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. 

Gypsy Journal

I, like quite a few of us took a while to find my mojo and create my journal for round 6, but once I did it was so much fun.

My theme is Gypsy.

To me this word brings so many images to mind but the beautiful horse drawn gypsy caravan and a fortune teller were the strongest.

I used my favourite Stonehenge paper and bound with leather.  My pages are created with inktense pencils, acrylic paint, serviette, lace and scrap book paper.

Im ready to hitch up the horses and send it travelling and watch it gather beauty here on our blog, you can follow along https://australianartjournalswap.blogspot.com.au/

New Rounds of the Australian Art Journal Swap

It is very exciting over at the Australian Art Swap Group with us all getting ready for the next round of our Art Journal round robin.

Positions are filling fast and there are some fabulous themes being considered. To keep the circle tight and length of swap manageable we are slitting into 2 groups Round 4 and Round 5 

I am going with
TREE
 because I am a tree lover
I lover their beauty and their meanings
i love there space in our world
I love the sound of the wind in their branches
I love the life cycle of deciduous trees
I love the promise in a seed
I love to get my hands in the earth and grow trees
I love to watch them grow
I love to climb them , sit under them, look at them.
I love trees

There are also a plethora of clever and lovely art journal pages online about trees to inspire my fellow artists. 

Myth and Magic Mini Art Journal Swap

I am trying to create a very safe and inclusive environment for the Australian Art Swap Group, I don't always achieve this and sadly there are some who have left the group because they did not feel either of those things, however for those of us still there I am  constantly working on improving it.

One of the ways I strive for inclusion is to encourage everyone to host or co host swaps or to share their ideas for swaps or any other group activity they would like to see happen. Consequently we have a wonderful diversity of artists who all bring different skills and inspire us in different ways. 

Janie O'Brien, one of our ladies recently introduced a mini booklet swap  and her theme was Nature. I was looking for something to work on over the long hot summer holiday time and remembered how I had enjoyed working on "Birds on the Brain" so ran a "Myth and Magic" mini art journal swap.

I  enjoy this swap format, it is 12 A5 size pages - just 3 A4 sheets folded and bound and is an ideal size to really explore a theme and the number of fairly small pages is really manageable. It also fitted easily into my bag so I could take it out and work in it and some days it is just nice to art out in the world, particularly on those hot and humid days we have been having lately, the peace and calm of the air conditioned library was such a relief.

I explored the Wheel of the Year and wanted to make it look old and weathered, like it has been a well thumbed reference for many years, laying about in kitchens and getting splashed on, taken on long rambling walks and journeys, carried about and shared.

Inspiration Deck Swap

The friendly bunch over at the Australian Art Swap Group are really hopping this year, with swaps travelling to all corners of the country, we are always welcoming active new members as long as they are residents in Australia. 

So far this year we have been making Dottee Dolls, a few rounds of A.T.Cs, a Myth and Magic mini journal, deconstructed art journals,  journal prompts for our own journals and Joan has started another amazing monthly prompt- dot...to....dot that is bringing out some incredible art. 

We are also running and Inspiration Card Deck swap where we all alter half a deck of playing cards and then they all come to me to mix them all up and send them all back- sounds like fun :) 

Happy Mail

To give and to receive

it is one of the real joys of living, 

I get real pleasure in creating art for other people and getting happy mail in the post in among the bills and junk mail flyers is such a treat.

We recently had a lovely fun swap over at the
Australian Art Swap Group 

It was a supplies and ephemera swap,
we needed to fill and envelope with things we wanted to share
then our packages were sent all over Australia 

to bring joy and inspiration to each other.

It is amazing just how much can fit in one of these envelopes
and how much fun it is

 to include some art from our online friends in our own work.

We have lots of different swaps and not just for the big kids,
these ATCs were made by my 11 yo son and I,

Artist Trading Cards

ATCs or Artist Trading Cards are little mini art works and can be made for anything, to any theme and then swapped among fellow ATC artists.

I have been making and trading them for quite a few years now and it is always a thrill to see what arrives in your mail box :)

I have started a group to just trade art within

 Australia and we have been making ATCs,

 I am offering adult swaps and swaps for the little artists in our lives.

