Having free time, I finally tried a gelli-plate technique I saw on you tube a few weeks ago: using oil pastels as a resistent. My desk shows the fun I had…

WOYWW #755

… and the floor got covered with gelli prints, laying there to dry.

Next is an art journal spread I created a while ago in my Chronicles journal

Chronicles: Week 43

Chronicles: Week 44

On the next spread I used one of those “oil pastel resist gelli prints” with a drawing that I created to picture the huge storm Ciarán. That windmill and waves may have you puzzling, but the image is inspired by a real live scene…

… here’s the photo – made by Marcel Witte – that I found on the internet. The mill stands in Vlissingen, a nearby town, and I used this photo as a reference for the drawing.

No storm today though, it’s a quiet morning and I may even see some sunshine this afternoon, but tonight I presume heavy winds will blow through our country ’cause it’s election day… big changes may come our way, we’ll see…

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your day.

So, on to the stuff that was on my desk last weekend. It had been ages, but I played with my gelli plates! Yes, plural, because besides my old plate I bought another one. A big gelli plate (12″x 14″ – 30,48 x 35,56 cm) with which I played on Sunday. I only thought of taking a picture of my desk AFTER I cleaned my desk though… you always say you are jealous off my neat desk but being neat is also a handicap sometimes. I’d have loved to show you the mess I am capable of making! The only thing that’s left of my ‘gelliplate-session’ are the prints that lay on the floor to dry. Well, that’s my ‘desk’ to show for today then…

WOYWW #680

I hope to use these prints in my Chronicles art journal because that’s why I bought this big gelli plate in the first place. At the beginning of this year I bound me another Chronicles journal and I decided to go for a big size. My 2022 journal is 7.87″ x 12.8″  (20 x 32,5 cm) and my old gelli plate is a lot smaller, which means I couldn’t use my prints as a background. I still need two prints now to fill a spread, but that’s always better than four! I think I’ll pick the one second from left on the top with the one beneath that (the ‘yellowish/brownish) to make my next spread – that combination might work don’t you think? That’ll be a spread highlighting week 22 then, which means I have some spreads from the weeks before that to show.

Chronicles 2022 – Week 18

Chronicles 2022 – Week 19

Chronicles 2022 – Week 20

Chronicles 2022 – Week 21

I’ll be working on that new spread for week 22 later. I hope YOU have time to plan some creative time too this week. I’ll be around to see what you are up to, so if you leave me a comment I’ll visit you back. See you!

This was how my workdesk looked during the photo-shoot and I submit this photo for Wat’s On Your Workdesk, Wednesday (no labels on the photo this time but if you look closely you can spot some Jessica Sporn stencils & stamps, lots of acrylic paint, brayers, my reading glasses and my gelli plate. Oh, and some monoprints in the make…)

WOYWW #371

Yes: mono-printing on a gelli plate always leaves you with a colorful mess… which is perfect for photos!

Next are some pictures Alda took… I was a bit in shock when I saw that double chin on the photos… it’s not even a double, it’s a triple chin – Eeeckkk! But hey – I’m not that young anymore and this is reality… and I assure you, when I don’t look down it’s not that bad as on these photos (gotta keep my head up high, right?!)

Next photo is my favorite! Alda took it while standing in the living room and the glass door that divides the room from my atelier made for a beautiful reflection.

And in case you were wondering… here’s what the blogpost title comes from: Donderdag (Thursday) is the name of the canvas that I created in May.

Today is the last time that Lunch Lady Jan hosts the WOYWW-event: Julia (Stamping Ground) will be back next week as the main host after she had brain surgery and was recovering over the last weeks. Glad that you are doing so well and that you are able to take the reins once more Julia! And thank you so much for taking over while Julia was ‘down and out’ Jan!!!

Yes, there are wholesalers that I know sell packages of gelatin powder, but in order to shop there you have to have a subscription which I have not. So.. what now?

