Travel Journal Pages & Flip

Hi guys, snotty rags here! I haven't had the flu in so long I'd forgotten that they aren't just 24hr things. I cannot believe it's been a week and I feel more like death warmed up than ever...it's definitely the dreaded man flu! But again it was still all worth it and here's some of the pages made in my travel journal while away.

I did manage to keep my voice steady enough to do a flip of it & as I say in the video it's not exactly the most artful or skilled of my journals, but what I like about it is; it is real. The journal was done on the go, meaning nothing is well thought out - it is purely about the holiday, what happened and as it happened. Here's a couple more pages and the flip video, I hope you enjoy.

(PS I'm still running behind on emails, comments, visits and things guys - I'm really sorry, please be patient with this clapped-out-ragged-thing-formerly-known-as-Jennibellie, it's taken me all day to figure out this posting malarkey so everything else is just a little beyond my capabilities at the mo. Thanks for being awesome). 

Venice

Hey guys I thought I would share some mandatory holiday art & snaps lol I'm still too sick at the mo to produce any artwork, so I thought I'd share some journal pages from my hol along with a few pics:

I have managed to make a video since being home, though I'm afraid it's not as fine-tuned as it might have been if I were well, but it still shows how I journal when I go on holiday, as well as Venice itself and you'll get to see a few more journal pages there:

On a final note our latest featured artist on TAT, Wendy Juhl, wanted me to thank you guys for the supportive comments on her interview ~ she's having a few technical difficulties so asked me to pass on the message so thank you =) the mutual support for one another is one of the (many*) wonderful things I love about our art community =D

(*...actually we're just damn all round awesome aren't we?? *grin* lol)

Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Wendy Juhl

Hi guys I'm back in the UK, Venice was amazing but absolutely boiling which means we've come back with flus! I know, I know, summer sun = winter flu, what the...?? But even Venetians said that the heat was worse than they've ever experienced and apparently a few people were getting it - all the going in and out of cold air conditioning to stifling sun I guess. But I'm here for this week's TAT before heading back off to bed with paracetamol lol also here is this weeks featured artist Wendy Juhl, wait till you see her beautiful bead work. Hope you enjoy =)

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are.

My name is Wendy M. Juhl.  I reside in Durant, Oklahoma and my imagination.  I am passionate, mischievous, irreverent, playful and adventurous.  I love art, music, and movies.  Art has always been a constant in my life.  In fact, I've dreamed about being an artist my whole life.

It has been a long journey to get to where I am with my art.  I've spent my whole life searching for the best way to express myself creatively.  I tried every type of art or craft that I had an opportunity to and there were many.  Most recently, I have turned to mixed media art.  My mixed media art usually falls into two categories: paper-based or fiber-based.  I especially love art journaling in regards to the former and creating 'paintings' with fabric and beads for the latter.

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it?

My biggest challenge was expressing myself visually.  When I was young, I was convinced that I can't draw or paint.  So, I explored other ways of expressing myself.  I wrote poems & short stories using very descriptive language and explored various arts & crafts.  It was so frustrating.  Almost 6 years ago, I taught myself off-loom beadweaving.  While learning more about beading, I discovered bead embroidery.  I tried it and I was hooked. Finally I could express myself visually!  As I was exploring more uses for bead embroidery, I also found articles about mixed media art.  I fell in love with mixed media.  I started adding fabric, paint, ink & fibers into my bead embroidered pieces.  I researched mixed media art online and discovered art journaling, so I gave it a try. I found that I can draw and paint well enough to please myself.  I started art journaling in October 2011 and I'm still painting away today.

What do you wish your art to achieve?

I really want my art to instill a sense of wonder, of magic, and of possibilities in those who view it.

What messages do you try to portray in your art & do you feel you achieve it?

