Making Handmade Journals In Lockdown

 

Since the pandemic is going to be around in some part of the world or the other till the entire population gets vaccinated, random lockdowns are going to be a way of life that we will have to get used to. Those of you wondering why I am rambling about all this on an art post, here's the reason. These frequent and often long spells of lockdown can get extremely frustrating. And no better way of dealing with that than creating things out of the simple, everyday things available at home. For art is healing.... so this post focuses on how to make handmade journals with the limited materials on hand.

Handmade junk journals are called so because they are made out of recycled materials. And there are no rules - you can choose whatever you want to play around with. You can also use your journal for varied purposes - sketching, collaging, gluing pictures, writing, even painting and mixed media artwork. Mini-journals are even better as they are easy to carry around and finish up quickly.

So here's a quick video of mine that shows how an ordinary flyer can be turned into a folding mini-journal. 

In case you don't have flyers, use old newspaper pages folded up twice or thrice to make them sturdy. Just glue everything down and you are good to go. Once your journal base is ready, use paint dabs, printed papers from magazines, and even old book papers to make up the background.

I used this mini-journal (that you see in the video above) for sketching and botanical drawings, some of which you can see below.

By changing your paper folds, you can turn out different kinds of journals. 

The one above and below is an accordion-fold journal I used for painting. It was created out of an elongated strip of card stock, simply by folding it in a zigzag.

The junk journal video in my last post was made from sticking random papers in a folded cardboard cover. Yes, it is that simple and yet the results can be amazing!

Most of all, journaling is a good hobby as it calms the mind, and gives us some very valuable me-time. Find a journaling practice that fits your personality. It is indeed a wonderful way of keeping your mind positively engaged in these pandemic times.

And in case of any queries, feel free to mail me at  creativerumblings@gmail.com or connect with me on Instagram (@creativerumblings) or Facebook. Happy journaling, everyone!

Pond Herons At Sunset

 

I have been missing from this space for a while but I have been working in the shadows, almost through all of last month. And the results will be out for all to see soon.... there is an exciting announcement coming shortly, maybe later this month.

But for now, here's sharing the latest mixed media piece - a pond heron study I made using paper collage, some cut paper shapes, acrylic paints, and freehand pen drawing.

This piece was inspired after encountering a large bunch of pond herons while walking with the hubby at sunset one evening. That beautiful setting made me want to create an artwork to remember and revisit those moments.

Mixed Media Outings

 

Happy 2021, dear readers! Hope you all had a wonderful start to the new year, and here's wishing you all a healthy year ahead.

Like every other year, my output has been impacted by the season. And my postings have dwindled since last month. I'm taking things slow, catching up on my reading, baking, and other random pursuits.

Meanwhile, here's bringing you a compilation of some mixed media pieces done over the last couple of months.

These were all previously published on my Instagram account. (Follow, follow.... don't wait till tomorrow.)

Most of these pieces are part of a junk journal that I'm currently working on, while the one below was inspired by a picture posted by a friend.

Hopefully I will pick up the pace in this new year, and will soon share more pending projects that I complete later this month.

Feathered Friends

This post is totally dedicated to the feathered friends who have been visiting our garden, and keeping us engaged with their antics and birdsong.

Since the days are scorching, we put out a bird bath for our little visitors. That has only added to our joy, and theirs.... as they drink, take dips, and splash around. I can never tire of seeing them, hopping all over and chirping away melodiously, even on the hottest days.

And then they inspire such artwork. Line drawing on collaged background is how I started, but every creative piece takes on a life of its own, and before you know it, one lands up adding other elements. Really like the end result. Hope you do too, dear readers.

So how are you spending the summer? Do remember to put out some water bowls for our feathered friends.

Journal Jaunt

Almost 2 months since my last visit here, and a lot of changes have happened in my world. Mostly positive, thankfully! Though I haven't started working on creative projects actively yet but now they are seeming more doable. So hopefully you'll see me around more often...

In the meanwhile, here is a peep into a journal page that I started a few months back but couldn't finish. Glad to finally fix it and put it all together.

Working on this journal helped me deal with a period of transition that may have otherwise been overwhelming. Now that I'm in a happier space, hope to fill up the pages faster.

Mini Books for Kids

So 14 Nov is celebrated as Children's Day in India to coincide with our first Prime Minister's birthday (I've written about it here as well). Hence I thought it appropriate to share something prepared by my daughter recently.

She made these mini books totally by hand, after learning from a YouTube video by herself. Even as she made them, she figured out that these would make great autograph books - easy to carry around and just enough space for a signature.

Do let me know at creativerumblings@gmail.com if any of you would like to order these for your kids, or as return gifts or party favours. Sizes, cover designs and paper quality are all customizable as per requirement.

