I Did It :)

Hi friends,

I like to share my last page of the 'Happy Soul' art journal. I'm going to start another art journal very soon :).

 I was inspired by Linda Kunsman's post on spiritual growth and inspired to journal about the changes in me, discovering that yoga encourages calmness, openness and creativity.

I used a picture of a woman siting in lotus position (from Yoga International Magazine) as the focus on my page today. I painted and doodled around this image.

I started by sticking strips upon strips of decorative tissue papers onto my journal page. Then, washed the page with watered-down gesso. Drew a circle with fuschia watercolor crayon and yellow acrylic artist ink. Smudged the ink & crayon with baby wipes when they were still wet. 

When dried, stamped an image of a women's face. Then doodled with black india ink and correction liquid pen. Drew some scallops to the top & bottom of the page with fuschia crayon. Lastly, added some intricate lacy rubons.

Till next journal, adios.

Hugs,

Shahrul

Picasso's Quote

Hi again,

I got up at 4.30 this morning, earlier than usual because of ALL that excitement of Venus' Transit. I managed to create a journal page in less than 2 hours' time. I saw Picasso's quote that hung above my studio's door (made this sign for Frilly & Funkie challenge awhile back). I thought I might have that journaled. 

The completed journal page :

I started by sticking many washi tapes and decorative tissue papers on blank pages. Then I filled in the spot I missed with torn kite paper (it feels like handmade rice paper, thin but rough). Washed the pages with gesso and watered-down aqua acrylic paint. After that, dabbed thick aqua paint over punchinella at random. 

Drew some circles with purple artist acrylic ink, let some to drip. On opposite page, drew half circle then turned the page 90 deg and let the ink dripped. Wrote Picasso's quote with correction pen and I did some doodling on masking tapes too.

Do you see a stenciled pattern, peeking through the thin kite paper? I could almost see the pulp too. 

So that's it. I have just one more blank page to completely fill up my 'Happy Soul' art journal. Yay!. I thought I'd never be discipline enough but I almost made it. Can't wait to start a new journal. So addictive. 

Hugs,

Shahrul

My 'Graffiti-ish' Page

Dear friends,
I took a leisure walk today, inspired by Alisa Burke's Finding Your Muse Online Class. Took some photos of nature, texture, architectural designs and colors for inspirations.

Then I saw these artsy graffiti wall along the Klang River bank (opposite Pasar Seni LRT station). It goes on forever!. The graffiti of a girl holding a paint brush and wrote "I love color" is my favorite!. And THAT does it. I just need to create a graffiti page. Just.

Graffiti walls;

The completed journal page:


I'd imagined this looking like a graffiti wall. Complete with paint chips and old torn advertisement. LOL. So random, I know. I used a lot of black & white acrylic colors, with a splash of red & blue. 

I used a paint knife to spread colors all over the page, built one layer at a time. I did stamping and stenciling too. Foam-stamping with thick acrylic paint. Oh, the numbers symbolizes a row of many bright graffiti images along the river bank :). 

Next time you go out, just be camera-ready for inspirations. So stimulating!.

Hugs,

Shahrul

Too Many Ideas ... Too Late At Night

At 12.00 am last night, I was still wide awake. I just can't go to sleep. My mind was still not at rest and I decided to do a quick art journal page. I was totally wrong. I ended up sleeping at 4.00 am!. But I went to bed happy :).

This was me, journaling about myself having too many ideas too late at night. LOL. 

The vines are happy, creative ideas in my head (and in my heart too).

I used a lot of finger-painting with very thick acrylic paint and smudging watercolor crayons. I did some foam stamping, decoupaged tissue papers as well as doodling with correction pen & markers.

Experimenting with black paint. I love to use more of black in the future. Till next, have a great day today.

Hugs,

Shahrul

I Finally Found Myself

Hi there,

I realized that I have been a wanderer all along. It took me years to finally know what I really want to do in life. And now I take every opportunity to surround myself with things (and people) that (or who) bring happiness. 

And today's spread is all about our wanderings and soul searching that everyone of us has experienced or still ongoing within. 

Yes, I do enjoy orange now :). 

I am trying not to use watered-down paint anymore, since I'd ruined some of the older pages in this journal. They simply became mushy at the middle and torn away :(. I had prepared my page by spraying blue and orange glimmer mist over stencil a few days ahead. All I need now is just to adhere orange colored tissue papers all over the stencil pattern!. Covered the entire page with tissue papers.

Then I adhered pattern paper cutouts of a window, a bicycle and a door to the page. Dabbed some aqua acrylic paint over a stencil along the outline of the door and top of page. I wiped off some of the aqua paint with baby wipes. I love how the paint and parts of the tissue paper washed out a little bit. Like a real wall with paint chips and graffiti.

