Write Everything

Wanderlust 2016 is a yearly series of online classes for which you can still sign up here. So far I have been very impressed with what is on offer. As part of Wanderlust we are also working in a journal for which we receive a prompt twice a month and also an occasional illustrative video. We could work in whatever journal we wanted but I'm following the videos and am using Finnabair's Vintage Vanity Art Journal. I like how it looks from the outside but the small size (5 x 7") and more especially those metal rings that hold the journal together are quite a challenge!

The paper too is thinner than I would ideally like but as we're only going to do 26 spreads this year I think it will be possible to glue pages together to make a thicker substrate and still have enough pages left for the purpose so I'm working on alternate spreads.

I won't be saying much about how these pages were done as it's a class. The prompt is written on the pages. It was: "Write a lot. Write everything. Fill your page with writing". You may no longer be able to see it but I tore out pages from my written morning journal pages (as per Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way book) and glued them over both pages. I also used a lot of rubber stamping with text (by Donna Downey, as well as Alpha Stamps and Tim Holtz) and yes, I also actually wrote with both black and white markers. The stamp featuring measurements and tiny buttons, at the left hand side, comes from Collections (that's the only info on the packing plus the fact that it's made in Australia. After some online searching I think it's this company although I can't find the stamp in question). I came upon it in my rubber stamp collection and have no idea where I got it from. It's lovely and you may well see it appear elsewhere. Always a pleasure to discover new treasure in your own possessions!

No acrylics were used on the page, but instead I used watercolour paint and watercolour markers, as well as water soluble oil pastels.  The finishing touch was a postage stamp that, to me at least, refers to the stamped quotation in the circle that reads: "the heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing".