Bingo, spaceships and tennis

I have had these journal prompt cards  that Tammy at Daisy Yellow puts out for a while and I have had great plans for them in terms of creating with the children but never quite got there.  With the Autumn holidays upon me I decided to get organised and I made up some bingo tokens.

We then pulled a card at random and pulled three tokens out of the bowl.

Oh my goodness, so much fun and really challenging as well. Certainly makes you experiment and put things together that would never normally occur to you. It pushes you out of your comfort zone as you try and work out how these random disparate prompts will work together on one page.

Unfortunately Sebastian was under the weather after needing a tooth removed, but he rallied admirably in spite of it all.

Victoria however was a very eager participant. It did get a bit competitive in the end and there was some copying involved I am going to add, and someone thinks they won…I disagree, but the judge called a tie (which I also disagreed with)?!

For the first attempt we drew: Spaceship, Toy and Tennis.

I just used some watercolour paper I had for these, which I ripped in half. Clearly I had needed some watercolour circles for something because out of one piece there were 4 punched circle holes, I decided to put some tinfoil behind them in light of the spaceship theme.

Someone then copied…not mentioning names. :)

Here is what we ended up with.

(Mine)

(Victoria)

I went with Robots as my toy and Victoria went with toy koalas. The words on mine say “The umpire was not very neutral” which was not so far from the truth in real life either with both sides arguing their position quite strongly!

The second attempt was after Sebastian was back from the dentist, and he participated in this one, before retiring to bed. The prompts were: New York, Wine and Charcoal Grey.

Sebastian is much more subdued with his colour (much preferring to create black and white comics) and a lot more literal. Certainly a whole lot more subdued than his sister!!

(Mine)

(Sebastian)

(Victoria)

I love her use of neon and her bold lines.  I am also grateful Sebastian attempted to play along despite how miserable he was feeling.

These cards are such a great idea for creating with children, as well as stretching you out of your comfort zone and giving yourself new challenges. Trying things that you wouldn’t necessarily try or even contemplate putting together as you try and weave together a story or at least some coherence. I really enjoyed them just for myself and my own benefit let alone how great they were to use with Victoria.  They sparked an afternoon of creating and animated discussion.

Also they are so juicy and delicious, using Tammy’s own vibrant artwork as the backgrounds. They are gorgeous and inspiring to hold and just look at and shuffle through and try and work out how the background is made. They are Moo cards so really good quality and I just really recommend them.  A fun addition to one’s creative toolbelt.

Victoria has already sorted out what tokens we are doing tomorrow apparently (more cheating I expect…not that I am the competitive one) as well as the Bingo prompt card we are using, and has just announced to me I will need to buy some more! So very well recommended from these parts from all quarters. :)

To find out more you can click here to go to Tammy’s website, or to her shop where she sells them over here.

In my journal

Here is the first page. I have had this in my head to do for a while, I had copied the quote out a while ago and I recently came across it and decided to have a go at the spread now.

I did the writing with a bamboo skewer, I forgot how much I enjoyed how that looked. I particularly love the dress. It was hard to get a good picture of it. I cut out the shapes and inked up some vellum that I put behind it. Love how it is kind of glowy even if hard to to show.

Or this try as well…

Love it!

This page I was a bit nervous about posting. It is exploring my big problem I have with forgiving, or rather not forgiving. I have such big problems letting go of perceived injustices. Little things I can forgive in a heartbeat, but there are some things I really struggle with and I wish I was a better person to do it. I know why I should, all the reasons why I should, I know it will be much better for me, yet there is a part of me that just never properly lets some things go.