I doodled with black india ink in lazy wavy lines. I think the white dotted line underneath helped guide the eyes across the page. Outlined along the door and window with black india ink too.

I had fun making this today. So calming. And I like to leave you a beautiful quote by Henry Ward Beecher;

" Every ARTIST dips her brushes in her own SOUL".

Until next, happy journaling.

Hugs,

Shahrul

Now I Have No Excuse :)

Hi there,

Some days when I get super lazy, I make excuses NOT to do art at all. Guilty. I would just go blog hopping for inspirations (rolling eyes ...) or went pinning on Pinterest (which is REALLY fun). In reality, I am being lazy.

Then I saw a beautiful print on Donna's post last night that shouted at me "Stop being lazy". LOL. No, really?. She suggested that we use the print on our journal pages. I am going to write it on my page instead. That way, I will remember the words. If you're keeping an art journal, you are welcome to use this print on yours too. Or just post it somewhere you create. On inspiration boards.

from createsomething.net

This is my "get-off-the-computer-and-create" page that I did last night :).

Used some texture paste over stencils on both pages and let them dried for a few hours. After that dried, I primed my pages with white gesso. Then finger-painted aqua acrylic paint all over the pages while blotching them with baby wipes.

Glued bits and pieces of pattern papers, paper doilies, washi tape and musical notes on the page. Wrote the phrase with black india ink, black drawing pen and correction pen. I LOVE how the white words stood out against the aqua color!. I wrote some of the key words with ZIG color markers on pattern papers and adhered them to the page for additional interest.

You could almost see white patches on the textured stencil image. Achieved this by blotching wet paint with baby wipes. I doodled "Find Your Musing" all over the page. (oh how I wished I had large script stamps). By rubbing aqua soft pastel chalk over a white embossed paper, I've got the opposite effect. Just finger-smudge the color a bit more and blow away the access dust.

There you have it. I think I just promised myself to continue creating everyday :). How about you?

Hugs,

Shahrul

Happy Nest

Hello,

A quiet day for me today and I was able to complete another collage page in my 'Happy Soul' art journal. I made a promise to fill up the journal in two weeks, but I think I am a little behind :). 

I am always intrigued by art work that has houses in them i.e, altered bird houses, little box of paper mache houses, or simply a photograph of brightly colored British bathing boxes. 

I painted, collaged and decoupaged little box houses in my journal today. So happy that I tried this. I used scrap pattern papers and tissue papers for the doors, windows and roofs.

I started by sticking random clippings from Moof's brown wrapping paper onto the page followed with a tissue paper over the entire page. Then, washed with gesso (tinted with a few drops of blue acrylic artist ink). Remember to dry the page completely before each step. Then I started painting a few boxes with bright colors. While drying them, I spritzed some water and let the colors dripped from one to another.

After this dried I started adding doors, roofs & windows to my houses. Lastly, I wrote bold letters with black india ink and doodled at the bottom of the page. 

"In her wanderings, she stumbled upon such HAPPY neighbourhood and stayed. Every door welcomes her with LOVE and friendship. She is finally HOME". This is a journal about me finally loving to art blogging again :). 

You can vary doodling on several sides, doesn't always have to be horizontal. By ALL means ... write vertically, sideways, make swirls or circles of words. Certainly, NO limit :). It's also fun to doodle along the outline of your collaged images. I did one on the roof, see it? 

Today's page makes me want to build little paper mache houses next. Don't know why. Is it summer yet?. See you soon.

XO,

Shahrul

Going Monochromatic

It took me long before I could post this page. I managed to paint and collage while entertaining my cat Fuji ... talking about multi tasking, yes?

The theme was Monochrome Colors. I had the page misted with dark blue glimmer mist over a stencil from before. Over that, I had collaged prints from an old book and some washi tapes. By doing this ahead of time, I really don't have to prepare the page much.

I tried not to paint at all, so I used a tan colored tissue paper as my background. Glued pieces of the crumpled tissue paper to the page with mod podge. Did this over entire page. After that dried, you'd have a beautiful textured, lovely tan colored page without a splash of paint!. Neat right?.

Then stamped a couple of doors and butterfly images and added some printed words. Lastly, drew circles and wrote inspirational quotes with black india ink. Dripped some, splashed some. My ink smeared badly, I think must have been the tissue paper. Then I finger-dabbed some diluted black india ink on a strip of punchinella along the bottom of the page.

When all that done, my page really looking sad and gloomy. So, I drew a box with red acrylic artist ink around the word 'COURAGE'.

That's it. I'm liking the tissue paper technique, it almost giving a rough texture of a tree bark. I definitely going to experiment more of this.

I'm linking up this 'Monochromatic' art journal page to Stencils & Masks challenge @ Frilly & Funkie. First time entering an art journal page to any challenges, so this should be fun.

