Jessie Lilac Blog

This is my picture for Illustration Friday 'Round' (click on the picture to see more detail) I've been painting pages of my art journal. Some are too personal to post here, thoughts and images that should stay inside my head really in case they are seen by someone who doesn't understand their real meaning. I can safely show this one below because it does what it says on the tin. As they say.

This started off as an old watercolour painting of mine that I'd given up on a while ago. For some reason I didn't want to throw it away. Today I added a few lines of dark sepia ink and gave it a new lease of life. Don't you think some things just need to wait for the right time?

I started this page by writing "I want to sleep" and the layers of collage and paint evolved from there. I'm tired..can you tell?

Is it these dark days that make me want to see a page spread with bright orange? I bought some clementines the other day and they weren't very sweet. In fact they were so bitter I'm not going to eat them any more. I think I shall buy satsumas next time. Do you think they'll be any sweeter? (close up detail) "Open up to the best." I read this quote yesterday and I liked it. :)

I have a redundant pillowcase that my youngest says isn't quite her style any more. It's too girly. I was going to take it to the charity shop but then I thought it might still be useful to me but in another way... It has little mauve flowers as a design and I thought I could cut them out and use them in a painting.. It's not much good as a pillowcase any more  but now I know the possibilities of fabric!

Silent for Illustration Friday.

Blue Fire It's the full moon this Thursday evening. I don't know what this will signify but I hope it brings peace and love to all those affected by last weekend's fire disaster on the M5. A road I travel really frequently, luckily not that night. Another important day this week, this Friday is 11.11.11. What does that mean to you? Amongst other things, it means to me that my first baby will turn 33! 11+11+11 = 33! Numberphobes please forgive my excitement. I have a 'thing' about numbers! Yes, I'm old enough to be her mum (just!) I was a child bride... Crikey what an outfit! Oh well, it was 1978 after all! Can I say a big thankyou to new followers and of course precious 'old' ones too! :) I appreciate♥ so much that you come to visit me here on my blog. I love your comments and so grateful that you've taken the time to write to me. I try to answer every single one but I'm sorry if I miss one, it's usually because Blogger's occa...

Life is like stripes but none of them are the same. *** The page started like this,words poured out onto the page, words for my eyes only. ;o) The painting grew from this underlying layer, it might even continue to grow. I'll keep you posted. :)

Does this look familiar?  This painting started life as my 'Scary Bird' painting I did for Illustration Friday. You might see little glimpses from the old painting underneath, the bird's feathers just behind her right shoulder and the leaves in the background. Here's how my sketchbook looked before this morning's painting. And below you can see the finished pages. I've finished the painting on the other page too. I could almost see the girl emerging on her own so I didn't need to add very much. click on image to see larger You can also see the trace of a gentle hand from the painting that was underneath them all.

That's better! I wasn't very comfortable with that last image from yesterday staring at me. I have a tendency to draw birds quite often, you might have noticed but would it surprise you to know I actually have a fear of them?! I love to see them outside and I'm fascinated by how they look, especially owls. It's a rare thing to see an owl in the wild but the last time I saw one flying in the countryside was Swindon of all places! Such magical creatures. I'm going to be painting over my scary bird in the same way I've started to paint over the left hand page of the sketchbook. I'll keep you posted with the results. In case you thought Halloween was over in this house, you and I thought wrong! She couldn't resist dressing up as an 'undead Alice-in-Wonderland' and the pumpkin soup was delicious although I say so myself!