To that end in fact (you know the whole becoming a better person and remaking myself and been able to let things go palava) I just downloaded this what promises to be story changing ebook course by Sas Petherick. I have only started it, but I have already had some tears spill and some tummy churing uncomfortableness so I have high hopes for boundary pushing expansiveness and healing and maybe learning to forgive, or at least let things go…not that this has anything to do with my art journal…although you never know what will appear there. :)

Next spread is this one. I love this quote and it is also part of Lisa Sonora Beam’s 30 day art journal challenge. In fact some of my ones from last week were too, so I may do a round up of all those pages in one post when they are all finished (because they are not all finished at the moment). I note that the challenge is on hold for a few weeks, but it should be back any day now. I recommend it. I have had a few revelations.

This is another one from the Lisa Sonora Beam series. Very wordy and scattered thoughts eveywhere. I really liked that though as a background, it represented quite well the wordy messy my mind can be, so I did not wangt to cover it all up. I just did a scrappy girl on some newspaper that I had doodled while watching something on tv the other night. I like the roughness of the page.

And that is me for the art journal sharing this week. :) Happy Easter!

Creativity Challenge 2014

While catching up at Carmen’s blog recently I saw that she was doing this Creativity Challenge.  While she was doing it at the start of the year, I thought anytime was the right time to have a quick kickstart, so I went over and signed up.  :)

It was good to have daily challenges and be focussed on creativity.  The challenges were also not overly involved so quite easily achievable and I did indeed feel like I had had a quick kick to the creative behind.

I had been meaning to do this one for a little while, a combination of my word of the year and also the best word I could come up with to describe my creative intention.  I have been a little bit hesitant to mention my word of the year because I was worried that as soon as I announced it I would then send myself into a self-sabotaging sticky funk, but I am in the process of breaking new patterns, not reinforcing them so without further ado…my word of the year is abundance.

So scary.  My previous words have been (in their order I think): Transform, Bravery, Open, Connections and now Abundant.  All such a progressive flow to them.  But all have been quite big words and had much bigger implications than I could ever have imagined.  I expect Abundance will as well and that scares me as well as excites me.  But it seems like quite a positive word with positive connotations, marking an upward transition out of the darkness, so the fact that that word came into my life really pleases me on a number of levels.

Anyway, so here is my word in my art journal…

My creative to-do list was a joy to do. It was a good chance to remember everything that I wanted to do, and certainly an excuse to never be bored. :)

I am also quite certain it will get added to as and before other things are crossed off.

I decluttered three shoeboxes of ephemera and scraps, some of which date back to 2009.  I kept enough to fit into a single file but figured anymore was madness.  I never went into the shoeboxes generally anyway. They were full to overflowing and taking the lid off caused more mess than I desired in wanting one particular scrap.

I always have stuff around that I can use and there is a trust required in abundance and knowing I will have what I need when I need it.  This has worked out really well and I am actively using the bits I have kept.

Thinking about beginnings I worked on this journal page:

Here is a close up so you can read the words.

It felt significant. There is a feeling at the moment that I have of hope. And joy but hope that things are getting better and I am definitely more happy and not procrastinating my days away. Finding these words at the time I was working on this page felt like one of those shifts we sometimes feel. :)

Next came an artist date to the local gallery The Dowse. I did this on a day which had not started well with the children, and in between parent help on road patrol and parent help with the little kids and their reading I took a deep breath and went to the art gallery. I don’t know why I don’t pop in more. It is so close and accessible.

It doesn’t need to be a huge period of time, especially if you are popping in often. And it really did give me a fresh burst of inspiration and reset my whole day. I loved it. The exhibits were also really good. Just that little bit of self care was really uplifting and changed the slant I had tainted my day with (though I stayed longer than I was going to and missed out on my coffee I was also desperately needing, but I survived!! :))

Here is a shot I took to show my creative process:

And finally some words…Why I love what I do? Because of that juicy moment of clarity when you suddenly see a way forward in a project.

At the moment while I was considering what I would write I was looking at one of my WIPs and suddenly saw a figure which excited me.  Those moments where you feel completely in the zone of all creative forces, that is what juices me up.

