A new mixed media canvas is growing

Hi beautiful creators!

This time I would like to share some pictures of a canvas that I am working on at the moment.
This one has changed faces so many times and she is still developping.
I trie to 'listen to my canvas' and respond on whatever inspiration comes in when I look at her.
Going with the flow and keeping my thoughts and preconceptions at bay....well I try.... :-)

For now this is where she is and I am stuck!
To much talking to myself and thinking things over.But because I want her to grow and not overthink it I have given her a nice spot where I can see her and I will act no sooner than when some kind of inspiration that makes my heart sing comes flying in! :-D

Who knows how many transformations are yet to come or maybe just a little tweeking....I have no clue yet, I will just linger in my curiosity and enjoy the ride!

Hope you like the pictures, they reveal a little of the transformations.....

Happy Creating!
Monique

I took this canvas outside to work on it, she's a bit to big for my workspace inside...
Here are the first layers, a fun chaos with lots of materials, real mixed media going on here! :-)




Some detail pictures of the beautiful chaos:








After a week or two when I simply couldn't find the time I was working on the canvas again!
Some goofy houses/castles apeared on the canvas....hmmmm, where is this going.....




Time to create a little more rest to my eyes on this canvas....not blocking it all but muting it some.




Then adding a transparant layer of colors with inktense blocks, gosh how I love them!




Yes, I know.....it was pointed out to me what they look like now....you dirty minds! :-)




More changes! A complete background color makeover and  text!








Well, this is where I am, not sure what she needs or wants but not finished.
I know, I am teasing you with little snippets of the canvas but next time I will show you her in all her glory!
For now, some relaxing doodling in my Art Journal.

Happy Creating!
Monique

Art Journal Flip/Keep the flow going downstream

Hello beautiful creators, 

As with so many blog posts on the internet mine could start with: "it has been a while since I posted', but I won't.

Because there is no need to defend or justify anything creative we do in live. Like a journal, life is a journey.

A journey of discovering and formost of creating. It is a journey of being as happy as you can in the present moment and then.....get out of your own way and let inspiration flow in and through you. 

Life is like a visual art journal, we create our own. 

If we start defending what we do (or don't) to others, we stand in our own way of happiness. With defending or justifying we stop the flow of inspiration. It is like searching for inspiration upstream instead of going downstream, trust the flow, the inspiration knows how to get you where you want to be.

And it is way way way easier! :-)

I'm of now....of to to do some downstream flowing in another journal, or on a canvas.:-)

I hope this art journal journey inspires someone to explore their creativity and just go with the flow, enjoy!

Happy Creating!

New Beginnings!

Heythere Beautiful Creators!

Yes, yes, yes, I know, it took me quite some time to get back into making videos but here I am!
I started a new journal now that my sweetheart and I are setteling in a little bit after emigrating to Bonaire.
We are on a huge adventure here and it takes up a lot of time and energy.
But I always knew I'd somehow find the time and a place for my art so here it is! :-)

New beginnings, new surroundings, new climate, new views, new friends, new work and business and therefor a new journal!
New everything actualy! But we are very, very happy and you can tell from the music in the video, haha.
A happy bouncy piece of music (by Kevin MacLeod) because there's no audio and/or voice-over in this video.
I'm sure my improvised workspace will improve by the day so not to worry, soon you will be able to hear my soft voice again. LOL

Now sit back, enjoy my fidling and creating and the music! This will make you smile my lovelies!

Happy Creating,
Monique

Art Journal Flip!

Hello there Journal-Artists!

A short and sweet one for you today...A flip through of my latest finished journal. I did it! :-)

I usually have a couple of journals going at the same time but at the end of 2013 that sort of got
out of hand. :-)
I had taken some classes, started my own experiments and off course my BOPA journals.
And as the end of the year approached I felt I needed to finish some projects. I wanted to clear my head and my shelf from projects that were somehow not moving along, or simply waiting for some last finishing touches.
So I did, I picked up my JEMM (Journal for Experimenting with Mixed Media) and focused on finishing it.
I loved working on the finishing touches, it just felt so good to give it some more TLC and lovingly putting it on my bookshelf!