Storytelling is a huge aspect of my art.  As I'm creating a piece of artwork,  I'm very focused on the story I'm telling.  The story is usually not evident in the finished piece of artwork because I want to inspire the viewer to imagine their own tale in relation to what they perceive in the piece.  I think I accomplish this because I always leave enough mystery in my artwork for the imagination to have room to play.

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art?

My YouTube channel: inspirecreatebelieve

My email: seedbeadart@yahoo.com

Thank you so much Wendy for sharing =) I've yet to come across a TAT interview where I cannot relate personally (and from the interviews responses I don't think I'm alone) to what the artist is saying...yours is no different: I think we all have felt the frustration at not feeling like we can express ourselves artistically. Thank you for raising this point because I think it's important to understand it is part of the natural process (& even on a very selfish level I'm so pleased you have found a way to express yourself visually as it's wonderful eye candy for us =D) 

Would you like to be a featured artist on Tell All Tuesday?? Email me @ jennibellie@yahoo.co.uk if you feel up to sharing.
(PS I'm running a little behind on my emails at the mo so apologies to those that have emailed me & not had a response yet, I'll get back to you soon as the paracetamol and smoothies have kicked in lol)

Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Caatje

Hello guys - I'm currently off on holiday at the moment, which was originally supposed to be York, but this horrid English rain but a dampener (haha!) on that. So I'm in Venice WAHOOO!!! I have longed to go to Venice for years, and now finally with a last min deal (like really last min - on the day kinda deal, which has meant rushing around like a mad woman repacking everything so I may have the pleasure of getting up to leave the house at 2:00am!) I am. Long story short - this post is scheduled...and not trusting such things I'm fully expecting this to end up a Tell All Wednesday, Friday or heaven forbid Saturday lol. But regardless of the day it ends up on this artist is worth the wait (another thing that I'm nutty about is this gal's pages - yum!). Check her out and I'll see you next week =)

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are 

I am a mixed media artist living undercover as an archivist on the beautiful island of Vlieland in the Dutch Wadden Sea with one black and white cat and lots of books and art supplies.
I love making art. I love reading books. I love going on long hikes across my island. I am happy as long as I can do those three things.
I have no real preferences when it comes to the art form. I write, I draw, I paint, I collage, I photograph, I do mixed media. I do prefer to do all those things in books and I love making my own books and my biggest love is journaling. 

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it?

Balancing it all with a full time day job. I have more or less consciously decided not to go the professional route so my art remains purely an act of love. But this means that money has to come in by keeping a day job. I live alone and so am automatically the sole provider in my household. This means it all has to come from me, whether it is money to pay the bills or just doing the boring housework. This can be tiresome and frustrating sometimes. It however also means that my free time is really my own and not sucked up by responsibilities to others (well, most of the time anyway). My free time is therefore sacred to me. It also means my house is fully geared toward me and my interests and I am slowly turning my entire house into an art studio in a way and that is really cool.
I'm not sure if I will ever really overcome the conflict between having to make a living and having the need to keep my art free from all that hassle, but so far it's the only thing that works for me so I'll just have to live with it.

What do you find easiest / hardest in your art?

The hardest is to start and to stop. I often find that I will only feel like making art by actually starting to make it. Then in ten seconds I'm in the zone and I'm off. The feeling comes from the doing. You can't wait until you are inspired before you start, because nothing will ever happen. You just have to start. It took me a long time to learn that and it's still an obstacle sometimes. Because once I get going it's hard to stop I can sometimes go on too long and that makes me cranky too.
The easiest part is the art making itself. Once I get going it's all just play to me. Of course I do have those times when I can't wait to get started and when I really am fully inspired to get going, but mostly there's a little inner obstacle to overcome. I'm not even sure what it is, but it's gone the moment I ignore it and start anyway.

What daunts you most as an artist?

The fact that there are so many ideas that you can never do them all, no matter how much time you get or how old you become. The more you work the more ideas you get and the more you realize how this is a two edged sword. A multitude of ideas is absolutely wonderful because it means you will never be bored and always have something new to try and there is so much interesting stuff to explore! But it also means that for every idea you actually develop and execute there will be ten to a hundred that can never be accomplished.

