Journaleyes

And may all your dreams come true...

2010-10-16T14:25:00.000+01:00

If you wish for something hard enough it may just well come true... My daughter has been gifted this beautiful horse, an ex-racehorse formally named Burn Park but affectionately called Treacle. Mind you she has worked extremely hard to deserve it, I think she may just be the happiest teenager I know :)

Sophie's birthday

2010-09-26T22:17:00.000+01:00

Well, I can hardly believe it Sophie is 15 today, where did that time go... Her passion is riding and anything to do with horses, so we were delighted that she was able to ride a borrowed pony (Dillon) to take part in a cross country event today. It's while since she has ridden him, and has recently been riding much larger horses, but he is a sturdy little fellow, and a good show pony, so they did quite well, with just one refusal.

I drew a picture of him for her birthday card

Study of Eyes

2010-07-25T13:14:00.004+01:00

I am taking Monica Zúñiga's online class "Drawing faces with pencil". She starts with the most important feature of the face - the eye, and has many detailed videos helping us to understand and interpret the features of the eye. If you want to learn to draw faces I highly recommend this workshop.

A blissful weekend in Cornwall

2010-07-15T18:35:00.007+01:00

Way back in March I had a wonderful girlie weekend in Cornwall. A good friend owns a holiday home on the North Cornish coast and invited 8 of us down for a weekend of fun, feasts, walking, pampering, laughter, dancing, oh yes and did I say eating... For March in the UK, the weather was blissful - lovely and sunny with blue skies and very little wind, so we were able to enjoy the wonderful scenery.

As always, click on the images to view larger.

Here is the house and it's setting...

Some photos from in and around the house, and rocks from the beach...

On Saturday, we went for a long walk along the coastal path
I found some wonderful textures along the way...
and found the first daffodil, just coming into bloom
We ate wonderfully, so of course, I had to record that in my journal too...

The journal is not finished yet, I'm still awaiting some photos that others have promised to send, and I will add some more writing. When it is complete and bound I will do a video flip through.

This is the journal page I did when 10 of us stayed there last January.

All the pages were painted with acrylics on Fabriano Artistico watercolour paper. Sorry about the quality of the photos, I am having scanner problems at the moment...

The house is available for rental, so if you want a truly wonderful place to stay in Cornwall that sleeps up to 14 people check out their website, but be warned it books up quickly.

A fishy tale...

2010-07-13T17:58:00.004+01:00

For a friends birthday I created this fun picture for the children's room of her holiday home in Cornwall.

The background was created with watercolour and plastic wrap

Detail of the fish - created with Aluminium sheet and alcohol inks

More Pan Pastel Journal backgrounds

2010-05-28T14:07:00.006+01:00

I LOVE using PanPastels for my journal backgrounds - sometimes it is great not to have to wait for paint to dry. I especially love the soft subtle blending that can be achieved, and the wonderful tactile feel of the pages. I have been using them in my gratitude journal, and thought I would share some pre-prepared background pages -

The page bottom left (above) was created by applying Phthalo Blue and Hansa Yellow Shade and blending them where they meet. The flowers were created by stamping with Versamark, and then dusting very lightly over the stamping with Chromium Oxide Green for the stems/leaves and Red Iron Oxide shade for the flowers.

The page top right was created by blending Yellow Ochre and Permanent Red and then erasing the swirls with a pencil eraser (Pan Pastels erase very easily). The page bottom right was created by laying down a base coat of Yellow Ochre, and then dusting Red Iron Oxide shade over a Tim Holtz mask.

For most pages, simply rubbing well with a paper towel after applying the Pastel is enough to 'fix' the pages, however when applying over a mask or through a stencil, it may be necessary to use a fixative spray, although I haven't done that yet with this page and it is holding up pretty well.

I also find that PanPastel can be easily used on smooth paper - usually soft pastel requires a paper with some 'tooth', but it is easy to get smooth 'washes' of colour on very smooth paper with this product as it is so low in dust and has an almost creamy consistency.

2010-02-16T12:14:00.005Z

A few more pages from my Kelly Kilmer class

This spread did not follow any of Kelly's prompts, but was inspired by the image of the dancer - I have always had a passion for Flamenco dancing. I tried a few classes many years ago, it is surprisingly difficult to co-ordinate the movements of the arms and feet, as they are frequently moving counter to each other...