While flipping through and finishing it up it turned out to be a mixed media mixture of al kinds of pages.
There are pages from classes, mixed media experiments, touchdrawings and pages with a lot of journaling in it. Sort of a happy and chaotic mix of al kinds of things I did last year.
To be honest......that's quite fitting! :-)  I can be like that.... thank goodness I have the urge to clean up things every now and then.... LOL

Here's the Flip through...
If you have any questions about a page, I'd be happy to explain more in detail so ask away!

Happy Creating!
~Monique

Up, up and Away! (Blogpost and video)

Hi Beautiful Creators!

My first blogpost of 2014! :-) And off course a little video of my Art Journal page! (for the video just scrol down)

Here's the how and why of this page and some info on the materials I used. Enjoy!

I stumbled upon a post on face book last week titled, Journal52. It is a free art journal workshop with, as you probably already guessed, a prompt for a journal page once a week.

As I have no classes planned to take just yet I joined their face book group and happily made my first journal page with their prompt of this week. I had so much fun! :-D

The prompt was called;” Up, up and away”, and the idea was to make a journal page with flying as a theme. As I was pondering this idea I could feel myself breaking free and flying towards the sun. In my mind I was dancing with the clouds and having a blast playing with the wind and soaring through the sky!

I decided to express all that I was feeling so I started creating a sort of fence-like background from which I could literately break free on the paper. I used a homemade stencil and gesso to keep it a bit transparent.

I then went back to that free feeling of flying and playing in the sky and went completely wild with acrylic paints and stencils. Gosh, how I love making a happy mess! Lol

After a couple of layers of color-fun I drew the birds. I used acrylic white paint with some pouring medium an a little bit of water to get it to flow from my bottle. I used a bottle instead of a pen to stay away from to much control, I just wanted to stay with that delicious feeling of freedom.

That is also the reason why I wanted to finger-paint the next layer, not to much control just play with the colors like playing with the wind.

To outline the birds I diluted some black acrylic paint with water and used a dropper to draw around them. Then I added a few details with a black pen and wrote my text with a thick black marker. The outlines of the lettering were done with a white gel-pen. Et Voilà, the first prompt from Journal52 is done!

I'd like to thank Chelle Stein for creating this free workshop! I'm sure I will go back often to be inspired, get ideas and prompts I would never come up with myself. A beautiful opportunity to expand my creativity, share it with like minded people in a face-book group where we can learn from each other inspire and be inspired!

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Intuïtive painting ‘Rainforest’

Hi soulful creators!

She is done,  WHEEEEE! J I’m  soooo happy with this painting and everything I’ve learned along the way!

Remember this post? 

Well, the story continued as I revisited this painting again and again.

I’ve had to set my fears aside and leave them at the doorstep of my temporary studio every day.

And learn to ignore my inner critic… Let me tell you, it does become easier and easier every time you do that!

I now feel I have some sort of pact with my inner critic. I’m glad she’s there to warn me when I’m about to make a stupid mistake. However, I don’t immediately agree with her anymore. 

I listen, give her room to ventilate her opinion and then decide for myself. She sometimes will throw a tantrum when I disagree but at that time I’ve already decided to go my own way. She now knows I am grateful she’s there to keep me safe. All is well with us.

Really beautiful creators, make friends with your inner critic instead of fighting her! Talk to her, tell her you’re glad she’s there but you are in control of your actions! Make a deal with your inner critic. 

Heck, you could even write out a contract and put it on your wall in your studio to help you remember you are friends and have an agreement! J

Anyhow, I happily painted away the last couple of days. Along the way the changes became smaller and smaller. The painting grew into being finished while I added littler details. A little more white here, a bit of shadow there, a different color for her eye, and so on.

Then all of a sudden I simply knew there was not much to do anymore, a fine line here and there and she was finished.

But guess what….that’s where my inner critic forgot about the contract and started to tell me I could not put this painting out in the world! No Way! To embarrassing!

This is what I said to my inner critic:

My dear caretaker, I know you only want the best for me and I thank you for that. I appreciate you want to protect me from harsh critique and embarrassment. I want to put my art out there the way it is right now, pure, raw and without hesitation. I can only learn from critiques or at least not take them personally. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine because I am proud of my creation and of me!

*swirls through the studio in a frantic confidence dance*

I then signed my painting,  took it outside for a picture in daylight and made this little video for you beautiful souls to watch the process. Enjoy!

