2012

I don't remember Gabriel growing so fast, but at the beginning of the year he was a baby, and now he's a boy.
Ronin is a month old and yet it seems like just yesterday that I was whinging about him being overdue.Some of his clothing he could only wear once, because while wondersuits were in the wash he outgrew them. Others he never fit at all (4.4kg anyone?)

I'm horrified by how fast this year is coming to a close.
So while it doesn't even seem like a year has passed since I reviewed last year - here is 2012

We took over the local park and the swimming pool in our complex for some intense athletic competitions. It was so amazing that we even attracted the attention of a local (highly eccentric) artist.

Also I turned 27.

 Family photos at Carrs Park - and the beginnings of Ronin. Thankfully I don't get morning sickness to any debilitating degree.

Still warm enough to take Gabe to the pool, and he's still too young to be scared of things that he ought to be wary of. Like jumping into the big pool when he can't swim.

Getting colder. Life and work goes on. 

My sister got engaged on her birthday to her very nice boyfriend. Gabe LOVES visiting his Oma and Papa and pestering all the guinea pigs and the ducks (RIP duckies)

Gabe hates getting his hair cut. We have to wrestle him to get any kind of cutting implement near his head. As a result of this, his hair cuts aren't so great. Visiting Lambs Valley and Grandma and Grandma is great though. 

Mum taught me how to crochet this winter, so I made things. Gabe and I escape whenever it's not super cold or wet because our house is boring. We are sick for this entire month.

The Brother in Law gets married and is supremely happy. It is a great excuse to visit with family who we rarely get to see. 

Gabriel goes for his first horse ride, bare back and unassisted - like the true grandson of his horse-lord Grandpa. This month is awesome, because it is full of family. We spend our last weekend at Blue Bonnet as it is SOLD :( but it is fantastic to spend that time with family. 

 

My sister gets married and is stunningly beautiful. 

Family travels from around the country and from New Zealand to be there and enjoy the occasion (and the great food)

 

Kyle turns 26 and we don't have to pay so much for insurance on the car.

 

 

Gabe turns 2. In the week leading up to his birthday he proves just how awesome his is by letting me potty train him. 

 

Kyle applies for film school.

I start study to be a medical transcriptionist.

 

 

After impatiently waiting for him to arrive, Ronin is born on the 9th. He looks like his brother's brother, but definitely has my nose.

I think he's pretty cool. 

Another wedding, the first that I get to go to NOT pregnant. 

Christmas is soon and I am wholly unprepared, but life goes on. 

There are four of us now and I still feel like I'm just playing at being a grown up.

Next year Kyle will be studying film, and to make sure that we have enough currency to survive we will be running several businesses out of our house. 

I'm nervous and a bit stressed about it, but excited too. 

We'll just have to see what 2013 brings. 

See you then x

 

 

photos of photos

People tend to keep photos digitally these days, but I like having them printed out.
Sometimes when I remember I will sit down and write on the back of them about where and when they were taken.

Today I was looking back on some photos and decided I would write on the front of them.

The swag was like a body bag - and kind of freaked me out I have to admit, and the bottom of the creek out the back of the in-laws place is super slimy and also kind of freaked me out.

regrets

A lazy page? it sure is.

This is a magazine page, which I put white out on and wrote over. People say they don't regret things and wouldn't change their mistakes. I disagree. I would change certain things for sure, I don't treasure the foolish things I've done or think that they have made me who I am. I am sure that given the opportunity I would have chosen a wiser way to learn those same lessons.

The real point is that nothing can be changed so it's best not to worry about it.

That's what I'm ranting about on, if you can't read my writing.

Another blog with my REAL name.

So I am refocusing my artistic efforts into commissions and have created another blog where you I will write about that kind of thing.

Because I have really loved getting into art journaling, this blog will be dedicated pretty much 100% to that. Updates won't be as frequent (hah) but the blog will stay alive.

Come check out the new one, and HIRE ME FOR WORK over here. It's so grown up it even uses my real name - novel!

The Art Journal - Page 4 (& 5)

Goals.

So this is a double page spread I suppose. (and the blurriest photo yet)

I think its good to regularly write down and reassess my goals - it helps me track how close (or far away) I am to achieving them.
So this page is about that.

I painted the background, cut the letters out of scrap paper - to use as templates for the nice paper and then just stuck some bits and pieces down. You can cut out a printed font if you aren't too keen on what you come up with free hand.
All the paper I've used so far in this book is much like what I put in the kits for sale on etsy.

