blessings for the new year to you.