Here are some specifics about the video and the painting. You know, the how and why and materials and such. If that’s to boring for you just scroll down for the video!

Materials used:

• A wooden panel I found in a shed here in Germany (we work with what we have right?)
• Sanded and cleaned off course! I must be honest, my sweetheart did that for me! Gotta love my man! <3
• No preparation, I started out with fabric spray paints and acrylic paints immediately.
• Stamps, stencils and markers galore!
• I also pasted on paper napkins with the ever so necessary matte medium. Who could live without it hey?
• I used charcoal to make sketches.
• For the elephant and goddess I mainly used portfolio wax crayons because I just loooooove their transparency.
• Some metallic and iridescent paint here and there.
• I stamped, stenciled, painted with brushes, my fingers, sticks of wood, bottle caps and so on.
• I wrote when I felt like it. At one point these phrases just drifted in….
  “All of you is the truth of you”
  “Say yes to you and the Universe will answer the same”
  “Every layer adds to the whole, without them it would be incomplete. So would you”
  “We are multidimensional in more ways than you can imagine”
  
  

She now awaits a nice finish, probably a matte varnish of some kind but I want to let her dry completely first.

For the video I took the pictures I had taken every now and then and made them all the same size in Photoshop. Because I worked with this painting at different times of the day the lighting isn’t always the same. That’s why in the video the colors seem to change back and forth. The last picture in the video is the one I took in broad daylight. Just watch her shine! LOL

Now you go and create something without fear and make a deal with your inner critic! She’s actually not hard to talk to, really! :-)

Happy Creating

~Monique

Ow, and beware of drastic changes! I followed my muse with the most trust I could muster up so there were some drastic changes happening to my ‘Rainforest’ while she was growing up! 

Sneak peek! (ow, and some growing pains and an elephant)

Hi Beautiful Creators!

I just had to share this sneak peek with you lovely art lovers.

I am on such a wonderful journey with this painting. She teaches me that it is all about intention, trust and surrender.

My intention for these last days of my stay here in Germany was clear, I wanted to spend most of my time in my temporary art studio and paint the days away.

I set out to embrace my intuition more while creating beautiful pieces of art.

I started two paintings at the same time after reading Flora Bowley’s book: ‘Brave, intuitive painting’. In her book she suggests to work at more than one painting at the same time so you can keep the flow going while one of your layers is drying. So I did that.

I thought of one painting as an in between project to keep that intuitive flow going so I could practice responding to it and listening to my muse and being brave and all that stuff.

In the end, ‘Hope’ emerged from that playful and trusting place much easier that the painting I thought was going to be IT.

Another lesson in letting go and trusting the process instead of having expectations about the outcome!

At the same time my perception of the world around me shifted. More things seemed to light up so bright I couldn’t ignore them! Although I often didn’t know what to do with them they were there for a reason. I could feel it!

One of these ‘things’ that showed up everywhere I looked was an elephant.

It started with watching a YT video of an artist who painted a lovely elephant. Then more and more elephants walked into sight (thank goodness no one has shown up in my front yard!).

BUT, I thought an elephant didn’t fit in my painting….yes I THOUGHT that….. I was not feeling but thinking.

Today I gave in and did some research on how to paint an elephant as I have never done that before and I just gave it a go. You should have heard my inner critic. Pew! J But I didn’t listen, just followed the elephants path.

And guess what?

I can paint elephants!!!! WHOOOT!!! And this little guy fits perfectly, he is right where he belongs. I think he’s so cute! He he it’s a good thing that elephant was quite a pushy fella! J

Well, there you have it my lovelies, I guess I’m still not done with learning to trust my intuition, my muse and my inner artist.

Intellectually I know I can trust them all for 120% every time, but something still seems to be in the way of me fully surrendering en going with the impulses they give me.

Is it fear?

If  so (off course it’s fear silly!) what am I afraid of?

Am I still afraid of critique? Am I still worried about what others might think of my work? Or even worse, don’t think about it at all? AAAHHH!!!

Heck, I don’t like this feeling and I want to change that!

NOW! Ummpff

So, what do I want to feel?

I want to feel happy, bouncy and joyful while creating.