I wholeheartedly recommend signing up and I am grateful to Carmen for mentioning it.  It was a twitter based challenge which intrigued me and also made it feel more manageable (because 140 characters?!) but I thought I would share here as well.

If you decide to do it, please let me know!  I would love to see your creative story. :)

In my journal

Here are some more pages from my art journal. :)

Celebrating my 300th post with a giveaway!!

This was actually entirely coincidental but we will call it fate.  300 posts feels like it needs a celebration.

So as luck would have it I have a giveaway.  And quite a spectacular giveaway.  :)

As I announced here, I am teaching at the new session of 21 Secrets, which gets sent to people in less than a week!!!!  And I have a place to give away to one of you.

If you have not signed up yet then this is another chance to win, and if you have, then if you win, you can be refunded.

The class I was going to teach and the one I envisaged originally was called Fly Baby Fly. However as I worked through the prompts I supplied for the class (because as it happens we teach what we most need to learn!), it became apparent to me really clearly that I was skipping a step.  And before I even contemplate flying I needed to build the wings, and that changed the class.

And me.

So now the class is Building our wings.  And I am madly excited about it.  I love what I ended up with.  Here are the photos first of all…

Even now I cannot believe I created this spread.  I love it.  LOVE IT.

I have extra videos on creating some of the mixed media papers you see that I have used to build the wings feather by feather!!

This spread means so much to me, and I truly hope for the people that take the class that they get something out of it…even if just a new art technique or are inspired to try something else and expand on what I have given. That would thrill me. It was such a nerve-wracking labour of love. Especially when I decided to rewrite what I was going to do. But it felt right and so I went with it.

Before we fly we need to build those wings. And I literally did…feather by feather!! Thrills me. Imagine a little squeal and dance right now!

I am not normally a page planner but I did for this, although it ended up a little bit different than how I saw it.  Though I love the direction it went in. The only thing that would be more perfect is that people would be inspired by it!

So.  This is what my class will do.  And as for the giveaway, leave a comment underneath this post and I will enter you in the draw.  It would also be super lovely if you shared the giveaway news.  But you don’t have to go through 5 billion hoops or like pages that don’t call for you to like already.

It is only a short timeframe and I will draw the winner on 31 March 10am PST time.  If you don’t leave your email with your comment then please make sure you check back here to my blog to find out the winner, other wise I will not be able to contact you.

Just to refresh your memory on why you want to join there are 20 other AMAZING teachers who I am honoured and a little intimidated to be inspiring people with, whose classes all sound beyond amazing.  Just look, but make sure you leave the comment here!!

Good luck and spread the news pretty please.   :)

Reviewing old stories

So!  Feast or famine around here clearly, but there will be this post and another today.  :) Then I will give you a break for a couple of days.  :)  I promise.

So.  Back in 2011 I did Soul Restoration with Brave Girls Club.  It was the perfect time on so many levels and really was one of those courses that touched me on a really deep level and caused some major shifts in my life. There were bits in that course that resonated with me so finely that it was tough at times as well, but shining a light on those shadows always creates a healing space.  I was flicking through my completed journal from that course and was struck by how appropriate it was for me to be relooking at the truths in that book while I was feeling a bit scattered and untethered and doubting.

I realised I had never shared the pages I completed.  A lot of it was not in my own painty style and so I felt a bit funny, but also it was so deeply vulnerable.  Looking back a few years later, I was struck by how many of the truths still applied.  A few didn’t.  But mostly to see these pages is to see me in all my deeply messy glory, and that is hard my friends.  Very. Hard.

But today is a sunny crisp autumnal day perfect for airing old truths and old pages.  But know I do so a bit tenderly.  Relooking at these pages and one of the other exercises in the course gave me the idea for another series as well (In my journal is the other one I have introduced so far! :)).  I am tying this blog down to some routines to reboot it.  And reboot me.

