Sisterhood Of The Travelling Sketchbook

You're not seeing things - two creative posts in one week. My paintbrushes are in shock!

These pages were inspired by a teeny tiny picture on the side of a box of very yummy Linda McCartney asparagus and cheese frozen tarts. The picture is literally just under 2.5" by just under 1.5" but the colours leapt out at me. So I snipped it out and went to fetch my watercolours.

I wasn't trying to copy the original picture, just the feel of it if that makes sense. This is my background, several layers of watercolours. The white 'splatter effect' don't know if it shows up to well in my photo - is salt sprinkled on while the paint was still wet and then brushed off when it was dry. At the end, I did a light spattering of glimmer mist. Love that stuff, must invest in more than one bottle!

I then added the Alfred D. Souza quote that inspired me so much at the beginning of the year.

This was printed on normal printer paper -  then covered in Lyra Aquacolour (watercolour) crayons, wet it down and sprayed with glimmer mist before pegging on the line to dry :P It's just then cut into strips, stuck in and outlined in fineliner.

I continued the rest of the very long quote onto the journalling page overleaf (forgot to photo that) but the quote in it's entirety reads:

"For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time to still be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life...

This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have. And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time … and remember that time waits for no one… 

So stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you are off welfare, until the first or fifteenth, until your song comes on, until you've had a drink, until you've sobered up, until you die, until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy…

 Happiness is a journey, not a destination."   I'm really pleased with these pages and I actually think they might be my favourites out of all the ones I've done for the Travelling Sketchbooks. For a lot of reasons. I've been trying to hold that quote in my head all year and I do think I have had a change in attitude. I think they also mark the end of a very, very dry spell in my creativity. Also, I've been trying to loosen up and go more abstract and less literal with my painting for so long. Try to get out of my head that things have to exactly resemble what I'm trying to paint and then end up frustrated when I'm neither realistic nor abstract - I love the "loose absract-y but still see what it is" look, don't know if I'm describing it right but I think this is the first time I've started to grasp it and be pleased with the outcome with these pages. I just hope Kathy, whose book it is, likes them too :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

p.s After a couple of comments and emails asking about it I've checked the name on my bottle of glimmer mist. Only to realise it's not called glimmer mist at all. It's called Perfect Pearls mist and is by Ranger. Oops. (Mine is Sunflower Sparkle.) I guess I always just call it glimmer mist because that's what it does - makes everything glimmer and sparkle :) Depending how close or far away you hold it you can get a lovely misted effect or great big denser splats. I love it - had mine nearly two years and still have a third of the bottle. I use it a lot.