FINDING MY MOJO!

Lately it has been difficult to find time to create. I always know when this is lacking in my life, I feel off balance, not quite complete.  And so it was with huge relief and excitement that I packed my bags and set off for a weekend retreat.  I met these ladies for the first time earlier this year and had one of the best weekends ever!  I have never been made so welcome or laughed so much. 

This time I also took my friend Pauline. Now, this is no grand affair. We sleep in a village hall on lilos, and create/crop in the other half.  Like grown-ups on a Brownie camp! And do you know what? I was so comfortable and relaxed in the company that I shared that on Saturday I did not get dressed!  No - I had a pj day! I never do this at home unless I am unwell but I have had a lot of pressure lately and having a r-e-a-l-l-y chilled day was just what I needed. 
Sometimes it is good to listen to the body and do what feels right,  this felt really liberating and rebellious and it fed my inner child!   

Some of you will know that I am working through The Artists Way book written by Julia Cameron.  Well one of the things I most enjoy and embrace is 'morning pages'.  Much like journaling this is time for me to empty my mind and create space for other ideas and thoughts.  Hopefully useful ones. And this weekend my writing blew me away by what it unearthed.  Earlier this year I started a new Art Journal following an online course 'Passport to Art' run by Bernice.  Well, I started the journal on the last retreat but I could not connect with some of the prompt quotes.  I made several attempts to fill more pages when I got home but I was not excited or inspired. But I wanted to work on this so I took my journal and during my 'morning pages' I had a realisation.  I needed to make the journal more personal. 

AND I WAS AWAY!! 

I made up my own quotes or journal related themes and completed lots of pages. I wondered why I hadn't done this before but I guess when we are overloaded the obvious can be overlooked.  I am grateful to Bernice for the inspiration because I LOVE metaphors and things to do with travel and journey. I LOVE art journaling and getting messy with ink and paint. I LOVE being experimental and doing things just for sheer fun.  And now I LOVE my Atlas-journal!  Here are a couple of my early pages.  I will make a video one day and show more. Other pages are shown on the link above.

Now this page irritates me.  The spacing is wrong and I want to redo it. But I am learning to live with imperfection and I challenge myself to let go and walk away. To acept that sometimes it is 'good enough'. So it is almost fitting that this page came together in this way. My cabin is too full for me to use right now. Another reason my creativity is stifled. There is no room for play!  I find it hard to throw things that might have another use, you see. I love upcycling, making things from old. And it was interesting that the words on this page just flowed, there was no practice run or pre-contemplation. With the recent loss of a dear friend and other things going on, this page is very much where I am right now. I did have a good day in the cabin and I can find the floor and table top again. There is still much to be done but this weekend I am off on another retreat. I am super excited! I'll share more about this another time, and what I made this first weekend because day 2 of my 'morning pages' was also liberating and productive.

So glad that my mojo is back!

. 

WOYWW - PASSPORT TO ART

I have not been home much these past weekends as I have been on two consecutive retreats.  It is time to catch up on projects and to try out new things, and in between my bags were left packed ready for my next escape. And because my weekdays leave little time outside of work for other things I look forward to this time away and being with friends. 

One thing I do not enjoy is unpacking so on Wednesday, after my return, my workspace looked like this:
 

Something I started this month is an art journal using an old atlas. It is part of an online course called Passport to Art that runs daily through July so it is giving me techniques to try and a focus.  I have been planning to spend more time art journaling so this is a good push towards doing that. I love things to do with 
journeys and quotes, so it was time to get messy and play! Here are some of my pages so far:

 

 

 

Each day a new technique, quote and prompt is posted as part of the course.  As always I am having trouble keeping up and I find my best way is to just dive in and spend a number of hours at a time. But opportunities like that are hard to come by unless I am on a retreat. No more are planned until November, but then I have two booked. Retreats are like buses it seems. You wait a while then two come together. And who's complaining? Certainly not me!


Over at Julia's there are lots of other projects and workspaces being shared.  You never know what you might find, so why not pop over and say hello.  Thank you for visiting and have a good week.

WOYWW - PASSPORT TO ART

I have signed up to Passport to Art this month. During July I will be working in an Atlas that I bought at a charity shop.  Bernice suggested that in advance pages are torn from the book leaving one for each day plus a couple more if you want to do double pages or add anything extra.  So on my workspace today (actually the dining room table again!) is my Atlas minus a pile of torn out pages.  I was quite excited about removing these because it occurred to me I can sew these together and make more books!  Or I can use them in other ways. I love maps!

 

 

Also on my workspace is the paint I used.  Tester pots from a well known DIY Store.  They had a large range of colours and were selling them off cheaply.  Nearly all of them are chalk based and as I have been using PaperArtsy paints which are also chalk based I thought I would give these a try to see if they were a suitable substitute for some projects.  So far so good!!  I won't use them for anything special, but where I want to be experimental, I am happy to try out different mediums.  On these pages I covered the page in the paint using two colours, then when it was nearly dry I gave a spray of white Dylusions.  It has worked well as a base cover and more layers will be added to my pages using masks and other techniques.

Bernice is giving daily prompts and tutorials, including a quotation for the page. I haven't got as far as adding these as I only discovered the course a couple of days ago. But I am catching up and enjoying the messy play. Another suggestion was to add masking tape before painting, then lift to reveal the page underneath. I like this effect and I added white Dylusions spray after which helped to soften and blended the strips. 

If you want to go check out this course for yourself you will find details here.  I will be posting more photos as I complete the pages.


Another thing on my workspace this week is my sewing machine.  I do not want to show this as it would reveal giveaways that I am making for my new monthly challenge that starts this Friday 5th.  If you like photography you may like to check it out.  Called '5 in 5' you are invited to take 5 photos in 5 minutes and then post....  you've got it.... your favourite 5!  There is more information here so please pass on details to anyone you know who might be interested.


Meanwhile over at Julia's there are lots of other exciting projects and workspaces being shared.  You never know what you might find, so why not pop over and say hello.  Thank you for visiting and have a good week.