Until then, happy journaling :)

XO,

Shahrul

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all. 

I celebrated it last night at home by spending some quiet time making this page :)). 

This page is all about the love my mother had for me & my brother. As some of you may know, my mother passed away a long time ago when I was still a teenager. Only this year that I'm ready to create mini albums, art journal pages, or just write about her in my blog :).

I used her favorite color; blue a lot in this page. And some white, yellow and pink to cheer up the page a bit.

I used her picture taken when she was in college. Now she looks like she enjoys reading in the clouds!. The 'circles of thought' means that I'm thinking about her a lot lately. Simple doodling will do for a simple page, I think. Two flowers; one for my mother and one for me :). The doodle on the flowers are actually inspired by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's blog banner. You can see it here.

Till next time, have a great Monday!.

XO,
Shahrul

Color me Happy

It rained again this afternoon. Now the small woods behind my apartment building is covered with mist and the birds are chirping. I can hear many different birds, singing different songs!. Wish you could hear them. I love this moment. 

Just before the rainstorm stopped, I completed another art journal page. I have made a promise to try fill up my 'Happy Soul' art journal in two weeks. I have no idea if I could, but as of now, I'm enjoying the process of making little art every day.

This is a very simple page. Experimenting with soft pastel colors mixed with some water. I begin to like pastel now ... and the color orange! :)).

I started preparing the page by sticking re-inforcement rings all over the edge and covered the whole page with a wash of gesso. (Just remember to dry thoroughly after every paint you put on the page, and before adding a new color). Then I made a heart paper cut out, and sprayed onto it with red glimmer mist. I drew a thick line along the crisp lining of the heart with an orange pastel, then smudged it with my wet finger. After it dried, outlined the heart with black india ink.

On the opposite page, I used my finger to smudge sap green acrylic color on the sides. I drew 3 orange circles with pastel, wet it with my finger. With one hand holding the other page upside down, I added more water to the orange circles and let it dripped!. I did the same thing to the magenta pastel color. After all that dried, I wrote "Play with Color, makes me happy" with black india ink. After that dried, added stamping with Stazon, and a couple of fabric stickers. That's it. It's done.

I'm so happy how this turned out. Came to think of it, rain makes me want to paint. Weird. There is a theory that says, you are most happy when there is a lot of water around you. People sing their heart out in bathrooms :P, and no one is sad at the beach, right?. I hope you are happy today no matter what is going on in your life right now :)). 
Adios.

XO,
Shahrul

Clean them palettes in NO time!

Hi again. 

I like to share a journal page that I completed today, inspired by Donna Downey's Inspirational Wednesday video. Her technique was WOWW. Who would have thought??. I like her ideas of creating art out of the 'inspirational mess' you have laying on your table, or for this case ... in your color palettes. I'm like, yeah I have got a few dirty color palettes from God knows when that needed cleaning. Never so excited to clean up until NOW. This is what I created today;

"I am strong when I'm on your shoulders" is from Josh Groban's song 'You Raise Me Up'.

Dirty palettes (inspirational mess). I just peeled the paint off my palettes and scattered them on my journal, like so. They kind of looked gross, but it's totally fun to peel them!. You should try. I now have cleaner palettes. So happy :)). Then I glued all those paint skins on the page. You can use gel medium, let dry and iron them with a craft iron. I'm too lazy and skipped this step. I like the lumpy and bumpy texture on my page so much.

I first painted my page with acrylic yellow and when dried, covered all over it with gesso. When that dried, sprayed over a stencil chalkboard glimmer mist (Cherry Cola). Dabbed the leftover red mist onto the other page. I used baby wipes to clean off the gesso on some of the bigger paint skins, so that their colors showed up. I then drew circles with black india ink, and maybe let some drippage going on here and there :)). Lastly, add inspirational words either handwritten them, or typed. 

I LOVE the rough texture of my page. Wish you could feel them. So, have fun peeling off those palettes and make something simple yet beautiful. And don't forget to link up what you've made in my yesterday's blog post. Who knows you could win something. *wink*.

For everyone's inspiration, check out the video that shows how Donna works her magic here.

XO,
Shahrul

La Luna journal page

Hi folks,

I wasn't lucky to see the recent super moon long enough. We had heavy clouds and smog that night. Then all I see was a very big smeared yellow ball :((. Although, the night before (May 5th), the sky was clear and I had a glimpse of the awesome super moon!. Did anyone had a great time watching it??.

I grabbed my journal and started painting. I was awestruck. I watch the sky every now and then, looking at Pleiades and Orion's Belt. I'm sort of an amateur stargazer too. 

