Fancy a Cuppa?

I bought Sharon's cute and quirky journal down to mama's and on a sunny afternoon we played out on her back deck in our travelling journals. Arting with a friend or loved one is even better than having a cuppa with one, but not by much.

As usual, I jumped in with no pre-planned idea and just went with it. I created a background of book pages, paper doilies, used tea bags and recycled tissue paper- if you have a keen eye you will see the same tissue paper on both my page and mama's page. 

I then played with a brayer and some paint- white and ochre, once it dried I added journalling and the book paper circles I found in my stash and then sketched in a teapot and cup and saucer. Finished off with some doodling and more words-

Enjoy a cuppa with a friend and be uplifted. 

The Fig Tree

If you are ever looking for me 

and there is a magnificent buttress rooted fig tree nearby, 

check there first. 

There can be nothing that says nature to me

 more than a fig tree,

 it embodies the essential divine feminine energy of earth for me. 

My page in Janies Nature journal
in round 7 of the Australian Art Journal Swap 

is quite simple 

and meaningful to me,

it is textural and was fun to play in.

Totally unplanned. 

These are my supplies plus a green and a brown marker

Bowie tribute ( and Jimmy C) in Amanda's Galaxy journal

Amanda's Galaxy journal arrived this month and as is usual its been a full on crazy month and I can't believe we are half way through March already.
We are house painting again- it seems to be an ongoing thing with us- another house and another colour scheme but the main issues atm are everything is once again packed away so I have very minimal art supplies accessible. I have some pens, a small tin of inktense pencils, a set of caran dache neocolour 11's and a dribble of white paint left in the bottom of a box I used to teach a workshop with recently. All good- Amanda has very light paper so I couldn't get it too wet anyway. 

As I was mulling over ideas I kept coming back to the ultimate star man for me :) David Bowie and eventually decided on the lyrics for Space Oddity and the page came together fairly quickly once I settled on the theme.

I googled Bowie street art as I had a memory of Australian street artist Jimmy C and his mural tribute once I found it I knew it was the perfect inspiration for my galaxy page. 

 I lightly drew on the paper and then added colour from my pencils 

It came together OK but needed something galactic to pull it together
so I dug out a bottle of blue spray ink and added stars with black and gold dots. 

Heart of Gaia

Tania and Danie from Simmer Sistars invited me to join in with their fabulous Online Art Trail for Inspire your Heart with Art Day. I encourage you to follow the trail and see what all of the other fabulous creative women have made for the day.

 My art piece is a page that has been created to travel in my Gaia art journal in round 7 of the Australian Art Journal Swap, I was going to go with a different theme but the extreme weather, heatwaves and bushfires and drought, has my heart aching for  Gaia our beautiful Mother Earth.

What is the answer? It can only be love, she loves us and we love Her we have too. We are Her, all one giant organism really, we come from Her and we return to Her. 

As I worked in my journal I intentionally added heart shaped leaves, every one of them is a prayer for the earth. For the oceans filled with plastic, for the whales and sharks starving in that sea of human trash, for the dammed rivers drying up and the poor dying and dead fish in the stagnant ponds, for the birds with stomachs full of rubbish, for the bushland and its creatures being ravaged by fire, for the precious earth being mined and fracked and poisoned, for the air we breathe that is filled with dust, for the people. My prayer for the people is that they reconnect with the heart of Gaia, they realise this amazing and beautiful planet we live on is home, we need to respect Her and open our hearts to protect Her and nourish Her as she does us. 

I offer you this beautiful

Invocation to Gaia, by John Seed.

We ask for the presence of the spirit of Gaia and pray that the breath of life continue to caress this planet home.

May we grow into true understanding - a deep understanding that inspires us to protect the tree on which we bloom, and the water, soil, and atmosphere without which we have no existence.

May we turn inwards and stumble upon our true roots in the intertwining biology of this exquisite planet. May nourishment and power pulse through these roots, and fierce determination to continue the billion-year dance.

May love well up and burst forth from our hearts.

May there be a new dispensation of pure and powerful consciousness and the charter to witness and facilitate the healing of the tattered biosphere.

We ask for the presence of the spirit of Gaia to be with us here. To reveal to us all that we need to see, for our own highest good and for the highest good of all.

We call upon the spirit of evolution, the miraculous force that inspires rock and dust to weave themselves into biology. You have stood by us for millions and billions of years- do not forsake us now. Empower us and awaken in us pure and dazzling creativity. You that can turn scales into feathers, seawater to blood, caterpillars to butterflies, metamorphose our species, awaken in us the powers that we need to survive the present crisis and evolve into more aeons on our solar journey. 

Awaken in us a sense of who we truly are: tiny ephemeral blossoms on the Tree of Life. Make the purposes and destiny of that tree our own purpose and destiny.

Fill each of us with love for our true Self, which includes all of the creatures and plants and landscapes of the world. Fill us with a powerful urge for the wellbeing and continual unfolding of this Self.

May we speak in all human councils on behalf of the animals and plants and landscapes of the Earth.

May we shine with a pure inner passion that will spread rapidly through these leaden times.

May we awaken to our true and only nature - none other than the nature of Gaia, this living planet.

