Journal Flip & Tutorial

Hello lovely art online world, I have an art journal flip to share of this very old journal, which is finally complete yay!!

I find finishing a journal both a happy and sad event. I love having all the pages complete with paint and words and energy, what I don't like is the loss of connection to an emotional working tool. Even though I have a whole bunch of other journals on the go, even though I hardly used this journal (like once every couple of months) I still felt the loss of it once complete. Journals are so much more than paper & paint; they are our days and emotions frozen in time, they are our therapy and friends. Here is the flip, you will see changes in the style and subjects, being that it has spanned my time from beginner to regular art journaler:

I've also done another journaling tutorial, a simple oil resist technique but done in a couple of different ways. You know I always like to share tools & techniques so I hope you enjoy:

And for those of you that left lovely comments in reference to my 'downer' last post thanks so much, I'm feeling much better now and I think the most important thing I need to learn now is emotions are not imperative to how we should view our lives. We can have wonderful lives and still be on a downer with no apparent reasoning behind it sometimes. All we need to remember in those times is that emotions are temporary states; at the time you need to face & attend to them as they require but not to give them the power to judge everything else by. Our lives are creations of our own physical input, and the energy that is given there creates permanent results, so I intend to give positive energy to life, rather giving it to negative thoughts or emotions. Much love to you xxx

The Long-Suffering Creative Instinct

Hey guys, the UK is experiencing stunning weather right now and all I can hear is kids playing and birds chirping. Aside from the beautiful things the weather brings though I've had a pretty crappy few days. These 10 mins sketches are the only creative things I've had the willpower to do:

In the usual way of crappy days they were naturally followed by crappy nights, but as I lay awake browsing on my iphone I came across this artist & this video (watch it I guarantee it will inspire you):

Although not exactly what the video is about it gave me a groggy 4am realisation that no matter how crappy things might be we are so lucky that we still have a creative instinct within us, some place the rest of the world cannot get in. Today I still felt like I didn't want to create for more than a few minutes, but what I was grateful for was the fact I had the drive to do it in the first place:

And I actually liked the result! Not only that but it gave me a new technique that I want to develop in the future (& perhaps even a subliminal message of reasons for happiness?!). 

I know I don't often do the 'spiritual-arty-farty-love' thing but today I am, because art reminded me (once again) to have faith in it & in our creative instinct. Because no matter what, our creative instinct has places to take us...even when we are unwilling to go and the poor thing has to drag us there kicking and screaming!!!

Much love to you guys & your own (hopefully better treated than mine) creative instincts lol xxx

New Handmade Journal & Some Journal Pages

I've been journaling & drawing a lot the last couple of days:

The one above is about the cards I made a few days ago (below). I said in a recent post that I was 'booked out' to friends and family to make gifts, well this huge A4 (ledger sized in US) was my fav one. I'm making it immortal in my journal & my blog as a homage to all those knock-up projects I make regularly and then forget about (I have a terrible memory so half of what I create, especially those things on the fly, sadly get forgotten about :( )

The pages were done in this new journal:

which I made from a cereal box, the first one since those I made months ago for my original cereal box journal tutorial. Ever since I made that tut I'm given cereal boxes as a gift on a regular basis (especially by my grandfather, who seems to have some more ready for me every time I go visit him lol). So I thought it was about time I used them & I made this using the same techniques as the original tut, which although it is not as decorative this time around, it is a very good size as it is made from a huge 500g cereal box, rather than a smaller cereal bar box.

This spread is the first page of the journal, which I also recorded and added to my One Minute Art Journal Page Videos- an ongoing series I work on to show the full process of creating a page in only one minute. You can see the other videos of this series either on my youtube channel, or here on my journaling videos page. Here is process of this particular page:

Wow it's already midnight over here! This summer weather (it's been the hottest day of the year here in Britain) has sent my natural night/day body clock scroodle-dalley so I'd best at least think about going off to bed now, much love my arty friends =) xx

George Bernard Shaw Portrait with Conte Crayons

I've been painting a lot lately so yesterday I felt like using a material that was more tactile with the paper. I had a desire to make something that I could feel evolving directly from my fingers, something that I could smudge and smear if you know what I mean?? So I decided to give these Conte Drawing Crayons from my travel kit a go.

