Creating in Faith - Compassionate

The word for today is Compassionate, think about what the word means to you in relation to you.  How would you express an example of it to someone else, and what does it look like when you show it to yourself, how does it make you feel?

Listen to the podcast episode below and check out the Art Journal page and examples of how you can work on your page.

Here is the video of my page creation, have a look

I hope it has given you ways in which you can work on your art journal page, but more importantly treat yourself with compassion.

Here are some of the other links that you can connect with on social media.

Creating In Faith Encouraging Recordings are to bless and inspire you to be the best of yourself. It can be really great to pull out your art journal/Journal and express what comes up for you either with images and colour, with words or with both. Check out the weekly and monthly videos to help you spend more time in your art journal.

If you would like to see some behind the scenes, images and additional tips HERE

You will find the  art journal videos available to consume at your leisure - the Making of the art journal for the month and an art journal page process - Check these out HERE

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There are so many FREE ways in which you can support the podcast and the work that I do on some of the other channels and it is always a blessing when you connect -

• listening each week and leave a comment,
• Subscribe to any or all of my channels, visit the
• YouTube channel (remember to hit the notification bell)
• Let me know how the content impacted you and if you were inspired to make changes/additions to your work or life.

Patreon Blog - http://www.patreon.com/realityarts

Instagram www.instagram.com/realityarts/

Facebook www.facebook.com/realityartss/

Check out some encouraging boards on Pinterest 

Artwork available from the title image HERE

I also have an Arts and Health NHS Network for information on activities and organisations working in the field. You are welcome to join, it is a FREE resource and if you have any activities or want to talk about your work you are welcome to send me the information and I will see that it gets uploaded. You can create your own profile on the network and connect with others who are passionate about the arts in health too.

Creative Encourager - If you want to talk about creativity and the direction you are going and need a listening ear, sign up for a FREE 30 minute call http://bit.ly/Encoura

Stay blessed and be a blessing.

50 Pastel Drawings in 50 Days!

Glad you could join me today, I have been busying getting on with the pastel paintings as part of the 100 Day Project as well as getting myself a bit more organised with all the other projects that I want to bring to fruition.

Here is a video of the first half of the series and me talking about the journey so far.

The Video

It has definitely amazed me how much time has passed, 50 days from the time I committed to doing a pastel painting each day and I have seen the growth in my confidence in using pastels, they are like old friends.  Honestly, they have been sitting in my supplies/studio space for the past 10 years.

But if you have been with me from the start of the Project you will have seen the images change.  I had decided to do faces to begin with as I felt that I had to have something that I was comfortable with and then branch out to a few land/seacapes.

The pastels took me out of my comfort zone and got me just playing with the supplies and not trying to create a specific image.

I already have my favorites and will go on to do other things with them.  A lot of people have been asking for prints, so I will be making them available.

I was also glad that I started to video the process, I really enjoyed watching them myself, and I have definitely come a long way in my application of pastels and what I go for in a finished piece.

If you want to look at some of the process videos that I have done so far on my playlist you can see them HERE

You will find resources for Pastels HERE

On to the next 50, I will be doing some more videos of the process and sharing with you the weekly images here on the blog.  Blessings for now.

My 31 Art Studio Supplies - Inktense Pencils

The Video

I was never really a fan of Water Color pencils, and over the years explored other mediums.  One Christmas my sister got me a Derwent Inktense set of 12 and I thought I would give them a go.  I haven't looked back since and they are among the go-to supplies that I reach for especially when art journalling.

They are highly pigmented and vibrant and are a joy to work with.  These and the Inktense Blocks are amazing.  I definitely recommend that you give them a try.  You can also use them on fabric which for me was an additional bonus.

Check out the video and the resources that I have listed below, you will not be disappointed.!!!

Art Supply Resources to check out

Recycled Projects - 'John Lewis' art Journal

How many times have you come across a catalogue that you were not really interested in the products, but the paper that it was made from?  Not to say that I don't like John Lewis products, but when I came across this catalogue I thought that I would put it to use.

