New journal page and a new studio woop woop!

Borders and hand by Tumblefish Studio

Paints and inks by Dylusions

Butterfly - magazine image

SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER! Yay! 6 whole weeks of not getting up early, wearing my PJs all day if I feel like it, and more importantly some time to make art. Here's a journal page I did in my A4 (12 x 8) journal. I think you can guess what it is about! I actually used a quote from our school summer show - a child-friendly version of The Tempest by Shakespeare. The line comes right at the end of the play when Prospero is asking to be set free from the island where he has been trapped for 12 years.

Here it is as a work in progress:

And here are a few close-ups of the detail. I  hand-cut the circles from backing papers by Tumblefish Studio and scribbled round them a bit:

I built up the background layer by layer using paints and inks by Dylusions and a harlequin template by Crafters Workshop.

I wrote the quote with an old-fashioned dip pen. I love its unpredictability.

Now, with reference to a previous post about my new super-duper huge journal ... some of you asked me just how big it is. Well, it's this big!! This is HUGE for me - I started this art journey making tiny ATCs!

For the last few weeks we have been in chaos in our house as we moved my son into his new big bedroom (my old work room) and I moved into his old bedroom. It was complicated because we have an old house and it's NEVER just a lick of paint, it ALWAYS involves stripping about 100 years worth of wallpaper and replastering. Emptying the room that I had been creating in for the last 7 years was scary - my art stuff spread into 5 rooms and for the last few weeks I haven't been able to find a thing. 

But now my son is sleeping peacefully in his colourful new bedroom, and finally I have a work space that I can call my own. It is small but beautiful and it is MINE ALL MINE hahaha!

Here, let me show you around. Here's the view from the landing. Do you like the eye chart? Isn't it totally fab?! (Ikea of course!) It lights up and everything!

My eclectic collection of pots for paintbrushes and pens:

A close-up of my work area. Doesn't it look ... er ... clean?! Don't worry, that won't last long.

Here's the new storage (ikea again!). Everything has its place, the trouble is I don't know my way round it yet .....

Here's my little friend Ratty. I love him for his lop-sided quirkiness. He's even got a tattoo.

I made this angel quite a while ago, but a couple of weeks ago I found this rusted bird-cage in a florists in town. I think it's really meant for a plant, or maybe a candle, but probably not a trapped angel. When I was a little girl I used to long for a fairy in a jar, not a stuffed one - a real one! I think this is the closest I'll get.

I love this lampshade (Ikea again!). I was shopping with my mum and she said that she though it was horrible but I think it's a bit funky and a bit unusual (and probably a real dust trap hmmm).

And finally just a couple more of my favourite things. I found this whimsical bird in a shop on Mull, Scotland. I desperately wanted him but I was worried that he wouldn't make it home with all his toes intact. But lots of bubble wrap and a bit of TLC and here he is in his new home, alongside a cute hand-made bear:

The question is .... how long till everything is splatted with ink?!

Byeee for now.