My journal entry today is capturing the super moon!. Easy peasy, because I'm using just black, silver & pink acrylic colors. I painted black gesso all over the page and stamped 4 large circles with a mug. These circles supposed to be different moon phases, can you tell? Oh, and I finger-smudged pink paint over a strip of punchinella inside these 'moons'. They made good moon craters! Moon is made of cheese, no?

 Added some lunar rubons and a grid transparency. I think the grids make me feel like I'm looking at the dark space from my space orbiter. LOL. Used washi & masking tapes to stick the plastic down to the page. Lastly, sprinkled silver paint by rubbing the bristle of a large paint brush. I guess, you could use any clean brush to do this. And that silver dusty dots are my stars!. 

"Are we alone?". My favorite question, everyday. BTW, I'm a fan of the Ancient Alien series. :)). Okay, lets come back to Earth. 

If you did any art journaling this week, I like to see them. Or maybe you like to share breathtaking photos of the super moon. You could link them up using the InLinkz at the bottom of this post. After a week, come back and check out what everyone is working on. (I hope the link works).

XO,
Shahrul

Another collage page :))

Hi everyone. 

I like to share another collage page that I completed two days ago. This time, I'm playing with fuschia, pink, metallic mint and dark green colors.

Mostly I just used my fingers to color the page, either by dabbing, or making circles. Certainly no rules. Spritz water if the colors get too thick. Another fun technique I tried was using the tip of a small paint brush to draw circles!. Although, you may have to repeat making the circles as paint don't stick well on the tip. I even drew the leaves with that. So random, I know.

With the tip of the brush, I made small dots all over the page. After that dried, with a brayer I colored the edges randomly with white gesso. Stamped a dragonfly on a scrap paper, then glued it on the page. At this point, my page was already full of colors but I think I could add more texture & words on it. So, then I glued on scrap lace, washi tapes and even masking tapes!. Masking tapes are so cool. You can doodle on them, paint, stamp or mist.

So, that's it. I'm going to figure out how to add the 'link' tool, so everyone can share their art journal pages here. THAT would be fun. Any clue??. I LOVE to see your work :)). But till then, stay tune.

XO,

Shahrul

Donna said 'Use a color you hate this week"

Hi everyone. 
On Monday, I worked on the very first collage in my recently made ' Happy Soul' art journal. I read Donna Downey's Collage Monday and was simply smitten with her suggestion; use a color you hate this week!. I said, wow ... I love to try this.

I don't really have a color I hate, but i DO have a color I like the LEAST, orange!... arrghh. After a couple of hours playing with orange color, I still not 'warmed' to it. :)). Felt good that I tried though.

I used masking technique with stencil and masking tape to create the vertical orange-light blue stripes. I suck at peeling the masking tapes out and torn the page in a few places. Using a bottle cap, I stamped orange & blue circles all over. When it dried, I stamped a little bird & a chandelier images with black ink. I also decoupaged a couple of musical notes (tissue paper) and a bird (newspaper cutting). Next I added buttons and cut out messages in the circles. Lastly, the most fun part .... doodling! 

So, pick up that color and have a try. It's fun.

XO,
Shahrul

Material used:

Daler-Rowney Simply Acrylic light blue

Delta Ceramcoat pumpkin Acrylic Paint

Fairbro Gesso white primer

Paper Mod Podge (for decoupage)

musical notes tissue papers

Christy Tomlinson She Art pattern papers (quotes)

masking tape

buttons

brown twines

black eyelet

Moof black plastic sequins

Momoyo heart embellishment

Margarie stamp set

Tim Holtz tapes

Happy Soul Art Journal

Hi everyone. 

I watched Donna Downey's Inspirational Wednesday videos all afternoon yesterday. Yes! I'm now obsessed with art journal. She made it looked SO easy. Splash here, drip there..and play wet paint with your fingers. I LOVE her. 

So inspired, I quickly whipped a simple art journal. Right now, the pages are still blank but in a few days....(hopefully), I'd be adding something colorful & meaningful in there. Here is how my newest art journal looks like;

I stamped a butterfly with Stazon at the back. The covers are made from linen-burlap cloth, which is soft to the touch yet has some texture. On the side, I attached a skeleton key with multicolor fibers. I need colors since the cover is quite sombre. A simple closure with a button & a stretchable string. This helps when my art journal grew thicker later. (I'm admiring Donna's thick art journal *wink*). I love naming my art work with beautiful words. Delicious tittle too.

These are some blank pages inside my journal. I simply stapled watercolor papers, canvas sheets and brown paper bags to the cover. Oh, I'm so ready to paint and collage on these pages. It is good to have blank art journal/canvas handy, you never know when inspiration strikes. Sometimes, a simple doodling will do :)).

I could see blue sky and greeneries from where I'm sitting right now. The birds flying by and the breeze. It's a nice day out. Happy Friday everyone.

XO,
Shahrul