GJJ - Days 29 & 30

 Hello All.

Here are my final two pages for Gratitude Junk Journal.

Day 29 - Gratitude for Doodles with Sandy Allnock.

For this spread I used watercolour paint, graphite and Stabilo All black pencils, and a black pen.

I got very engrossed in making all of the lines and marks. It was a very calming exercise.

Day 30 - Gratitude for Courage with Janette Simmons.

Gel-printing, collage, stencilling, lots of layers, mixed media - This was my kind of art!

Thanks so much to all of you who followed my Gratitude Junk Journal journey. I really enjoyed Tiare Smith's course.

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend.

Alison

GJJ Days 25 & 26 - Gratitude For Joy & For Recognition

 Hello All.

Today I'm sharing a couple more of my GJJ pages.

Firstly, Day 25's prompt was Joy. What gave us joy today? I saw a jay on the bird feeder in my garden twice in one morning, and both times it gave me joy, and I ran to tell my hubby. Unfortunately the jay didn't hang around long enough for him to see it too.

On Day 26, Sarah Matthew's prompt was gratitude for recognition. Sarah showed us how to make some foam word stamps, and also 'trash' stamps using the offcuts of foam, but I used some of my hand-carved stamps on my page instead.

Happy Friday to you all, and thanks for visiting.

Alison

GJJ Days 23 & 24 - Gratitude For My Surroundings & Gratitude For Birds

 Hello Everyone.

Happy Advent to you all! I've started an Advent art journal that I'll share in a few days, but I still have a few pages for Gratitude Junk Journal to show you. I'm going to double up on the pages now.

I think you all know by now that I love the outdoors and all kinds of wildlife, especially birds.

Here's my Day 23 page, which reflects the lovely countryside and wildlife where we live, that I'm so grateful for.

I spotted a YouTube tutorial by Shawn Petite, and used that as inspiration to create this page.

On Day 24, Amanda Fall's prompt was gratitude for birds.

I've always loved a quirky Puffin! Those beaks are so striking against their black and white plumage. One of my best holidays was in the north east of England, when we got a boat out to The National Trust's Farne Islands and saw Puffins and lots of other wonderful sea birds and seals. I used images from an old NT magazine for this page.

Wishing you a happy new month.

Thanks for visiting.

Alison

GJJ Day 22 - Gratitude For Butterflies with Nicole Watson

 Hello All.

There aren't very many butterflies around at the moment, it's turned very cold here now. I did spot one last week though, when I was walking across a meadow.

The GJJ tutorial with Nicole Watson was very full on, creating a background of many layers, then creating some multi- layered tip-ins also.

Here's my page.

With the tip-ins opened. The quote reads "Don't be afraid, change is such a beautiful thing." said the butterfly - Sabrina Newby.

A close-up with the tip-ins shut.

I think this could be my favourite page so far. Let me know what you think.

I'm linking up to Leah's Art Every Day Month Challenge Day 30. It's been a great month, and I only missed Day one. I should have set myself a calendar reminder!

Thanks for visiting me today.

Alison.

GJJ Day 21 - A Reason For Gratitude - Crying/Tears

 Hello All.

Here's another GJJ page, where the prompt is gratitude for crying/tears. Not all tears are sad, but I think my lady's tears aren't happy ones.

I'm linking my art to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge Day 28.

Thanks for visiting,

Alison

GJJ - Day 20 - A Quote of Gratitude

 Hi Everyone.

I love the quote for Day 20 of Gratitude Junk Journal. It's all about being grateful for what you have, and not complaining about the things you want.

A fairly simple page (for me), just a collage of Seven Gypsies patterned papers and some old book page scraps. A little turquoise paint scraped over with a palette knife, some quickly sketched flowers and outlines with my Stabilo All black pencil, then activated with water. I held up my journal to get some drips, and added some splatters. I stamped the quote out using my trusty Hero Arts alphabet set, then finished with some white acrylic ink splatters.

I'm linking my page to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge Day 27. 

I think my page has some Summer vibes with the flowers and the turquoise sky, and maybe the drips are a Summer shower, so I'm also linking to Chris' All Kinds Of Weather theme at Art Journal Journey.

I hope you're all having a good weekend.

Thanks for visiting,

Alison

GJJ Day 19 - Gratitude For Food As A Love Language

 Hello All.

