Altar, Alter

Today I received a little packet of loveliness in the post, all the way from the other side of the world. One of the things was a beautiful clay disc with different symbols on each side. This disc is for use in earth healing and if you want to know more then Miss R is the lady and this is the place to go....

Now this disc was so lovely that it needed some place good to go. My altar was the obvious place for it to go. Except my altar only really existed in my head. I had the table in place but nothing beyond that. I suddenly realised I needed to gather the things together for it and get it done...


This was the first ever piece of silk painting I did and I always intended it to go on my altar and now it is, finally, there....


Some time ago I started, but never really finished a hearth craft course. I found a beautiful stone way back when which has been living in my kitchen. I always intended to paint it and tonight I finally did...


Here is my altar with the candle I dedicated on my hearthstone. The little figure is a very plain and crude polymer clay effort of mine. I struggled with this type of clay but a little prayer and it suddenly played ball and moved into shape. The ribbon I was given at Bride and of course, my new clay disc.

In large part, my abortive teacher training is responsible for the growth in craftiness in my life. This is a papier mache mask I made in one of our art sessions at college. We were supposed to work in pairs but I didn't, I wanted it to be mine and I had a vision. I had to work like crazy to get it done in the time but I did... and I love it. She sits above my altar...

So thank you Miss R, I achieved a lot today because of a lovely little gift...

Butterfly Art

I love doing this sort of painting. I remember it fondly from my childhood and recently rediscovered it care of Caspiana.... So when short of time last night, splodging some paint on and shutting book before leaving it to dry was the perfect thing.

I used purple and pink ready mix, metallic pink and lilac, irridescent medium and interference violet acrylic.

The paints glimmer in the light and contrast really well with the muddy edges. I liked it so much, I had to do one for my Neice's book as well....

Burning

This image was completed early last week.

I started with red and orange marker pen scribbles, then I added pink and red ink marks. Over this I added red paint. I then spoldged on white paint and spread it using a kids texturing tool. I then cut out some flamey shapes from some irridescent cellophane. The words are in gold stickers and although it has been cut off a little, due to the size of the book, reads ' How bright do I burn?'.

I bought some new paint today. Tesco have a craft section in their bigger stores and their range changes. They sell kids paints of readymix which are an awful lot cheaper than my tiny tubes of acrylic and perfect for journaling. Today they had new bottles of black, white, pink and purple readymix but even better they have new bottles of metallic ready mix in gold, copper and silver.

Unfortunately I still have my dull daisychain necklace to finish and so I am going to resist the pull of paint and mess and magic and pick up my beading needle and continue making daisies. *sigh*

I promise to take a photo before it goes to it's new home.

New Ideas (at least to me they are)

While looking on the blogs of fellow CEDers I found this blog by Susan. This led me to this blog by Sarah Whitmire. In this post, Sarah begins a tutorial on Soul Journalling. Looking at Sarah and Susan's pictures I am determined to have a go!

I have been reading Sarah's instructions. It seems I will need to buy gesso which will require a trip to Truro although I think you can make something similar with PVA and white paint? She also recommends cheap acrylic paint as these have much less pigment and so are better for layering and giving a wash effect. Today I stopped off on my way hope and bought some cheap kids paints. Bigger bottles of blue, green, red and yellow. Smaller bottles of metallic purple, pink and green. Little pots like the ones you get with painting by numbers and some tubes of more expensive white and black. Sarah also recommends Sharpie pens as they will not run when you paint over them, so a pack of these went in too.

I also bought a cheap A5 hard back book but I am as yet unsure whether I wish to journal in this or not. I could make a book... Or I could wait till I get into Truro....

Word Wednesday - Wood (Postcards Three and Four)

I promised myself I wouldn't write much on this blog, but I can't help myself. These pictures are attempts at reproducing wood grain. I used sharpie pens with some crayons inbetween the lines. I painted over with cheap acrylic paints. The pink and purple paints are metallic and have a gentle sheen to them.

I have placed them on my wall so I can reflect on them. I am placing them on here because I want to own all my attempts and experimentations. If I start trying to only post perfect things, I imagine I will always find some fault and never post anything. I also am hoping that next year, looking back I will have a fresh perspective and be able to see progress... This doesn't help me like them. I think I am judging them harder than I should, given the time they took...