Weekend Evenings

I live for the weekend.... well, who doesn't? I love the relaxed, laid-back vibes that a weekend brings, without any tensions of waking up early or following a homework schedule. The clock takes a back seat as each of us indulges in their own favourite pastimes. Painting, crafting and music fills up our home on weekends.

While weekends give us valued family time, they are also ideal to celebrate the journey that we are together on. So many a weekend is spent with a glass of red wine, nibbling on smoked cheese and olives, with some great music playing in the background.

This collage, like its companion Mornings, is made up of handmade paper, teabag paper and newspaper scraps. In fact, as I was putting together this collage, I actually managed to include an old favourite number in the visuals (Hint: It is an English song from the late 60s). Can any of you guess which one it is? :)

 

Lotus Pond Series

Finally I get to bring you my first painting series - 'Life in a Lotus Pond'.... Started in the summer of 2016, this is the first time I attempted a series. What is the big deal in painting a series, you may ask.... Making paintings in a series is just meant to be an opportunity for the artist to show how one can play around with an idea, and bring it to form in different ways, while keeping the essential elements intact.

I had been wanting to paint a lotus pond for a long time but not in your usual realistic style - there were already too many of those out there. So I tried a process of layering and detailing, trying to see if I could make it all work together. I didn't want the painting to look noisy and crowded, but I was a little unsure when I started as I had not done something like this before.

As my lotus flowers progressed, I placed an owl on one of the lotus leaves.... and that is where the idea for the series took off!! I wanted to have images of lotus flowers interspersed with the various creatures that one could find in a pond.

It was meant to be a fun series, and I am so happy that that is exactly how it turned out. And then, within an year, something magical happened! I showed my paintings to a dear client-turned-friend and she immediately picked up the first 2 pieces. Next I knew, she commissioned 2 more! I was on a roll... :D

So while I am juggling some more ideas and will be working on more paintings for this series, right now 4 paintings have already found a new home...

...Even as 3 finished paintings are ready and waiting for a wall.

Do let me know how you feel about this first series of mine. There is also another series waiting in the wings but more about that in a later post. In the meanwhile, if you are keen to commission anything on these lines or pick up the available pieces, write in to me at creativerumblings@gmail.com and we can discuss options.

Monsoon Mornings

Hello July! But what is this....is half the year gone past already. I remember starting summer, and then everything is a blur. Happens to the best of us, I guess, especially when a teen and a pre-teen invade your space all the time! All thanks to the school vacations (exasperated eye roll please).

Anyhow, this month onwards I can reclaim some moments of peace.... And as the skies pour their blessings, my mornings will be enjoyable again.

So here's a mixed media collage that celebrates mornings spent in my garden sipping my favourite morning beverage. Though basically I'm a coffee person but my mornings have to begin with tea! Complicated, no? This was my first attempt at using teabag paper for art. It's a rage globally and works just like fine watercolour paper. Can you recognize where it is placed in the painting? I've also used handmade papers and newsprint to add to the effect.

This collage also reminds me of a sketch I did long back. Isn't it kind of amazing how the same elements crept back into this one too. Perhaps explains how artists tend to repeat their motifs throughout their artistic journey (I'm thinking of Hussain and his iconic horses). Here's looking forward to a creatively satisfying month. Though half my plans never seem to work yet hope is eternal, isn't it? Especially when gorgeous monsoon weather seduces your creative ideas!

Update: Check out the companion collage Evenings.

Nature Journal: Back Cover

This final post under the 'Nature Journal 2015' series is to showcase the back cover of the journal. The back cover appropriately aims to capture forms of nature across different elements - air, land and water. It brings together three diverse microcosms.... read on to see how.

The thought process for the back cover started with the Tree of Life, since it represents different life forms living together harmoniously, and also since it was something I was hoping to try my hand at for a while. However, once I started making the tree, these other ecosystems evolved on their own... as though the artwork for the back cover had suddenly come alive with its own interpretations, that forced me to realize the limited vision of my tree of life. Why present only one ecosystem when I could present three together? And that is how each element got its due representation....

The birds and animals that made the tree their home, thriving on its bounties and the fresh air it produced.

The foliage and flora that got their sustenance from the earth. I could have added more to this section but lack of space made me keep things at a more representational level.

And finally the water-world with its flowers and other creatures. Here I love the turtle silhouette the most.

I am happy with the way the back cover finally turned out - combining multiple techniques of painting, small sketches, some impasto and lots of collaging. That it represents nature in all its forms only makes it perfect for my Nature Journal 2015.