Luckily, my former neighbor came to the rescue! I visited her in January and she had some gelatin powder left of which she gave me some…

… and a few days later I printed up a storm in my atelier!

The stack of mono prints to choose from is huge. I can use some as a background for my art journal pages, there are some lovely ones with images on it that I can use as postcards and there are a few prints that I think will be awesome to machine sew on.

There were three prints that had more of less the same colors and images (you always get a few of these ‘series’ with mono printing.) I put them together on the pages of my Zeeuwse Ziel art journal and they formed a triptych. (This journal has some folded pages bound in it to make double spreads.)

{Click the photo to enlarge for a better view}

The prints were a bit smaller than the pages of my journal. I painted the pages in my journal dark grey so they would form a frame around the mono prints. I glued the prints to the pages and used a black marker for some doodling to create contrast. The handwritten journaling added a bit more contrast to the pages. I finished it of with stamping white acrylic paint (using a toilet roll and bubble wrap.)

The textures and colors in this mono type are amazing! Take a closer look.

I’m pretty happy with my new stack of mono prints!

Oh, and it turns out that a friend of a friend has a subscription to a wholesaler – she already bought a package of gelatin powder for me and I can come pick it up tomorrow, YAY!

I love poetry.
I am especially fond of ‘found poetry’, and I mean found in all its forms… found in book titles, found in magazines, on book pages, cut out words and sentences – you name it. There is so much possible when it comes to ‘found poetry’… and this kind of poetry is also great to use on art journal pages also.

I therefore started FOUND POETRY FRIDAY – everyone is welcome to play along!

There is an “Inlinkz”-list at the end of this post. If you want to share your found poems, you are welcome to add your name to the list that will link us to your blogpost.

You can post your found poem on your own blog any time during the week, so you don’t have to make YOUR Fridays all about poetry – you just link us to the post that contains your poem. Please use the url that goes directly to you ‘found poetry post.’

Here’s my found poem for this week…

Did you find a poem last week? Please share it!
Use the InLinkz list below to leave a link to your found poetry art/post.

[inlinkz id = 24]

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Now that I’m back to blogging I of course am back on Wednesdays too with a ‘Tale from the Studio’ – including a photo of my workdesk (hello WOYWW-ers – good to see you again!!!) In this case, even two photos! Come on in and I’ll take you for a tour…

I told you already: my blogbreak did not mean that I took a ‘creating break’ also… I kept on working in my “Chronicles” (I will show you the new journal that I bound for 2014 and its first pages next Monday, I also plan to write a blogpost about my ‘One Little World for 2014″ then… have you choosen a word for this year? Do you think about it still… live by it even? I’d like to know your word!!!)

My desk today shows the latest project I’m working on: a small book for Project Mailart Books. (I see only now that I shuffled the words of that title on my desk-photo…) I joined the project a while ago and I received a cute little book from the founder/owner Ed to work in. When I saw that booklet, an idea came to mind right away because I’d recently seen my neighbour making monoprints with oil paint on thin paper. The paper that the booklet was made of, was very thin so I decided to go for it! I went to my neighbour-friend, who gave me a short ‘private workshop’ on how to make monoprints with oil paint. I made some test-pages first (see photo) and when those were to my satisfaction, I cut up the booklet and started the ‘real work’ on those pages. I even added an extra ‘tool’ in my studio (see second woyww-photo) to hang the pages to dry and help me work efficient…

That was a while ago. The monoprints fully dried and this week, I started on putting the pages together. My desk looks like this today:

WOYWW #245  (Click the link to see what WOYWW stands for…)

Here’s a second ph0to, showing the other corner and desk in my studio. You can see how I stretched a line to hang the monoprints to dry (oil paint takes ages to fully dry! The first test with oil paint mono prints failed miserable because I took the prints off the line too soon…the images smeared and made stains all over! Lesson learned: I left the final pages to dry 2 weeks, to make sure they would not stain!)

