Monday, December 30, 2013

Happy New Year

To all my family and friends
Happy New Year


May 2014 unfold as a beautiful gift
May all your dreams come true in the new year.


May you be blessed with good health and happiness

May the entire universe be filled with
Peace and Joy
Love and Light.

May all beings everywhere be happy and free
Loka samasta sukino bhavantu



Friday, December 27, 2013

Australian Journal Swap

Have you ever done a journal swap?
Have you ever wanted to?


I have a couple out there at the moment and I have really enjoyed working in other peoples journals- for one thing you get to see and touch other artists work and that is so much better than seeing it online.


All of the works above are in my Nature Study journal, it was a nice little swap with just 3 artists.

We set up our own little blog  The Sisterhood of the Travelling Art Journals 
and we all had fun and stretched ourselves working on others journals.
It is a bit scary stepping out and taking that step but it will develop you as an artist
 and it will develop your confidence.

One journal I have out travelling the world is my Totem Animals Journal 


This swap has had plenty of challenges but we have a core group of wonderful artists and we also have a blog called 15 Artists, 15 Journals, 15 Months  this swap has been going for much longer than 15 months but it is winding up now with a few journals home already.If you pop over to that blog you will see lots of different styles and interpretations. I cant wait to get mine back :)

In 2010 I sent out my first much loved journal


The Sacred Feminine

You can follow the link above to have a look into my journal,
I was so excited and made individual ATCs for all of my fellow artists and you can see some other the beautiful pages done here  Sadly this journal is lost somewhere in England I think, so if you happen to see it please send it home.

It is a big risk putting your beautiful hand made creation out there into the world, and putting your art work out there as well, but I have developed personally and seen other artists really bloom doing this. Most of the artists who sign up are a bit unsure if their work is good enough- but everyone is really supportive and appreciative and you will out do your self, maybe not on every page but as long as you are creating for that other artist who sent that little journal out into the world with intention and care I am sure your work will be beautiful and so very appreciated.

To try and limit journals going missing and also to save the large expense of overseas postage I am limiting this art journal swap  for Australian Artists only.
I will set up a blog and ask you all to join and contribute as you do your work
 and I will set up a facebook page for ease of communication.
It makes connecting so much easier.

Before you sign up you need to be certain you can dedicate some time every month or so to do your page and to get it posted. If we keep the communication channels open and the journals flowing we will all have a lot of fun. Of course life happens and sometimes things get too much , but timely and honest communication will smooth things out considerably and keep us all motivated and on track. In the 15 15 15 swap we have accommodated a new baby, over seas travel, people moving and many other things- if we are all in the look people are very understanding and sometimes it might mean missing someone for a few months but then sending back to that artist when they are back on board again. There is never any reason to disappear and stop contact to this end I will need everyone's home and mobile numbers and email addresses.

To sign up either leave a comment here
or go and join Milliandes Art Journal  Facebook Group and join up here 

As we are all out of our usual routines I will leave the sign up open until mid Feb and then we will see how many fellow artists we have and form into groups. I think 10 - 12 people will be the maximum and if we have over 12 I will split the groups into 2.

So if you want to start making your journal maybe create 12 double page openings no bigger than A4 so it will fit in a standard sized envelope, and start thinking about your theme. A light weight cover is a good idea and you can do your title page and maybe a welcome and an artist sign in space.  I have some links on my blog for book making tutorials and inspiration You don't need to make a journal if you would rather not, you can send a bundle and bind later or you can buy a journal to use. I like to use stonehenge printmaking paper as it takes anything I do to it but many people like watercolour papers or mixed media papers, what ever you use try to use something that will stand up to anything- I have pages that are sewn have spack filler texture, have so very many layers  and have holes cut into them - these will be used creatively by various artists who do all different types of work

I encourage you to join in - be brave - be committed and have fun.



Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Summer Solstice


Brightest Blessings 

On this longest day of the year in the southern hemisphere.
May you and your families be truly blessed 
with love and laughter
with health and happiness
with compassion and respect.


My family don't celebrate Christmas, 
I have raised my children with a much broader view of the world, they are aware and accepting of many different views and beliefs and they are free to make their own choices.

 We celebrate the old festivals of the year,
it makes much more sense to me in the hot summer month of December in Australia to be celebrating the summer solstice, the longest day and the shortest night has long held cultural significance in many cultures right back in time. 


Friday, December 20, 2013

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. 






Monday, December 16, 2013

Random Acts of Kindness


I love making things


especially for friends and family 


and giving them to them for no reason at all.


There are groups who come together for the purpose of random acts of kindness or RAK's as they are known and I recently put this package together for my lovely friend Jeanette House.


Giving is so much fun though so I made a few extra ATC's recently for a swap I was in and I have been gifting them as well. I am going to make it a regular part of my art practice to keep making extra's to share. 

Have you ever given a RAK or received one ? please share your RAK stories with me and pop over to Jeanette's blog from link above and say hello :)


Friday, December 13, 2013

Little Kingfisher


Playing with one of my home made stamps in my waste paint journal.
I had no idea how handy this journal would be when I first started using it to clean off my brayer and stencils and printing things just to save and use the paint. It has been so good to have a page prepped and ready when ever I want to play. I can add to it with anything and make it as simple or elaborate as I feel and I have done so many pages now resting in bed.


I can grab it and jot down that quote or lyric or anything that grabs my attention. 

This one says 
Kawaakari
(n) the gleam of last light on a rivers surface at dusk,
 the glow of a river in the darkness.

Perfect word for this river loving girl to remember and an experience I think many little kingfishers would experience regularly.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Inspiration


Inspiration- what inspires you ?
I am so thankful and so inspired by the beauty that surrounds me, I am a total tree perv and could fill this post with beautiful trees like the gorgeous jacaranda's up above that are celebrated every spring in Grafton with the annual Jacaranda festival.


Or this much loved red gum sheltering some kangaroo's in the paddock I look out on from my desk. This is the lightening tree so named because we all remember vividly the day it was struck in a storm a few years back, it is still a gorgeous tree and frames an inspiring view. 



This is the awesome space I live in, there are two other very special tree's I will save for a different post and just looking out at that ever changing sky also inspires me. 

I am inspired by many things though 
lyrics - songs
other artists
nature
colour combinations
dreams
memories
stories
So many things can touch me and trigger a reaction that I want to get down, I want to express some way, but there are also other inspirations that I just cant catch, they are fleeting but beautiful moments that add to the richness of life.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Altered Card Swap


My wonderful mum is also an avid art swapper and she has been enthusiastically encouraging me (lol ) to join in with some of the swaps she loves so I decided to join the altered card swap with her.


Once I got into the swing of things I had lots of fun and I ended up making 18 cards instead of the required 12.


Now I have some for RAKs
Random Acts of Kindness


I know exactly who some of these are going to and I love giving.


As an added bonus after all that fun, I will be getting a dozen cards back -

Monday, December 2, 2013

Golden Moments Giveaway


I am having a Give Away on my facebook page.


You could win this journal.


I am giving away Golden Moments to celebrate Summer Solstice and my eldest sons birthday, (How do they grow so fast!)


Golden Moments is a hand made journal, it is made with highly decorated hand printed and hand torn pages and a lovely recycled cover. Each page is individually bound with hand dyed cotton twine.


Pop over to River Girl Art on Facebook to enter.