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art?

After several years of putting it off and kind of being a little afraid to take on the responsibility I finally started a blog two years ago. It may have been the best thing I ever did and my only regret now is I didn't start one up sooner! You can find it at http://caatjesartsystuff.blogspot.com . There's links there to my two flickr accounts, my pinterest and my facebook. 

Thanks so much Caatje, after reading that I feel we might be separated at birth!! The biggest two-edged sword I have found out since I started my own creative path is that the amount of ideas (while it is a beautiful gift to given them in the first place) excel any human possibility of ever achieving them. I try my best, but it is quite simply impossible as every project sparks off more gems to set you off down another track. But what I have learnt is to go just with my heart as to which ideas I develop and which I don't, that way I can never regret which inclinations I listened to and which I ignored.  Would you like to be a featured artist on Tell All Tuesday? Email me @ jennibellie@yahoo.co.uk if you feel up to sharing. 

Homemade Watersoluable Palette Book Tutorial

Yep, I did say Palette BOOK...

I've put together a video tutorial to show you how you can carry around ALL of your watersoluable medias in one tiny, easy-peasy-to-put-together book:

They are what I briefly gave you a quick glimpse in my All-in-One Journal & Travel Kit post and they save soooooooooo much room it's incredible!!!! Here's the tutorial (but don't just go off once you've seen it - there's more goodies in this post =D )

Ten mins before I began writing this post I had just come back from a hospital visit, and I took with me this journal below to me to create a page while I was there:

It features in this little 3 min vid I put up to show you more various ways to use the watersoluable palette idea, the main one being a removable palette:

I hope you enjoy & I'm hoping I get to use them on an actual holiday as originally intended...mine has been postponed due to the torrential rain in England (...again) so I'm looking for last min deals abroad. I'd happily only have a short break somewhere that is pretty with nice weather, rather than spending a full week in rainy England, so it looks like that's what I'm going to do. Keep your fingers crossed I can find something!!

Homemade All-in-One Journal & Travel Kit (with vid)

Hey guys, just want to show you my latest project (well projects really) for taking away on my hols. I made this all-encompassing journal & travel kit out of unused and scrap items:

The main ingredient is this old filofax thing from my uni days:

Then I added elements I had made from scrap plastic (turned them into sealable wallets & folders), tissue box cardboard (the closures for the wallets), found an old pencil case and dog clip to attach it to the outside etc. In the pockets & folders I added stickers, stamps, collage papers, washi tape etc.

My favourite bit of the journal is possibly that rubber on a chain! It was too fat to fit into the filofax with it closed so I drilled a hole and added it to a ballchain I got off of some clothing so it can sit outside the kit, but still be attached. The other useful element on there is the Tim Holtz fragment, which I can use with my stamps inside of lugging around a big acrylic block (cool eh?)

Finally the piece de resistance is how I'm going to carry my colouring media around - it's in these homemade watercolour & watersoluable palettes you see on the right:

But I'm not showing you any more on those as that is my next tutorial & I don't want to spoil it lol but in the meantime here's a video of me showing the kit properly if you want to see (along with the travel journal I made to go with it which I haven't shown in this post & lots of ideas for making your own):

Thanks for stopping by (& the tutorial will be up asap), much love you guys *hugs*

More...Moleskine Musings (with video review)

Hello lovely people, I hope you're enjoying the summer heat (if indeed you have any??), I can't exactly say we do...but it's not chucking it down so anything's a bonus =) I said in saturday's post, where I showed a few pages from my moleskine, I would show you more once my June Challenge (to draw in it everyday) was done. Well here is the video flip & one page (only one...otherwise what you gonna see in the video?? LOL)

