Saying Goodbye to Mum

A life's Celebration

Mavis Trought

I have over the years shared my journey with my mother who was living with Dementia for the past 20 years.  It has been a journey and a half, insightful, sad at times, full of joy and laughter, and now loss, - You can see some of my posts in 'A Carer's Journey'

A Journey's End

My mothers physical journey on this earth ended on the 30th July at approximately 1am in the morning. She was 99 years old an amazing feat by far and gracefully slipped from our grasp as she now mixes and mingles with those who have gone before us. 

Mavis in her younger days

During the month of August I stepped back from my usual routine to focus on what needed to be done - funeral arrangements, then dealing with the day, and what her no longer being physically with us meant for me and my sister.

Mum loved to draw

We have been reminiscing on the impact that she had on our lives growing up and how we move forward without all the routines and habits around her care that had been formed, and interacting with her on so many other ways from the expressions on her face, touch - holding hands to the words that she would share with us.  The song 'Dancing Queen' by Abba along with 'One Love' - Bob Marley were two of her favorite songs and she loved to dance.

Always the opportunity to dance

We celebrated her life, and loves, with family and friends who had at one time or another interacted with her on so many different ways.

Sometimes you need to be still to take things in to be able to reflect and step back to take a step forward, and we laugh at her sense of humor and playful character remembering these times with fondness, and will continue to tell her story and share the memories for generations to come.

Many around the world have lost loved ones and continue to do so and I encourage you to think about the memories that you are able to form, continue to talk about your experiences and see where you can spend time with your elders and family members, who have so much wisdom and knowledge to pass on.

Mums memory and spirit lives in us and we will continue to celebrate the impact that she has had on our lives and that of her grandchildren and great grand children to come.

No Sew Art Journal - Art Journal Flip through and Make Your Own!

Welcome to my One Sheet Art Journal where I will be sharing with you a flip through of a selection of Art Journals and then showing you how to create one yourself. Check out the video above.  I love these mini journals as they are so easy to create and you can create so many different themed journals to use.

These are the journals that I am going to show you how to create

I start out by using a scrap piece of A4 paper from your recycling pile - this will be covered eventually so it doesn't matter what it has on it.

I use a range of supplies - and I suggest you go into your paper stacks and see how you can use them up on the pages.

After they are created I add paint - I find water color paints to be really easy to use - you just have to be mindful of how much water is on the brush.  You will then add any stickers, ephemera or words that you may have to add.

Here are a list of the supplies

• Sheet of paper, - can be recycled paper from your stash
• Background paper, I used ones that I had stamped images on - sign up to one of My Free courses and get a selection of art background papers to print out - https://bit.ly/coursesart

• Water Colors/paints of choice (amazon have a wide variety to choose from - https://amzn.to/3zkO8PK

• Stickers - https://amzn.to/3ODt3G0

• Ephemera - https://amzn.to/3BtnDdI

Click HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

I hope you enjoy!!

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I am teaching - Check out my FREE Courses - https://realityarts.thinkific.com/ For More inspiration behind the scenes and exclusive content please visit my Patreon page. https://www.patreon.com/realityarts

Check out additional digital papers on my Etsy Store

Garden Stroll - Time to be Present

 

In todays video we take a stroll around the garden.  It is important to spend time just being present, seeing how things are growing, watch the bees as they make their way round from flower to flower, see the birds chase one another and hear their chatter.

Awaken the senses in your green space where you can, combined with the sunshine and a cool breeze all make for providing you with wonderful therapeutic benefits.

While you are there check out some of the other videos of plants that are growing in the garden.

How Does Your Garden Grow

Check out the Self-Directed, life-time access course How Does Your Garden Grow .

We take our inspiration from the garden, and the plants that you find, looking at the shapes and patterns and then we take what we have into our studio spaces and create mixed media art designs.

You also get a selection of background pages and downloads of images - plants, coloring book, patterns, and a digital print of the art produced for use in your own creativity

Check it out HERE

Stay blessed and be a blessing!

Material Mondays - Working with Fabric Paints

 

Welcome to Material Mondays this week where we look at working with Fabric paints to create designs on our fabric pieces.  You can check out the video above.

You can use them as a layer on your fabric or as a finishing touch.  I like to add stitching as well as other elements.

Today I share how I use the fabric paint to lay down color and then add mark making and other designs using a range of different brands.

I also use stencils and sometimes stamps creating on the surface of the fabric.  I use the metallic dimensional paint to add highlights on the surface of the fabric rather than have the dimension.  This piece will then have either some more mark-making done on top or I might draw a figure.

 

Material Mondays

You can also check out some of the other videos in the Material Mondays Series below.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Check out my latest course, and also while you are there check out the free resources available.