Author: Clare at CatsEatDogs

My year of art journaling

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All of the journals I filled in 2017 including my daily Moleskine planner. Books I used solely for art journaling. Books I filled as daily challenges, travel journal (Cape Cod Folks), general Moleskine sketchbooks and my daily Moleskine.   I was looking back at my art journals from last year and I was surprised at what I found.  Even though the years seem to fly by, a year ago can seem so much in the past and some of the pages and even the sketchbooks seemed so distant to me. When I was pulling out journals, I concentrated on the handmade ones because that is what I thought I had used all year.  I didn’t realize that I had spent the first three or four months using random sketchbooks including a Moleskine and a  Dylusions book.  I like these sketchbooks a lot and what I made in them, but I really enjoy the handmade books I made for each Get Messy season and for some of the monthly challenges I played along with via Instagram …

Daily Moleskine 2017. December pages.

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I made it!  A whole year of making some kind of art (I use the term very loosely for some days) in my daily Moleskine planner.  Yes, some days turned out a bit rubbish, but at least I had a go at something. The days I like far outnumber the days which I feel didn’t work, so I would call my 2017 project a success!  My 2018 planner is underway which makes me happy! For these December pages I painted a watercolour cactus, collaged and painted, gelli printed an old doily, practiced my ink painting, made some bauble strings, more collage, printed flowers, doodled, sketched biscuits and sketched a face with my new inks. I wonder what I will be posting at this time next year? Another book full of art I hope! Happy Monday x  

Get Messy Art Journal. Season of Nature Week 5.

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I have been busy with my gelli plate this season, I just keep wanting to print flowers!  No bloom is safe when I get my paints out! Some of the pages were printed before I bound this book and some I have printed over collage elements, like the last page shown here where I stuck down the periodic table and butterfly and then printed some flowers on top. Nearly as popular as my gelli plate has been my sumi brush and black sumi ink which I have used to make patterns over pages. I love the depth of the deep black ink when applied with a nice thick sumi brush. I have been enjoying using the Jane Davenport Inkredible inks which smell as good as they look!  I used ‘Limeade’ on the page with the butterfly and gave it a little spray with my water bottle. I am ashamed to say that I have not followed any prompts this season, I have just been jollying along in my journal filling it up a little each …

The diaries I use through the year and why I love them all!

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Each year I keep a diary, not a ‘dear diary’ type thing but more a record of what we have done as a family, where we went, who we went with, celebrations and details of them along with presents received for birthdays and Christmas. I have kept this type of diary in a day per view layout since my first son was born 16 years ago.  It started as a baby feeding log and branched out from there as I added what we did and things he said day to day. Prior to this I was always a diary keeper (more along the dear diary lines this time) and I have a wooden box full of diaries I have kept since I was 13.  To be honest I rarely look back on the old diaries as they are a little bit cringe worthy even the more ‘recent’ ones. However the ones I have kept since we had a family have been invaluable from just browsing when my sons were young to checking to see what …

‘I like’ Friday – Books I Read in 2017.

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I never go for a record breaker in the amount of books I read in a year.  I have no loyalty to a book just because I have started it, if I don’t like it 50 pages in, it goes back to the library and I start on the next title on my list.  All of the books I have read are from the library unless I am on holiday and I never never take library books on holiday, so those I buy! This is all the books I finished over the year, I started many which I didn’t finish but these are the ones I made it from beginning to end. Britt Marie was Here by Fredrik Backman Another great read from the author of ‘A Man Called Ove’.  Britt Marie is an equally good character in my opinion. We are Unprepared by Meg Little Reilly A fast, dramatic read. The Girl with the Glass Feet by Ali Shaw Not at all the usual book I would pick up but it is a magical …

My ‘Create Daily’ Project (the one that made it through the year) 2017.

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I started 2017 with lofty ambitions to do two 365 projects which you can read about here if you like.  This continued until about April when one fell off the wagon and wandered off by itself.  As I went through the year I did many monthly daily challenges which were made more possible once I decided to stick with the one 365 creation. The project which stayed on the wagon with me and I have nearly finished is creating daily in my Moleskine planner. This planner is not at all the ideal medium for an art project of any sort, it has terrible paper, lines on each page and is not very big. I am using the ‘large’ planner which is 8.5×5.5 inches.  Having said that I think it is the fact that it is not an ‘arty’ item to start with is one of the reasons I have continued with the daily arting in it.  There can be no pressure to create something amazing just the opportunity to create something, anything.  I have drawn, …

Get Messy Season of Nature Week 2.

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  It is the second week of the Season of Nature in the Get Messy community and I have got started in my hand made sketchbook.  I have been gelli plate printing seed pods and leaves and dipping pages in hand made ink from black walnuts and red cabbage. The page I enjoyed making the most is the sketches of the dried seed pods and I like it next to the printed same seed pods. So far, a lot of the pages are just started, a print or a colour added.  I like to do this just to be rid of the dreaded blank page, then I can come back and add to the page or spread later. If you want to see more Season of Nature art, go to #getmessyartjournal on Instagram and if you want to see what I have been making I use #catseatdogsgetmessy. Happy creating and happy Thursday x