LIFE IS A VERB - chapter 1 inhabiting my story

Time only seems to matter when it is running out - Peter Strup








This delightful book by Patti Digh and the journey facilitated by the Wild Precious community is inspiring me to create some art journal pages about my everyday life...what better way to hold onto the joy of life in those dark short days of winter! How marvellous to feel it is ok to be a lover of 'story telling' i've albums full of my son and creating albums to hold precious memories for ohers brings me such joy but what about MY STORY i mean my real everyday story...Time can go by so quickly and when living each day as if it where your last, I find i am more able to live it with love and joy! as my mind is only focusing on what is real.... i would choose to live out my last day with remembering to breathe, i mean really breath to take a break when i need one,(my health issues have really made me have to do that and i am truly grateful for the reminder to go slowly and be gentle with myself), to observe and savour every playful exchange i see, let every hostile communication simply roll over my head,be able to speak out be authentic and true to me, enjoy the noise and tones of boyish banter in my house, savour each hug and cuddle, fill up on the feel good of spending time with my mum, observing every lovely facial expression, every little fouble and nuance that makes my friends and relatives the individuals that they are .......oooh i can feel myself living life with more intention already...I've started a first page in my Winter Art Journal for this journey called 'the joy in an urban life' will post a photo later...the background is still drying as it's made up of receipts, bits of letterheads,bits of bills...even have a photo from a CCTV clip me inadvertently sitting in the bus lane when i took a wrong turn in the midst of my brain fog!! and the penalty that came with it.... all a part of my everday life! and i plan to draw a beautiful flower emerging and weavng its way through the medley of everday stuff..cos that's how it is when i'm feeling the joy in my urban life!


here it is udated 18/11/11





I'm writing in my book 'Life is a Verb' and plan to 'alter' it as I think the author Patti Digh would encourges us to do whatever we wanted with the book to make it ours and part of our stroy...i love writing in books! it feels a little naughty..after all books are lovely thing and if it were a someone elses that wouldn't be allowed!but it's mine...and i'd been writing in pencil in the extra wide margins and had filled them with my reflections ..now i'm gonna express a little more in a creative sense and stamp on the pages and embellish and alter them to represent what Patti's words and those gorgeous pages stir up in me ... Thankyou xxxxx

EOAJ Water week

I am a sitting with the 'deeper flow of emotion' right now in relation to my thoughts for water week.I revisit these feelings regularly..my eyes have watery glaze and my face and temples ache.. tired with all the thought and energy this takes... some down time is needed.I want to light a candle and relax in a lavender scented room with a snuggle blanket listening to some deeply relaxing music....i'm a little at sea and need to find myself a rope or life jacket!......... tapping into some universal love is what i need to do right now and I know there's an abundant supply out there it's just about quietening those 'fast running waters'and fitting myself with a suitable bouyancy aid ..i can see it reflecting off the waters surface i just need to 'doggy paddle' over and feel it...xxxxx

'Love is the only thing that is 'really' real'

TEOAJ Earth Week 1

Mmmm I like the feel of the earth under my feet and the colours of nature....and as I lay on the ground listening to some drumming at a local family festival ...feeling the sun on my face and the deep cool earth beneath my back I felt a gorgeous desire to simply melt into the earth ...my initial thoughts in respect of these feelings and the clustering from orientation week made me think of the statements 'I am the ground', 'I am at one with the earth' .However, with deeper reflection on the relationship I have had with my body I had to be honest with myself and acknowledge that my relationship with my body has not always been a positive one.

As an adolescent I didn't treat my body well or with respect.I also strived throughout early womanhood to control it, mould it and use it in extreme ways, even the exercise I did was harsh, and almost punitive.Later on in womanhood throughout my childbearing years I felt immense loss and disappointment with my body, as I felt it failed me a number of times.However, when motherhood eventually came a 'new relationship' dawned, not immediately as it took time. I learnt more about myself ..I explored self nurturing and started to heal the parts of me I needed to in order to be a 'whole person'. The drawing I made as part of this page is symbolic of this and I felt compelled to use it for TEOAJ. This image of the african lady cradling a baby has always aroused a lot of emotion in me and alongside a poem called 'Oneness' from the Tao of motherhood by Vimala Mclure I had used it in a previous project of personal growth.I feel that now I have a sort of comfortable ease and desire to nurture my body and be gentle with it I choose Yoga and a walk over running and gymn work..if I do physically exert myself I make sure I'm fed and watered and rested!...in times of stress it is still all so easy for me to become 'disconnected' from my body.Disconnecting and not hearing what my body needs is such a weakness of mine, my enthusiasm , passion ,focus on a goal seems to release an obsessive trait that 'drives me' but also knocks me out of balance so easily and I need grounding! I think the curly roots in my page represent how important that grounding and securing myself to the earth is. A recent episode of poor health has reminded me I must listen to my body' ... look after 'her' put her needs first sometimes... 'she' must be 'sea worthy' and able to 'weather the storms of life'....she is my vessel the vessel in which my spirit resides and from which my life force flows..... and so 'My body is my vessel' .....my very precious vessel.

