Art Journal: There is a universe inside you

It's been a little quiet on my blog, due to some things happening on the personal front. My dad has been in the hospital for a week and the fact is he's not going to recover, this time, from the heart attack he had. He's getting palliative nursing care at his home so he's being well taken care of until that moment arises that he is no longer with us. Acceptance is the only way to move forward, things are settling down and there is some peace and calm again, within and around me.

So last weekend I finally sat down in my art room and started to create again. It felt SOOOO GOOD! What a relief it was for me to pour it all out on blank pages. Creation is definitely good for the soul. There is like this whole universe inside you that wants to be seen and heard and can be awakened if you let yourself be immersed in it. I finished the journal pages over the last few days.

This is the end result of the art journal pages and creating this page really was very soothing and freeing. I used some of my fave products from my fave companies:

Liquitex gesso, paints and gel medium  specimen stencil from TCW, Succulents stencil from StencilGirl, Alice (by Janet Klein) stamp from Stampotique Originals, The large rose stamp from Octopode Factory and several mixed media stamps from VLVS! as well as "dreamer's only" and "there is a universe inside you" stamps by Cat Kerr. I also used paint over pens, wink of luna metallic brushes, distress crayons and pearl rubs. 

Let us all find that universe inside us and pour it out on blank pages. 

Sharing the above desk shot with WOYWW #460 at Julia's wonderful blog. Sorry I've been a bit out of touch, now you know why, but hope to connect with you all again this week. 

I also would like to add this journal page to the following challenges: 

Try it on Tuesday: Call for Spring

The mood board was wonderful and I am absolutely longing for spring to arrive. 

The sky blue, magenta/pink colors and flowers inspired me with this page.

Spring theme at Art Journal Journey 

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #46

I used a couple of stencils, liquitex paints, gesso and gel medium as well as alcohol markers, staz on ink, paint over markers, distress crayons and more. 

Ans lastly Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with "Inside the box" theme.

I interpreted this as I myself being the "box" in which there is a whole other universe inside to discover. As we all do, I believe :) 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

WIP: Left Over Art Collage clean up session

Today I wanted to share a little bit what happens behind the scenes at my creative station. Usually when I create something the left over scraps bits, trims and pieces gets piled up to the left hand side. And when it gets a little out of control (like migrating to the middle of the desk) I take my Junk Mail Art Journal and have what I like to call a "Left-Over Art Collage clean up session" and take my jar of Modge Podge, a brush and use my scraps to create some fun collage style journal pages. And yes, mostly they are supervised by my kitty Meesha :)

Usually I just continue to fill pages until I feel like the left over pile is manageable again, like so. And when I'm done with a session like this, I'm always glad that I just didn't chuck all the scraps into the bin like I am always tempted to do when that mess just gets out of control. It's a peaceful and meditative process and oh yeah, I totally get distracted by looking at the utter adorableness sleeping in that basket :) 

Close up of a spread from this session. Just randomly slapped together pages, but I do try to look for composition and color. Not sure if they are "done" I might just come back to a page, gesso all over it and completely transform the look of it. I have dome that with a few which I will share at a later time. 

What do you do with your left over scraps? Bin them right away or are you also hoarding them to use later? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. 

Sharing this post with the fellow deskers at Julia's WOYWW454 - glad to be playing along again, hope you all are doing well and will say hi to you all shortly :) 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!