Sometimes you don't want just anyone reading the things you write so there are lots of ways to hide your writing. I made a flap to hide my more personal goals behind. The hinge stickers are obviously purpose made, but you can make your own, or just glue down part of the page and fold it over.

What are your goals? What do you want to be when you grow up? (I still don't feel like I have) Write them down!

Some tips:

• Add another dimension to your page by adding a flap/pocket/envelope for you to hide a message in. 
• Don't be too precious or perfectionist about your pages (especially when you use paint)

The Art Journal - Page 3

THIS IS WHY... continued.

These pages face each other and so I thought it would be good for them to share a theme.

My husband is not an overly sentimental fellow. (understatement)

One day though, I know that I will be glad that I have bothered to write/create/spew these books, because it will help him, and our children, and their children (if they last that long) to know me, and perhaps even him, better.
It certainly isn't my primary motivation, but with one little kiddie-winkle running wild on this world and another one kicking my internal organs (even as I type this), it seems like a nice thought that one day they'd be able to look at these - my creative spewings - and get to know me at 27.

This page has... a wonderful drawing from Ky and Gabe during church, a photo of the boys in Raro, a rubbing or a lino cut plate, and more paper off cuts. (Art journaling is a great way to get rid of scrap paper!)

I also sewed some things on with wool.

Use photos in your pages!These boys are my favourite people, who are yours? Make a page about them! Art journaling is a lot looser than scrap booking and there really are no rules.

Some tips:

• Try sewing things on. If the paper/card is thick, stab the holes first with an awl. 
• Make your own paper - with stamps, leaf rubbings, drawings, hand prints...
• Alphabet stickers are awesome. I know I was all like 'love your handwriting' and you should, but variety is good too. 

 In other news... my camera is no good at taking photos of flat things - like pages of art journals. The edges are ALWAYS blurry.

A thousand and one leaves.

I am quite sure that I have mentioned this before, but I love trees.
Once upon a time I had hopes of making my career out of them. (I wrote all about that here) Turns out I can't escape them because nearly everything I draw or paint seems to have trees involved.

Fantasy things

Non fantasy things

Mixed media things

My 'portfolio' (such as it is) is utter arbour madness. 

Recently I got to be involved in helping a family of friends create a tree of their own, loaded with meaning and significance.

not a great photo...

So thanks Carli and Winston for letting me be part of creating something for your family.

In related news, I never want to paint another leaf again.

a rant

Time really does go by much faster than I ever remember as a kid. 

Days must seem incredibly long to Gabriel.

Day length seems variable, based on what I have to do/want to do, and whether or not it is raining.
I have been art journaling and putting together what I hope will be a useful little course for people to download (once I get some decent not blurry photos!!) in the coming months.

Restrain your excitement.

After finishing watching all of Stargate SG1 and then Stargate Atlantis, Ky and I turned to The Walking Dead. I LOVE zombie movies, so I figured that it was only a natural progression for me to appreciate this tv series as well. I have to admit though that after passing the midway point of the second series I am disenchanted, and depressed by the characters having their moral strength chipped away by the obviously heinous circumstances.
It's not that I can't appreciate the realism of the psychology of the whole thing, but I like seeing people succeed, rise above circumstance, maintain their courage in the face of adversity, pull together through trials... you know, all those good things.

This is probably why I love B-grade action movies so much... as a general rule they are resolved in an incredibly redemptive way. Perhaps not realistic, but I don't necessarily watch television for reality.

That's why I can't sit through Battlestar, because the characters are so real, their issues so real, and all together its all just very annoying.
I want to escape for goodness sake!

Anyway, after all this blathering about television, here are some of my other thoughts for the week - it is Wednesday after all, and while I am running out of lungs to cough up, sickness can't keep me from updating my blog... or complaining about tv.

 I miss my daily jogging path around Raro.

 Disappointment tastes bad.

Look at how little my baby looks! This was taken a year ago... 

The Art Journal - Page 2

Why I do it. 

This page was inspired ENTIRELY by Roy Batty, the deep thinking android from Blade Runner. 

"All these moments will be lost in time, 

like tears in rain."

With no record of them, my moments will disappear with me, and to be 'American Beauty' style sentimental for a moment - life can be poignantly, pleasantly, and even painfully beautiful - and I don't want to lose those snapshots. 