EOAJournal Cover

Above is my progress so far with the cover of my Art journal for Elements...hope i've not 'jumped the gun' a bit but I have been desperate to try out 'Coffee and bubble wrap backgrounds' and to use some of my favourite stamps and handmade papers for Elements!



I have a real desire to have a sparkle in silver and gold throughout what I am creating for the course.I also am experimenting with layers of tissue paper here and stazon ink and pigment inks..i find the pigment inks bleed when i seal them with mod podge...unless i'm sparing and turn the tissue reverse side up with the ink actually underneath !

Yesterday Chel and wandered round the Food Fest in Leeds and some craft stalls...I found some paper that really drew my eye and i covered another of the recycled composition books into another journal...all bright an breezey just love the colours an design of the gift wrap and had to share it with you....


Both of my journals will have a band or strap around them to keep them closed i created one that was adjustable for the wrapping paper covered journal as i know they get pretty bulky as the pages are created!

Here's the start of my first page...inspired by Effy's video and incorporating the colours for the elements and the handprints...still more to add here but wanted to share my progress so far as next weeks blog entry will be a shorter one due to family committments...



Love to all at Wild Precious creative vibes to all in the studio xxxxxxxxxxxx

Elements of Art journalling Course

Am working on the clustering activity and creating my semi prepped composition book for Elements of Art Journalling Mmmmmmmmmmmm started yesterday with a yoga session last night after finishing work..really needed that and felt the benefits straight away.Then this morning watched darlin' Effy's videos and guidance.I am sooo looking forward to this and will post my finished handprepped Art Journal later on this week.

Wild Precious Elements of Art Journalling

Pictured above is my very first Wild Precious Art journal. I made it myself for my work on Wild Precious.I prepared the pages with white gesso and neo colour watercolour crayons it's not full yet but is getting there...i've some nice pages coming up inspired by the existing groups in the Wild Precious Studio.Since joining Wild Precious Studio my creative energy has shifted and I find myself tapping into a deeper part of my creative self that i was perhaps a little wary of..it has been a truly liberating part of my creative journey so far.I hope to be participating in EFFY'S Elements of Art Journalling Course.I will be on board for July with this new journey in Art Journalling supported and facilitated by Effy.The studio and community at Wild Precious is a safe and nurturing envirnoment to practice authenticity in your art...i will be joining the course thankyou Effy x

Giving my craft room the overhaul it sooo deserves

Week 4 of TAW with Effy and Wild precious and although not following it completely to the letter(sorry morning pages!) I still find it is having quite a profound effect on me.I loved the tasks this week thinking back to being a child and i treated myself and my boys to a childhood favourite pud i used to have at my nana's...such fond memories that Swiss Roll and custard had for me...and thinking about exciting things id like to do put some Salsa class on the agenda..A decluttering phase has 'gotten a hold of me'..i could barely sleep with the restless energy i had as the weekend came...although feeling tired after the week the energy came with a restless woooosh for me to 'cleanse' my craft room! I'm soo pleased ...it has needed doing for a long time...so this weekend a little less arting but some good well needed organising of my resources and i've a self indulgant few days end of next week, as i'm on leave and so will 'art my little heart out'.

It was this quote that i latched onto and it really started to inspire my need to declutter...the more i pondered it the more the restless energy needed to be heard~!

"Everything is raw material. Everything is relevant. Everything is usable. Everything feeds into my creativity. But without proper preparation, I cannot see it, retain it, and use it."
— Twyla Tharp

Fairy tale journal pages - Altered Book

Am pleased to have made my first postings in my studio on Wild Precious ........this is such an encouraging 'internet space' the artists there are welcoming and there are some great workshops...the inspiration there is great...I am aspiring to really get my art journalling off the ground....adding pages to my 'Fairy Tale Journal' started i sooo long ago above a couple of pages i completed last night...the other pages i did way back maybe a year or so ago they are on my other blogspot.