Happy Tuesday Friends!
I hope your week is going well so far. Sorry I was so late visiting last week but I was hardly home so it was difficult to get any computer time or arting time. Sadly our weather has returned to normal = rain, just in time for the school holidays which start at the end of June. I really hope it’s not going to be another wet July 🙁
Speaking of lack of arting time, I haven’t done much with the Kaleidoscope taster lessons yet, and already there are reminders about Fodder School challenge and Junk Journal July for next month. Anyone else planning to join in this year? Fodder Challenge starts on July 19th and JJJ is daily for the whole of July. If it’s going to be cold and wet, I can see myself having plenty of time for arting next month, but I really hope it isn’t.
Today’s Art . . .
Today’s art is a couple of pages for AJJ and of course the next week of ICADs. This first page is something I started months ago, just drawing cat faces in blank pages of my journal but then never got back to do anything about them. Then Sunday night, I was watching Bosch and pulled out this journal and started working on this page, drawing the body, colouring, filling in the background and adding the Number 1 Kitty text. The Number 1 Kitty is perfect for the Numbers theme. I used mostly neocolour IIs and a water brush for it, with some paint pens and watercolour pencils to finish.
Second page for AJJ’s June theme of NUMBERS hosted by Matilde over on Art Journal Journey is this page I started at the beginning of June after I diecut all of those metallic numbers you might remember from this page and my calendar page. The negative pieces left from the diecutting can be seen on the right of the journal page. I used one as a stencil to cover the left side of the page with numbers, and then I peeled the foil off it and glued the foil down on the right side of the page. And there it sat for a couple of weeks as I didn’t have a clue what to do with it haha.
Then realising what date it was already and how close we are to the end of the month, I thought I’d better think of something! So I started looking around at what was on or near my desk – I always have some collections of random stuff or packaging lying around waiting to be used, so I pulled out a few things and started adding them to the page.
There are old gel prints, cat food packaging, a piece of Tim Holtz tissue with more numbers on it, washi tape, tea sachet, some inked cardboard I cut down into tags, hemp cord, stickers from Life Book 2021, a piece of card I was testing a pen on ages ago, and some acrylic ink splattered on there. I also made a little pocket from a piece of acrylic painted card that was leftover from something else.
ICAD 2023
I followed the week four prompt of “mixed media” for my next seven ICADs, but then I also added maps from week 5 for my bases. These maps are from a Canberra street directory. Since it is mixed media week, here’s what I used: ICADs, Canberra street directory maps, vintage map stickers, acrylic ink, stabilo-all, book pages, posca markers, neocolour IIs, gold texture paste.
Here’s a look at the seven week 4 ICADs – days 22-28.
And here’s a closer look at them individually…
eotc icad 2023 week 4 slideshow by EOTC
If you can’t read the text on each one, it reads: what I know | dear friends | thinking of earlier days | to let go with the heart | to understand | dreams come true | hold on.
Currently Reading . . .
Yes I am still stuck on this same book as last week! It’s not really the book’s fault this time as now there is a problem with my phone and so I’m having some issues trying to listen to the book. Of course if the book was really good I would find a way around this and listen on another device I suppose lol. So unless something changes in the next day or two my total books for June will be a sad little “4”.
Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Yarros
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.
Genre: Fantasy/YA Fantasy
TOTAL for 2023
88 books
June Books so far – 4
85. Leigh Bardugo – Ninth House 
86. Hugh Howey – Wool – Silo Book 1
87. Hugh Howey – Shift – Silo Book 2
88. Hugh Howey – Dust – Silo Book 3
(re-reads in bold)
Currently Growing . . .
No photos of my garden this week, everything is growing nicely. There’s been some rain most days since Friday and everything in the garden seems to have grown about a foot overnight lol. I have also been on snail patrol because those little critters want to munch on everything.
Kitties . . .
Kitties are all inside taking a nap and waiting for the sun to come back out. They keep looking at me as though I have authority over the weather and can make it warm again, sadly not a skill I possess. I even had to close all the windows as the temperature has dropped several degrees.
T Stands For . . .
Let me know what you think in the comments. As always, thanks for reading and Happy T Day!
Ingredients
ICADs, Canberra street directory maps, vintage map stickers, acrylic ink, stabilo-all, book pages, posca markers, neocolour IIs, gold texture paste.
Challenges
Art Journal Journey – Numbers
Altered Book Lover – T Stands for
look like you been busy. The number one kitty cat, looks quite happy.
Coffee is on, and stay safe.
Beautiful journal page and the yummy food. Very sweet kitties.
Happy week, hug Elke
number 1 Kitty came out great – as the happy cat on the back, so cute, speaking of, add yours to the list – how can you not take care of better weather, I so agree 😉
That´s a lot of challenges. And growing. Here still nothing. I´ve never heard of your potatoes – sounds interesting!
Happy very belated T-Day xx
Love the journal pages, ATCs, and of course, the live kitties. The potatoes sound really delicious. i don’t think we have anything like that here. I hope it warms up and the sun comes out. Happy T Day
Love potatoes. I had lefover mashed for lunch today and had avocado with it, too. With our salmon tonight we had twice baked potatoes with it. We were just discussing with friends today that there is such a thing as purple potatoes, and in her garden, she grew ones that were even purple inside! Love your numbers journal page and all your icads, and those beautiful kitties. Happy T Day.
Two fab link ups to the AJJ challenge, Elle. Love the kitty themes, fab colors and creative ways to incorporate numbers. Super ICADs too – very cool designs.
Love the kitty pictures, the potatos sound delightful, and I always love a good dragon book!
Fun post! Happy T-day and big hugz to you and the kitties.
And of course I hit publish and forgot to say thanks for joining us at AJJ for Matilde’s challenge. 🙂 So thank you for joining us Elle.
I am loving both your journal pages Elle. They’re both so different except for the kitty theme. I do enjoy the funny kitty on the second page. That was a nice addition. And of course number one kitty is perfect too, but no black kitty? Don’t feel bad about only getting through 4 books for June either. That’s all I will finish, because I doubt the new one I started today I will finish by Friday. I hope you get to be home more this upcoming week. And I hope it was a happy T day and you have a great week to. hugs-Erika
Hi Elle, for not having much time for art you have accomplished quite a bit and so beautiful too. I love happy art. Your food looks amazing and you kitties are big eye’d. Have a great day today.
I love that kitty. It looks like a Number 1 kitty, too! You did an excellent job with both the kitty and the floral background. Lots of extra numbers in the second spread. I like how yuo used the die cut numbers. They are both purrfect for Matilde’s theme at AJJ.
I like your ICADs. I like how you work in series. I am more a whatever-I-can-come-up-with-that-day kind of person.
I just signed up to see what Fodder School is doing this year. I love their free taster series. Last year I watched every lesson. I would like to learn more about Junk Journal July. I don’t think I know anything about it.
I had to laugh at the kitties hoping you could control the weather. They sure look cute, though.
Your meal looks great, except for the faux chicken. I will pass on that, but would love to join you with these incredible potatoes, avocado, salad, and water with lemon.
Thanks for sharing your AJJ art, your ICADs, the kitties, and your meal and water with us for T this Tuesday, dear Elle.