Before I get started, can I also say that one of the exercises in particular on that course was ENTIRELY life changing and story reframingand I really recommend the course if you are on the fence.  I am not sharing that exercise here, at least not today, but it truly was a mind blowing exercise. :)

So here are the journal pages first of all.  I did the first ever version of the course where they offered the kits as an extra.  And got this very cute denim journal which I love.  I note they never offered that option again however, which is sad.

So those are my pages out of one of the journals I did. One of the other exercises was to create truth cards for ourselves.

So I went through and created some.

Well started to, and then thought I was finished. But when I refound them a little while ago I thought how unlike me they were. Unfinished, not enough paint, someone struggling with collage.

So I decided to finish them off. I finished one…

And then thought this could be a series. My truth cards. Maybe a message you may yourself have need of each week as well. In any event, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to look at the before card and the after. What makes it more me, three years later?

Also I have always wanted to make my own tarot/oracle card deck. Maybe this will lead me in to developing that idea a bit more. :)

In my journal

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last blog post.

I finished that and went to look through my photos only to realise I had not upoaded any to Flickr for quite a while. And with the computer crisis in my recent past I needed to retake photos.  Which I procrastinated about because the idea of processing all those photos made me want to poke my eyes out.

But in small chunks I got there and have a few things to share.  So rather than bombarde you I thought I would start up a couple of new regular sharing spots on my blog and catch up that way. (I have been meaning to do this since the start of the year when I first had the idea but it is never too late??? :))

So this spot is called “In my journal” and as it says I will share some pages or a page from my art journal once a week.  Sometimes it may be what  am working on currently, or some description of some technique or even a video?!.  Or some photos of old pages that I have not yet shared.  (Guess what you are being inflicted with this week and the next couple of weeks!).

Here is some proof that while I have not been sharing so much in this space I have been creating at least.  Some are messy and raw and some are tidier.  Some have lots of words and some have not so much.  Looking back through them I can see where I was working things out, and not always with words. Some are just all over the place, but they are what they are.

Others are playing and experimenting and trying things out. :)

Still here

Is it a sign when you have to log back in to WordPress that you have been missing in action for too long??

Gosh.  I just took photos of my latest “My 52 Cards” card and realised that I had not taken photos of the one before that.  Aaargh!!  Life has gotten away from me in real life (evidenced by my laundry pile and library overdue fines) which means I have been away from here as I try and keep up.  I feel like I am so scattered that I am letting a lot of balls fall but I am here checking in, and hopefully semi keeping the ball from smashing heavily down to earth!

I have been working essentially full time in proper paid work which has been great, the extra money will give us some breathing room, that is for sure, and I love the research/analysis work I have been doing.  Work that makes you feel like you are making a difference.  I am especially grateful for sanity that I have been able to do it from home which has helped a lot with managing children, though it has not been without some teething problems as I am available a bit less and things still need to happen…I may have had a couple of unsexy meltdowns as the reality of not been fully available and able to do EVERYTHING became realised by all but we have gotten to here relatively in tact!! .

I would even love it was more permanent, though I think it is only for another couple of weeks so I am making the most of it, though I would have to also be a whole lot more organised if it was more permanent!!  Also I am going to buy myself a new camera, which is also *squee* exciting and I am looking forward to doing the research on that. And then actually buying it.  I will warn you because I suspect I will become very excited about taking photos again!! :)

Still I know I am behind on things including blog reading, but I am trying to get my blog reader back up to day…so expect flurries of comments in little bursts!!  I suspect some of the scattered feeling is also because I have not been doing my morning pages very regularly…note to self!!  But I am trying not to self-flagellate myself with some of my more recent negative self-talk about how crap I am doing and exercise a bit more self-compassion.

So…a bit of an update and catch up.

First I was over here briefly…with this.

I cannot stress how much fun this was.  it makes me smile thinking about it even now.  In the middle of all this contracting work, where I have had moments of wondering if I am good enough to do it, flinging paint is a most excellent stress reliever…

And my latest 52 card contributions.

