Sunrise Sunrise, says Norah Jones

I watched some old songs on youtube the other day and one that was still too cute, was Norah Jones' Sunrise song. Watch the fun video here. I'm loving the tunes, the play and even the props!. Looked like they had so much fun :).

My journal entry today is a tribute to the song. I wrote the lyrics down (for the most part) across the pages and drew a big sunny face in the middle. I wanted to have a child-like theme (just like in the video) so I had the cheeks, the eyes and even the sunshine colored in smudged soft pastels. 

Hope these pages make you smile :). Have a great summer and Happy Friday!.

XO,

Shahrul

Find Your Magic

Hi, how was your day?. 

It's a strange day for me as I was feeling tired for no reason!. I was out having lunch, then a little grocery shopping then came home to feed the cats. I took a nap and I must tell you it was a restless one!. I remembered seeing bloody red paint & black doodle flash about in my mind's eye.  I got up and started painting :).

Here's what I made;

I did a bad job at stenciling a paper doily with black gesso!. All smudgy, LOL.

This image from Marie Claire magazine helped me a bit;

Painted background with water-soluble crayons (in red & orange), I collaged a pretty lady and decided to decoupaged some roses on her cheeks :). Rosy cheeks, literally!. Then added bits of tissue papers and red burlaps for texture.

First time having a face on my pages. I saw Julie Balzer painted some faces on her journal pages, I thought I should try. She paints well, I can't so I collage :). Quite fun. Especially putting the tiara on :). So that's it. Good nite, friends.

Hugs,

Shahrul

P/s: Come join me and LESSology team on this month's challenge; Bubble Boy or Girl. You'll have a chance at winning a place to Heidi Myers' class 'Words & Text', Part 2. 

Candy Nail Colors

Dear friends,

I've been keeping a small inspiration notebook to help me do better art. It's a messy cheap notebook full of scribbles, odd magazine clippings, newspapers snippets, notes of future mini album designs, interesting quotes, etc. I would quickly flip the notebook pages before I do art journal for ideas and such. Today, I saw the photo of such happy nail colors (clipping from CLEO magazine) and knew what I had to paint.

Inspiration: Happy nail colors

The finished art journal pages:

I used different hues of red & pink soft pastel colors, smudged with wet finger to create circles. I sprayed some water on the circles, let them dripped. LOVE the fuzzy tiny splashes they create against the white gesso background when soft pastels spritzed with some water.

Added buttons, circles from pattern papers for some dimensions. A fussy-cut little Alice getting lost in a dreamy poppy fields.

These pages really make me happy. If you're feeling down, give yourself some color therapy :). Works like magic.

Hugs,

Shahrul

Fly like Butterflies

My journal pages today are mostly inspired by one of my walkabout photos I took, the pebbly sidewalk. At first I thought of drawing circles but that'd be too much work :). I took a faster approach, used punchinella instead.

 Inspiration: Pebbly sidewalk

The finished pages;

I started by adhering bits and pieces of newsprint tissue papers randomly on the pages. Finger-painted on tissue paper patches some pink metal gloss paint (Inka Gold). Painted outside these circles some antique pink acrylic paint and let dry. I like Donna Downey's Inspirational Wednesday post on image transfer, but I suck at it. I love the many butterflies in her journal so much and thinking ... I could stamp THAT! :).

After that I dabbed dark green acrylic paint all over the page. Turned around punchinella with leftover paint and dabbed to opposite page. Repeat this step with burnt sienna and dark green colors. Stamped some butterflies and drew circles around tissue paper patches with liquid correction pen. Repeated with black india ink and let some ink to drip. 

Lastly, I added mini-melange and artistic expressions words from Collection Elements. Love the tissue paper patches with smudges of pink metal gloss paint (Inka Gold).

After all these done... then only I realized, I've been painting my pages, UPSIDE DOWN!. I didn't notice which way was up since I totally covered the journal covers from any mishaps. How silly is that?. LOL. Anyway, something to smile at when I open my journal in the future :).

See you in my next excursion. Happy painting.

Hugs,
Shahrul

P/s; Come play along with us @ LESSology Challenge #15 - The Bookends Challenge and have a chance at winning $25 Gift Certificate from EAD Designs.  

