Wanderlust wks 5-7: Castles

Its been really fun on Wanderlust (a year long online class) the last few weeks.  The Theme for February is Castles and we have had to do all sorts of different things from watercolours to making our own journal. 

We  had to paint a castle in watercolour and this was a huge challenge for me because I am not an artist and had never ever done a watercolour before.  Yes I had used watercolours on my stamped cards etc but never to actually paint a picture.  I enjoyed it so much I did two in the end.  Here is one of Lindisfarne Castle which is on Holy Island in Northumberland:

and this is Huntly Castle:

Next we had to make a Castle Gates journal.  I used paper from my stash which I had had for a long time for the inside pages and then used the scraps in a paper patchwork for the covers:

We had to bind it using kettle stitch:

For this week's class we did a journal page using a photocopied picture of a castle wall which we had to colour.  We had to include a picture and words and add a story or journaling.  The castle walls spoke to me of prison, hardship, problems, etc.  And the lovely vibrant colour spoke to me of hope and faith and the power that Jesus gives us to overcome whatever comes our way:

I used a picture of my husband and kids on a walk in Wales.  I tore a hole in the page and added the journaling behind the picture:

The castle wall was printed on plain photocopy paper so we had to use medium first and then in between the layers of colour.  I used Portfolios:

It was really great doing this page and remembering all the times that Jesus has helped me through some very difficult and even impossible situations.  When I trust in Him He is always there to help, strengthen and give wisdom.

We've had a couple of other activities to do in our art journals but I'll save those for another post.

Blessings to you.

Wanderlust wk 4: A Life in your Hand

This week on Wanderlust, a year long online class, we had the wonderful Kasia Avery on art journaling.  First of all we had to do a collage using pictures from old magazines which spoke to us about ourselves and our lives.  Then we had to write down things about our past, present and future on a separate piece of paper.  We cut all the sentences and words into strips and selected from these pieces to make a poem which we stuck over the collage.  On the other side of the art journal we drew round our hands and doodled three sections representing our past, present and future:

I thought the poem would be hard but I am pleased with how it came together and it really does show where I am at.  Kasia encouraged us to do our own handwriting and mine is very messy!

The collage was fun to do and I noticed, AFTER I had finished the page, that the words seemed to go with the pictures quite by accident!  eg 'the flowers in my garden' is over the picture of the bouquet of roses and the 'going deeper' is over the spade:

The hand was really fun to decorate.  Loved doing the doodling and I coloured it with watercolour pencils:

For the border we had to scrape gesso and then medium and make patterns in it with a skewer.  After leaving to dry Kasia used distress crayons to colour it which I don't have.  I managed to resist rushing out to buy some!  and I used my Portfolios instead.  The idea was to work the colour into the grooves of the patterns.

This was such a great class and as well as all the fun creating it was good to think about our path, where we had come from and where we are hoping to go.  I feel I'm in a season of waiting at  the moment - waiting for grief over the loss of my Mum to pass; waiting for a hip replacement; waiting to be able to do the things again which I haven't been able to do for ages because of the state of my hips; waiting for spring.  However, God meets me and keeps me in the waiting so all is well, very very well :)

Blessings to you.