The Artful Journey day 19 - Tinkering.

In between the mess and the chaos I set up the dinning room table with a plastic tablecloth and what supplies I have left out, and played...pack boxes,get some at done. I'm currently running myself into the ground and rather sick, but I didn't let that stop me...I just had some wonky drawings through the coughing fits heheh.


The colours I packed in my art tote...were a tad crazy but I tried my best to make it work. with a quick lay down of paint, and a sketch I was on my way to getting back on track.


another project in the works is a birthday gift for a dear family friend...a big canvas of the lillie's journal page I did in Christy's course. It seems these flowers are a family favourite, this is by far one of my biggest works. So I sat in the afternoon sun, layering down three colours, two shades of yellow and white paint till I get the perfect look I want.



so that's my day, I'm rather tired, but I'm proud of myself for making a little art time for myself, and taking the time to photograph it, my images lately are as lack luster as how much sleep I'm getting... (hardly any)

enjoy your evening, I'm going to tape some more boxes together and keep the packing going so its not so frantic on saturday when the Removal guys rock up.

take care my dears!

The Artful Journey - Day 18 - new beginnings.

Can you tell I'm tired? when I use instagram as my way of taking my photos, it means I have no energy left to photograph my stuff. So tonight after I packed all day with some dear friends who have made me less stressed, they worked like trojans, getting almost everything packed up for the removalists this Saturday.

I have gessoed a canvas ready for me to start sketching onto it in the coming days....I am nuts can you tell? I'm moving house but I sit and gesso a huge canvas like nothing is happening in my life.

tomorrow I will photograph my easel in its true form..because it needs to be reconized for what it is..amazing.. My dad made me a custom easel, I was sick of leaning big canvases against my desk bookshelf. My darling dad has made me the most beautiful thing ever...complete with flourishes etched into the wood and with love from dad up the top..its one of my very cherished possessions.



and on the art journal front, I started working on my mixed media homework for Jane's class since it was the simplest thing I could cope with tonight after such a day... I gessoed the pages and started sketching but I'm not happy with it, so I think I'll rub it out and start again either tonight or tomorrow sometime during the day in between the last of the packing.
I'm going to curl up in my empty bed (first time without my man in two weeks and read until I know hes home.
pop over to traci's blog to see what shes creating for her get your art on.
xx Courtney

The Artful Journey - Pages in Progress

since I have alot on today, I decided to post my 'pages in progress' things that haven't been finished yet, and havent made it onto the blog because of it.

I'm still sketching for jane, just backs and butt's till we move on to something else! I'm so enjoying learning, one girl described it as - feeling like an arty sponge, trying to soak it all up..and it was a perfect description of how I feel.
on the Christy front, a page about using outside materials, like magazine pages and other things to create hidey holes in our journal.. like french doors almost.. I chose images of the same woman in a photobooth over the course of her life...


so interesting..she seemed so unhappy though lol.
and the leaf prompt Im still pluggin away at, maybe when I get back home, there will be more real life leaves to play with than here in sydney


so I'm off back to Inverell tonight, which is why my post is so early, need to get it done before I walk out the door in under two hours.
I shall see you tired and dirty from packing tomorrow..wonder what art I'll fit in lol.
xx Courtney

The Artful Journey - Junk in the Trunk

Evening my dears, quick blog post, as I've spent the entire day on my feet chasing little ones, doing almost no art at all!!!

I did however arrange my prismas into colour families and a set of my portrait colours.. Jane's course has giving me urges to put things in colour co-ordination!!



Today's lesson in janes course was all I got done today as it was portable, tomorrow in between packing I'm going to catch up on my Christy class!! that requires alot more supplies and a heap of arty mess!

so bodies! back's and butt's were todays lesson and gosh so much fun, and such quick tricks, I adore them lots more to draw to get it right.
so thats me done for today! I'm tired and sore from being action mumma all day!
see you tomorrow...with of course..more art.

The Artful Journey Day 14 - the quiet arting.

A quiet Wednesday night, just the tea and the pencils and the drawings. This week is coloured pencil week over on Jane's course, and we are all getting into the swing of it with faces and happy images using our pencils.



I'm enjoying drawing with a different style to my own, trying to bend it to my own style..whatever that may be. I still feel I'm chasing my own style, trying to grasp it and call it my own..one day I'll just know..that's my work and my work alone.






the little teacups, had fun today with some big brushes and some small piles of paint..I do however have little painty footprints outside my back verandah now heheh kinda cute!

Miss Lily..is happiest lately when shes arting..much like her mumma.
that's me for the night. I have so much to catch up on, few pages of Christy's course and more face practice, but tomorrow I'm off to the boy's parents place for the day, I think I'll take my sketch book and my pencils and get a little art done.

pop on over to Traci's blog to see what shes creating for Get Your Art On.
xx Courtney

The Artful Journey Day 10 - The sleepy artist.

What a day, we took our teacup humans to the Aquarium today, and much fun was had, the kids has so much fun, the boy an I are so so tired! and we got home rather late...so the art tonight is minimal, I struggled to get this done as my eyes are slowly slipping closed. Today's prompt for Christys course is the layered background page, and I so want to put everything into this one, so I did the ground work and I'll continue tomorrow when I'm at my peak.

