another fast week

I managed to do a bit more this week, but didn't finish my painting yet. It's getting there though, I guess it'll be finished next week, if I can manage to work on it that is... :-)

I'm still not sure whether I like this darker background. I think the next one will be white(-ish) again.
Here are some detailshots:

 Lots of birds, as usual :-)

I also made a journalpage, inspired by the womans' march. Because, after the depressing inauguration, the womens' marches all over the world cheered me up immensely. I was so proud so many women (and men) stood up, it restored my faith in humanity, and makes me believe and hope that maybe, all together, we can do something and stand strong.

I started out on a page in my artjournal that had only a bit of colour from leftover paint and gesso. I took a marker and just let it slide very randomly over the page, so I got this:

Then I started looking for figures, and brought them out.

While I was working on it I had the line in my head "we won't back down", so I decided to use that, and then remembered this song by Tom Petty. Looked up the lyrics and used some more of his lines.

This is how it ended up:

Linking to Paint Party Friday again. Click on the link to see more art from all over the world.

My funnies this week will mostly center around everything that's going on in the US. And there are a lot, because I can't choose .... I have noticed that there's a lot of bitching going on on social media, and some of the artists and poets that I admire and follow have been attacked by people thinking they should just keep to their art and shut up about politics. While this is no political blog, and I don't intend to make it that way, all that's happening in the US at the moment has a profound effect on me. It worries me, it scares me, and it angers me. One way of dealing with it for me is looking at funny memes, because, let's be honest, laughing takes the edge of everything. I very much believe in the healing power of humor. As much as in the healing power of art. So I won't separate the two, even if I risk alienating visitors to my blog.

So let's make a deal: if you don't like me making fun of the new president, I suggest you just skip the funnies (although maybe read the ones to "think about" at the end ;-) ) . But please refrain from giving me a lecture and telling me to butt out, because I won't. It's as simple as that!

So here they are :-)

Here are some great signs from the women's marches:

these last 2 pics are the best. Love these people ♥

And here are a few (because it's necessary) to think about:

Let's end in a good way:

Thanks for visiting and leaving uplifting comments. Enjoy your day, and have a great weekend showered with love and kindness. See you next week ♥ ♥ ♥

Hectic days .....

This week started well with a sketch, but then all of a sudden it was Thursday and I still hadn't worked on my painting or in my journal. Arggh! I can't seem to get into the habit of creating every day, I'm always a few hours short each day. Still, when I do it, it feels so good, so I really want to make this my yearlong resolution. I'll keep trying .... :-)

Managed to finish a journalpage, although it was really really hard at the start. Some days I can't get into the flow, I keep thinking too much about what I'm going to do instead of just playing and trying things out. In the end I finally found my mojo and then it was easy to finish it.

This is in an old medical encyclopedia, and my goal is to finish all the pages this year. It shouldn't be too hard, since about half of it is already finished. That will be my first "real" artjournal that I finish. I'm working in about 5 at the same time, plus some more for sketches and watercolour.  It just depends on my mood which one I want to work in at a certain day.

I also worked in a new sketchbook. I opens up really flat and I like the paper, so I'll probably be working more in this one as well.

And that's it for this week! Linking to Paint Party Friday, as always :-)

And, also as always, here are some funnies. Because, let's face it: today there's not much to smile about, so we neeeed them!

And one to think about ....

Thanks for being here, hope you'll have a beautiful day, despite the orange-haired moron whose name we won't mention .... And for all the women worldwide who are marching tomorrow: love u ♥ ♥ ♥

getting into painting again

I finally worked a bit more on the painting I started somewhere in the summer holidays. I really need to get back into the habit of creating, and this week was a good week for that. I have been drawing a lot in my sketchbooks, trying out new kinds of faces. And I made a new journalpage,

Here's the painting I've been working on. It's a brightly coloured background that I've had for some time now, and it's the first time I'm doing a negative space painting with a darker colour. It's actually a mix of phtalo blue with Payne's grey. Both are transparant so you can still see the background peeking through, which is kind of neat.

This is my journalpage:

I remembered to do some progress-pics, which I want to do more with my artjournal pages from now on. Sometimes I find it hard to remember how I did something and these pictures might help me when I want to replicate something.

This is how it started:

A page in an old book that I use for my leftover paints...

Added a little bit of collage ....

and a very big face :-)

I hope I can keep up the practice of doing something every day, even if it's only a 2-minute oneline-drawing. It makes me feel good, plus I need it in order to get better at it. When there are big lapses in between creating I find it very hard to get back into it, it's as if I have to learn to paint all over again.

I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday. Click on the link and join in the party if you want! It's fun :-)

Ending this post with some funnies:

And one to think about ....

Thanks for your visit! Have a great day, and I hope your weekend will be filled with happy moments. See you next week ♥ ♥ ♥