I cannot leave you without any art today, so here’s a Mixed Media piece I made last week.

We Practiced Intimacy

I love that title – a sentence I found in a magazine – and that’s not the only thing I love about this piece… the surface shows such beautiful details when you look up close… here’s a detail photo. This is what gesso does when you put a heatgun on it… bubbles!

The sun is shining in the Netherlands, it looks a bit like Spring is coming (lilac crocusses in the garden!) but it’s still cold… I hope you “Brits” are safe and dry. If you’re under water… hang in there, better times will come!

See you all Friday with a found poem.

It is the last Wednesday this year that I will share my desk… because next week, on X-mas day, all hell will break loose on my blog as the Top 2ooo Musical Blog Party starts December 25th! (And as far as you did not know yet: YOU too are invited to join the party!)

But today is still ‘normal,’ so come on in and I show you a golden oldie scrapbook layout and of course a photo of my desk! Oh, and I throw in a brand new art journal page also…

Let us start with a “Golden Oldie” layout.

(I don’t create ‘traditional scrapbook layouts’ anymore but every Wednesday I dive into my albums and lift a ‘golden oldie.’ The layouts I pick are random, YOU – blog readers – name the number of the album and layout to show. Let me know in a comment which album you want me to open next week – to avoid that you name layouts that have already been requested, you can find a list showing the ‘free’ numbers to choose from on this page.

Today’s request came from Nan G. from Froggy Designs who asked me to publish Layout No. 4 from Album 4.

I found a very appropriate layout (spread) – at least the time of year is right – because the spread is themed New Years Eve 2006… but I also find it a very boring spread! I made it in the ‘early years of scrapbooking’ and there’s not much to see but a few photos (of which I blurr some too, because I don’t want to put the face of a friend online without permission.)

New Years Eve 2006

In the same album, in the plastic covers before this spread, there’s layout #3 and that one is, if possibly, even more appropriate… Since I am looking forward to next week and have music on my mind all day I show that one too!

Listening to the Top 2000 (December 2006)

The official Top 2000 list for this year will be announced next Monday… which is rather late, as in former years they published the official list in the first week of December already, and I/we could start creating much earlier!

However, that is beyond my control. I will publish the link to the list of this year – along with all the info about my Top 2000 Musical Blog Party – as soon as it is made public ( Monday) so we can start to create to the music right then and there!

And here is the last photo of the year of my desk how it looked this morning.
This photo is taken for “What’s On My Work Desk? Wednesday,” Julia’s weekly event. On woyww-day, crafty and artistic individuals around he world share pictures of their desks. Hop on over to Julia’s blog Stamping Ground to find out all about it.

WOYWW #237

I did not plan to send out Christmas cards this year, but last week I decided to create at least a few cards to send to my dearest loved ones and family. I hope to finish these later this week and send them before the New Year.

And here’s my latest art journal page, in the Zeeuwse Ziel art journal. This page is inspired by the Dutch song (an oldie from 1968)  Waterdrager by Boudewijn de Groot

Waterdrager

I wish you all a nice, bright week and – in case you are ‘not around’ before Wednesday: happy holidays!
Hope to see (a lot of) you next week to play along at least one time with the musical Top 2000 party… (yep, again I mention it… can you tell I am looking forward to this event??!!!)

Is it Wednesday? Time flies.
Time to get into the studio then! Come on in and I show you a golden oldie scrapbook layout and of course you get to take a peek at my desk! Oh, and let’s throw in a brand new art journal page also…

Let us start with a “Golden Oldie” layout.

(I don’t create ‘traditional scrapbook layouts’ anymore but every Wednesday I dive into my albums and lift a ‘golden oldie.’ The layouts I pick are random, YOU – blog readers – name the number of the album and layout to show. Let me know in a comment which album you want me to open next week – to avoid that you name layouts that have already been requested, you can find a list showing the ‘free’ numbers to choose from on this page.

