StencilGirl December 2021 Project

We have reached the final words of Ben Okri’s poem and by wonderful synchronicity it is also my final project for this year. It has been another eventful one and not always in a good way. We have all had to adjust to the new realities and going forward does not look easy. All we can do is: “Search, search for a new destiny.

I wish you peaceful holidays and I’ll be back with new projects in 2022. A big thank you to Stencilgirl® Products for letting me share my art with you.

 Here is the link to the tutorial:

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2021/11/Art-Journaling-with-StencilGirl.html

StencilGirl November 2021 Project

We have reached the penultimate line of Ben Okri’s poem and it reads: “Wake up to what you can be”. In our September project we illustrated the line Wake up to who you are”. To methis new line means that there is always room for improvement and it is up to us to continue to work towards becoming who we want to be. It is never too late!

Here is the link to the tutorial:

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2021/10/frieda-oxenham-art-journaling-with.html

StencilGirl October 2021 Project

We will be working on the part of Ben Okri’s poem that reads: You are a sun, you are a star”. I interpreted this as an incentive to us all not to put ourselves down but instead to celebrate who we are and what we are capable off. We all need reminding of that as much as possible!

Here is the link to the tutorial:

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2021/09/Art-Journaling-StencilGirl.html

StencilGirl September2021 Project

I started this month’s project with 6 A4 (or American letter size if you prefer) paper, a selection of colours of acrylic paints that I really did not like, together with black and white paint, and 4 stencils that I had not used much (judging by the lack of paint on them). The stencils were: the large stencil from the October 2020 Stencilgirl® Club stencil set. Stencil L703 Forest Floor, the large stencil from the June 2018 Stencilgirl® Club and the large stencil from the March 2021 Club set. And I also used a gelli plate, sized 8 x 10”. All this just to wake up to what I am. Because that is the next line in Ben Okri’s poem that I continue to illustrate: “Wake up to what you are”. For me adding an image of Frida Kahlo to the mix suited the words considering my own name. Frida used to spell her name with the additional e too but dropped it during the first World War.

Here is the link to the tutorial:

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2021/09/frieda-oxenham-art-journaling-with.html

StencilGirl August 2021 Project

Slowly we are moving through Ben Okri’s poem and this month we have reached the words: “Each one of us is a powerful being”. It made me think about the situation we have found ourselves in during the past year and a half. There were times I felt far from powerful as many decisions were taken from us such as where we could go, whom we could see and what we could do. It was hard to imagine that we were powerful. But we retained our power in the way that matters most. We could still think about what we wanted and we could still practice our art in whatever way suited us. For me the enforced isolation period has been one of artistic growth, and of heretofore unheard off productivity in all my different art forms such as photography, quilting art, and of course mixed media and art journaling. Other thoughts about power also slipped in apart from the poem, such as female empowerment and flower power. I ended up with a page that I very much like. Hope you do too.

 Here is the link to the tutorial :

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2021/07/art-journaling-with-stencilgirl-stencils.html

StencilGirl July 2021 Project

We are slowly nearing the end of Ben Okri’s poem that I have been illustrating as part of my monthly projects for StencilGirl, and have reached the words: “The dream is real, and the real is a dream”. Too true! This entire period of our lives has seemed extremely surreal and it is hard to imagine what our “normal” lives before the end of 2019 looked liked. I somehow think that that sort of normality will probably never fully return but hopefully our real world will slowly become a nicer dream. I also liked the words as they gave me the opportunity to use one of my most favourite stencils, one of those I keep aside on a separate pile, for special occasions. It is stencil L519 Lyrical Leaves. It’s based on the principle of Notan: Nōtan is a Japanese design concept involving the play and placement of light and dark elements as they are placed next to the other in the composition of art and imagery. This stencil does this beautifully and also seemed to resonate with the difference between dreams and reality, so the scene was set to make this spread. Here is the link to the tutorial:

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2021/07/frieda-oxenham-art-journaling-with.html

StencilGirl June 2021 Project

There is more of Ben Okri’s poem left to illustrate and this month’s pages are a continuation of last month when I made a spread featuring the text: “ The wise say life is a dream, and soon the dream is done”. The poem continues: “But what you did in the dream, is all that counts beneath the sun. In other words make your life worth living. This resonates specially during these still very difficult days in a world pandemic.  I aimed to make these dreamlike pages.