This spread was in response to a prompt that Kelly posted - Perfume or no perfume?

These pages were inspired by the images rather than a prompt

First pages for my Kelly Kilmer class

2010-02-09T13:28:00.005Z

I have signed up for Kelly Kilmer's "A life Made By Hand Class". I have been lurking rather a long while since signing up, looking at the many wonderful pages that are being posted. Collage is a new medium for me, so I have been rather hesitant in starting, but the group is wonderfully supportive, so yesterday I took the plunge and posted my first pages.

The second page (on the right) is not really a collage, but as I wanted the text to be the main feature of this page, I felt the image spoke for itself and needed no further intervention from me.

Calendar-Feb10

2010-02-01T22:07:00.002Z

I did well with my January calendar for Kate Crane's Monthly Art Calendar Challenge , only a few blank squares.

Here are my pages prepped and ready for February. The squares were masked off then I buffed on Permanent Red PanPastel with Phthalo blue around the edges. I just love PanPastels for journal pages they give the page such a lovely smooth tactile surface. I then stamped around the edges with a flourish and a heart stamp.

Gratitude Journal 19th Jan

2010-01-20T19:14:00.002Z

Here is another spread from my Gratitude journal, again with a PanPastel background, this was using the colours Yellow Ochre and Red Iron Oxide Shade blended together, the pattern was drawn with an eraser.

Gratitude Journal

2010-01-18T21:56:00.004Z

I am a great fan of Christine Kane's blog have been reading about about Gratitude Journals and felt that this was really the time for me to start one.

The idea is to take a small notebook and write out 3-5 things that you are grateful for every day. I thought I would add an artistic spin to this and decorate my pages first. I have used very simple and quick techniques, and will post a few here as I go along...

I chose a Moleskine pocket sketchbook for my journal as it is an ideal size. I wanted to keep the backgrounds quick and simple, so I am not deterred by having a page ready. This page has been created with a background of blended PanPastel and a border drawn with a Zig calligraphy pen.

Happy New Year

2010-01-03T20:49:00.007Z

Happy New Year to you all... It's about time I added something to this sadly neglected blog! I have decided to join Kate Crane's monthly calendar challenge, it was something I half-heartedly attempted last year, but didn't manage to finish. So I hope the support of a challenge will keep me going this time.

I decided on icy colours for January - to match the current weather - and a motive of clocks to represent the preciousness of time. The background was created by spraying a mist of aqua Creative Colourspray over Tim Holtz timeworks masks. I then masked off the calendar squares and buffed blue PanPastel over the page before shading each box with blue metallic coloured pencil. The lettering was done by hand.

And what exciting news for the first entry of 2010 - the arrival of our 2nd granddaughter safe and sound at 10am! Mother and baby both doing well.

Journaling buddies...

2009-09-11T18:18:00.004+01:00

There are many things I love about Journaling, but one the most unexpected pleasures has been the wonderful online communities that I have connected with.

One journal keeper I connected with was Liz (Flickr name Borromini Bear) who generously contributed some of her work to my Travel Journal booklet.

A few weeks ago I was looking through her Flickr pages, and spotted a drawing of Vanburgh, the architect of Castle Howard in Yorkshire. She mentioned in her post that she was planning to visit the UK from Australia. I commented on her photo, asking if she was planning to visit Bath. Well, it transpired that she was indeed passing nearby, and had decided to stop off for tea at the world famous Bridge Tea Rooms in Bradford-on-Avon in the morning en-route to Wales. As I do the school run to Bradford-on-Avon every morning this turned out to be perfect.

So, this morning I had the pleasure to meet up with Liz, and Borromini Bear himself, we sketched in the tea rooms and swapped journaling experiences. Here is Liz in action (with Borromini in the foreground) -

So, if you have been hesitating to start that journal, JUST DO IT, you never know what may happen.

To see some of Liz's wonderful journal pages, and read a little about her journaling experience take a look at this wonderful book she had printed

Alphabet Frieze

2009-08-29T17:55:00.001+01:00

Here is another of the projects that kept me busy over the summer. It is a gift for my granddaughter Amelia. The pictures are in strips that can be joined up as a wall frieze. Katie, her mum has also scanned them and is laminating them individually so they can be used as teaching cards.