The next request came from Ali Wade who commented “I would love to see LO No.13 from Album 3.” When I flipped through the album, this is what I found…

The Plane, the Plane

Aaahhh… this really is ‘old school scrapbooking’… not much embellishments or ‘nonsense’ on this spread – just plain and simple photos to preserve a memory. On July 5th 2005, my son turned 13 years old. As a present, his dad gave him a scenic flight above the city. Knowing that the little plane would also bring him over our house, my beloved and I painted his name in big letters on the square that lies behind our house…. We just finished painting it, when we saw the little plane coming. (Oh, and in case you were wondering: we used whitewash for the lettering so it disappeared with the first rain-shower.)

And here is a photo of my desk how it looked this morning, taken for “What’s On My Work Desk? Wednesday.” (WOYWW is Julia’s weekly blog hop and it is THE event where crafty and artistic individuals around he world share pictures of their desks. Hop on over to Julia’s blog Stamping Ground to find out all about it)

WOYWW #232

Last week, I played with my home made gelatin plate and created a lot of monotypes. I experimented with using stencils from this book together with the gelatin plate… most images on the stencils were too big or had too small ‘holes’ to use with the paint, but the one with the head of a man worked just fine. I used the print on this art journal page and together with the handwritten journaling it turns out into this ‘heavy’ and raw art journal page.

Psyche

Hope you all have a ‘light week.’

Oh, and for Dutch people: voor de live workshop op 6 December in Eindhoven
zijn nog maar een paar plaatsen beschikbaar… wees er dus snel bij.
Je kunt alle info hier op de website vinden.

I love poetry.
I am especially fond of ‘found poetry’, and I mean found in all its forms… found in book titles, found in magazines, on book pages, cut out words and sentences – you name it. There is so much possible when it comes to ‘found poetry’… and this kind of poetry is also great to use on art journal pages also.

I therefore started FOUND POETRY FRIDAY – everyone is welcome to play along!

There is an “Inlinkz”-list at the end of this post. If you want to share your found poems, you are welcome to add your name to the list that will link us to your blogpost.

You can post your found poem on your own blog any time during the week, so you don’t have to make YOUR Fridays all about poetry – you just link us to the post that contains your poem. Please use the url that goes directly to you ‘found poetry post.’

Today’s poem came together pretty quick… I had that wonderful monotype laying on my desk that I wanted to use. I grabbed my folder with cut out sentences and without giving it much though, I selected sentences and words that spoke to me and that I thought would fit with the image.

Here’s the poem I found

The Future

Did you find a poem this week?
Then link us all up to your found poetry by using the InLinkz list below.

Enjoy the weekend!

[inlinkz id = 11]

.

Art, and especially art journaling, can be very therapeutic and healing. In the mids of time when I was in a very dark place, I shut down. I was completely absent-minded and could not even see a pen or brush. However, the moment I saw a little light around me, my art journals were the first things to grab and hold on to. Writing has always been my ‘way out of it’ and since I started art journaling, the art-part has been add to that.

A few weeks ago, my friend Anne-Marie emailed me song lyrics that she thought I might like to read because in her eyes the text was referring to what I felt at the time… and she was right!

The lyrics are part 2 of a song by the Dutch artist Bram Vermeulen. Translated, the title means something like “Get it on!” I could only find Bram performing part 1 of the song on the internet (De Beuk Erin I – a song worth listening to, especially if you understand Dutch) but I used the lyrics of part 2 on my pages. De Beuk Erin II (lyrics)

I made just the perfect monotypes to go with the text…

I combined two gelatin monotypes (the two left pages) with a painted page (right) in my art journal ‘De Zeeuwse Ziel’ to make this triptych.

Here are the pages once again – separately photographed – to give you a better view.

This week starts with blue skies and sunshine… let’s hope it stays that way and that it will turn out to be a good week. In any case, it will be a special week to me ’cause it is my birhthday next Wednesday… can you believe I will be fifty?!! Woooohooooo… GET IT ON!