I had a Play Date today

I had a play date today – with me and my art journal!

SuziBlu’s home assignment for this week was a self portrait in your art journal. Hers didn’t look like her but was gorgeous and cute. Mine don’t look like me very much either – but are rather ugly. First I sketched myself in my altered art journal. It’s almost filled now, so the self portrait is on the image register in the end of the book.

I used the first pen I found, a watercolour pencil in blue, and then sat in front of the mirror and did my best. I like the right side, but the left eye was just smeared and non-fixable. Or I just didn’t care. I’m gonna make another one soon, maybe that one will look better? It was just for fun, and I haven’t been drawing a lot in the past ten fifteen years or so, so I didn’t expect much. And from that point of view, its rather… arty? You can tell it’s a grown up, that it’s a woman and that she is blue! Haha, if I go on I’ll be a pro soon.

Then I did a quick sketch with my black Vellum writer pen on the opposite side, just looking at the blue sketch. This one is a bit more cartoony, but it’s still me, can you tell? I coloured it with my brothers children’s paint cakes. I really dig those now!

This week I’ve spent a lot of time by the computer, fixing the store on Lulu’s site (for selling my  blog book) and doing marketing for the book to the best of my knowledge. So today I’ve been creative away from the computer. At the library this morning I made a reservation for a book by Connie Willis that I heard about in Mur Lafferty’s podcast show and wanted to have a look at. If you like to write you should defiantly go listen to that show, it contains a lot of great inspiration and info! And Connie sounds like a nice person.

Anyway, while at the library I did some diary writing and read a magazine about health. In the afternoon I visited IKEA and now I’ve been just relaxing and playing in my art journal. It was so fun, and exactly what I needed! I think I’ll do a bit more before I go to bed, just playing with images and not really thinking I make art, and sometimes it surprises even me how much symbolic images and word I can fit into a page without even planning it!

Here are some photos from my art journal today:

Octopus spread. I’m dedicating it to my friend Anna who is a fan of 8-armed creatures!

Yosemite National Park spread.

First I didn’t know what to do about this spread, because I wanted to fill it with images, but I couldn’t cover up the right page with the two bears begging for food from the tourists in the National Park. So instead I coloured it and gave them fishes to eat! I might write a bit on this page later.

I love both of these spreads. Below are some close ups of both spreads. You know I love those close-up photos too.

Detail from the Octopussy spread;

From the Yosemite page;

Did you go all the way down here? Do you like to crochet? While doing art I listened to Craft Cast and linked on to these cool knitting patterns for felting (or fulled as it is called)! Some cool stuff there, and I have yet to knit/fulled my first item.

Have a great weekend!