Hi Friends!
Happy – I had to think about what day it was lol Then I remembered I’d been to yoga and so it must be Wednesday. I really need more sleep! Yesterday the dishwasher and the new fridge freezer arrived, I haven’t connected the dishwasher yet, that can be tomorrow’s job, but there’s no rush since I’ve never had one and don’t miss it. I’ll just keep saving the dishes for the machine to do and probably connect it up tomorrow! It has been very windy today and when I came home I found the gazebo had been upended narrowly missing the phone line – I had to push it back upright again and weigh it down. It is a big metal thing that’s been in the garden for two years so why now I don’t know except I think the wind is coming from a different direction than usual – at 50mph! Hopefully it stays upright now.
Today’s Art . . .
Today’s art is my cover for Gratitude Junk Journal class. Since it is nature based it is also a journal page for Jo’s theme this month on Art Journal Journey – Nature. My nature elements are autumn foliage, leaves and butterflies – yay you say, makes a nice change from cats lol.
Yesterday I mentioned that Miss Lily was a bit upset with me now that I’m arting on the sofa and she can’t supervise, and that she was in fact standing on my journal. This is the very one I was referring to, you can just see it peeking out from under her paws. I did not paint this from the sofa though – can you imagine spilling all that paint on the sofa! – I painted it in the art room early in the morning while Madame was still asleep and missed all the fun.
So Gratitude Junk Journal, is an annual event that happens in November for the last few years, hosted on Teachable by Tiare Smith. I did it a couple of years ago and I thought I would have time to do it again this November (laughs hysterically). Of course I don’t! There are some good teachers including Gwen Lafleur, Susanne Rose, Kate Crane, Birgit Koopsen, Shawn Petite, and more, and in between their video lessons there are gratitude prompts and questions, to encourage you to write in your journal.
There is a tutorial for the journal cover which I watched and then did something totally different lol. We were supposed to use specific techniques to create a big vase of flowers. It was very pretty. I didn’t use the techniques and as you can see, I didn’t create a vase of flowers, only because it’s now November and I see Autumn colours and leaves everywhere so I wanted something to reflect the season. The background colours and the Autumn leaves were all painted using Paperartsy Fresco chalk paints in the following colours – twilight, inky pool, caramel, ochre, tangerine twist, cheesecake, banana, limelight, haystack – it’s quite a list because I did a lot of playing with the paints to get it to look the way I wanted it to – very fiery! Then I drew the leaves over the top of the background paints. I could have used a stamp but I didn’t have the energy to dig one out of the stash.
These two butterflies were fussy cut from some notecards I made years ago (2019) and recently found in a cupboard. What to do with them I wondered, and then I made this page/cover and the colours were just what a I wanted. They were stamped and then shaded with Polychromos pencils over the top. I remember doing this as I did a lot of bulk stamping using a Tim Holtz stamp platform and two lids ( I have two stamp platforms). Using the two lids meant that I didn’t have to remove the first layer of stamps every time, you’ll see what I mean in the original post.
So now at least the cover is done, I have been working on some of the written prompts inside, but I have quite a bit of the art prompts still to do before the end of the month.
Let me know what you think in the comments. As always, thanks for reading and Happy journalling!
Ingredients
watercolour pad spiral bound, Paperartsy fresco paints, poscas, pitt artist pens, white pen, recycled stamped butterflies,
Challenges
Art Journal Journey – Nature
Sounds like a fun challenge and I love your page! The texture of the autumn leaves looks amazing and the way you included the butterflies is beautiful ?. Thanks so much for joining us at AJJ! Hugs, Jo x
Elle this is truly beautiful. I love the colors you used. Have a nice day today.
Oh Wow! This is so beautiful – there are so many Autumn colours around at the moment I’m not surprise you chose these to make your cover. Hugs,Chris xx
I love the mix of colors?????
Elle, I think this is beautiful. All the messing about with all the different paints has certainly paid off. I love the mix you got and it is perfect with the blue. A really beautiful cover – and the lettering is perfect.
Hugs, neet xx
I haven’t used the stamp platform so I looked back to see how it works. I get it. I bet it is useful if you want to line up your stamps. The butterflies oyu made on these notecards look great on your gratitude journal. I like the idea of a gratitude journal, and I should make a note in next year’s daily journal to make one. Whether I would have time for classes, I’m not sure-smile. I think your leaves look lovely and those autumn colors are great. And you certainly did have some wind, didn’t you? Hopefully it will calm down and maybe even get a bit warmer for you too. I think we have a couple of days were it will be a little bit milder, but not warm. Thanks for joining Jo’s challenge again at AJJ, and have a great end of your week. hugs-Erika