They are painted with acrylic craft paints on watercolour paper

Now much art around here lately...

2009-08-20T17:22:00.000+01:00

Well, I seem to have been engrossed in IT matters lately, so not much Art has been done. So I thought I would post one of my favourite videos. I just love the dancing on this, the movements are so fluid. I remember going to flamenco classes at The Dance Centre in London many years ago, it is deceptively complicated. The arm movements seem very straight forward until you combine them with what your feet are meant to be doing...

Anyway, enjoy, and let me know if you like it too.

Pembrokeshire Travel Journal

2009-08-16T19:50:00.003+01:00

Had a wonderful week in Pembrokeshire - the first time I have taken a vacation in Wales and it hasn't rained all the time. We only had one really wet day, so were able to take advantage of the wonderful beaches in this part of the world. A couple of good surfing beaches too, so we had lots of fun body boarding.

Still working on my travel journal, but here are a few pages...

These were mainly done with Pitt Artist Pen, Watercolour pencils and a waterbrush, but some were watercolour paint.

Decorated Page Workshop - Lesson 3

2009-07-29T22:34:00.003+01:00

I have got very behind on working on my challenges - but have finally posted my lesson 3 for the study of Gwen Diehn's "The Decorated Page" workshop.
The image transfer method can be found here

The girl that silenced the world for 6 minutes

2009-07-29T13:26:00.004+01:00

A friend recently reminded me about this YouTube video. I first saw it about a year ago, but it still astounds me every time I see it. It was made in 1992, and sadly, very little has changed since then...

I wonder what she is doing now?

Lot's of reading, not much art...

2009-07-21T15:40:00.007+01:00

Well, I seem to have had my nose buried in a book this last week, so two new entries for my reading journal.

The Cellist of Sarajevo - by Steven Galloway

I loved the lyricism of Stephen Galloway's writing, but found his characters hard to warm to, even though they were in the trying circumstances of a city under siege.

My second book this week - A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khalid Hossini - also had war as a theme. I found this book utterly heartbreaking, and totally gripping...

Note: If you haven't read either book, then be warned that the text in my journal page will contain some spoilers...

Birthday Gift

2009-07-18T21:02:00.005+01:00

Well, I have been busy these last few weeks making gifts for friends, some I can't yet show as they haven't been handed to the recipient yet, but this one is now in the hands of it's new owner... My friend celebrated her 50th birthday this week and I made this little book for her, inspired by Martha Lever. I have always loved collecting quotes, so I picked some of my favourites to share.

The images were painted in watercolour on watercolour paper, some have the addition of PanPastel in the background, and a little stencilling added, others also have some rubber stamping. I then made a little booklet out of dark green paper, and stitched it together, then pasted the watercolour paper on each page. Finally I made two covers using fine brass mesh, which were attached with thread sewn through the eyelets and attached to the sewn binding of the book, and then added some fibres as a finishing touch.

Workshop at Stourhead

2009-07-11T20:38:00.005+01:00

Peter, Alex and I attended a fun event at the National Trust gardens at Stourhead today. They were running a painting workshop called "In the style of...", where we were invited to paint a view of the gardens in the style of one of the well known painters who had visited and painted the park in the past. The idea had been to paint en plein air, but unfortunately it was raining, so we worked in the education room.

Peter chose to paint in the style of Turner, I chose John Piper, and Alex was perhaps the bravest of us all, because he invented his own landscape (rather than copying a painting) in the style of Cezanne.

Sing for Water West - Bristol

2009-07-03T16:36:00.004+01:00

Here is another video of us singing at Bristol Harbourside on 2nd July. The song is a beautiful arrangement of John Lennon's Imagine, by Ali Orbaum, who is an accomplished Community Choir leader in Bristol, and one of the major organisers of the event.

The latest news is that we have raised in excess of £20,000 for Water Aid, with money still coming in - so we are well on the way to reaching our target.

Update: We raised a grand total of £37,000! A big thank you to all who contributed.

Support democracy in Iran

2009-06-28T19:23:00.001+01:00

If like me you have been following the brave demonstrations for true democracy in Iran - head on over to this site and 'light a candle' to show your support

Water, water, everywhere...

