I wasn’t going to post this picture as we had to make a sketchy portrait of ourselves as part of the lifebook class.
But I decided to be brave.. it doesn’t really look much like me as I didn’t look in the mirror when I made it..lol :P
The class was by the lovely jennibellie whose blog and youtube videos I’ve followed for years. She really does know a lot about art journaling…
This was a wonderful lesson called Honouring Your Inner World with Serena Bridgeman, I pretty much just followed the lesson with this one, (not something I usually do) as the imagery was so beautiful.
Blending and shading with the water-soluble crayon was a bit of a challenge and took many many thin layers mixed with a little white acrylic.
I really enjoyed adding the final details and highlights.
This Lifebook 2014 class required us to use a limited colour palette, I used 3 colours of acrylic paint on some pretty cheap watercolour paper from The Works… the paper started flaking off after a few layers so will be sticking to the Langton paper for heavily layered work.
I blended the acrylics using both wet and dry brush techniques as well as some glazing.
I’ve no idea why I ended up painting a scary vampire woman, I think maybe I’ve been playing too much Elder Scrolls – Skyrim! I even decided to give her a shadowmark tattoo :)
I LOVED making this, it was soo soothing and relaxing, I used complimentary colours and handmade stencils for the background and sketched the seated figure with charcoal.
I also got to use my new neocolor II watercolour crayons.. :)
This picture makes me want to climb inside the painting and sit cross-legged whilst doing breathing exercises :)
In this lesson we had to find all sorts of mark making tools from around the house and use them to make a layered abstract background.
I used a sanding tool, some skewers, a crochet doily, a square metal tube, some lace and various other odds and ends.
It felt very freeing to create with a variety of mediums, spray inks, acrylic paint, crayon etc etc…
Great for loosening up!
In this Lifebook lesson we had to choose animals to represent how we were feeling, and then make a quirky totem with them. My animals are bird = free, cat = relaxed, shrew = excited, Elephant = I wanted a pedicure :) Sloth = I wanted to wash my hair…
I had a weekend away at the delightful Bore Place in Kent with Cha-guy.
Bore place is a working organic farm and sustainable living centre near Sevenoaks in Kent. There are also a number of buildings that are rented out for private retreats and group events etc.
It was my birthday this week so we decided to spend some time in the converted barn making art, dancing, singing, cooking good food and generally chilling and having a good time.
We tried to go on the 3 mile field trail but it was a bit muddy and my shoes ‘drowned’.
There was only a slow internet connection and no TV so we spent the evenings snuggled on the sofa listening to audiobooks with the wood burner keeping us cosy and warm.
We had fun walking around the dairy farm, investigating the kitchen garden, chickens, and the amazing walled garden with formal pond.