What I think is beautiful says as much (if not more) about me, and my concept of beauty, but things like beauty are highly subjective and I will enjoy looking back one day at these creations which illustrate in more than just words the details that I believe make life truly wonderful. 

This page is layered again... they all are... this time focusing on a photograph I took several years ago while living in Taiwan. 

This man held his granddaughter so carefully as the train moved. I thought it was such a precious moment that I had to take a photo... even though taking photos of strangers is a REALLY creepy thing to do. 

The vintage image of the woman came from a tarot deck which I cut up, because I liked the pictures. (Don't like tarot - I think its freaky) but the lady in this picture seems really sad, and journals should encompass the whole range of emotions that make up our lives. Even the sad ones. 

I cut 2 different papers into strips and wove them together just for some difference in texture. Stuck things down, then painted on the photo and print with acrylic paint - so that I could write legibly over them. 

What inspires you? Collect together some of the words, images, memories that inspire your work and your life and put them onto paper!

Some tips:

• Old magazine pages make cool paper weaves because it mingles the pictures. 
• Don't be afraid of painting on/writing on/or cutting photos. You can get them reprinted. (Unless you can't in which case - have a care!)
• Download free fonts (like I obviously didn't) for ideas, or to print out.

the Horse and the Bird

I made these prints ago and decided to colour some in and frame them up.

The backwards note on the bird one (it looks like a q, is SOOOOO anooying to me. Grah. There are nearly always things in my work that bugs me, but this more than other things)

I used watercolour paint, coloured pencils, magazine cuttings, ball point pen, acrylic, and sharpies. 

The pieces of masking tape that I used to make the design on the frame when I painted it got taken by the kiddo and stuck on his face. Which for some reason is where he puts all stickers.

an exercise in self-pity

I have been sick for the past five or so days. With a sinus infection which has taken away my sense of smell and taste, and therefore removed food of all the enjoyment that you derive from eating it.

I realise it's not the end of the world, and the antibiotics are very slowly slaying these sinus-blocking evil things. Still, constant headaches, tooth aches, popping ears, inability to breathe and all together general crappiness are tiring when stretched out over a week.

The most gutting part of it all is, that I missed out on the mars bar cheesecake at the brother in laws engagement, missed church (which meant missing out on Charlotte's epic cake... amongst other things), and then missed the awesome pav that my sister made at mum and dad's that night.

There is a little bit of bitterness there, could you tell?

So much so that I made a page in my art journal about it. Combining the two things that are annoying me at the moment.

1. Taxes for our partnership.
2. Sinus infections in a pregnant person. (Apparently it's worse when you're pregnant)

Art Journal #1 All about you (or rather - me)

#1 Self Portrait / an Introduction.

This is what I drew as my 'photo-a-day' effort for July 1. I don't think it looks very much like me... I kind of went crazy with artistic license and make my eyes bigger and made a bunch of other non deliberate changes. When I showed Gabe, he said "mummy!" which was good enough for me.

 Coincidentally, it is also the basis for what is the title page/ introduction/ whatever, for my A4 art journal. If you would like to follow along with me as I make this book, I will be posting new pages on Friday or Saturday with different styles/mediums/techniques and hopefully it will help you to make your own.

Weekend Projects!!

I thought that it was important for me to get back into what used to be one of my favourite ways to express myself as a teenager. After putting together the "FUN STUFF" kits I had a lot of things out and a lot of inspiration to really get into art-journaling.

This page has a lot of layers.
Paint - an assortment of paper - some fabric - staples - glue - and a bunch of writing.

I think it is great to have intros or title pages for art journals, especially when you anticipate other people looking through them. Also its nice looking back to see your intentions for the book spelled out and just to break into a nice blank book... which can be a bit intimidating (in my opinion)


Some tips with this page:

• Fixative spray on pencil drawings (or writing) is reaaaaallly useful in helping them last without turning into really smudgy messes (and mirroring themselves on the opposite pages)
• Lay things out before you crack out the glue stick. 
• Love your handwriting! I'll go on and on about this, but it's a great way to have something 100% uniquely you in your book. If you aren't really confident, practice on another page first or use pencil. (If I had done this I would have far less spelling mistakes in my work...)

Wednesday Words - July begins

Thursday 28.06

  

Friday 29.06

 

Saturday 30.06

 Sunday 01.07

  

Monday 02.07

Tuesday 03.07

Wednesday 04.07