Poppies with Printmaking

Finally the grey, foggy days of winter are here sending shivers down the spine. But this winter I won't whine.... the unusually hot December was rather worrisome when you think of what we are doing to our planet. Anyhow, to distract myself from such issues, I decided to try my hand at some monoprints using regular stuff lying around the house.

Using two shades of blue and a contrasting red ink pen to fill in the details, I created a bunch of my favourite poppy flowers. Incidentally, our garden did not get any poppies this year (despite getting loads last year), so this was a fitting way to revisit them.

Believe me, no fancy products are required. All I used were a block-sized piece of synthetic foam, some brushes, acrylic paints and paper to print on. And a cutter or knife to carve the design into the foam block. Don't worry if you don't have those; even a ballpoint pen without ink works wonders! I used such a pen as you can see from the pictures below.

Once the design is carved, paint the stamp with acrylic colours of your choice and voila!.... let the stamping fun begin.

Sounds simple enough? Now try some yourself and send me your pictures. Would love to see how my readers get inspired. :) I also created some red and mustard poppies for the inside back cover of my nature journal. You can look out for those in the next post.

Paper Beads Necklace

So I decided to take a detour into some jewellery making! Howzzat?!! Those of you who keep an eye on my Facebook page would know about the paper beads I had been making a couple of months back.

I posted pictures of the sheets of abstract art that me and my daughter created.... just random splashing of paint followed by equally arbitrary designs! No stress of creating art, this is just having fun with paints. And mostly we used the thick sheets that come in with the newspaper as advertisement inserts; their paper is glossy and thick enough to hold a decent amount of paint. So there, recycling was duly done.

These gorgeous sheets of painted paper were then cut into strips and rolled with pencils and toothpicks to form paper beads.... loads and loads of them, in all shapes and sizes. Well, finally we had enough beads to string together a long necklace. And just see how gorgeous it looks!

My daughter had a field day wearing this creation all through the festive season in the last couple of months. I just love the fact that it goes with any kind of attire - western or traditional. And between ourselves, we got a load of compliments for this unique paper bead necklace! :)

Nature Journal: The July Page

Umm, well, I don't know how to start this post.... Writing about the July page of the Nature Journal is somewhat embarrassing because the page never got written on time! The July page got written in August.... well, most of it.

All through July I was so preoccupied with the upcoming exhibition that the Nature Journal got a royal ignore. Scrambling to create enough inventory for a 3-day showing, I had no scope whatsoever to think about what I wanted to put in the journal. That explains the lack of a natural specimen on the page!

Couple of random observations got recorded, but the remaining month an almost-blank page stared back at me. Till I jotted down major topics on my phone, and proceeded to write about them after the exhibition was over. Thankfully, by then, my favourite creations around this time of the year - the toadstools - bailed me out. So you have a mushroom bloom garden finishing off the July page. Hope that gives you some ideas to go mushroom hunting whenever it rains.

Nature Journal: Inside Cover

Here is a quick peek into another page from my Nature Journal (read more about it in my last post).

The inside cover of my nature journal is made of slightly thicker, glossy paper. Since it could take more than the usual quantities of paint, so I chose to let myself loose and go wild with it.

First I filled up the sheet in random colour blocks. Then I drew on it with a white paint pen. I filled in the outlines with a black sketch pen, finally blocking out the background with black paint. The result is for all to see…

Going with the charms of spring, couldn't resist the flowers, birds, butterflies and bees! :) Hope you enjoyed these glimpses of the inside cover.

Wholesome Breakfast

Another still life I created recently - a table setting for a wholesome breakfast. Care to join in?

This is a mixed media effort, with many details done using paper collaging. I especially like how the flowers, the juice glass and the table cover came out.

Paper Snowflakes

It has been a slow December this time. Or let me reword it... Fact is that December is always a slow month, as the onset of winters and grey days seem to dull my creative juices. The lack of sunshine takes a toll every winter. And then, as too many happenings on the personal side spill over this year, it means work-wise things have taken a backseat.

With work crawling through most of this month, I am now staring at a bunch of half-finished things on my table. Unfinished painting collages, just started bottles, and half-done mosaic projects. Definitely not a good place to be in.... especially for any creator. But I was reading through a newly discovered blog of a fellow artist and I realised that all of us go through such cycles. Sometimes we work in a frenzy, and then sometimes nothing quite gets done.

Anyhow, in a bid to move on, I tried making some paper snowflakes yesterday with this super tutorial from instructables.com : http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-6-Pointed-Paper-Snowflakes/?ALLSTEPS. The first one was a bit of a dampener but the second one turned out real neat and pretty.