2009-06-27T20:33:00.013+01:00

My F page is finally finished for my Alphabet Discovery Journal - the theme for this page was foam, and I wanted to try out a technique I had read about in a stamping technique book. First of all the background was painted with a wash of acrylic in pale green, I then stamped the word Foam with white gesso, applied a collage of newspaper (the financial pages of course) at the top half of the page, and wrinkled the paper to give the effect of water. Then more acrylic paint was used in shades of blue and green for the water, and brown and yellow for the sand. The paint was wiped off where the letters had been stamped - the gesso acting as a resist.

I then applied a little more gesso to the tops of the 'waves' and the shoreline. The foam at the water's edge was created by sticking some fusible fibre (the no-sew hemming tape), heating it gently with a heat gun, then while it is still warm sprinkling on some white embossing powder and heating it again. It gives quite a good effect, although it is difficult to see in the photo. The finishing touch was to add some fibres to represent seaweed.

Sing for Water West - The Big Sing. 600 singers raising money for Water Aid
Still on the subject of water - today was the 'Big Sing' at Bristol harbour side - 600 singers from various community choirs around the West of England raising sponsorship for Water Aid.

All the singers have been learning the same 7 songs for the past few weeks, and came together to sing them this afternoon, with only one joint rehearsal in the morning (which I was unable to get to!) Fortunately, the forecast thunderstorms did not materialise, and we were, if anything, too hot. I can be seen in the photo above 2nd from the left in the back row - singing along with the Tenors. Click on the video below for an extract of our first song Iqude - a traditional Zulu song (filming courtesy of my son, age 11).

Did you know that -

At least 4,000 children die every day as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation.

884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population.

2.5 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is almost two fifths of the world's population.

WaterAid projects providing safe water, sanitation and hygiene education cost just £15 per head.

Our aim is to raise a total of £24,000 from The Big Sing - I will keep you posted when the total comes in. Click here to read more about the wonderful work that Water Aid do, and if you would like to make a donation to this great cause you can do so here

Alphabet Journal - Z

2009-06-23T12:21:00.003+01:00

The latest letter for our Alphabet Discovery Journal is Z - so what else than Zebra's, Zentangles and Zetti?

Haven't yet decided if I want to add some colour to this page

Drawn with Pitt Pen on multi-medium paper

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

2009-06-21T21:09:00.007+01:00

Inspired by Eliece's blog By My Hand I decided to start a reading journal to keep a record of some of the books I have read. I have decided not to keep it chronologically, but paint pages in advance and find a page that suits the mood of the book (as does Eliece). That will also give me some flexibility in going back to cover books that I have read in the past.

Having said that I started with a book that I have just finished reading - the wonderfully named "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows. This is a very easy book to read as it's epistolary style makes it easy to pick up and put down, but I whizzed through this charming story in a couple of days.

For this journal spread I chose some pages that I had previously painted with shades of blue acrylic, then as the book is partially set in Guernsey, I printed out a map of the island and cut it out to use as a mask. I also used images from the book cover, both collaged and painted on.

Another challenge...

2009-06-20T19:01:00.007+01:00

Well, I've signed up for yet another workshop... I have just discovered the Artists of The Round Table yahoo group (A.R.T. for short) - they have study groups, where you can sign up to work on exercises based on published books. I have always liked Gwen Diehn's books on journaling, so I was delighted to see that they were just starting a study group on her book 'The Decorated Page'. Again, it's free to sign up, so this is my favourite kind of group :)

Week 1's assignment was to alter some pages in your journal. I purchased a really cheap (but functional) Seawhite journal - just 20 A4 pages, which will be just right as I will be treating this as a 'technique' journal. Here is a compilation of my altered pages (click the image for a larger view) -

If you want to join in, here is a link to Workshop joining instructions

Alphabet Workshop -T

2009-06-12T20:53:00.002+01:00

My T page. This hasn't been one of Trish's prompts yet, but as I will be sticking this page to the back of the S page I decided to finish it now. I cut out the 'see-through' star from the previous page which on this page represents 'transparent' :) and hung a star shaped tag below it. I also added a few more tags on the page, one of them is tucked into a pocket with a stamp of a Tower on it. There are representations of trees, travel, truth and time, and there is some Turkish text mounted on some tissue.

