Printable Faces

 I spent the whole of last month drawing and painting faces, and I had the idea to create a few faces that could be used as printables for others to use in their journals.

So to that end I have created a couple of freebies, and the idea is that you can download them and adapt them however you want for use in your personal journals, as tip-ins, journaling cards or as pieces of art.

These images are for PERSONAL USE ONLY. 

The copyright remains solely with me, and the images may not be used for any commercial purposes, including use in any journals you are going to sell.

Thanking you Kindly :)

These images can be used in a number of ways, depending on the printer you use. 

If you have an inkjet printer, then using watercolours would not work so great as the ink will run, but you can use colouring pencils, markers, pastels etc, basically stuff that doesn't require water.

If you have a laser printer, then I think you can use watercolours or watered down paints. 

Basically try and see what works for you.

CLICK HERE to Download Printable Girl 1

CLICK HERE to Download Printable Girl 2

Here are some examples of how I adapted these images.

For these two I used colouring pencils and collage elements..

Even though I printed these out with an inkjet printer, I did manage to use acrylic paints on these next two pieces without any problems...

You can also use the space in the hair for your journaling...

So have fun, enjoy and happy journaling!

Much love.

xxx

Painting Faces

I spent the month of March painting faces in my journal. I've always wanted to be better at drawing/painting faces and I figured that spending a month drawing or painting a face everyday would be a good practice to do.
I found it a bit more of a challenge to stick to than the birds in February.
I think painting a face is a bit more involved, but all in all, I stuck to it, although I did spend some days playing catch up.

This is what my desk looked like most days...

So here are some of the faces in my March Journal...

I'm really glad that I spent the month drawing/painting faces. It opened my eyes to look at people around me differently. Its' funny how if you spend long enough doing something, it transforms your perspective. I began to see beauty in every face and to appreciate features in a way that I hadn't done before. I also discovered more of my own style and became much braver with expressing it. 

And that's a really good thing.

 I have a full flipthrough of my March journal up on my youtube channel. 

To view it , click on this link: https://youtu.be/TVzy68NiL1I.

With much love.

xxx

Painting Birds

I spent the whole month of February drawing and painting a bird in my journal every day. I did the same with flowers in January. So the idea was that next to my writing everyday, I would draw/paimt a picture of a bird.

This practice has been hugely enjoyable but more than that, I found such moments of peace and calm in my day.

I love birds, I love that they wake up each morning and sing a pretty tune. It's in their nature to spread beauty to the world around them just by virtue of being themselves. 

I decided to spend the whole month painting songbirds because I love what they represent.

Here are some of the birds I painted. They are all painted with watercolours.

I'm so glad I spent the whole month painting birds, I got better at painting them and I found such peace doing so. I also went through a process of thinking about being more authentically myself and how, in allowing that to happen, I will spread beauty and sing my song more fully, to the world around me, just like a bird does.

I have a full flip through of my Feb journal up on my youtube channel, Here is the link if interested:
https://youtu.be/o45juIXyRm8

Much love.

xxx

Happy beginnings.

I love beginnings. It's the beginning of a new year and I love the feeling of starting afresh and the opportunity for change that each new year brings. It was also my birthday last week and it was lovely to celebrate the threshold into another year.

This year I would like to build on all that I started last year with my business and I would like to delve further into creativity; to find joy in the simplest creative activity.

To that end, I've started a new way of journaling, one that is super simple and feels sustainable. I've been really inspired by Ali Brown and her style of journaling and the joy that she releases through her process.

So each day I sit at my desk and do a really simple watercolour. It doesn't have to be anything specific, just the simple application of paint, water and colour to the page, and when this has dried, I journal next to it or over it.

I'm really enjoying doing this and it means that there's no pressure to be perfect and I don't get overly attached to any picture. This simple practice, albeit only a week in, has been so good for my soul. I feel awake, inspired and I'm practising a new kindness and grace with my art and my ability (or non ability) as the case may be. For this process, I'm using a simple A5 insert which fits into my travellers notebook. It's an A5 sketchbook and I collaged the cover. The paper inside is sturdy enough to take watercolour or collage, and the pages are blank so I can, write, draw or whatever.

I'm aiming to have one insert per month. 

This is January's insert.

I also made a small art insert for my A5 traveler's notebook. It's made with thick watercolour paper which I stitched together into a booklet. I love the simplicity of it and how non pressured it feels to make art in it because its just a small insert, rather than a full blown art journal.

My focus this month is on flowers.

I've also been art journaling. 