I want to be cheerful and make beautiful uplifting art.

I want to put positive energy in my work as an artist so others can benefit from it.

I want to be radiant while creating, I want to receive and give through my art.

I want it to feel like breathing…in and out….

I want to feel deserving and giving and…..

I also want to keep learning, growing and expanding.

I am a very, VERY grateful artist while writing this blog post. I feel more secure, more worthy and more… Artist! WHEEEEE! J

I give thanks to my many muses and to myself for taking that leap of faith!

It’s funny actually, taking a leap of faith because of fear of what others might think of my work while I’m creating a painting that nobody has even seen yet!

O boy, the mind does crazy things with a girl hey?

In the end I’m still loving this journey called life and everything in it!

I think of these last couple of days as simply growing pains and now I’ve overcome them. For now at least….we all know fears stirs it’s ugly head every now and then. Well my fear filled friends, you are welcome! You help me grow and evolve to a better version of me and I thank you for it!

Here are some sneak peek snap shots I promised at the beginning of this post. She is not done yet and that is just the way it should be. I will love her and work with her more the coming days and I will share her beautiful wisdom and radiance when she is ready for it.

Until then I wish you many, many happy creative and blissful growing pains! *chuckle*

~Monique

                        

Intuitive painting 'HOPE'.

Hello there Beautiful Creators!

I've been hiding away in my temporary studio in Germany for a couple of days to spend some time with me, myself and art. ;-) After reading Flora Bowley's book: 

‘Brave, intuitive painting.’ I was so inspired to spend some time alone with my muse! 

It's a delicious book about letting go, being bold, en letting your art unfold.

 Although I am no stranger to intuitive painting, reading somebody else's view on it is always a good idea in my opinion. The vision on painting intuitively in her book is very close to mine but some of the prompts, ideas and techniques are new to me.

This opened up new possibilities to go deeper, trust more, be braver and let go more. 

It felt fantabulous!!! :-)

I have no pictures of the process of this painting. She wanted privacy to grow and unfold, and so did I. We spend many beautiful hour together!

In the meantime I started a second painting (Flora encourages you to paint on more than one painting at a time) of which I did take pictures of the stages the painting was in. 

It is not finished yet but I will share the whole process with pictures with you as soon as she’s done!

Here’s a slideshow with some close ups of the finished painting called Hope.

It is a mixed media painting. The materials I used are painted papers, acrylic paint, pens, markers, charcoal, pastel pencil, fabric spray paint and inks.

Enjoy!

Happy Creating!

~Monique

AEDM (Art Every Day Month)

Hey there beautiful creators!

I have just joined up for AEDM|. It's a challenge to do some kind of art every day in November and post about it. If you would like to join me and (so far) 187 other creative people here's where you can do that!

Hope to see some of your creative adventures!

Happy Creating

~Monique

This is what I created today: another page in my BOPA (Book Of Positive Aspects)

You can read all about it right here.

Yopu can also go to my facebook fanpage:

www.facebook.com/lifestruecolours

Welcome to my JEMM!

<div class="fb-like" data-href="https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/" data-width="The pixel width of the plugin" data-height="The pixel height of the plugin" data-colorscheme="light" data-layout="standard" data-action="like" data-show-faces="false" data-send="false"></div>


Hi there beautiful creators!

I wanted to explore today so I picked up one of my journals and I declared it my JEMM:
Journal for Experimenting with Mixed Media.:-)
The making of the journal itself was an experiment of it's own. The pages in it are an eclectic bunch of classes, experiments with papers, fabric, touchdrawings and so on. So I thought I would dedicate the last pages that needed finishing to this journey of experimenting.

Today I wanted to experiment with inks and paint.
The fact that most watersoluble inks bleed through the next layer and/or activate when you put another wet media on top always annoyed me.
I ususally fixate the layer of inks before continuing. With a fixative, or even with a spraybottle with water and a medium, just to stop it from bleeding and/or activating again.

I never liked the feeling of being annoyed by a material.
I mean, the inks can't help doing what they are doing right? They are what they are so I had to change something within myself.
I decided to play and experiment with the bleeding instead of working against it et voilà!
I looooved the effect of it!