The background is painted with Teal and Turquoise acrylic paint.

Alphabet Workshop - S-Stars

2009-06-08T20:43:00.000+01:00

My S page for the Alphabet Discovery Workshop. The background was dark blue acrylic craft paint - great for journaling as it is matte and doesn't stick to the opposite page when the book is closed.

I cut out the star shapes, then used the smallest cut out as a negative stencil to create the shaded stars. The cut outs have different surfaces behind them. The top one has acetate (see through), the large star has Sheer Heaven behind it - painted with watercolour washes then with rubbing alcohol dropped on the surface to create the white areas (this was supposed to be a sky effect, but didn't quite work!). The smallest star has aluminium duct tape behind it to create a shiny effect. The last star is awaiting some sandpaper which will be pained black then silver. Eventually this will all be sandwiched together with sticky tape :)

The word South is from a clothing label. The page is finished off with silver swirls, stamping and silver embossing.

Alphabet Workshop - N-NegativeNumbers

2009-06-05T19:08:00.000+01:00

Trish Bee has started a new Yahoo Group - Alphabet Discovery Workshop, it's FREE and you can start at any time, so you can't get much better than that!

Trish is selecting letters in a random order, so it doesn't matter if you are late starting - head on over to the Yahoo Group and join the fun

This is my spread for the first letter - N - done simply with black acrylic, white gesso, and black and white Staz-On ink.

I am using a multi-purpose paper (for acrylics and watercolour) and will be binding the pages into a book later.

If today was your last day...

2009-05-25T20:30:00.000+01:00

A great video from Nickleback, makes us think about our preconceptions...

So, what would you do?

Laugh, Live, Smile, Love

2009-04-27T22:34:00.002+01:00

I found this wonderful picture of a brides henna'd hands and thought it was perfect for a collage, and that it would go well with the quote - "Laugh, Live, Smile and Love - for what you get out of life comes from what you put in"

Background created with Ranger Adirondack Dye inkpad in Cranberry (direct to paper technique), collage, Pitt Artist Pen and Posca White Paint marker

Shades Of Grey - 3

2009-04-04T22:32:00.000+01:00

Week 3 of Pam Carriker's Shades of Grey workshop

Moleskine sketchbook, Shades of Grey Pitt Artist Pens

Shades Of Grey - 2

2009-03-29T18:59:00.000+01:00

Week 2 of Pam Carriker's Shades of Grey workshop

Moleskine sketchbook, Collage, Shades of Grey Pitt Artist Pens

Shades Of Grey -1

2009-03-26T22:29:00.000Z

First pages for Pam Carriker's 'Shades of Grey' workshop. Using various shades of grey Pitt Artist brush pens, in Moleskine sketchbook

Pam's online workshop can be found at the Creative Workshops site - you can sign up for it at any time

Cliff Hollow Cornwall

2009-03-25T22:27:00.001Z

Had a great girlie weekend away in Cornwall at a holiday home of a friend. The colour of the landscape was perfect for my new graphitint pencils.
My scanner does not render green well, so the colour is not too accurate on this scan.

Graphitint pencils

2009-03-25T22:24:00.002Z

Having fun with my new graphitint pencils.

The photo of the Folio is printed on Safmat (from Letraset), a transparent adhesive film - great for sticking photos to your journal without adding too much bulk.

XmasDecorations

2008-12-31T22:12:00.001Z

This spread was in response to a challenge on the 'Love This Journal' Yahoo group - to draw your favourite christmas ornaments. I decided to do a page on two of the decorations made by the children a few years ago, and still carefully preserved.

Drawn with Pitt Pen in Moleskine Sketchbook with watercolour pencils, and PanPastel for the border.

Circus-pictures-Seal

2008-12-16T22:05:00.000Z

Circus pictures

2008-12-16T22:04:00.000Z

A set of paintings for my granddaughter's room,

The harlequin pattern was painted on the picture mount with acrylic paint and silver pen. The picture is watercolour pencil.

42nd-street

2008-11-16T21:57:00.000Z

42nd-street

Went to see a great production of 42nd Street for my birthday.