It was my first time using these crayons, and I have to admit I really enjoyed using them. I wasn't quite sure what to expect but they are most like a hard pastel and if you use them as vigorously as I did, very messy with chalk powder. But still I loved them enough to buy two larger sets, and as they are relatively cheap for what they are, I have no quibbles in recommending them to anyone that likes pastels or as an extra media to use in art journals. How cheap = set above cost me £3 (for 4 sticks), and two sets of 12 cost £7.67 each (after shopping around, the rrp is about £12 for them) so not a professional artist media price for a something I do think is professional in quality. I decided to draw GBS with my sticks and here's how he turned out:

Not a photographic but a relative likeness I think. I was most trying to get the little smirk you kind of see behind his beard - that 'intelligent-smile-that's-not-smiling-at-all' look, that I've seen him give in more than one picture. Here's how he started:

I know!! A bit different right??? LOL I had no idea how he'd turn out, so for more of an experiment for myself than anything, I took stills after every layer and produced this 90 second transition movie showing his evolution from this funny scribble:

Hope you enjoy and a very happy Monday to everyone :) xx

Making Stamps from Recycling - Tutorial Project

Hi guys, I've not been in blogland for almost a week??? What?? This week has gone crazy fast! I have been working on many projects, but for the moment I am 'booked out' as it were, to create things for friends and family. I've a list of cards, journals & presents to make up this weekend (anybody else get booked out too for being the creative friend/family member?? Ah well that's what we get for showing off our talents I suppose lol). Before I go off and get cracking though I want to share my latest tutorial that I came up with from the creation of my last journal page:

These are stamps made from, as you see, cardboard boxes. As you can see below they create a LOT of texture:

They are not like a rubber stamp that'll give a clean or crisp image, these are more creative tools that are very lively and give a different kind of look to your pages.

 

They can also be (if you do it right) very messy lol here is the tutorial as to how to make them, hope you enjoy:

See you when I've finished earning my living as the last minute handmade card & present creator :) much love Jennibellie xxx

Rope Portrait Tutorial

A quick post today showing an art journal page made a little differently. It's a pretty portrait, but a portrait drawn with rope. Here is the process of how to create the page:

Here's the full finished page:

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend, I myself am off out for Sunday lunch now yay :) much love xx

Art Journal Flippage

I finished a journal at the end of last week, which wasn't exactly hard, seeing as it was only a recycled brochure (and therefore small) that I used to make the journal...still I get a great feeling of satisfaction whenever I fully complete a journal.

I gessoed the pages, added more collage in the form of junk mail etc and then only used acrylic paint in the book for the actual creating (well, on occasion I added a little pen as you see above but hey it is a journal, not just a book of paintings). As it's a very small journal I'm not going to show any more of the pages as it would ruin the surprise of the flip (& some paintings in it I've already posted on here like the snow leopard)...but I will say my favourite painting is the last one in the journal, of the squinting man in a black and white check suit. I loved painting that page!

As the video is short I added some quick drawing & painting process treats in there also, which really made me like the result of the video; although I also think that's because I find the music I used really beautiful. It also has in this journal the blue woman I have recently added to the side of this blog...and as bloody blogger would not accept the video on here before here is the process of her creation (if you click over to watch it on youtube you will see some tutorial annotation notes I have added to it, which don't show up on blogger - again grrr!!):

Think that's all for now peeps, much love & happy creating to everyone :) xxx

Ideas, ideas, ideas

When people ask me where I get my ideas from I first get a little stumped by the question, does anyone else do this? Not because I cannot answer but because there's too much that goes through my head at once that it sort of creates a blockage for a few moments.

An old art journal pg image I have on this blog...but seems very fitting lol

It obviously depends on, not only what you are most inspired by, but also what it is you want to achieve. For instance I draw on different inspirations for my book arts than what I do for my paintings. But ideas still come from seeing what materials I have available (especially reclaimed), what colour the trees are today, other wonderful artists creations, what mood I'm in, what the weather is like, what I had for breakfast, what buildings are around, what smells come from a flowerbed, what shoes I'm wearing, what the motorway looks like from the countryside, what the favourite colour is of the person I'm with...in short anything and everything can give inspiration. Every single second, even in the most mundane of days, can give more ideas that what can be used in a lifetime. For me it's almost like being tuned into a wireless, those days when you just *get* that everything around you is just a source for your muse. What happens to me is I get almost a photographic type memory, where I see everything as if it were a painting (does this happen to anyone else? I imagine this is what happens for many photographers; they see the everything as a shot... or am I sounding like a complete loon??). Here is my second Jennibellie on... video on the subject of ideas with flips throughs of some of my ideas journals:

...and I know I didn't sound like a complete loon then, because it was a decent hour when I recorded it...not 1am like it is right now lol so I'm off to dream, and hopefully it'll be one a dream that makes me smile as I wake & gives me my creative juice for the morning, or failing that I'll just settle for a good sleep and find my own inspiration when I get up. Thanks for stopping by, much love Jennibellie xxx

Paint Party Friday

Been too long since I joined the fun at PPF:

I'm so pleased I've had time to chill and paint this past week, I managed to finish a small junk journal

and here's my snow leopard

Linking with Paint Party Friday, come join & get inspired by tons of lovely artists :) much love xx