A Happier Graffiti Page

Dear friends,

I created just another graffiti page last night. This time, a happier, more colorful take on this intriguing art (graffiti). 

Inspiration: Space graffiti wall I saw in town.

The completed journal pages:

I did not use any acrylic paint at all. Yes!. Just some doodling with black Sharpie, colorful ZIG markers and liquid correction pen.

Background colors are from water-soluble crayons (smudged with wet finger), various washi tapes and stamped patterns. Can you see the intricate stamp patterns in gold ink?. Loving that.

This was such a quick page to complete. Needed minimal drying time, which I loved. Another journal spread with too many colors for my own good :). I hope you enjoy it too. 

See you soon; XO

Shahrul

A gift from the Universe

I walk a lot. To run errands, to go lunch or just have a quiet time on my own at the park. Just yesterday while about to cross a small road, there was a little breeze and I saw a tiny white feather falling from the sky. But there were no birds!.  Wow, I said ... a Forest Gump moment. I picked it up and went home smiling, knowing that someone is watching over me :). 

And my journal today is a tribute to the beautiful Universe. My gratitude for the love and light that fills me from the heavens.

I'm playing with image transfer and boy, it was hard to get a good one!. 

The two large orange fuzzy blobs were image-transfer-went-wrong. LOL. I wanted to imitate the distant nebulae in faraway galaxies in our universe. I added multiple layers of orange/yellow/tan soft pastels and watered down gesso to get the depth of these gaseous heavenly bodies. I especially love splashing diluted gesso on the page to create the stars :).

Yeah, that was the feather that came to me :). Added a few strips of washi tapes and tissue papers before finger painted the page with aqua acrylic paint. I think aqua is the better color than black for the dark space of the universe. And here are my three cats making a debut appearance on my art journal pages. Love them to bits!.

Don't forget to hop over to LESSology Challenge #15: Bookends. You could be wining EAD Designs $25 Gift Certificate. Great deal.

Till next, have a great Friday!. 

Hugs,

Shahrul

Seeing Yellow

Dear friends,

I was blog hopping last night (while lounging on my bed). So tired, I dozed off ... and woke up two hours later. On my laptop screen I saw Alisa Burke's yellow flats, staring at me. I was reading her Fashion Friday post before dozing off. THAT yellow flats really made me want to doodle a page or two. Like, immediately. It was 2.00 am ... and sleep can wait, I say.

Inspiration : Alisa Burke's statement flats.

What I created: Doodled pages.

Brushed red & green acrylic paint over stencils. Dabbed left over paint (on stencils) on opposite pages. Let dry. Glued on some printed tissue papers over stenciled images. Colored entire pages with yellow soft pastel. Spritzed with water while smudging soft pastel with wet finger. Let dry. 

Started doodling with a black sharpie, liquid correction pen and black india ink. Dabbed leftover black india ink over another stencil. Finished off with sticking green washi tapes & DYMO labels 'Lets Get Doodled'. All of these done in 1-hours time.

I like to do more of this (not the dozing off at the computer late at night), but journaling about everyday small things that inspire me to create :). Spot anything that strikes your fancy and journal about it :). How about giving this a try?.

I'm linking up this post to Julie's Balzer Designs : Art Journal Every Day.

Have fun,

Shahrul.

Note To Self

First page of the second art journal. I'm still in the hot pinks & oranges mood, after much staring at the yummy ice-cream. LOL. 

I wanted to use the bright orange journal earlier, but I changed my mind. I'll start with the blue-green instead. 

This was what I made last night; a note to myself.

I dabbed some leftover orange texture paste over a stencil and left it to dry overnight. First thing I did was to draw horizontal thick lines with soft pastels and finger-wet them. Splat some purple & yellow acrylic artist ink and quickly spritzed some water over it. Let it completely dried.

Adhere a measuring tape and circled the numbers. Lastly, wrote down some notes to myself. Yup ... I still need to remind myself to walk slowly and listen to the birds singing.

There you have it. First time using ALL colors of the rainbow on one page. Feels so good. Till next, take care.

~Shahrul~