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.

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.

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.

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.

The Elements of Art Journalling week 1

I have started doing an online
art journal course
over at Wild Precious Studio
with the fabulous Effy Wild

It is called
The Elements of Art Journalling
and it is still open
if you want to join me and loads of other lovely ladies.

Week 1 has us contemplating the elements
and creating our journals
this is the first layer on my
brand new spiral bound visual diary.

I do love a nice new art journal,
all bright and shiny and full of possibilities.

Over my collage I added paints and inks and some stamping
and inside I added a series of tabs for each section.

to finish off my cover on my gorgeous new journal
I quickly made a simple spiral stencil
out of a piece of copy paper,

and added one of my goddess figures.
I also stamped a title-
The Elements

Inside I made a tabbed page for each element,
I also made a pocket to hold any collage elements
or other inspirational bits and pieces
I find on my journey through the elements with Effy.

Next up was some mind mapping on each element.

I loved this part, really thinking about and just
intuitively jotting down my thoughts.

Personally I really identify with Earth and Water
so Air and Fire were going to be really difficult,
So I thought,lol.

I took my journal down to the skate park with my boys
and sat with Air,
the normally very boring time at the skate park
was a great opportunity to have to sit
and have no other distractions
and contemplate Air.


Next up was water~
water is my element,
I love all forms of water and live overlooking
my beloved Clarence River


So water was like a lovely little holiday
soothing and restorative.

I am really looking forward
to exploring water further with this course.

Fire - I love a nice fire on a cold night
or a camp fire when I am out in the bush

Mind mapping fire
was also easier than I expected,
I did this one sitting on the lounge
if front of the fire one night.

Spirit-
this one actually turned out to be the most challenging
and I have not quite finished this page.

I will sit with spirit again and come back to this page.

I couldn't wait to play in my new journal though,
and this is my first page.


I started off with the Charge of the Goddess,


and one of my printed Goddesses
and then I played with colour.

I used Caran d'Ache neocolours
and my new glimmer mist on these pages

and here is my first elements spread.
I worked with my caran d'ache neocolurs again
to represent each element,
Out lined with zig writers
and finished off with my current favourite
silver acrylic.

I am so ready for week 2 Effy.