Getting back into the swing of things

Hiya Brimblers!!

Phew! The last couple of weeks have been so hectic for me, for one reason or another and sadly I have all but abandoned my art and journaling and if I'm truthful I haven't been doing much planning either!

It is true what they say about the imagination/brain being a muscle, in that if you don't use it, you lose it. I've been slowly getting my paints, papers and brushes back out but I'm feeling uninspired and very rusty, even several hours lost on Pinterest haven't helped much. I've mostly been reference working and failing to produce anything original. It'll come in time I hope!!

That said I have been making good use of the travel journal I commissioned from Steph at Scurry and Peck. It's just the perfect size for sticking in my handbag and whipping out whenever there is lull in goings on. A couple of weekends back J and I took a round trip from Manchester down to Aylesbury for a wedding cake tasting (omg so good!) and we pulled into the service station for a quick stop to refuel the car and ourselves. Whilst J stretched his legs I took the opportunity to get my journal out, there happened to be a bush in front of where we parked and I loved the textural differences so I tried to capture it.

Back in February in Anna's 'Doodling about you' Patreon video she explores the use of placing colour and building a piece around it. Well I took the fluidity aspect and sort of a spun it a little. I'm usually a stickler for painting within the lines and emphasising structure and realism. I find it quite difficult to be loose and flowing in my art, and so it feels alien to just slap dash watercolour everywhere haha. I couldn't quite keep to one or two colours but I'm happy with it!

This little guy is a reference to my nephew's 2nd Birthday card. It had a really adorable little robot holding a balloon, and I wanted to remember the day in another way than just my creative journalling. Funny, I tend to keep the two distinct and separate, I've not really considered that till now. Maybe that's something I need to work on! This time I plopped down the blue pastel watercolour (from my Prima Pastel Dreams, which I am LOVING!) first and then doodled on top. I worked over him with my waterproof pen, I missed a few joins and then got annoyed so I attempted to cover them up with some shading. It kinda works.

Lastly, since I've not been journaling/arting much recently I decided to use March's Patreon Collage sheets to create my monthly spread for April and also a weekly spread in my Erin Condren. I mostly use this planner in the house and for the stickers, haha.

It doesn't have a huge planning purpose, other than for household bits, as at the moment my planning is minimal and sticker free. I am in love with the bunny and had to use her as much as I could!

Well, that's all from me this month peeps, I hope my post next month won't be quite so light on the creative content. I'm currently cramming my time with Cambscon Stock, but I hope to be able to dedicate some more time to my creative pursuits and getting my 'creative mojo', as Anna calls it, back!

In a bit xx

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