Today's offering is Candice Hunter's GJJ class, Gratitude For Food As A Love Language.

I used Seven Gypsies patterned papers ( the word Abundance came from them ), some images and words from a Waitrose supermarket magazine, and the cute robins were from some patterned pocket tissues.

I'm linking my page to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge Day 26.

Thanks for visiting,

Alison

GJJ - Day 18 - A Question Of Gratitude

 Hello All.

Day 18's question of gratitude was 'When did something recently make you smile, or laugh out loud?'

My page is about a walk I recently went on, with my two friends and their dogs. It was lovely to catch up with my friends, and the dogs had such a lovely time, playing and racing around the woods and fields. They really made me smile and laugh, and my spirits were lifted so much.

I used a couple of green acrylics and orange in my background, with a couple of my hand-carved leaf stamps, and splashes of green paint and gold acrylic ink. 

I printed a couple of photos that one of my friends took, and glued them to the page, adding some gold leaf ribbon, and journaling.

That's me in the blue crochet hat and grey fleece, with my friend Louise. The dogs are Samson, Tilly and Pascal, left to right in the top photo.

I'm linking my page to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge, Day 24, and also to Chris' All Kinds Of Weather theme at Art Journal Journey.

Thanks for dropping by,

Alison

GJJ Day 17 - Gratitude For Change with Karla Archer

 Hello All.

Karla Archer's lesson for Day 17 of Gratitude Junk Journal was Gratitude For Change. Her idea was that sometimes we start off with an idea for some art, but often it changes and goes off course. Of course there are other changes in life that are not always expected, and not always good.

Here's my version of Karla's art.

There are many layers to this painting, and as I used a palette knife to apply the last layers of paint, there is plenty of texture too.

I'm linking my art to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge, Day 22.

Thanks for visiting,

Alison

I Love Paying Bills!

 Hi Everyone!

Gratitude Junk Journal's 'reason' for Day 16 was gratitude for paying bills. A strange one you might think, but I'm grateful that I always have the funds to pay any bills I need to, and I don't have any money worries.

Here's my page. I collaged some old invoices as my first layer. That saved shredding a few 😁

I'm linking my art to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge Day 21.

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend.

Thanks for visiting.

Alison

Gratitude For Self/Body With Nathifa Sligh

 Hello All.

Here's my page for Gratitude Junk Journal Day 15 - Gratitude for self/body with Nathifa Sligh.

Masses of sprays and mediums make up this page, with collage and reasons to be grateful for eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and heart, and a favourite photo of myself, taken when we visited Berlin a few years ago.

There were a few April showers in Berlin that weekend, hence the raincoat, so I'm linking up to Chris' All Kinds Of Weather theme at Art Journal Journey.

I'm also linking my art to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge Day 19.

Happy Friday to you all, and thank you for visiting!

Alison

A Gratitude Quote

 Hello All.

Day 14 of Gratitude Junk Journal had a quote prompt. 

'When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out, and the tide of love rushes in.' - Kristin Armstrong.

I collaged some teabag papers and scraps of book text, then gessoed over them. The marks are some I painted onto tissue, then adhered them to my page with matt medium. I love how the tissue becomes invisible. I've been making lots of this tissue collage, using up black paint from my palette. I always seem to squeeze out more than I need!

I painted the large heart, wrote out the quote, added black pen outlines and scribble writing around the heart.

Then I painted and added drips and splatters with diluted coffee. I also added some blue paint and gold acrylic ink splashes.

I'm linking my page to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge Day 18.

Thanks for visiting,

Alison

Gratitude For Freedom Of Speech with Birgit Koopsen

 Hello All.

Gratitude Junk Journal Day 12's class was Gratitude For Freedom Of Speech with Birgit Koopsen.

I'm linking my page to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge Day 17.

Thanks for visiting, and for all of the lovely comments you leave.

Alison

Gratitude Junk Journal Day 11 - A Reason To Be Grateful

 Hello Everyone!

For Day 11 of the Gratitude Junk Journal course, our reason to be grateful prompt was to choose our favourite season. I chose Autumn, as I love all sorts of things about it, but especially the colours this time of year.

I first collaged some appropriate colours of gelliplate prints, added some black paint marks, and stamped with my hand carved leaf. I also added white paint pen splatters at this point. 

