From the White Book

Oh boy, the White Book! What can I say? Of all the journals in my life I think this one has been the most  problematic to fill. It doesn't show in the pages much, but believe me when I say that this book is the first one where I sometimes skip more than ten days between entries. This is not a bad thing in general, but it is an unusual thing for me. My journaling has become so inconsistent lately and I don't like it.

I can't really pinpoint what it is, but just the fact alone that this book has been worked in for over a year already tells me it's trouble. ;-) Don't worry, I still love journaling and I still love this book to bits and I love working in it too, but I just can't seem to keep my almost daily habit going much lately.

I suppose it's one of those ebb and flow things we all go through from time to time, but I would feel better about it if I got back to the flow if you know what I mean. Oh well, I'll just have to ride it out. At least I am still journaling, it's not like I have abandoned the book completely!

Here are my latest pages:

I don't know if you can tell, but the first three spreads are quicky spreads that were done fast just to be able to do some writing on the page. I know I could just write on an empty white page, but I like visual elements on my pages even if it's just a few.

The next two were 'normal' everyday spreads that took about half an hour to make and I usually do those on work nights when I don't have much time, but still want to fill a spread with a layout.

The last two are more elaborate and time consuming. They involve more cutting of shapes and details and stuff.  These took about and hour and a half each. This is what gets done when I really sit down to work in my art journal and have plenty of time.

The last spread is also the one I showed you in my latest step by step post. For those who wondered how I would write on this one: now you know!  I just write across things. Nothing's sacred, haha. I actually often think my pages are a lot prettier without the writing over them, but after all my real journaling is in the writing, so I can't skip that part just because it looks better. Anyway, the less pretty does add more character I think.

Hope you enjoyed this peek in my journal and wish you all a wonderful and artsy day!

Small sketchbook

I've kept this small square sketchbook for a while now (about a year and a half). It used to live in my backpack, but was replaced by several other (already filled up) sketchbooks and now it sits in the artsy box I keep near the couch. I still don't work in it very often. I love the size and the square format (it measures 15x15 cm, which is 6x6 inches) and the paper is nice too, but the binding makes it very hard to keep open.

I keep thinking of just abandoning it and replacing it with something a bit more practical that I will grab easier, but somehow I can't let go just yet. Where some people have a hard time finishing a sketchbook, I seem to have a hard time letting one go until it's done. But maybe I really should, since working in it is always a little annoying.

Anyway, here are some random pages from the small sketchbook so you can see what kind of stuff I do when I sit on the couch and need to get my art on, but don't want to get up to do it. The fact that my fingers are in just about every picture is proof of how hard it is to keep this book open. ;-)

A little letter drawing to get the creative juices flowing after being dormant for a while. This is done in a regular felt tip pen.

Abstract in cheap watersoluble crayons.

A system work drawing coloured in with textmarkers/highlighters.

A letter drawing in watercolour (and an empty page).

A bit of abstract nonsense in felt tip pen and watercolour.

Doodling away (both done in felt tip pens).

Some girls in felt tip pen.

Another system work drawing, this time coloured in with coloured pencils.

Paper tree collage.

By the way, I think another reason why I'm often reluctant to work in this book is because it was supposed to be an experiment in working more randomly and spontaneaously across a  whole book instead of chronologically filling page after page from front to back. I'm finding I don't like that at all. There's lots of people out there who fill there journals and sketchbooks that way, but I like my stuff to be in order of appearance. For me a book is like a story, be it the story of my life (my journal) or just the story of my art in that particular book. I like to know which came before what if you know what I mean. This book feels all over the place and I just don't know which goes where (or which goes when, haha)

Mmm, the more I think about it I really need to abandon this sketchbook. Now if I could only find the courage to dump a book that is not completely filled up. I really need psychological help! ;-)

Have a nice and artsy weekend, all!