I've used some of Christy's collage sheets some magazine bits and bobs, everything i could pull from the drawers.


As well as taking the little ones to see the aquarium, my boy treated me by taking me into the city to a Japanese bookstore... and oh my what a treat it was! next time we go, I'm going to get the kids minded so he and I can just wander for a while, this bookstore was just amazing. Since I'm coming to the end of my handmade journal, I needed a backup and my darling man bought me this beautiful sketchbook as my next art journal.
I ran into spotlight to replenish my paintbrushes aswell

and for today's photos
this is the highlights from our day.

pop over to Traci's blog to see what she is creating.
Tomorrow is the man's birthday so we will celebrate with his family by having a bbq, and some cheesecake.
take care

The Artful Journey - Day 8 Texture Background

One tired little artist, so my art and my photos for the day are the same thing! I know I know I hear your groans from here! I just got home from food shopping and ikea, and I'm just exhausted. Today I worked on my homework assignment for my Supplies Me Course with Jane davenport, I didnt want to get behind first week, and my leaves were drying slowly after a few coats of gel medium. The assignment was to get a textured background.

Here is my attempt - unfinished due to drying wait times! but I now have a heat gun thanks to my darling man!!


I played with distress inks as watercolours and laying them down from a clean transparency to get beautiful blocks of smudgey colour. I played with a resist technique I learn from the darling Christy in her latest Art Geeks challenge. layed some collage papers from the gulfsprite store, drew a few things and layed a girl on top, still with facial features to come.
so there is my art for the day and my photos for my Thursday! I need to crawl into bed and give this girl a face!
pop on over to Traci's Blog for her art for the day.

Artful Journal day 7

Today I was lazy, it seems that when I finally get caught up I get slack! so I havent finished my page for today but I have done the ground work, and thats better than nothing right!?

todays page in Christy's course was about nature and using actual leaves from our backyards and surrounds. This be the part I'm not up to yet!
but I did lay down the background ground work. I stayed with a page that was a stencil offcast. I needed to use the last of the ink.
I used my neo colour crayons smooshed them around, sprays, paints and the trusty brayer with some hot pink and bight yellow paint.



it looks a bit like clown vommit but the spring goddess inside of me is very happy with how this background turned out.
I might do a bit more white to sort of break up the crazy!

and for my Wednesday images, nothing fancy just a simple day and evening at home.




pop on over to traci's blog to see her art for the day for Get Your Art On.
I shall now curl up in the boys arms and watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
xox Courtney

The Artful Journey - day 6 The White Ladies.

It's all flowers and bright bold colours today in my art journal! I finally caught up on my pages for gulfsprites course! *puffs out chest* so I am now back on track, and wont be trying to frantically stay in the game. Today was something different, flowers, big bright flowers, things I don't seem to draw at all! I'm loving the shift in what I'm working on its so refreshing.




some paints, watercolours, a ballpoint pen and a copic marker and this page was a done deal..although it took me half the day to get the balance between the yellow and the white.



next were the abstract petal flowers, where each thing was created individually on sheets of scrapbook paper. This was a stress free easy page to create, bit of paint, some spraying some outlining and glueing down and I was the proud owner of a bright and very spring looking journal layout.


and now onto my day in photos- today was about two things, food and art, if I wasnt arting, I was cooking or feeding a teacup human, or feeding the boy or myself! so these pictures are centered around that...first image top left...is the amazing 7 draw trolley the boy bought me as an early xmas present, so now I have all my supplies (that are in sydney atm) at my fingertips and I can move it with ease out of little fingers touching way.so thats my day and my art for this Tuesday.
tomorrow I will embark on a new journal page, and snap a few more photographs.
take care my dears
xx pop over to Traci's blog for her day of art for get your art on.

The Artful Journey - Day 5 - the ruffle

Ruffles! and pretty abstract flowers were on today's page for GulfSprite's Art Journal course. Its been so much fun pushing myself tonight I shall tackle a bunch of lilies.

the main part of the prompt was to make the ruffle as a boarder element for your page! Using your sewing machine to keep them all cute and folded. I did have a little sewing rage but I got my act together lol.
these are the two girls I drew on the drive home from Inverell, and shes almost finished I have to do some cover up work on the mumma, as little lily decided to draw two huge black lines on her cheekes..ugh I almost lost the plot! so lots of gesso and layering and I will get her back to her former glory lol


and keeping up with a week in my day...this is my Monday, watching my darling little girl play with her new dollhouse, which was mine and the boy's birthday gift to her, (her actual birthday is today) and the my catch up art day while watching a recording of the last church of art, with effy wild.
boring I know, but not everyday can be awesome and full of win!
I shall see you tomorrow for another installment of art and my day in photos.
pop on over to traci's blog to see what shes creating for her 30days

xox Courtney

Day 4 - The Artful Journey.

8 hours on the road, several stops for teacup humans to go to the loo, stops for mumma to take photos and we are finally home in our Sydney home for two weeks. It was an epic trip, but we made it safe and sound, and I did some art in the car...not this page lol but tomorrow drawings were all created on the long trip..which was extremely hard with the bumpy country road.

