BREAKING NEWS

I actually GLUED some PAPER into my Moleskine journal today....
Ain't that worth a blog post? You can do the cheering in the comment section below... THANKS!!! :-)

Direction 2

Since there is no Art Journal prompt every week, I decided to do another page with the prompt "direction".
I used the magazine cut out of the Amazon river that I actually wanted to use in the first "direction page" and combined it with 2 elephant photo's I made at the Stuttgart Zoo (be sure to click on the link and adore the cute little bear on the first page- it is a slideshow so take your time). The elephant walks from one place to the other...just goes there where the water is, living with the seasons.

The stamped text is actually part of the lyrics of a classic Dutch funeral song that used to be in the top 5 of funeral music for ages. I am happy to see that is doesn't show up anymore in this latest top 50.
Anyway... my point in using these lyrics (which say more or less: "Where to, and Why") in combination with the image of the elephant was to show that this animal knows exactly where it is going and why, and we, human beings, are always making it soooooo hard on ourselves... :-).
Isn't that just DEEP? hahaha

Art Journal so far

1. week 1 - commit, 2. week 2 detail -, 3. week 2 - feel, 4. week 3 - connect, 5. week 4 - own word - jealous, 6. week 5 - balance, 7. week 6 - emotion, 8. week 8 - magic, 9. week 7 - Fly, 10. week 8 - magic detail, 11. week 9 - future, 12. Week 10 - Soul, 13. week 11 - begin, 14. week 12 - truth, 15. week 13 -life, 16. Direction

Alive!

This was the art journal prompt that came before "Direction" but I didn't know what to do with it until now. I don't really like how it turned out colourwise, but I do like my version of "death or alive" :-).

Direction...

Emily's latest art journal prompt is DIRECTION.
When I read this prompt I immediately had in mind a picture from a magazine that I tore out a while ago, showing part of the Amazon river from the sky... flowing to all kinds of directions... So I positioned the picture on my art journal page and started thinking what to do with the background when I heard my mini-me crying..which means I have to leave my desk and feed or cuddle her. I am 100% sure she has this 6th sense: she KNOWS that I am upstairs and it seems like she always starts crying when I have just opened a tube of paint!

Anyway, being called away has its advantages.... you sometimes get better ideas when you stop working on something and take the time to think it over.
So this morning, when Mini-Me was taking her 2nd nap of the day I rushed up stairs, opened 3 tubes of paint, started mixing and applied the purplish background colour to my pages with an old creditcard (just to speed up the process, brushing would take too long). Dropped some red paint on the page, closed the book to create a rorschach-effect. The picture with the exuberant colours came from a coffee advertisement and I loved it! The picture on the left page came from a newspaper and represents a Mormon woman. I made a clear adhesive paper transfer from this photo, the cool thing of this type of transfer is that it sticks to the page without having to apply glue or anything.
Well.. to make a long story short: I used the 2 images to support my journaling about finding the right direction; finding balance between a decadent lifestyle and a sober one. That's what I want my daughter to learn.. use elements of both these "worlds" to have a complete life :-).

Art Journal 2008- Begin*Truth*Life

For the first page *Begin* I used a photo that I made from my bedroom window and made the background with watersoluble crayons and Golden mica flakes. The prompt begin inspired me to the ask myself the following question: if that pot of gold can be found at the end of the rainbow....then on which side do you begin searching?


The second prompt *truth* inspired me ask myself some questions about "the truth" and how this concept can mean something different to everyone. I also wonder if it is really appreciated if you tell someone the truth. I personally think that truth is an overrated concept and that in most cases the best thing you can do is keep the truth a secret. Of course this doesn't mean you have to lie all the time.....you are just not telling the truth...to protect friendships..family ties...your job...etcetera etcetera...
The transparent nude stands of course...for the naked truth... and I guess you can figure out the rest of the imagery on the page.


For the last page the prompt was *life*. Quite a difficult concept but while I was going through my stamps I saw the one with the boots and the lyrics from Nancy Sinatra popped into my head immediately :-). And I thought... isn't that what life is all about? You just keep going...whatever happens. Sometimes you'll "walk" a little faster than other times..but in the end you'll keep on walking...

Art Journal 2008 - Soul

Art Journal 2008 - Future

When I was in High School the government came up with this slogan "A smart girl is prepared for her future". The goal was to encourage girls to choose not only the typical girl subjects for their study such as languages, but to choose math and science instead.
I sucked at math so I went to university..doing a typical 'girl' study; Spanish Language and Culture.
I used the slogan on the bottom of the page together with the crystal ball to make the point that you never know what the future will bring...and there is no guarantee that having studied math instead of Spanish would have changed my life significantly.

Art Journal 2008 week 7 & week 8

Week 7 - Fly















Week 8 - Magic

Em's Art Journal 2008 #1-#6

Week 1 - Prompt: Commit















Week 2 - Detail















Week 2- Prompt: Feel














Week 3 - Prompt: Connect















Week 4 - Prompt: Your Own Word. I chose Jealous









Week 5 - Prompt: Balance










Week 6 - Prompt: Emotion

Visual Chronicles - Prompt Tags

A while ago I bought the book "Visual Chronicles" (you can see it in the sidebar).
Since I have the flu, I have installed myself in bed with my laptop and some books.
And I was flipping through Visual Chronicles..not really able to read because my head, ears and throat are hurting big time, until I came upon this chapter about prompt tags.
In this chapter the writers explain how to use tags with your own chosen prompts to help you with your journaling.

Not being able to sleep because somebody outside was cutting down all the trees in the neighbourhood (at least it sounded like this) I decided to bring into my bed some tags, walnut Ink and Distress Ink to create my own prompt tags.
First I inked them all, waited for them to dry and then I added some cool stamping to the back.
Will add the prompts later.

Also, because being sick at home makes me feel quite useless I worked on a new banner for Emine's blog. A few days ago I saw her cry for help on her blog; she needed help with a banner.
Today I made one for her and also installed it on her blog. Check it out HERE.
And while you are visiting her blog, don't forget to have a look at her wonderful Hambly album :)!