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
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
So our great British weather has put a dampener, that is to say a postponement, on my hols :( But I don't much fancy travelling about the country in this downpour, so will be doing it in a couple of weeks instead...however that just gives me more time to make some extra washi tape YAY! But before I get onto that the first tutorial for this page is going to be making this:
It's a washi tape storage book, ready to hold all your lovely tapes, but also works great for ribbons/fibres/laces etc
inside
I must say this is one of my favvvvvvvvvvvvvourite projects for a while, I absolutely love it, here's the tutorial as to how to create the pieces & bind it:
Okay now I can get onto the stuff you put inside eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (yes I'm excited about this project too lol): Homemade Washi Tapes:
Super quick, super easy, here's the tutorial (also with another homemade storage system as you can see):
Because I was still planning on going away when I made this tutorial all of the designs I made in this video were SUPER quickly thrown together, rather than more elaborate creations I may have done. Who knows now I have some time to play I may come up with more complex techniques to do another tut in the future.
Now I am off for a little rest. Although I'm not physically going anywhere any more I still feel I need a little break from everything in life, as well as online, so I'm going to go offline now so as to chill with my time off. I'll see you when I'm properly refrigerated, much love to all Jennibellie xxx
AFTER NOTE: I've had a question about the 'stickiness' of the washi tape but cannot answer directly to that person as they are marked Anonymous, so will note all that I can about the 'sticky' issue here. The surface I create the washi tape on is a non-stick craft mat, you can also use wax paper, this will allow the tape to be lifted with minimum 'stickiness' being removed and you can also store it on these items also. The nature of masking tape means it should never lift off anything it is placed on top of but I recommend buying porous tape (I call in non-waxy in the video) so anything you add to it will sink in, rather than sitting on the surface, therefore ensuring your design stays put. Happy crafting :)
A post of silly fun tutorials today. I let my inner teenager out on the rampage a little earlier this week, first with these funky beaded nails:
As a teenager I would spend hours elaborately painting my long talons with all forms of nail art - and heaven forbid if one should get broken lol. But now that is an every couple of day occurrence with my life, and hobby, being so hands on so I have to admit it was nice to play again.
Second I revisited the old skool style of lettering that I have absolutely fallen in love with again for my journals and zines.
Isn't it strange how you abandon what you learn naturally while growing up because it wasn't 'correct', or 'perfect', only to find that's what you love about it when you rediscover it as an adult? That's exactly my story with art too in a nutshell - abandoned it as a teen, thinking I was no good at it, only to understand later that being 'good' was never the point at all! The freedom and pleasure it derives, I now realise, are most important to me. Thanks for visiting, I'll be back tomorrow with a continuation of fun tuts but back in a more crafty fashion lol Much love Jennibellie xxx
Today is day 2 of my 4 daily posts showing the videos I have been working on lately before I'm off on hols. This post is all about ugly pages, and personally why they are as important to me, if not more so, than the pretty ones. Journaling to me is therapy, and therapy is not always a pretty process - so why should the end results be? For me when I started art journaling it seemed the most difficult thing in the world to make a page I liked. And talking to other artists online it seems to be the most common experience for beginners that deflates their confidence. So I created my version of a Q&A/Vlog type of video in the hopes of helping boost that esteem & love for those poor ugly pages:
This is the first of a new video/vlogging series where I will tackle the issues we face as artists. They are titled 'Jennibellie on...' because I want to make it clear they are MY OWN personal experiences and opinions, not necessarily 'standard' or 'true' (if there is such a thing in these matters?). They may be completely at odds with what is best for you or your art, in which case I, of course, want you to ignore me completely. I am just giving my two cents to those questions I get asked about & feel I can address. Here are some of my 'ugly' pages that I show in the video:
From the responses I've had from the video I understand not everybody considers these ugly pages, but to me when I created them I really, really did not like them. It's the same thing as if you showed me the pages you consider ugly - I would most likely like them too, it's a personal thing.
Thanks for reading, tomorrows post is going to be two rather random but awesomely fun tutorials. Much love Jennibellie xxx
for my hols! Not that it's a long or exciting one, (still in the UK :( ) but I think it's a much needed one. A week divided between staying with friends and then family so I knocked together this small junk journal:
Made out of a tissue box:
And filled with leftover torn papers for interest:
And I'll be taking my travel kit, the contents of which can be found here:
It has acrylics, watercolours, crayons, pens, collage...but I think I'm going to add a little pot of embellishments too, like I did with my last travel journal.
So I've been VERY busy making videos, I have a bug, I know it lol and will post them on here before I leave, or you can check them out at my channel. Some really fun tutorials that I got so excited about I just had to make them, even though I had nearly no time for it lol but when the British get a bee in their bonnet I believe we're terrible till we actually do it...so I did it :)
I haven't been here for a week or so, I had a feeling I wouldn't while doing my last post as I had had a very strange week & was left feeling a little fragile...so I did as many of my blogging buddies have told me in the past and took a little time for me. I haven't done *too* much art
though obviously I've still done a little (a FULL week plus without paint??? = Torture!!) This is just a quick acrylic slap-dash with a little black pen on top for definition
but instead I've been spending time returning to the *regular* kind of journaling (that old school version - written). The last entry my diary below had gotten was three years ago, and a completely different person began writing in it again.
The artwork on the diary reads 'The Soul Would Have No Rainbow if the Eyes had no Tears'
However, following my belief that you should always create a positive out of a negative, I took that huge amount of feeling and made the most personal video I have ever created. It contains a tutorial for creating an art journal page with techniques that help get out your feelings, in the hopes it will be of use to others.
And an update on that emotion is I'm feeling fresher, brighter and happier. I think I have understood (once again) that everything happens for a reason, and even the bad things are there to prompt you on, make you strive harder and be a better person/woman/daughter/friend/artist etc.
So now the all the 'life stuff' is outta the way onto the fun bit...picking giveaway winners for these random littlepackets lol
Here's all the names (well usernames lol) of everyone that entered, if you left me a comment on my last post then you are automatically in here. They then popped into this box:
Then out jumped these two names:
CRAFTING TO STAY SANE MANON
Whoop congrats :) please email me your addies to jennibellie@yahoo.co.uk :)