This is my day 2 page from Gulf Sprite's Course, now with finished leaf and background, I think I will be going back over it tomorrow with some sharpie pen and a little doodling.

its just missing something...not sure what yet.

Today was fathers day in Australia, and we celebrated with a yummy bbq breakie at my mum and dad's place. I was designated BBQ wench so I cooked up some bacon, eggs, snags and tomatoes, we also had tea and croissants.
I think for me, the stillness and the tea were the highlights for me, I feel like Ive been on the go for the last month! so taking a small amount of time to just sip some tea was exactly what I needed.

Below are the photos from my day, tea, baked goods...and two shots from our long long drive.
I am rather sleepy, so I'll tuck myself into bed, and get completely caught up with my pages tomorrow now that I'm in one place for a length of time! pictures of the dollhouse and miss boo tomorrow.
Pop over to Traci's blog to see what shes up to!
I'll leave you now, with my little teacup humans.

The Artful Journey - Day One & Creative Space

The journey of Art Saves begins, most of you who read my blog, know that this month will be my the month of the Fighting the 'Black Dog' with a paintbrush in hand and a pencil in my hair. I am determined not to fail! So This is Day 1 of Tracy Bunkers Get Your Art On and also since its Thursday..creative space day aswell...and what else oh the Art Geeks Hair Prompt and.. what else..no no thats it till tomorrow.


So below are the bigger versions of my pre sketching a few nights ago, Christy challenged us to create three girls, with three different hair styles.. this prompt was dedicated to me, so there was no way I wasn't going to dive in, as hair and how it should look on my girls is always the worst part of the creation process...but I think my problem was not looking at actually hair styles besides the ones in my head.

so I got my prisma pencils out, as it was too cold so sit and paint, I snuggled down into bed, and chatted to the boy via video as I created these 3 very different girls. It's been such a while since I used my pencils like this, I forgot they used to be my medium of choice!



added a little bit of watercolour to them today just for something different.
Tomorrow..I also start my week in Pictures, that I'm doing with a few of my girls, which shouldn't be that hard with my picture taking for get your art on..plus I have a new printer waiting for me back in Sydney... I was spoilt, so I shall be creating like a crazy woman with prints and making a book my week in photos lots of ideas ran through my head when he told me he'd bought a new printer. squeeee..I am such a kid.

that is me for the day!
pop over to all the links in this post, lots of beauty and stunning art to look at...
I shall see you tomorrow for day two of the Artful healing Journey.
xx Courtney

How I'm Going to Get Out of the Dark.

Ok, time to get real here, I have a heap of personal crap going on in the background and I decided last night that in order to overcome those things, or better juggle them, was to fill my time to the absolute BRIM, I'm an emotional eater, and with all the moving and the little minions behavior reacting to the unstableness of it all, I am but a shadow of myself emotionally...a hopeless wreck if you will...but I'm not going to let myself sit around and just give over to the dark.

As most of you know, if you have been reading for a while, I battle with depression every other day, I'm no longer on Meds for it, but that was my personal choice, I chose art as my drug of choice..and its working to a degree, but only if I work at it, if I let myself slip..then I slip far and the way back to the light is a really shit-tastic slog.

so this month, in between the moving, the birthdays the everythings, I am trying to get better.
and the only way was to fill my month with epic art journeys...personally couldn't afford to lol but I did it anyway, I'll make up the cash somewhere along the way, this was something I had to do for myself, for my soul.
I know my blogs ment to be this upbeat yay yay look at my art and adorable family...but some days, that is far far from reality. So I thought I'd be honest, as so many of you have left comments admiring my honest writing.

so this month, starting tomorrow... will be filled with the following.


Traci Bunkers, is doing Get your art on again..and since I completed her last round and did so with a spring in my step, I decided I'd play along again...as a part of my self healing.
I enjoyed doing this, it was a challenge but it felt good to make sure I made something every single day, and since I dont feel all that colourful mentally, I'm pushing myself to do it again.



Next up during the month of September, is the 30 Days of Art Journalling with Gulfsprite,
this is going to be a big thing in my healing, this woman has fast become one of the women I look to when I need to get out of the dark. Her work is everything I love, and I know doing this course will just give me a spark..the spark I'm currently missing at the moment. Self medication with art better work, or I'm up shit creek without a paddle.

The last of my prescriptions, the one I couldn't afford but didn't care is Jane Davenports Supplies Me
I saw the video, I checked the bank balance, and I pouted...I knew I couldn't afford it, so I sat there for a few days and felt myself get deeper and deeper, made a deal with myself to somehow pay myself back, and bought it last night when I was at my lowest...
so here I stand...with two art courses, and a challenge, still in my pjs looking like death has come for me, watching my kids drag random empty boxes around the house and no caring.


art has saved me before...there is no reason it cant save me again...if this month doesnt bring me back to life, then it may have to be actual anti depressant for me, but I'll fight it tooth and nail.
If you've read this far, I thankyou.
enjoy your Wednesday...I will try to.
xx Courtney