I’m so excited to be Guest Host over on Art Journal Journey again for the third time. Apologies for my absent in blog land but I am still having issues with my vision and have to limit my time in front of screens. It’s making life very challenging as you can imagine.
My theme for this month is Books, Cats and Tea, which are three of my very favourite things. It was inevitable that I would at some point choose a cat theme, so why not now. I saw a meme once that read “I just want to read books, pet cats and drink tea.” That would describe my perfect day! It inspired me to create an ATC at the time and I am hoping that it will inspire you to create lots of lovely journal pages for this month’s theme.
To introduce the theme, I have created a page that features all three items – a large kitty in the centre, surrounded by lots of books, teacups and teapots. Feel free to use any of the elements from the theme separately or all together like I’ve done. I think it gives lots of options for creating using book paper, tea bags, tea packaging, tea staining etc and of course the opportunity to put any kind of feline on the page is always a good idea. If you don’t want to use tea bags or book paper, you could journal about your favourite books, make lists of your favourite books or reading lists or even your favourite teas. A page about your favourite cats would be wonderful too!
Today’s Art . . .
The background was made using pastels and gesso. Then on top of that I drew my kitty and painted her using gouache paint, and then coloured pencils over the top of that and then some Posca paint pens.
I wanted to create the idea of books and teacups and teapots swirling around her head so I attempted to make that happen by drawing them in with coloured pencils again, and decorating them with paint pens. It’s always at this point that I start to wonder “what does a teapot look like?” haha and then have to stop and think for a moment. The books were a similar challenge, plus I wanted something in a colour that would show up well against the grey background. I ended up with a golden yellow colour – I don’t actually think I have any books that are this colour lol but it works for the page. If you look closely you will see I wrote the titles on the front covers – they are all books about cats of course!
Do cats like books and tea? When I was a kid my friend’s dog always drank everyone’s tea but so far I have not had a cat that likes tea. They do like books though, they are quite partial to sitting on them and they really love to rub their faces on the spines. My Lily’s favourite place to sit is on top of the bookcase in the living room, especially when the stove is lit – she catches the hot air rising up there – smart kitty!
So, I hope you find inspiration in this theme and I can’t wait to see what you do with it!
Let me know what you think in the comments. As always, thanks for reading and Happy Journalling!
Ingredients
my handmade journal, watercolour paper, pastel, gesso, gouache, coloured pencils, paint pens, black pen
Challenges
Art Journal Journey – Books, Cats and Tea
Oh wow, Elle! I absolutely LOVE your theme for AJJ this month! I sure do hope your vision issue improve with time. I really love the 1st page you made for your theme, and especially like the adorable cat as your centerpiece! It’s great how you incorporated all three into your page. Thanks so much! I am so happy to be participating this month.
Great kitty and how fun you put all the elements around it. Fun page and super fun theme, Elle!
I love that your kitties like art and books. Makes me really miss my kitty….
Hugz
Such a charming, artful expression… and inspiration to join in. Thanks big bunches for that!
Thanks for a great theme Elle. I love your rendition of it, that ginger cat reminds me of Fudge, a cat we actually cat napped from someone who had gone on holiday for two weeks and left him to his own devices. For some reason he took a liking to me whenever I visited my MIL so in the end he became ours.
Hugs, Neet xx
I love your choice of theme Elle. I am busy making pages but not sure whether I’ll be able to post them. Your first page is such fun, your kitty is certainly enjoying the background you made, great colour choice! Enjoy your month
Great page! And theme.
Wonderful starter page, Elle, I am looking forward to seeing what else you get up to in the course of the month. Whatever, have fun, and I’m sure your cat will whisper some great ideas to you! My Kitty used to love tea with milk, luke-warm! Thanks for hosting and have a great month! Hugs, Valerie
So sorry to hear about your vision issues Elle. Hopefully things will improve soon. I’m excited about your new theme, and this page is a lovely way to start. Your orange cat (my favorite colored cats) reminds me of my cat Leo, and no he didn’t like to drink tea but he liked to get in the way of me reading a book. 🙂 I miss him.And that was a great way to show books and tea on your page. Hapy September to you! hugs-Erika
I’m looking forward to this month with all the precious cats you love to draw. I love how you have combined the teapots, teacups, and books around that adorable kitty. This is a charming and lovely page to grace the front page of Art Journal Journey this month. It certainly signifies everything for your wonderful theme.