I didn't have any black acrylic or gesso on hand, so I used the kids Poster paint, not really ideal as it is not waterproof when dry and smears a lot. Had to seal it with fixative to work on it further. The neon signs were drawn with gold pilot pen and coloured with watercolour pencils.

in Moleskine sketchbook

Dance

2008-11-02T21:51:00.000Z

Dance
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

A study for a larger artwork I am thinking of doing

Watercolour crayons and gesso in Moleskine Sketchbook

The Road

2008-10-14T21:47:00.001+01:00

The Road
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

“Just finished reading Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’ and felt inspired to do a journal page. I wanted to try out a new material - Safmat, a transparent film, from Letraset that you can print onto.

I edited a couple of photos of winter trees in photoshop and printed them onto the Safmat. I then peeled off the backing and stuck the transparent film with the printed image into my Moleskine sketchbook. I had used a grey PanPastel on the page first, deliberately patchy, to create the dusty landscape depicted in the book.

Quite pleased with the Safmat, it is very thin and ‘almost’ invisible, so a good way of getting photos into your journal without creating too much bulk.”

Too many clocks...

2008-04-05T21:45:00.000+01:00

Too many clocks...
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Things are getting ridiculous - I had to adjust 29 clocks when we changed to British Summer Time last week...

Pitt pen and soft pastels on Moleskine Sketchbook

Sophie's Bear

2008-03-03T21:43:00.004Z

Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

My daughter's bear has played such an important part in her life that I wanted to make sure I captured the memory - what better place than in my journal.

The drawing was done in a Moleskine Sketchbook with watercolour pencils, the photo was an inkjet photo transferred with Sheer Heaven - see technique on my blog here -

Journal Craft Inspirations blog

Ebony's favourite toy

2008-02-19T21:42:00.000Z

Ebony's favourite toy
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Ebony has been having such fun with the toy she got for Christmas I thought it would make a good subject for a journal page.

Moleskine sketchbook and watercolour pencils

Hand study watercolour

2008-01-15T21:20:00.001Z

hand study watercolour
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Moving on from the hand studies we did in charcoal last week. Learning to create flesh tones in watercolour.

Hand studies in charcoal

2008-01-07T21:18:00.000Z

hand studies charcoal
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

First attempt at drawing with charcoal since High School (hated it then!), but I must say I quite enjoyed it today - I think I have become less timid. These studies were done for my Art and Drawing class.

Charcoal on cartridge paper.

Sophie's self-portraits

2007-10-28T21:17:00.000Z

Sophie's self-portraits
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

When my daughter left primary school recently, the school presented us with a folder containing all her school reports and a series of self-portraits that she had drawn each year. It was such a lovely leaving gift.

It is interesting to see them all side-by-side showing the developmental stages of her drawing skills - the first one features the all important belly-button that all children seem to include in their early pictures! and the last one the introduction of shading. It is also interesting to see when she chose NOT to draw the glasses that she has worn since the age of 6...

Cactus

2007-10-25T22:19:00.000+01:00

A prickly subject.... again painted at the garden centre.

There is something very interesting about this particular garden centre, it is a family owned business, and one of the original founders is a lady of 101 and she still comes in to work every day! Well they say doing what we love keeps us young - she must be the proof...

Pots

2007-10-25T22:15:00.000+01:00

More paintings from the garden centre

Tulips

2007-10-25T22:14:00.000+01:00

Painted in-situ at a garden centre with my drawing and painting class
Watercolour in a Moleskine Watercolour Notebook

Mask-and-Scarf

2007-10-20T22:23:00.000+01:00

Still life from my drawing and painting class.

A VERY tricky subject, a black sequin mask on a striped grey devore velvet scarf...

Pitt Pen on watercolour paper

Shells

2007-10-20T22:21:00.000+01:00

Still life from my drawing and painting class

Watercolour on watercolour pad

Seascape

2007-10-15T21:16:00.000+01:00

Seascape
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Week 2 of my drawing and watercolour class - this week, seascapes, using masking fluid and spatter techniques, working from a photo.
I'm really pleased with how this one has turned out, but must try harder to get my horizon line straight! I think what really made the painting was adding the little sailboats on the horizon - they weren't in the photo.

Widbrook

2007-10-13T21:15:00.000+01:00

Widbrook
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

A quick sketch, done while sitting in the car - had to stop when another car parked in front of my view!

First attempt at not using pencil first!