After the holidays, I felt very unmotivated to create and didn't have much focus. So just before New Year's I started painting in my art journal to try to get my head in gear and my heart in a good place. It's working and I will continue with this practice regularly.

So here's to the year ahead. To practising kindness towards ourselves and our creativity.

Wishing you a very Happy New Year and the very and most wonderful best for 2018.

Much love.

xxx

Oh My Felted Goodness!

The approach of autumn always makes me feel like I want to get cosy and snuggly, and I usually associate wool with that feeling. 

I love felting! 

I always return to it when I want to feel comforted and calm. It's time consuming but very relaxing. The thing I love about felting is that you can't completely control the final outcome, so it's a great activity to do as a reminder and practice of holding things loosely and going with the flow. 

I have been making lots of felted flowers. I use them for the bags & other things that I sell but I do actually just love making them.

I also use the flowers to adorn my window display which brings me much joy.

My felted flowers look especially wonderful in a woodland setting.

I have been working on a Junk Journal inspired by autumn, and the cover is made from denim and felt and features one of my felt flowers.

If you'd like to browse my various Felt related items, here's the link to my shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ayozie

So here's to the approach of Autumn, and all the newness that a change of season brings.

Thanks and very much love.

xxxx

Staying awake.

It's the start of a new term and I currently feel inspired and focused and ready to work, especially after a lovely summer break but I don't always feel this way.
Through the years I've had patterns or cycles of feeling awake and inspired, and then periods of time, when it felt like I was half asleep with absolutely no creative energy at all. 

(I have written about this before. Click here to read that blog post.)

Page from my art journal.

More recently I've realised that the key to staying awake is to make myself stay awake! 
To make sure that I stay inspired and motivated to create. 

Inspiration can be cultivated, it doesn't just fly on the wind like a bit of pollen that pollinates a flower, although that is sometimes true. I find it more helpful to think of inspiration as a plant that is rooted in discipline. It produces flowers and fruit, and is beautiful in every season.

Discipline is the soil that inspiration grows in. 

Routine is not the enemy of inspiration, it can be its friend. 

I used to find that in the periods of awakeness, I would get overwhelmed. 
Colour would become so much more vibrant and it felt like pretty much everything was interesting! This would lead to sensory overload and I would get frustrated because it wasn't possible to execute all the ideas that would come into my head, songs, music, artwork, patterns for dresses, craft projects and so on. 
So usually what I tended to do was to shut down. I didn't even realise I'd done it. So then I'd have long periods of time of just existing, and then I'd wake up, become overwhelmed, and shut down again. It's a bit like if you plug your ears for a while and then release them, the noise all around would be overwhelming at first.
But now, I'm starting to embrace being awake, and staying awake, trusting that the initial shock and overwhelm of it will die down.

I find that a regular routine helps a lot, making time everyday to do a creative exercise like art journaling, collage, making something, or just simply writing an idea down. 
Getting ideas out of my head onto paper removes the panic I have that if I don't execute it straight away, I'll forget it or the inspiration will be wasted. 
Something to record audio like a phone, or voice recorder helps too, as song ideas tend to pop into my head randomly before bed!

Keeping my creative mind engaged has been key to an improvement in my mood, perspective and general well being.
I find that taking daily walks really helps, keeping eyes and ears open. 
It could be paying attention to the simplest things, the way that paint is peeling from a wall, or a bit of rust, or the vibrant colours of a flower, these are all wonderful sources of art inspiration.

So here's to a new season of awakeness and discovery
With very much love.
xxx

Collage!

I love collage! 

The act of simply sticking bits of colourful and pretty papers to a page is one that I find tremendously rewarding and lots of fun. I like that you never know exactly how it will turn out, but the end result is usually always a pleasant surprise.

I usually always begin art work, especially in my art journal, with a bit of collage, as it acts as a catalyst for the rest of the page in terms of colour choices or even the overall feel/emotion of the page.

I have started a mini journal just for collage. I made it using the cover of an old book, and have been using it for pages devoted solely to collage.

I also use collage to decorate the covers of journals, that I use, or sell.

The front cover of one of my art journals.

back of the art journal.

A journal that I sold on Etsy.
The cover was completely collaged with different papers.

Here are a couple of boards that I'm going to use for a journal cover. 

I really love how these turned out.

Here are some of my art journal pages that have collage as a feature. I love the combination of the papers with acrylic paint.

So there you have it!

 A celebration of collage, the simple of application of paper and glue to paper. 

Have a go, you'll love it!

 Allow yourself to have fun with it, without overthinking. Approach it in the way a child would do. There's lots of freedom to be found.

Till next time.

Much love.

xxx