This one was done in the midst of been so exhausted from working and mothering (is there a difference sometimes) and I look at it now, and see how emotionally heavy I felt, but still somewhat positive and on track towards the bigger picture. At least an awareness that I shouldn’t get hung up on the heaviness, though with my depression journey I am always especially conscious of feeling heavy, to keep a careful eye that it doesn’t go further.

My last one was this:

A lot lighter, also done when we were just home from spending a weekend on my Aunt’s farm a few hours away. I did not a lot more than read my kindle and soak in the sun, and it gave me some breathing space from everything that was so needed.

Reflected by the words I chose!! :)

I will be back tomorrow with another post and more photos! So as not to wear out my welcome.

Artist’s Way Challenge: Week 12 update

I know, the last week of this book has been a very LONG week (:D) but I was distracted creatively by ICAD and the Summer of Color challenge and this week was done in a very scattered, but no less incredibly useful way.  :)  First things first.

OH MY GOSH!!!!  I have actually finished.  I have wondered if this day would ever come.  I have been trying to read this book and get into it for so many years, I am so glad I finally made the effort.  Before fully reading the book I would say my rating may have been a 2/5.  To be honest I undertook this challenge not expecting to get much out of the book, however the true magic in this book is in actually doing it.  I have gotten so much out of it, and it has been such a valuable exercise.  I truly feel like I am the most in touch with myself I have ever been, and a lot of that is because of this book.

That is not to say it has always been plain sailing and some weeks I have struck a lot of resistance and the going has not being easy, but {deep breath} I am finally finished!

The book I used for this, was one volume in an old Atlas set (which originally belonged to my grandparents), and I like that map connotation for this, it fits well in my head with the concept of mapping ourselves so to speak.  The book is also completely finished (meaning the pages all have something on them, though there are some pages that I want to work a bit more on), apart from the cover.

I also had an OH MY GOSH moment.  I worked on this page for the Summer of Color Week 2.

The journaling on the side in pink reads: She is not always sure what she knows, but she knows.  And she knows she knows.  And that is sometimes enough, that is sometimes all she has.  She knows. She knows.  She knows.

The following week I began the readings and I read this:

Each of us has an inner dream that we can unfold if we will just have the courage to admit what it is.  And the faith to trust our own admission.  The admitting is often very difficult.  A clearing affirmation can open the channel.  One excellent one is “I know the things I know”.  (Julia Cameron)

I got goosebumps!  This really was a powerful week for me and it started on the first page with a goosebump moment.

Here are the journal pages I have been working on for this week’s readings.

Especially for the past few chapters of the book, it has being a meandering, and as I was pondering the “failure” of that because it was not how I thought it should be, I realised that I was still making forward progress regardless.  It isn’t just big actions, but the little steps along the way that keep propelling us forward.

You may remember this background from Week 2.  It finally got finished this week.  I loved this quote from Julia Cameron.  As soon as I read it, it resonated with me so much, and while I was thinking about it, I decided I was going to put it on this background.  I love it.  LOVE it.  This is what this blog is about for me, the shared connection with others.  Love this quote.

This was another Julia Cameron quote from this week that really resonated with me, though I added the last line after half the ink in my pen came out during the writing of the quote.

Finally, the book starts with a contract of what you will undertake while completing the course, there was another one for the time period after the course.  I modified mine a bit, but I did one as well to close the book off.

This book was really about keeping it real, looking at where we sabotage ourselves, and making sure that we don;t let ourselves sink into those moments of darkness, or follow a false lure rather than pursue our dreams and real purpose.  Ensuring that now we have tools to help ourselves, that we remember to use them.  I really liked this week!

The tasks were a mix of writing tasks and doing tasks, things mending, and potting plants etc, against exercises looking at our fears and pay-offs, assessing how far we have come since week one (which for me personally, was incredible).