Pitt artist pen, Moleskine sketchbook

Sky 2

2007-10-10T21:13:00.000+01:00

sky2
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Another sky study this time I applied a Watercolour wash then removed some paint with a tissue to get the cloud effect, then back in with a darker colour when the paint was slightly wet to create the dark clouds. Landscape put in when sky had dried.

Sky 1

2007-10-10T21:12:00.000+01:00

sky1
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

First class of my drawing and watercolour course - missed the first two weeks, so am playing catch-up. Learning basic watercolour washes and skies - then adding a simple landscape

Musical Italy Inchies

2007-10-10T21:10:00.000+01:00

Musical Italy Inchies
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Sample of inches for 'Art for Cures' Musical Italy swap in the colours of lime green, pale blue and orange

The Terracotta Army arrives!

2007-09-21T21:09:00.000+01:00

The Terracotta Army arrives!
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Attended a fun workshop with the children where we made our own Terracotta Warriors! Great fun, haven't played with clay for years, but hard to get the detail working on this scale...

Pitt Artist pen and watercolour pencils in Moleskine sketchbook.

1st attempts at needle felting

2007-09-21T21:07:00.000+01:00

1st attempts at needle felting
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

These were my first attempts at dry needle felting. They were completed in Denmark last summer when we were on holiday. My daughter and I were taught while we were there by a family friend.

The little character on the right was created as an example when my daughter had a 'felting party' for her 11th birthday. She invited 5 friends over and they had a great time - lots of broken needles, several minor stab wounds requiring plasters, but fortunately no serious injuries

Cornwall - Eden Project WeeMan

2007-09-01T21:06:00.000+01:00

Cornwall07-Eden Project WeeMan
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Another amazing sculpture at the Eden Project - THE WEEE MAN (stands for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) - view the large size to read all about him.

We had a lot of fun trying to make out all the different things he was made of - the teeth were rather intriguing, then we realised they were computer mice! Do a Flickr search on WEEE to see lot's more photos of him.

Certainly got us thinking about what we will buy (and discard) in the future...

Cornwall - Making dens at the Eden Project

2007-09-01T21:04:00.000+01:00

Cornwall07-Eden Project Den
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

A great family activity - making Dens. We thought we had a great design until a strong gust of wind blew...

Cornwall - The Eden Project

2007-09-01T21:02:00.001+01:00

Cornwall07-Eden Project
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

We visited the Eden Project - a fantastic day out. It is a conservation project created out of old China Clay pits. It now houses geodesic biodomes which replicate temperate and sub-tropical climates.

The drawing is of an amazing sculpture near the main entrance, it is made with driftwood.

Cornwall Map

2007-09-01T20:57:00.001+01:00

Cornwall07-Map
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Map of South East Cornwall where we spent a week's holiday this August. I traced the map and transferred it into my Moleskine sketchbook, then annotated the map to show the places we had visited.

Time

2007-07-03T20:56:00.001+01:00

time
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Collage on irridescent acrylics with white gel pen in Moleskine sketchbook. The poem reads -

TIME
You can’t buy time, nor can you sell it
You can lose it, but you can’t gain it back
We all live on borrowed time, trying to steal more of it
We talk of saving time, but all we do is fill it
Some people have time on their hands,
others have no time at all
when in fact, we all have the same time—
we have all the time there is
Some people wouldn’t give you the time of day
others take the time
We say it’s time to get up, and time to go, and time to work
as if time controls our lives
We don’t say, it’s time to love
or time to do nothing
We waste time, doing what does not need to be done
and what we have no pleasure in doing
We let others control our time
We don’t take the time, to think how we use
this minute, this hour, this day, this year
which make up this life

Copyright © 1994 by Natasha Josefowitz

green inchies

2007-06-19T20:53:00.000+01:00

green inchies
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

My first inchies!

Every Exit

2007-06-18T20:52:00.002+01:00

Every Exit
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

I loved this Tom Stoppard quote.

The person was drawn from a photo found on Flickr.

Wish I knew how to adjust the colour on my scans - in reality this is a punchy lime green and a vivid pink!

Pastels in Moleskine sketchbook.

Potential

2007-06-05T20:50:00.000+01:00

Potential
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

This collage was a 'thank you and leaving gift' for a wonderful lady with whom I worked with in a local Business Women's committee.

