Happy New Year!

Each January Milliande starts a new series of art journaling prompts, but it wasn't until the email popped into my inbox that I remembered!  Last year the theme started with 'z for zebra'.

This year's theme is 'Seed Journals: growing a seed versus being a seed .....  a curious journey begins'.

This is such a perfect project, and has come at just the right time for me.  My journal pages have always been 'time to play', but I had begun to feel that I needed a bit more of something.  This theme is really making me think through the medium of my art journal...

I'm also really enjoying the organic nature of this January's prompts - they may be daily, they may be weekly, perfect for someone who was finding she ended up playing catch up all the time when prompts were every day!  Feel this is a project for you?  Join the gang over at www.milliande.com.

oh Happy Day!!!

Well, days really!  It all started yesterday :)  After doing my first day in two years back in school teaching (Yay, I truly never thought I'd go back to the classroom!), I bobbed in to the Bean and Brush and my tile was out of the kiln...Wow!!!  I'm so pleased with it I can't tell you :)   It's all thanks to the lovely Kelly Hennessey's 365 Tile-a-day challenge, and her huge generosity in sharing her before and after pics on facebook.  I was quite shocked, and pleased, that my before picture looked like hers...

...but I really wasn't prepared for it working out so wonderfully after firing.  Thanks Kelly, we all LoVe this tile :)  And it's proper 'upcycling' - all those chunks are leftover paint from customers, saved and dried.

Back to my school story, and yesterday saw me doing some supply cover in a local school.  After suffering with depression/anxiety a couple of years back now I always said I couldn't see myself going back into teaching.  What a fabulous day I had though!  A true miracle :)

Thursday afternoons are 'options' afternoons in this school, where pupils are grouped according to their choice of activity rather than age.  I had 28 pupils aged between 7 and 11 years and we spent a very relaxed afternoon zen-doodling leaf shapes.  I think they're now addicted!

This morning I heard from Lucy who blogs as Little Lost Soul telling me I'd won the above print.  I AdOrE ampersands and have just started a collection of cut out ones which I'm planning on decopatching and displaying above my desk.  This print couldn't have been more perfect for me :)  So huge thanks Lucy :)

Wishing you a very happy day too!!!!  They are THE best :)

zebra, zebra, zebra

Day two's prompt from Milliande was to doodle a zebra mandala, the cut it up and stick it into your journal.  Zendoodling is very relaxing, but very time consuming so I didn't finish mine until this morning.

Milliande has a template on her website of the outlines of the zebra inside the circle.  We than had to print out the image in three different sizes.  I chose to use my largest printout for the zebra images, which fill the page nicely.

Placing three heads on a page isn't something I feel comfortable doing, but this is a challenge so I went ahead, and like the result!  Milliande printed her background with watercolour paint on an old cd.  I used watercolour paint through some sequin waste instead, taking the colour off a black aquatone pencil.  I loved the marks the wet pencil made so used it to add stripes to the background too.

Additional stripes were added by cutting strips from the other print outs before adding the zebra heads and then some colour, again from my aquatone pencils.  

I'm working in London today, and hoping to catch the Quentin Blake exhibition after work - can't wait ;)  Just hope I can stay awake, my train leaves Manchester at 5am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!