Suggest you give them a try and add some Christmas cheer to your windows. I will be travelling with family over the Xmas weekend; so here is wishing you all merry times with family, friends, food and of course, Santa! :)

Collaging Capers

Playing around with papers, that is what I mean by collaging capers! :) Yes, paper collaging has been something I used to enjoy doing even as a college kid and suddenly the love seems to have resurfaced.

So an old half-finished painting that lay unwanted in a corner of my art supplies cupboard got a new lease of life last month as I gave it a collage makeover. The half-painted version looked uninteresting and drab; must say the papers added quite a bit of verve to the piece. I finished it with a glossy coat.

The process of first selecting the right papers, matching the shades, tearing up the papers to the right size, and finally putting them on is definitely tedious.... but I find it almost meditative. It gives me the opportunity to put my patience to test, almost willing myself to push my limits and learn to stay calm. Maybe I should try collaging on larger pieces now....

A Peek Into My Journal Pages

A few weeks back I had promised to share with you the pages from my first art journal. Well, here goes.... hope you enjoy the visuals.

Mr. Frog and the toadstool were created by a personalised stencil cut. The design on the top right was made with the help of layers of masking tape, peeling layers as each colour was applied. It was then finished with some sponging. The flowers on the bottom right are paper collaging on an acrylic background.

Madame O was inspired by a family of spotted owls we spotted at the park recently, sitting exactly like this atop an eucalyptus tree. The creation on the top right is a combination of cloth, foil and designed paper. It so reminds me of a circus tent top though you can't quite make that out in this picture. The bottom right doodles were inspired by henna designs; made using pen and watercolour.

This panel has some of my favourite designs. Moving clockwise from top left, I Heart Art is made with paper collaging and acrylics, finished with some pen work. The top right piece is my attempt at being Jackson Pollock. Done entirely without any brushes using finger painting and splatter technique. The funny shaped houses (they didn't quite turn out how they were supposed to) are again a combo of multiple techniques but the most interesting part in this is the background. The brownish parts that give a smoky look are created using.... guess what?!?!...... Coffee!!! yes, really, it is coffee. Isn't that a fabulous finish? The last panel is an ode to okra; simple veggie stamping for the background and repeating the designs with markers for the foreground.

And that is how my tiny folding journal looks - folded and opened up. Phew! And I still haven't shown you all.... some panels didn't photograph well so maybe those will come in another post. Now you see how much a little journal can hold. So hurry up.... get started yourself and happy journaling!

Art Journals: My New Love

Writing a post after 3 long weeks.... yes, you can say I have been ignoring the blog. Quite a bit. And I have my reasons...

The sultry heat of the past few days is making me listless and unwilling to  go through the whole process of taking pictures, downloading and sorting them, and creating blog posts. And then my readers don't seem to share any enthusiasm either; there was hardly any response to my call for ideas in the last post. So why write when no one reads! So there.... every girl has got to vent sometimes, what say?!?

Well, I write these posts most of all for myself, for my satisfaction, for keeping a virtual record of all the work I do. And that is why here I am writing again...

In the last month or so I have fallen hook, line and sinker for the joys of art journaling. Since you cannot put every little idea on to a canvas straightaway, these art journals come to the rescue. They help hold an album of tips, tricks, techniques and experiences.... and of course, great quotes!

I have started with a folding journal, pictures of which I'll share with you soon.... when I complete all its panels. The picture you see today is from that same journal, made earlier this month on the occasion of World Environment Day.

 Making an art journal is so much fun because you get to work on something new each day. And since the size isn't too large, you actually can finish a piece in a single sitting, something that is impossible to do with larger paintings. Do check out Google and YouTube for some amazing art journal lessons, and get hooked yourself! :)

Approaching Milestone Alert

Hey readers, have something exciting to share with you!!.....  In just about two months from now, I will be hitting another milestone. Yippee!!!

My journey with the paintbrush started way back in July 2009, and I just realized that I have now been painting for 5 years at a stretch.... and that surely is something to celebrate! Never thought I'd last 5 weeks when I started. :)

I was flipping through the blog archives when I remembered that though the blog and my passion for bottle painting started much earlier, it took me a while to work up the courage to put brush to paper. A quick scroll down the dates revealed my hunch was right - I created my first painting much after my other experiments. So while the blog is into its sixth year, my foray into painting will complete five years this July!

 

My first painting - The Lotus Ganesha

(Acrylic on paper)

Isn't that a real good reason to celebrate? So here is where you, dear readers, have a part to play. I want your help to decide how best to celebrate this milestone? - Plan a sale, hold a giveaway, or hold a blog party? What would excite you the most?

Go on, give me those ideas. Or at least tell me which idea of mine appeals to you the most. We have just about two months to set this up.... so hurry up and fire away the comments!