My son and I carved some stamps

 to use to make some bird themed ATC's recently.

These are our cards all ready and waiting for the mail out date.

If you would like to join in the fun and you reside within Australia

find us on facebook. Australian Art Swap Group 

and check your PMs once you apply.

ATCs can be made from any material,

the only rule is the size,

there is a fabulous PDF with so much information about ATCs 

you can look at online  it is called Art in your Pocket

I often recommend people new to ATCs to have a look at that guide.

Sometimes I like to create interactive ATC's

This one has a wrought iron garden gate,

I often make myself a card as well when I am doing a set for a swap,

and it is always good to clearly label your cards 

before you send them off. 

This amazing card comes from the incredibly talented Kalona

these cards were from an unusual shaped ATC swap.

This beautiful ATC was done by Mary Larner

And these pics are of my unusual shaped ATC 

I included my love of layers and intricate details 

Creating a Goddess Alter 

There is no end to what you can do with your ATCs

I regularly teach ATC workshops so keep an eye out if you are local.

Reveal your True Self- Wendy's travelling art journal

I have spoken before about how I love to be in a journal swap,

 I love having the journals travelling around between us all, and I love having them arrive to be mine for a short while. It is like having an intimate gallery arrive right into your home, that you can visit over and over while it is here, and can share with your friends and visitors. 

And then it is gone- 

you have done your piece and added your energy and sent it on its way and then you are eagerly awaiting the next one and contemplating the theme.

This journal belongs to Wendy Pepyart 

who is a very talented and creative member of this round of 

The Australian Art Journal Swap

Wendy's gorgeous art journal is a repurposed childrens story book and her title is 'Reveal Your True Self'

Well, asking me, Who my true self is?, 

just about turned me inside out, lol- I do love how these journals challenge us and as Wendy is a very intuitive artist I just got out some supplies and started to play and let my own intuition guide me.

I pulled out some colours that were calling to me on the day and arranged them into a rainbow and then I started to get some ideas.

My thinking went along the lines rainbow, 

colours, 

colour groups,

 different aspects of me are all my true self

- paper dolls!

 I chose six colour themes and six aspects of me,
I pulled out the gelli plate, a brayer, some stencils and some watercolour paper and just played.

Once I had created my 6 dolls, I then played with stamps building up their mixed media texture and finally I journaled on them about who this aspect of me really is.  

The Art of Transformation, my new traveling art journal from the AAJS

I finally the time and space today to make my new traveling journal this afternoon.

I am doing Soul Food this year 

and just watched Grace Howe's beautiful journal making class.

We have only just started this fantastic art course that is covering so many creative possibilities, in 2 weeks we have done a beautiful mixed media piece, some fabulous drawings, a really groovy collage and the journal making- all of the "Sous-Chefs" are sharing some delicious recipes to feed our bellies as well as our souls, so if you want to join us its certainly not too late.

 I combined some of Grace's techniques with my own.

- writing intentions for my journal on the first layer of the outside cover

and using stencils,

I am so into stencils lately that they would have been in there anyway

adding the layers to the outside cover

 and the inside cover is coming along 

my traveling art journal, ready for me to do some work inside now.

Lyrics travelling journal

Liz made a beautiful journal to travel the world,

 collecting lyrics and art from countries near and far.

This is the page I made for Liz

 it is based on the song 'Great Spirit' by Medicine for the People.

I played with bright silk dyes and inks and textures and tried to make a beautiful page and also to capture a little of the beautiful energy of the song. Adding in an Owl Spirit as I have such a connection with owls.

Liz signed up to an art journal round robin with 16 other artists all dedicated to a smooth and regular exchange but sadly that is not how it worked out. From the start we had troubles with the lady who started the swap pulling out, the others rallied around and we got ourselves organised to continue and then we had quite a few journals go missing over the course of our swap so four lovely ladies including Liz will not be getting their beautiful handmade with so much love and energy art journals back. We have all done lose pages for them though and even replaced pages already done in the lost journals. 

It is a sad thing to lose your journal and I really do hope that where ever they are someone sends them home one day. I have also lost on of my journals in another swap the International Art Journal Swap  begun in 2010 and there are many lovely women still waiting on their journals from that swap besides me as well.