The weekend before Christmas, I ran away to Becca’s house out in the view of mountains for an artful sleepover.
I love that we still have sleepovers!
Both of us needed it, too! While I have been teaching on the weekends and went on my first retreat, none of those activities gave me the freedom to just be and paint. In fact, it’d been a month or so since I’d painted in my journal — actually, I think it was longer! I may work in it every night, but it’s been much more collage and markers and watercolors than simple paint and symbolism, and last week, I finally reconnected while marathoning Prime Suspect on my iPad.
(Are they not the most marvelous things? Mine sits on the corner of my desk so perfectly, and when I feel lonely, I just jump on Skype and ring a friend!)
Check out these industrious book-maker's at Saturday's class!
The wonderful thing about an artful sleepover is that we can just….paint. There’s no awkward silence or need to chat…we just play and paint and politely ask if we can borrow this or that we spy on the other half of the table. Yep, we were working on a folding table, the both of us, and I created quite the mess!
The influx of someone else, of simple creativity, is always inspiring, and I found Becca jumpstarting my journaling with her ideas — she really is a background queen! I keep telling her she needs to teach an online class because they’re just so yummy…I ran with one of her ideas and fell in love….and she created an amazing spread!
shhh! the page on the right isn't finished!
the stenciling along the top was Becca's technique....love it!
After a full night’s sleep (we didn’t wake up until mid-morning!), we pulled out my gel plates and started printing away! I wanted to draw girls on mine, inspired by Carissa’s recent prints, and we were soon doodling away, making prints on any paper we could get our hands onto. I brought a bunch of dictionary papers and some scrapbooking prints, and Becca pulled out some kraft paper…oh, how I love what I made!
In fact, I love all the journal pages I made! And now thanks to my Catalyst Tools (my constant companions, both in classes and when I’m in my studio!), I can now run my hands over my pages and feel all that yummy texture.
my favorite gel printing tools!
Becca's tools. Note her handmade brayer!
A print of Becca's on a page of Found Magazine. I love it!
don't forget to "clean" your plate in your journal!
Becca drawing on her plate with a Catalyst tool.
Still working on this one!
I’m launching something awesome tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled (and if you’re on my mailing list, check your inbox for the soft-launch message)! Time to do a little more planning for it and get all my ducks in a row so I have more fun pictures to post for it!