You can make a journal out of anything, putting the pages together for yourself and creating to your hearts content.  The fun lays in taking something made for one use and totally changing it, and seeing what each page will eventually become.

My use for this journal is as a jump start to get my creative juices flowing using some of the pictures as inspiration and for when I have a limited supply.

I first set out to decorate the front using paints, stamps, modelling paste, and markers to remind myself that its purpose was to inspire, not get overwhelmed with what I wanted to create, but just play.  

On the back cover I wanted to create a painting but it also had to be durable as it would be taken around, thrown into bags and experience rough and tumble.

Using tissue paper glued randomly to the back, applying paint and then sealing it all in means that it is a journal that will stand the tests of time, or there about.

I proceeded to stick several of the pages together to create a strong surface that would take paint well, and then I see what images inspire.  Each page has a selection of beds, bedding and household furniture and I either use the room settings as the basis for the page, or draw something totally unrelated. 

Here is a page that I chose to do create a scene with, after it is chosen and I start to draw round the items I want to keep in charcoal. 

I get a sense after a while of the characters that may be present in the room, and this young man found his way in the room, and decided to jump all over the bed.

Using gesso I block out those areas that I don't want to keep and think about either adding additional characters or thinking about paint.

This little girl couldn't resist joining the little boy to jump all over his parents bed, and so that's how I have been using the journal to think about ideas and stories about the lives of the people that join me on the pages of the journal.

I have yet to finish this page, but finishing is not the main objective or motivation, it is to continue to take the time to be creative if possible every day.

Here are a few other pages that I have started, and work on bits when the mood takes, and I look forward to working on them.

On some of the pages I have been working on, stories waiting to be told.

Some stories tell of hope and looking to the future.....

thinking about the past, and being present.......

But most of all working in this journal has been a fresh way of looking at things, often those things that we see day after day and making something new.  I really do encourage you to look at some of the things that you can recycle and use for creative purposes.  Check out some of the other Recycled projects that I have made.  Over the next few weeks I am looking forward sharing other recycled art journals, and ones that you can also make and bind yourself.  Until then stay blessed!

A Bit more play - Shining light

There is always room for a bit of creative play.  Where you can just put colors down without having an agenda, and then going with what you see. I have been trying to do that every day depending on my location, and I do have a travel kit that serves me well outside the studio.

Making my gelli plate was one of the best things I've made so far, and it provides a quick and easy method of placing color in a random way - you can see how I use it HERE. This is one of a selection of paintings that I have done.

This is how it began, after I had laid down some color on the plate, I continued with some stamps and also added some doilies that had been painted 

I started sketching a vague image using charcoal

Then she started to take on a life of her own,

I love using color

Remembering that it is just about play I continued to add color and she continued to emerge out of the paper.

Working in the studio

Once I had finished my play, she was ready to stand on her own two feet, I might leave it at that, use it for another piece of work, we'll see.

Shine your light - Mixed Media

For now she will continue to shine her light. and inspire and I will continue to play.  

Tutorial Tuesdays - Faith in the process

Every now and then you have to unleash yourself on to your supplies.  You have to throw out what you think you know and just spend some time playing.  Forget technique and rules, and what should be placed where, or what goes with what and let your hair down.

I took a break from the courses and decided to play with my supplies, which included decorated paper, paints, modelling paste and whatever else I could lay my hands on and started to lay down colour and texture on the surface.

The more I let go the more that started to be revealed. I wasn't focused on the finish product but making my way on a journey of discovery that needed a bit of faith.

With each stroke it can help you relax and take your mind off all the stuff and clutter of the day, it is a necessary process to tap into your creativity, 

Giving yourself the time, space and the freedom to play allows you to find some special surprises as they emerge from the page.  I dare you to try something, take a leap of faith and have fun with your tools, and remember to play!

Faith - Mixed media Art