The tag actually has a little 'home' underneath the name, and it has a personal message on the reverse. The name buttons were made out of Fimo and stamped with a rubber stamp then painted with a Gold leaf pen.

Mobile Mania

2007-06-04T20:49:00.000+01:00

Mobile Mania
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

This is my first attempt to do shading with crosshatching - how do you guys make it look so easy?!

As I am new to the EDM group I am just dipping in here and there with whatever takes my fancy. I did this in the car while waiting for my daughter at her riding lesson.

Moleskine sketchbook, Pitt artists pen

Art Journey

2007-06-04T20:47:00.000+01:00

Art Journey
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

This is the opening spread in my new Moleskine Sketchbook (large size) -

Collage and soft pastels

Red Pepper

2007-06-04T20:46:00.000+01:00

Red Pepper
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

This was meant to be part of my drawing practice, but when it was finished I couldn't resist adding the luscious red watercolour.

Moleskine sketchbook and watercolours

Ebony

2007-05-28T20:43:00.000+01:00

Ebony
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

The new addition to our family unit - we adopted her from the Cats and Dogs home a couple of weeks ago. We think she is about 10 months old and possibly a cross between a Staffie and a Whippet, with a bit of Labrador thrown in! She is very affectionate, playful and alert, and can run like the wind, but is a little nervous when out on the lead.

I had never particularly been a dog person - we used to have a lovely cat, but I must say I am enjoying her company and she gets me out of the house more which can't be bad

Irises

2007-05-26T20:40:00.000+01:00

Irises
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

I used two techniques here. I drew the Flag Iris on the right first. It was drawn with watercolour pencils then painted over with a waterbrush, but I think I overworked it. It's always so hard when to know to stop!

The one on the left I painted with a light watercolour wash then shaved on some pigment from the watercolour pencils. This technique would have worked better on proper watercolour paper as the moleskine sketchbook does not seem to like getting too wet - it will take a certain amount of water but then tends to seep through to the back of the page. I like the looser look of this one though - what do you think?

Watercolour and watercolour pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook

My New best friend

2007-05-25T20:38:00.000+01:00

My New best friend
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

This was a lot harder to draw than I imagined - especially those little rounded buttons on the blue panel!

Moleskine sketchbook, pen and watercolour pencils

Garden surprises

2007-05-23T20:36:00.000+01:00

Garden surprises
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

We moved into a new house in January, the garden had been very neglected due to the previous owners ill health. So it has been a nice surprise to see a few flowers poke through the soil. So far we have had a patch of bluebells and these Lily of the Valley which have always been a favourite with their delicious scent and tiny white bells.

Not too pleased with the leaf on the left - it looks far too 'flat', still early days in my watercolour journey, much still to learn...

Moleskine sketchbook and watercolours

why

2007-05-21T20:34:00.000+01:00

why
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Collage, chalks, gel pen and rubber stamps in spiral bound watercolour journal

Scents of France

2007-05-20T21:03:00.000+01:00

A wonderful idea taken directly from Dory Kanter's book "Art Escapes" to document the scents and aromas of your trip

Watercolour on watercolour paper

the blues

2007-05-20T20:32:00.001+01:00

the blues
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Acrylics, rubber stamping and collage in watercolour journal

Real women

2007-05-20T20:31:00.001+01:00

Real women
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

I just think it is sad that so many women cannot accept themselves as they are - they strive so hard for 'perfection' which is often not as attractive as that which nature intended...

Harmony

2007-05-20T20:29:00.001+01:00

Harmony
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

Acrylics, collage and gel pen

Clouds

2007-05-20T20:26:00.001+01:00

Clouds
Originally uploaded by JournalEYES

This was inspired by a poem by A.K. Marshfield -

"Clouds puffed up like roosters
A swirl of jet smoke in the azure blue
Green liquid lapping
Just beaching and nothing on mind's horizon
My feet walk away with my mind
another life calls to me..."

Acrylics on watercolour paper with gel pen

2007-05-20T20:22:00.000+01:00

Welcome to my blog - my little bit of cyberspace to share my passion for journaling and mixed media. I hope you enjoy it. I love to hear your comments, and will always try to respond to any questions you may have.