Flower journal

I have been using the journal that I made to make quick sketches & watercolours. I really love the way the pages are slightly different sizes & their softly torn edges.

I used a Berol water-soluble pen for sketching, this enables me to soften some of the lines later on using a brush & plain water.

The sketch below was also sketched using a water-soluble pen & then watercolour was added.

By the way, the reason the pages are different sizes is because I didn't fold the paper very accurately - but, I think it gives my journal character!

Experimenting

I recently acquired a box of Brusho, it comes in tiny pots & is a very strong powdered pigment.

These are my first experiments.

I love the way it can be diluted to create an ink-like intensity or can be lightly scattered on wet paper (bottom left) to create a lighter effect. It is quite different to working with watercolour & once dry, cannot be reactivated.

Creative games

I don't often find that I am stuck for ideas, rather that the opposite it true. I often feel that I have too many ideas vying for my attention & end up spending too much time deciding where to start, rather than creating.

However, I think I have found a way around this dilema.

I noticed how much I really enjoyed attending workshops, where the activity had been planned for me; experimental drawing, working from a life model. I think this is because my day job is as an art tutor & it's so liberating for me to just arrive at a workshop & be surprised by the activities presented.
I toyed with the idea of planning such sessions for myself....... but was then back to having to make a decision about which activity to start with.

And then I thought 'what if I could make this into a game?'
How would the game work?
What form would it take?
What would be the rules?
Would I be able to get away with cheating?

I quickly wrote a couple of words on a small piece of paper for each of my potential projects, folded them (without looking at them in case I was tempted to cheat!) & dropped them into a pot.

I then thought about the rules of the game.
The Rules
1. Only one piece of paper can be drawn from the pot at a time.
2. The topic cannot be discarded or returned to the pot.
3. Another paper can only be drawn from the pot once the preceding project has been completed.

I'll let you know how it goes...........

The first journal

Today, I made my first journal from scratch and was really pleased with the result! Amazing what you can do with simple materials; an A1 sheet of paper, some thread, a craft needle, an implement to press the folds (I used a letter opener).

The paper was folded, the folds then pressed to sharpen the creases and then it was stitched together.

 The outer cover was then given a liberal coat of acrylic gesso. Now I just have to decide what to do with the cover, a blank canvas- literally!