We call upon the power which sustains the planets in their orbits, that wheels our Milky Way in its 200 million year spiral, to imbue our personalities and our relationships with harmony, endurance and joy. Fill us with a sense of immense time so that our brief, flickering lives may truly reflect the work of vast ages past and also the millions of years of evolution whose potential lies in our trembling hands.

O stars, lend us your burning passion.

O silence, give weight to our voice.

We ask for the presence of the spirit of Gaia.

John Seed in "Thinking like a Mountain: Towards a Council of All Beings"

May you find inspiration for your heart and soul from Gaia and from our fabulous art trail today. Please go and visit Gillian Castellino at Healing Scribbles or pop over to see the Shimmer Sistars and have a look at all of the offerings.

From my heart to yours.

Compost

Compost is such a wonderful alchemical activity.

It is a beautiful mix of some of the most treasured things in my life -
gardening, recycling and magic-
I love how you can take a pile of rubbish - weeds and food scraps and grass cuttings and fallen leaves, gather them into an intentional space and combine nitrogen, carbon and water and create magical nourishing food for our gardens and our beloved planet - pure magic

In this page I took all of the rubbish that floats around inside my head and gathered it in an intentional way - free writing all over both pages and then I added the magical ingredients of self-acceptance and self-love, gesso and collage and grew a beautiful garden 

Reset- renew, refresh, restore

Love these colours they are scrumptious!
I am doing a 28 day cleanse right now, following Jason Vale's 28 day juice plan and it's going really well. I did this page on day 4  and filled it with my hopes and intentions on the left hand page and left the right hand side to journal when I am finished or very close to it. 

I am writing this on day 13, so pretty well midway and I have only had juice, water and herbal tea for that time. I am sure my body is loving having a break from coffee and wine and salt and fat and meat and all the other things I normally pass through my digestive system.

I have dropped quite a few kg but I am really loving the other results-
I am sleeping better than I have in years,
the swelling on my legs and feet is gone,
skin and hair are wonderful
and I feel great. 

Gypsy is Home

Oh, my lovely Gypsy is home!

She is a travelling art journal from the sixth round of the Australian Art Journal Swap and has just travelled around Australia, now she is home and full of stories to share, the horses are unhitched and free to roam, so find a space by the fire, pour yourself a glass and enjoy her return with me.

Once we open up the wagon we are greeted by my gypsy woman page, she is waiting at her crystal ball and ready to tell your future. She shared her message with all on her way.

Her message is bound in red thread and tucked in behind her crystal ball when folded open and removed it reveals the stairs to enter.

There are mysterious old maps on the inside covers no doubt showing the secret gypsy pathways for her to get where ever she needed to go, they must be good maps too because she has made the full circuit and returned home.

 

First stop was in Cairns with Janie, oh the things they got up to!

Barefoot dancing in peacock feather skirts, poetry, palmistry and more feathers!

Then she took the long road over to Western Australia, I just know we will hear many more stories about Darwin and the far north of WA but that will be at another campfire.  Once she got to Perth and caught up with Deb they got serious about the palmistry and they had a bright and beautiful time. 

She hitched up the wagon and headed back east to visit Jenny and all of her adorable kitties. Jenny had a paddock full of the most amazing sunflowers and the sunsets were amazing.

The wagon looked so good nestled in that field and I believe a lot of creative fun was had with Jenny and they wore fabulous fun and funky hats. 

Next camp was at Lisa's in Melbourne, the horses were not impressed by the trams in the city apparently, however, they got out the beautiful Tarot cards Lisa created and I hear some coins crossed their palms in the Burke St Mall. 

There were many wonderful camps in Victoria however the call of catching up with Colleen in  Yacka, SA,  her gorgeous camp was just what was needed after the big smoke and the horses were much happier by  the beautiful bubbling brook 

Colleen pulled out a fabulous old map and shared some definite possibilities, this Gypsy girl has itchy feet and is always looking for the next adventure. 

Robyn put out a call for a gathering happening that our gypsy just had to get to, it was so good to catch up with everyone and the music around the campfire every night was fabulous. 

Robyn even made a beautiful tambourine, and the gorgeous silk ribbons were scented 

Our gypsy girl was really keen to catch up with fellow gypsy and super talented painter of gorgeousness Annabelle, 

Annabelle has a bit of a reputation for her beautiful faces and despite a heavy travel schedule supporting family on opposite sides of this vast land they really enjoyed catching up and Annabelle even beautifully captured one of the horses. 

Catching up with dear Rozzie was next who had so many stories to share of all the gypsies all over the world, and she not only put her heart and soul into her pages, she used gorgeous fabrics, beads and coins from her clothes.

It was really beautiful camped at the foot of the Blue Mountains, the stars at night were so clear and the air so fresh, especially in the mornings. 

Next camp was a home camp <3
Camping with Mama,
looking out on Mt Arthur every morning and the amazing skies.

 

Family is important to gypsies, as are friends,

human connection makes life so richer and I am very blessed to have this evolving group of wonderful creatives to share this journey with year after year.

Next camp was at Sharon's,

she was putting on a show and it was going to be spectacular!

The set was so lush and it was a fabulous evening

the highlight of the show has to be the snake charmer!

Thank you so much to all of the beautiful creative gypsy women who hosted my journal on her journey and worked so beautifully in her. I treasure it. She is a little worn but how could a handmade wagon cover all of those miles without showing signs of all the love and work she gathered.

A little bonus is the charms added on the way - thank you again.