Storm and high tide

I believe I already mentioned that we had a big storm at the end of October that was quite scary and left a lot of damage on the island. Well, last week we had another one. Even though in force it came close to the one in October it was a lot less damaging, probably because the direction of the wind was different this time. It did last very long though, more than 24 hours at least and I was happy when it was over.

One effect it had in combination with spring tide was extreme high waters. I wouldn't be me if I didn't take some pictures of this and I would be even less of me if I didn't share them with my blogsy people. So here you have some pictures of extreme high tide on our island, so you get even more insight in what this island living is all about.

All this water you're seeing is supposed to be a square and a road. That's the ferry on the right.

All the houses on this street have either sandbags or special boards in slots to protect them.

The ferry was stuck on the island because of the tide and the storm. You couldn't get on it anyway.

This is the 'coupure'. It's part of a dyke around the town and goes up when the water is this high to protect the main street.

The water is trying to creep into the town.

This is where we usually board the ferry.

Now it looked like a  huge paddling pool. I shudder tot think what the salt water did to those bikes.

When I posted some of these pics on Facebook people were a little worried, but let me comfort you by saying this happens a couple of times a year and although it's still quite high it's not that unusual. We have to live with the sea around us and sometimes that means things like this. Islanders are not easily impressed. ;-)

Still I thought these made some nice photos and they give a bit of a different perspective on living here as well, right?

Wishing you all a wonderful and artsy Wednesday!

Step by step journal spread

From time to time I like to show how a journal spread comes into being and wouldn't you know it, now is one of those times! Take a peek at my process and see how a page comes together.

We'll start with a fresh white spread. Very empty indeed. No worries, that won't last.

Tearing some decorative paper and sticking it to both sides already fills it up quite nicely.

Now we get out a stencil, a piece of wet sponge and some gouache.

Stencil away! Just a few minutes ago these pages were white, now they're ready for action.

Take another piece of decorative paper and tear some border strips to put on each side.

Let's get my favorite tool, the circle template. And some more pretty paper. We'll be cutting circles!

Spreading the circles across the spread and sticking them down.

Time to get a paint marker and draw some dashes around the circles to make them stand out more.

Time for some imagery. I found these gerberas in an online flower catalogue.

And here's some more pretty paper with flowers and butterflies. Let's do some more cutting and pasting.

That seems to fit perfectly with the atmosphere of the page!

Of course this wouldn't be my journal if there was not some border around the edges in marker. Dots this time.

Time for some words. These come from a magazine.

To make them fit better I outlined them and coloured the area around them yellow.

Now I felt like the page was lacking in yellow altogether, so out comes the template and some yellow paper.

Cutting some smaller yellow circles and adding them to the bigger ones. With this I considered the spread done.

And here are some details for those of you who like to see things up close.

I really enjoyed doing this spread. If you have any questions about materials or techniques just ask.
As always I didn't plan these pages, they just happen as I go along. That's how I work, one step at a time with no idea where I will end up. Somehow it always works out.

Wishing you all a wonderful and artsy weekend!

Seals!

It's that time of year again when young seals are born and it's that time of year again when they are not strong enough to withstand a harsh swim in wintery or stormy weather, but sometimes they get caught in the high tide. So from time to time it happens that they (and with them their moms) are stranded on the island until they become strong enough to swim back to the plate they come from.

Sometimes, when we are very lucky they stay on the beach with us for a while and it just so happens that this is going on right now. So, here for your viewing pleasure, some cutesie seals and especially some cutesie seal babies.

These were taken from a  respectable distance by the way (thank God for my zoom camera), because getting too close to baby seals and their adult protectors is not a smart thing to do. Not for them (it causes stress and fear and may separate them from each other) and not for you (it causes agression and seal teeth are no laughing matter!).

Anyway, I hope they stick around for a while so hopefully I can take some pics again this winter. I also would love to come back and bring my binoculars and just study them for a while.  Those babies really are cute as a button! ;-)

Wishing you all a wonderful and cutesy week.