Here are the quotable quotes from this week’s chapter (there are a lot this week!!), all by Julia Cameron herself:

We are meant to be bountiful and live.  The universe will always support affirmative action.

It is the inner commitment to be true to ourselves and follow our dreams that triggers the support of the universe.

There is a path for each of us.  When we are on our right path, we have a surefootedness.  We know the next right action – although not necessarily what is just around the bend.  By trusting, we learn to trust.

Creativity – like human life itself – begins in darkness.

We need to trust the darkness.

We must work at learning to play.

We are intended to create.

You’re either losing your mind – or gaining your soul.  Life is meant to be an artist date.  That’s why we were created.

As recovering creatives, many of us find that every time our career heats up we reach for our nearest Wet Blanket.

We must learn to keep our own counsel, to move silently among doubters, to voice our plans only among our allies, and to name our allies accurately.

Do not indulge or tolerate anyone who throws cold water in your direction.  Forget good intentions.  Forget they didn’t mean it.  Remember to count your blessings and your toes.

Finally, would I recommend this?  Yes.  Yes.  Yes. :)

The trick is to actually do it.  To not let the “God” part bother you if that is your trigger, or any of her other phrases that you may personally struggle with, to move past that.  That is not what this book is about.  It is ultimately about ourselves.

You will not get a lot out of the book without actually doing the activities (or most of them at least), I got more out of the activities than the readings.  There will be things that don’t resonate with you, but overall, working through this book as a whole has been an amazing experience for me, and I don’t say that lightly.  It hasn’t all been sunshine and roses, but it has been amazing and powerful for the process and for what I have gotten out of it.

And now this chapter is done…or is it just beginning {cue cheesy laughter} :D

If you are interested in the other weeks you can find them all here.

The last batch for Summer of Color 3

The last week!!  The last six weeks have gone so fast, I can’t believe it has been six weeks since Summer of Color began.  I am also pleased to say that it is another completed challenge!  Finally some finishing magic is entering my creative space.  :)  A huge thanks to Kristin for her gracious hosting and the mid year Christmas gift that arrived when I won the week 2 goodies.  I am most grateful.  :)

These colours were a bit of a struggle for me, they are not colours I naturally gravitate to, but I love all my pages that eventuated from this week.  I love being pushed outside of my comfort zone, and the results that happen when you just play, because you have no other direction to go in when you start.  The space where magic happens.

Here are my journal pages:

This started of with just playing. I painted a couple of layers and put made some marks with my graphitones. I threaded a silk ribbon I had in this weeks colours (a lucky find when I was looking for something else!!) through the page and when I went to put on another layer of paint I saw these two figures dancing and I decided to leave them there. I love the sense of movement and feeling from them.

I was going to go for a vintage-y portrait with red lips, but I ended up liking her the way she came out, so I left her quite soft and almost unfinished. She felt a bit dreamy and reflective.

This one began a lot like the first one, and then when I began playing with a later layer of paint I was interrupted by a phone call. When I came back the angle I saw this on looked liked someone, or a child being dragged and I love the unformed nature of it, so I left it as it was. I just added a few lines for the ground and a word down in the corner which came to me as I was working on the ground.

Next I decided to play with some corrugated cardboard. It is something I have been wanting to do for a while, to play with all that texture, and it seemed in my head it would work great with this week’s colours.

I LOVE how this came out. Not all my ideas worked, but I enjoyed playing immensely.

And because I can I am going to force you to look at the delicious texture close ups!! :) I made the flowers with tissue paper and left over silk ribbon because I thought it needed a little something else.

Finally I completely forgot last week that Victoria, my wee one worked on a painting with Summer of Color and she was most disappointed when I neglected to load it last week, so to make amends and appease my mother guilt here is her work from this week. She is on a playdate at the moment, so I can’t confirm, but I am reasonably confident it was all done with my Neocolor IIs. So here is the work from my Miss 6. :)