Jens Arty Life

I'm not that keen on the colours of this page. But I have to accept that I won't love all my pages. I wanted a sand and sea type colour scheme - which is there, it's just not as harmonious as I would like. The round circles are cut from my first ever Gelli Prints down with my new Gelli plate. It was my birthday present and I'm loving using it. These are just the first few efforts, and the ones I did last night are nicer. They will probably appear in later pages. Now that I look at it ... I think the reason I'm not in love with this page is that the sandy colour is very flat. It might have looked better if I had used some textures and layered it up a bit with some stamps or stencils. I was just so excited about using those Gelli prints that I rushed it I think. Not to worry ... we live and learn.

How ironic that Brenda at Bumblebees and Butterflies has used greens and butterflies in her page. Without seeing her page, I've done the same. Just like a butterfly this page went through a metamorphasis. I thought I had finished the page ... I wasn't happy with it but I thought it was done. Then, when I was working on the next page over, water spread from one page to the other and ruined it. So i painted over it with gesso (keeping the butterfly textures and the colours peeking through) and started again. Now I really like this page. So I suppose the disaster of the water from the rain page paid off in the end. Thanks again to Brenda for her blog party. i am really enjoying seeing your journals. Jennidee

I have wanted to draw Elsa since I first saw Frozen and this page gave me the chance. I originally wanted to draw her in white but it didn't show up on the background. I wanted a kind of ghostly feel to it rather than a true copy of her form and I think i did that well. I ended up with blue ink all over my hands as I had gessoed the page before inking it. I will have to seal it with hair spray. But first I will be writing some things I need to let go underneath like jealousy of other artists (I didn't want to bore you with my angst so I've uploaded it in this state. Thanks to Brenda at Bumblebees and Butterflies for her blog party and Hi to you if you have drifted over from there. Jennidee

I love to doodle on pages. I had this painted background which I had no idea what to do with. So I started drawing in black pen and it came to life. I will have to doodle more. It's so much fun.

The Royksopp and Robyn song "monument" inspired this page. I really enjoy creating an art journal ... I do it mostly because it's fun, but I do also hope it will survive me and perhaps tell others what I was like when I'm no longer here. I like the grungy look of this page even though it happened by accident. I was trying out a technique I'd seen on you tube where you put a stencil down on a painted page, spray it with water and then wipe off where the water has soaked through the stencil. But I couldn't get it to work and I tried to rub back all the black paint. When I got to this point, no more paint would come off and I decide I liked it anyway. I managed to get the effect I wanted by using an embossing powder over a painted surface, then painting black over the hard embossed areas. Then you wipe back the black paint from the embossed areas. In my version the embossing powder was an extra thick one and it bubbled strangely, causing the pits. so when I wi...

I was very inspired by a pin on Pinterest, http://www.pinterest.com/pin/497647827549771247/  and created this in response. On the stars I have listed the achievements in 2014 that I am most proud of. Materials; ink as sprays, acrylic paint, white journal pen, black journal pen, star stencil.

I had a very uncomfortable dream last night. I was supposed to be doing playground duty, but I wasn't sure which area to go to. Everywhere I went, someone was already there and telling me I was wrong. I feel quite confident that this is a reflection on my feeling towards art journalling. Everywhere I look on the internet someone is doing it better than me and I just want to find my own place. So in reaction to that dream I created this page. I also noticed I use a lot of pinks and blues. That's partly because those are the colour inks I have, and partly because they are my favourite colours. I will make an effort to branch out and try other combinations of colours. Thanks for reading Jennidee

I hated this page yesterday, that's why I wrote 'an art journal is experimenting and playing' at the bottom of the page. Then I looked at it again this afternoon and saw some possibilities. I added the dark brown flower stencil and I felt it brought the page together. Now I'm very happy with it. We are certainly our own worst critics a lot of the time. Yesterday my daughter was drawing and she had done a brilliant job of copying a character she loves. But she threw her hands up in disgust and marched out of the room because the face wasn't right. I let her go. Then half an hour later I brought the drawing to her WITHOUT the image she had been copying from and told her to look at it again. She smiled and said that actually it wasn't that bad a drawing. I pointed out the amazing tiny hands she had drawn and she smiled even wider. So i guess the lesson is to sometimes walk away from things and look again with fresh eyes later. things don't always turn...

Today's page is A4 size. I used watercolours for the background, a paper lace doiley as a stencil, an embossing pen and embossing powder to make the flowers (apart from one which commercially made) and more experimenting with ink, this time as a splash/ spray. The quote I found on pinterest and I have no idea who said it, but it just rings so true. I really like the colours on this page. They are bright, but still quite girly. I hope you have enjoyed a peek. Jennidee

I have listed 5 pages on ETSY for sale at $3.50 each.  This is item number 1 ... The 5 pages I put up are all A5 size. My shop is here. https://www.etsy.com/shop/TapestryMoon And you can do something like this ... This is the first page of next year's journal. Today I visited the art shop and bought more stencils and some other supplies. I am quickly becoming addicted to this art form. I hope to put up more pages for sale on ETSY tomorrow. Jennidee

Today's offering is another watercolour background, but this time I have done no other embellishment of the background and added only my drawings with black markers. The actual motifs are my adaptations of Turkish designs. I used a stencil for the lettering. My daughter Anna told me of another version of this little quote 'Happiness is not a destination, it is a way of life' and I like that quote better, but I'd already finished the page ... dammit. Have you ever had that happen? This page is A4 again and I will most likely expand it on white card when I stick it in my 12 by 12 scrapbook. I already have a stencil in mind, that I saw in the art shop the other day (the shop was closed yesterday, or I would have run out and bought it). Thanks for reading. Jennidee

I've been experimenting with watercolour backgrounds. This morning I got up after doing a background last night so it could dry and finished off my Christmas tree page. What do you think? My husband also showed me what I was doing wrong with my photos. It wasn't the photo itself ... it was how I was saving and uploading it. So i will go back and fix that first one. This page is A4 in landscape (a normal printing page size for those who don't use those terms). It's a bit too small for my 12 x 12 scrapbook, but I have some photos of this years tree and trees in years past to put in a row along the top to fill the scrapbook page. I used watercolour p[antis, watercolour paper, ink, a home made foam block to print, stencils, inks, bubble wrap and gold paint in the background. Once it was dry I journalled in black. I will be creating some backgrounds for sale if anyone is interested (A5 at about $3.50 a page, same quality as this one) Thanks for taking a look...