It is not exactly where I want it to be but I am on the right track.
YES, no more irritation but a lot of fun!
The best thing I was reminded of again today is that working WITH a situation always works better than against it! I helps inspiration to flow and more ideas wil come to you. :-)

Off course the camera was rolling so here's a video with voice-over, I wanted to explain what I was doing for you. Enjoy!

Happy Creating,
~Monique

Exciting times!

How exciting life can be!
Once you get on the 'good-feeling-thoughts' train miracles start to happen. I can not even begin to tell you about all the good stuf that is flowing into our lives, really, really amazing!
I feel good and better every day.
Yesterday we took a little break from everything we are doing here, spent the whole day on and in the water.
Gosh, the underwater world is sooooooo beautiful!
Amazingly colorful and tranquil and very alive at the same time, what a blessing to be a part of that.
Here's the page I made about the last few days.

Although I don't want to be going home I also can't wait to be back in the studio again and make more art and videos!
Somewhere this week I'll be back in youtube-land! See you then!
In the meantime,  don't worry, be happy and create your dreams,  I know it's possible!

Half way through making this page a figure showed up. Wonder what message she has for me...

Happy creating! 

Monique

Nobody pops my balloon!

Hi there beautiful Creators!

Do you sometimes get thrown of your path? I do...
Or, better said, I let myself get thrown of my path.
Last week was a rollercoaster for us. Up and down we went from ecstatic to disappointed, from enthousiastic to right out angry!
For me it all had to do with my reaction to other peoples behavior. At first I blamed them for my mood and my disappointment.
Then I realised it wasn't them, it was me. I got caught in their vibration and forgot to take care of mine.

So, time to clean it up and get my vibe back! :-D

Good to know that this process takes less and less time for me. I can get my vibe back fairly easy now and I know I am responsible for it.

Funny, while writing this I realise this has happened big time twice during the last two weeks.
Good practise! LOL

Here's how I journaled about it...

Enjoy and happy creating!

~Monique

The Spanish Lady Spoke (or did she?)

Hello to you!

Remember the Spanish Lady from my tutorial on Touchdrawing?
At the end of filming the tutorial she hadn't 'spoken' to me yet, I wondered if she was camera shy... :-)

This is what she looked like at the time:

My sweetheart and I went on a short holiday with friends and when we came back I thought I'd find the message she was hiding from me.

Wrong! She remained silent so I put her aside and decided to wait...

In the meantime life went on, some things happended that were difficult for me to deal with at the time until I heard some dreadful news about a young boy who had tried to commit suicide. 

All the things I worried about, were difficult to talk about and had me going in circles for a day or two now seemed so ridiculousl, infinitly small and insicnificant! 

My thoughts are with the parents and siblings of Ewan. 

Ewan, I hope you are going where you realy want to be, I wish you wisdom and happiness wherever you are.

Now the Spanish Lady's message was very clear:

Humbled I am...

~Monique

Hello beautiful creators!

After a refreshing holiday that we've spend with friends I was finally able to finish the mixed media painting of my second (Svadhishtana) Chakra.
Al lot has changed in my life in the last year or so, that has a connection to this Chakra. No wonder it took me a while to get it 'right'. But here it is! :-)
No video this time but there will be some comming soon to my YT channel...

In the meantime I wish you a beautiful Indian Summer and Happy Creating!
~Monique

Mixed Media Mandala in mijn Dagboek

Dag mooie Creator!

Vandaag geef ik je een kijkje in mijn Mixed Media Mandala Dagboek.

Jaren geleden ben ik begonnen met Mandala tekenen. Ik heb lessen gevolgd, talloze mandala's getekend en gekleurd. Dit was voor mij een actieve meditatie, een moment van totale ontspanning en rust in mijn hoofd.

Dit heeft zich door de jaren heen, net als ik, doorontwikkeld. Ik heb daar al eens eerder een blog over geschreven. Deze vind je hier. 

Alweer enige tijd geleden werd ik gegrepen door het 'Art Journal-virus en ook dit ontwikkelt zich door tot mijn eigen manier van visueel dagboek schrijven.
Voor mij past de Mandala hier perfect in.