Here is the link to the tutorial:

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2021/06/frieda-oxenham-art-journaling-with.html

StencilGirl May2021 Project

The future is beginning to look a bit more hopeful now that vaccinations are well on their way and the weather is improving here in the Northern hemisphere. We can begin to dream of summer outings and meeting friends. Coincidentally we have reached the following words in the poem by Ben Okri: “The wise say life is a dream; and soon the dream is done”. But I hope that instead our dreams will linger, so have made this a hopeful spread ,colour and image wise.

Here is the link to the tutorial: https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2021/05/frieda-oxenham-art-journaling-with.html

StencilGirl (r) April 2021 Project

April is one of my most favourite months with lambs in the fields and daffodils in the garden. It’s a month of new beginnings and I fervently hope that will be especially true this year As always the quotation of Ben Okri’s poem this month comes up trumps.  The words I’m using this month are: “Let each moment of our life somehow help the good fight, or help spread some light”. It has been a revelation to me how every part of the poem is so appropriate to the times we are living in, and I think it’s because the entire poem is a beautiful evocation of who we are and what we can achieve if we try. So I wish a more normal life to everyone. It will be a life we no longer take for granted and that makes it extra special.

Here is the link to the tutorial:

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2021/04/frieda-oxenham-art-journaling-with.html

StencilGirl February 2021 Project

The second month of 2021 already! I’m writing this a lot earlier so have no idea what this year has brought us thus far but I’m hoping life will be looking a bit more normal than itdid in 2020. In the meantime I’m continuing to illustrate the words of a poem by Ben Okri and for this month I’m only using one page. The accompanying spread on the right hand side will follow in the future.

Here is the link for the tutorial:

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2021/02/frieda-oxenham-art-journaling-with.html

StencilGirl January 2021 Project

A New Year brings fresh hope and new beginnings in many ways, specially this year. Hopefully we will be able to look back and realize that life became more normal in 2021 after the disaster that was 2020. As always I am using Ben Okri’spoem as my guideline and once again it was just what I needed to hear: “ We are not much more than what we think, in our minds we swim or sink”. Let’s all try to Keep on Swimming!

You can find the full tutorial here:

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2021/01/frieda-oxenham-poetry-with-stencilgirl.html

StencilGirl (R) December2020 Project

We have made it to the end of this year and that in itself is already much more of an achievement than in any other year. I hope you are safe and well and will continue to be so in 2021. Had we known what awaited us at this time last year we might well have wanted to take a rain check but sadly that wasn’t an option. Part of what has kept me going during this roller coaster of a year is my art and also the words of Ben Okri’s poem that I have continued to illustrate over the past months. Time and again I have been struck by just how appropriate each quote was to the situation we were living through and this last one of the year is no exception: “But there is nothing we can do, if we don’t begin to think anew”. I think it can be applied to both our personal lives and the wider world, and my hope for 2021 is that we make a start with that sooner rather than later. One of my New Year resolutions is to continue to illustrate this poem.

You can find a link to the tutorial for these pages here:

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2020/12/frieda-oxenham-poetry-with-stencilgirl.html

StencilGirl®️ October Project

 

 I’m returning to my illustration of Ben Okri’s poem and we have reached the hopeful words: “We can 

wake to the power of our voice, change the world with the power of our choice”. I am constantly 

amazed by just how appropriate the lines of this poem are to the situations we find ourselves in, 

particularly at the moment, but I suspect at any time. As always there is a full step by step tutorial available for this project on the StencilGirl ®️ talk website. You can find it here: https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2020/10/art-journaling-with-stencilgirl-stencils.html

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