I drew the large leaf shapes, then painted around them with nickel azo gold acrylic. I added black pen outlines and white pen doodles and writing, then wrote my title.

I'm linking my page to Chris' All Kinds of Weather theme at Art Journal Journey, and Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge Day 16.

Thanks for dropping by,

Alison

Gratitude Junk Journal Day 10 with Ady Almanza

 Hello All.

A quick post, as I only remembered to do this as I was on my way to bed!

Here's my page for Ady Almanza's class on Gratitude Junk Journal.

I'm linking my page to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge Day 15.

Thanks for visiting,

Alison

Gratitude Junk Journal Day 8 with Gwen LaFleur

 Hello All.

My daughter was at Cop26 this week with her work colleagues. They are working on a project for sustainable aerospace. She saw some amazing stands and displays, and came to the conclusion that there should be more young people sitting at the table and making decisions for the good of the planet. It certainly appears that there is a lot of talk, but very little action!

Day 8 of Gratitude Junk Journal with Gwen LaFleur was all about gratitude for water. Gwen's tutorial had an ocean theme to it, which is very appropriate in these times. 

Here's my page. I used diluted coffee for the drips and splashes, and the ocean creatures are Tim Holtz stamps.

I'm linking my page to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge, Day 13.

I hope you're having a good weekend.

Thanks for dropping by,

Alison

52 Weeks Art Journal - Week 45 - Ordinary Things

 Hi Everyone.

Here's my page for 52 Week's Art Journal - Week 45 - Ordinary Things, and also for Day 7 of Gratitude Junk Journal - What item do you own that brings you comfort? I chose my favourite cosy grey jumper. It's my go to when it starts getting chilly.

I'm wearing my chilly weather jumper, and I've used some Autumn colours, so I'm linking up to Chris' All Kinds of Weather theme at Art Journal Journey.

I'm also linking my art to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge Day 12.

Happy Friday to you all, and thanks for visiting me today.

Alison

A Reason To Be Grateful - Not having to Cook

 Hello All.

For Gratitude Junk Journal Day 6's reason to be grateful prompt, we had to make a page about not being grateful for not having to cook for a day. As we aren't going to restaurants these days, my gratitude was for a picnic on a glorious Summer's day.

A collage base with turquoise paint scraped over the top, then some bold paint marks. I adhered patterned paper clouds, trees, and a summer meadow and picnic cloth, and magazine images of bread and wine. I added some pencil shading, and finished with a hand-written title and some black ink splashes.

I'm linking up to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge Day 10, and Chris' All Kinds Of Weather theme for Art Journal Journey.

I'm thankful to report that I haven't suffered any nasty side effects from my 3rd Covid jab, just a slightly aching arm. I was able to have a lovely walk with my parents and Wednesday walking group today, and to spend the afternoon making this page 😊

I hope you've had a good day also.

Thanks so much for dropping by,

Alison

Gratitude Junk Journal - Day 4 - A Quote

 Hi Everyone.

I have another page to share for the Gratitude Junk Journal course, and the theme for this one is a quote.

'Be grateful not only for others, but also for yourself.'

I laid down some collage, then scraped light blue acrylic over it, then I painted the woman hugging herself, and added some Autumn leafy vines around her. I stamped the quote using alphabet stamps, and finished with some paint splashes. I really wish I could draw hands! 😁

I'm linking my page to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge, Day 7, and also to Chris' All Kinds of Weather theme at Art Journal Journey.

I hope you've had a lovely weekend,

Thanks for visiting,

Alison

Gratitude Junk Journal Day 3 with Ayala Art

 Hello Everyone.

I have another art journal page to share with you today. Martha aka Ayala Art's class was titled 'Gratitude For Your Backbone'. For example, our strength and forbearance.

We lay down some collage, then sketched and painted the woman, adding beads to accentuate her backbone. I darkened the left side of the page with Prussian Blue acrylic, and lightened the right with Snowflake Fresco acrylic. I added the circles using a lid and Snowflake acrylic, and finished with some paint splashes. I also wrote some words up her left side with a white chinagraph pencil.

I'm linking my page at Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge, Day 6.

It looks as though she is out in the snow, so I'm also linking up to Chris' All Kinds of Weather theme at Art Journal Journey.

She'd better get some clothes on! That butterfly shouldn't be out there either. 

Thanks for dropping by,

Alison