Het woord Mandala komt uit het Sanskriet en wordt vaak vertaald als Wiel of Cirkel.
Echter het woord Mandala is op zich niet zomaar te vertalen, het is meer een begrip dan een op zich staand woord.
Voor mij betekend het veel meer. Het staat symbool voor geen eind en geen begin, het draaien van de aarde en de steeds terugkerende seizoenen, eb en vloed, het komen en gaan, mijn centrum en tegelijkertijd het universum.
Het is meer een beweging dan een woord. Het staat voor het Leven, inademen en uitademen.

En zo past dit perfect in het maken van mijn mixed media dagboek. Ook dat is een plek voor in-, en uitademen, het registreren van de cirkels van mijn leven. Dat wat komt en dat wat gaat.
Dat wat van binnen leeft en naar buiten wil komen. Dat wat van buiten gebeurd en een plek van binnen krijgt door erover te schrijven en er op een creatieve manier mee bezig te zijn.
Ik kom meer tot mijzelf, er wordt meer van mijzelf tot uitdrukking gebracht waardoor ik voel dat ik groei en ontwikkel. Niets staat stil, alles is in beweging. In mijn mixed media dagboek krijgt dit een plek.

Hieronder vind je een filmpje van een Mandala die ik gecreëerd heb in mijn mixed media dagboek.
Wil je meer weten over Mixed Media Dagboek Schrijven? Laat het me weten. Ik ben beschikbaar voor demonstraties en/of workshops.

Happy Creating!
~Monique

Today will be tomorrows memory. A Visual Journal page.

Hello there art lovers!

Today I'd like to share with you a page in my Visual Journal.

Making this page was such a delight! I started out with the words: Today I Play! and ended up with a beautiful message about how today becomes tomorrows memory.

It made me realise once more that we live in the 'here and now' and that it is up to us to make it worth remembering tomorrow.

Many  thanks to Pink! who's music was playing while I was creating my page. Her words: 'These are the good old days' inspired my conversation with my muse.

I started without a plan, really just playing with color and materials. This creative play always gets me into a meditative state where I seem to open up to whatever my muse wants to reveal. I just love these conversations!

I hope you enjoy the video! I'd be happy to answer any question you might have, just leave a comment.

~Monique

Drawing and journaling my Rootchakra

Hi there mixed media lovers!

I came across a free workshop about drawing chakra's at Timeless Rituals.
It has been a while for me that I drew Chakra's and thought I'd give myself an energyboost by taking this workshop.
I looked up some of my drawings from way back when.... wow! things have changed! :-)
I used to design them with a compass and ruler, then color them with colored pencils. Hours of layering the colors with pencil was my meditation.

Heart Chakra                                                                  Throat Chakra

Now I am much more a mixed media artist and journaler so that's where I want to go.
Where better to make these but in my Mandala Journal?
Let's start at the bottom... The Root Chakra.

Enjoy and happy creating!

~Monique

Art Journal Background Swap

Hey lovely Creators!

Here's a little demo-video I did for those who joined me in the background swap over at Gulfsprites Art journal.
In the class '30 pages in 90 days' we did a swap with 20 students, we all created a background and Christy Sobolewski assembled them into little booklets and send them to all who joined in.

I made a little demo-video to go along with it, here it is... ;-)
Enjoy and Happy Creating!

Monique

Artjournalflip!!

Yes artjournal lovers, another artjournal flip. :-)

This time one from a class I did; 30 pages in 90 days with Christy Sobolewski. You can find this class here.

This is the result of 90 days of artjournaling, I've learned a lot and had so much fun!

In fact, I'm going to start all over again for round 2! LOL (it starts next monday, 10th of june)

I am very curious how the second one will turn out. 3 Months have past, things have changed, I learned a lot but probably have missed some things and/or have allready forgotten all about them. There was so much information in this class.

I hope you enjoy the video and if you are not in a class right now go and give yourself one! 

Learning and making that wich you have learned your own is such a beautiful journey...

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Mandala artjournal page

A quicky this time.. :-)
I am still following my renewed mandala path.. lol.
I was enjoying making this page so much I forgot to take pictures, I only took two so here they are...

If you like Mandala's maybe you would like to join me on google+?
I have started a comunity called Mandal Mayhem where we can share our mandala's.
All mandala's are welcome!
I would love to see your Mandala's and maybe hear about how you create them and why?

Happy creating,
Monique