Sketchbook and Art Journaling

On Sunday I spent the day doing some sketches on the patio, Roses and Zinnias. I had been using the sketchbook at an 8x8" size but I find for me I enjoy working in a smaller sketchbook so I cut it down to a 6x6" size and rebound it. Now I find myself sketching in it more often...

This is the cover with a painted label and a little garland on the bottom with rhinestones.

I did sketches of Roses and Zinnias and wrote in a poem from an old book I have called Nature in Verse. The poem is called O Lark of the Summer Morning..   From the Japanese

I love to lie in the clover,

with the lark like a speck in the sky,

while it's small sweet throat runneth over

with praise it sendeth on high.

O lark of the summer morning,

teach, teach me the song that you sing,

I would learn without lightness or scorning,

to give praise for every good thing.

O lark of the summer morning!

give, give me of praying the key,

and I'll learn without lightness or scorning

as I did at my own mother's knee.



 I also added some journaling to my latest art journal, a weekly to do list and peaceful things to remember like...

Cherish Moments of Solitude

Laugh Often

Make Time To Play

and Open Up To Lifes Magic

from a Melody Beattie book





Nature Walk

This weeks nature walk...
These photos were from a nearby lake and nature preserve, a really peaceful place especially with the cool breezes. I found a few little wildflowers to draw and took photos of the daylilies and large pink flowers by the water's edge. I'm not sure what type of flower the pink ones are, they are about 7" around and such an intense color.

Sketchbook page from nature walk



Elisa Loves Nature Walk

A few sewing projects

This week I bought the new magazine 'Tilda's Homemade Ideas'. It came with the materials and instructions to make the little floral and polka dot purse with a lining inside. I haven't ever done a lot of sewing but the templates and instructions were so good and made it easy to understand, so when I completed that project I made the pencil case that was in the magazine, I just had to buy the fabric this time. It was a little harder especially adding the zipper, but I'm happy with how it turned out. I've been wanting a pencil case for awhile now so I was really excited to find the instructions for it in the magazine.
I also sewed together a paper journal with little bits of paper and images sewn in, and then I bound it together with a simple binding.

A spread in the journal with part of an envelope,(I will add things in that later)a picture of a pretty fabric heart and other bits of paper

Upclose shot of the pencil case with a heart pendant that I added to the zipper

Inner Excavate Along-week 5

This weeks prompt--I look closer
I found a picture of me that I never really liked very much and decided to embrace it instead and use it in a mixed media piece. I sewed bits of fabric onto paper, added embroidered flowers and some words from a book..."When we can't do anything about the world around us, when we can't even seem to do much about ourselves, we can always, always love ourselves"-Melody Beattie

Part of inner excavation is creating an altar, and the altar I've used for about a year is a portable altar that I created out of a box, I collaged it with images that felt peaceful to me and inside I have a candle, some stones and trinkets, creative journaling and inspiration card decks and a box of matches to light the candle.

 "The Whole World Is A Single Flower"

Inner Excavate Along

Working on my Inner Excavate Journal

This week I'm posting about my Inner Excavate Along journal, I'm a few weeks behind and doing my best to get caught up. I put together a long narrow journal with watercolor paper and I cropped old photos into 2" squares using photos of things I love, my favorite places and people ,my favorite activities. On the front part of the journal I used larger photos for the self portrait images and then added in other pretty things and words like "on my journey", "Welcome to my Garden", "making art in my studio", and "books".

I used K&Company chipboard letters for an impromptu title "inner excavate"

This photo shows almost the full length of the journal when its open with a layout of 4 photos on each page. The first couple of pages have more current photos of things I love right now like pansies, butterflies, art journaling, paintbrushes in a pretty pitcher, my favorite coffee cup and more.

This is me holding a pansy which has always been one of my favorite flowers and  'symbols'.

There was also a paragraph  that I liked this week from Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift From the Sea

"And then to work, behind closed doors neither of us would want to invade. What release to write so that one forgets oneself, forgets one's companion, forgets where one is or what one is going to do next-to be drenched on work as one is drenched in sleep or in the sea. Pencils and pads and curling blue sheets alive with letters heap up on the desk. And then, pricked by hinger, we rise at last in a daze, for a late lunch. Reeling a little form our intense absorbtion, we come back with relief to the small chores of getting lunch, as if they were lifelines to reality- as if we had indeed almost drowned in the sea of intelectual work and welcomed the form ground of physical action under our feet."

Liz Lamoreaux-inner excavate

Journal projects in progress

These are a few of my journals in progress. The one altered book I cut into a square shape and I'm using it to follow along on with Kelly Kilmer's Online Journal Class. The other one in the picture below that are some rectangles of watercolor paper that I haven't bound together yet, and I'm using that one to follow along on Inner Excavate. So I have some little 2" pictures that I cropped from larger photos, and thats all I have so far but I also want to try and incorporate poetry because Lix Lameroux  encourages a person to try poetry, and her poetry definately inspires me to try. So I will see what I come up with next for these journals. But I'm having a lot of fun in the process.

 This other journal underneath is my daily journal which is always a work in progress, I write about  my day, add little drawings, and sometimes a photo , plus daily ephemera.

Liz Lamoreux-Inner Excavate Along