In the video I also do a review & tell you how I think the moleskine sketchbook (someone asked in my last post which moleskine it is...it's the sketchbook, not cahier or watercolour etc) stands up to different forms of media. I use acrylic, watercolour, Derwent Inktense and Artbars, crayons & pastels, collage & pencil - all sorts, and give you my verdict on each. Hope you enjoy, much love JB xx


****An Hour Later**** - Correction, it is now chucking it down! Monsoon styliee...
(British weather, humph!)

Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Jen Randall

Hi guys, okay so the first month of TAT has gone (I could not be more shocked if you slapped me in the face with a wet kipper!! A whole month - poof!!!) but the artists are still going strong and thankfully willing to share. This weeks is the lovely Jen Randall who's work I think has such a lovely happy energy to it. Take it away Jen ~

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are 
Hi! My name is Jen Randall and I am the artist/owner of Sadie Lane Studio. I am a mixed media artist who loves all things creative. I love painting whimsical portraits, collage, abstract art, and art journaling. I am a mom (to my 2 beautiful children), wife (to a very awesome guy), crafter, music lover, coffee drinker, book reading, God loving, photography obsessed, blog surfing, mainly vegan, creative who loves spending time with my family & friends. After teaching elementary school for 12 years, I decided to stay home with my kids when my 3 year old son was born. Being home allowed me time to explore and develop this artistic passion of mine. I opened Sadie Lane Studio about a year ago and it continues to grow. I feel very blessed! 

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it?

For me, one the greatest challenges is silencing my sometimes relentless inner critic. She is quite a diva and likes to voice her opinion quite often –You’re not good enough, who do you think you are, who is going to like that, you are not worthy of success, etc. I really need to dig deep and look closely inside myself to find what triggers such negative self-talk. Then take these discoveries and do something with them. I surround myself with supportive friends & family, continue to involve myself with positive art communities, work through it in my art journal, try not to compare myself to others, practice more kindness towards myself, and try to remember that God created me with a unique story to tell.

Do you ever lose your mojo, and if so, how do you get it back? 

Yes! There are many times throughout the year where I feel like I am lacking my creative juices. I think we all do, no matter what our creative outlet is. I find that it can hit for no reason too. I don’t really think of it negatively though. I embrace this time as just a part of the artistic journey. I do get frustrated, but do my best to work through it. When I find myself in a rut or at my wits end because my mind feels blank, I try to do some of the following: get out into nature, go for a walk, listen to music, visit my favorite blogs, watch YouTube videos for some new techniques to try, look through my “idea journal” where I jot down inspiration, create with my kids (wow, can kids evoke a sense of artistic freedom!), join an art class or challenge, relax, take a deep breath, and listen closely for the whispers of my creative voice.

What is the best thing / worst thing that art has brought into your life? 

Art has filled my life with so many fabulous things. At first I didn’t really notice it. But, now if I look around I see my life being filled with more color and excitement. Isn’t that what happens when you truly find what makes your heart sing and feeds your passion? Of course my heart lies first with my family and my faith. But, beyond that being an artist has opened up a whole new world of color, vibrancy, dreams, and community. I want to wear more yellow, splash my home with pops of color, travel to art retreats, dance like nobody’s business, and dream big (It’s never too late!). That says a lot for a very shy, black wearing, neutral loving quiet girl.

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art? 

You can find me on my blog called Sadie Inspired (www.sadieinspired.blogspot.com) where I love to write about all the things that inspire me and share my artistic journey. I sell my art in my shop, Sadie Lane Studio, on Etsy. You can find it at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SadieLaneStudio. I also recently joined Instrgram. You can find me @sadieinspired. Please come say “Hi!”

Thank you Jen for your openness and honestly (& I want a house with pops of colour too *pout* lol). I'm glad art has filled your life with so many nice things, and I really see that sense of joy coming through in your art. Please visit Jen's blog for more happy filled art.

Would you like to be a featured artist on Tell All Tuesday? Email me @ jennibellie@yahoo.co.uk if you feel up to sharing.