The beginning: The Book of Nowhere

This is the beginning of my second art journal. I enjoy art journaling as it gives me a place to flow and the ability to be able to make my own books if I wish. This book is not handmade. It is a black hardcover sketch book that I bought from my favourite art shop. Random shapes are the foundation of my art. I begin by intuitively building upon abstract marks and shapes; gradually refining and arranging forms. This process can lead to surprising and varied results. My work is intricate and surreal, often taking on a natural organic theme.
My title is as ethereal as my work.

Another of Professor Strebor's discoveries

Professor Strebor has been with me for quite some time now. My first handmade book was on his reasearch in Dendrology and his investigations in the far North Forest.

Symbolic Woman - Lazar

A meditative piece, building shapes and thoughts on textured papers. The papers gave me a sense of nature, hieroglyphics, cave paintings and icons.

Cambodia memories

I had a lot to work with here. I manipulated some of my photos and used memorabilia I had gathered over there. Cambodia is a mixture of black and white...sadness, struggle, poverty at the same time, such a colourful thread runs through it with love, laughter and peace. My love of Cambodia is huge.

Yellow Circus

I have torn some pages and on each one did 'ink blots' with acrylic ink to take the 'white' off, having no idea what I will do as usual.
I made my first mark with my blackUni pin and within a short time I felt a circus was coming.
Some weeks earlier I had been to see Cirque du Soleil but never realised it had made such a subconcious impression. I am sure that is where this came from.

Blue circus

The galloping circus, I realise now that I have to keep this going as the pages link to each other...I wonder if my creativity will last?

Purple circus

I am so excited doing this, I can't believe it is still flowing. I can feel the energy, hear the music...my circus.

The circus-the end

This is the end of the circus. I have to say I have never had so many meditative hours in art as I did with this little set of drawings.

Tick tock checkers

My girlfriend gave me the piece of black and white check cotton. I pasted if on the far side of the book and made marks with my black uni pin pen on the other side and as usual it flowed. I don't know why but it reminds me of the inners of a clock but of course there are many other elements included in my eclectic style.

She is wise

The picture on the left is a photo gone terribly wrong for a night shot but the pieces of light that did appear told me something had to be made of it. I already had the piece of hand dyed calico (I love calico) which matched beautifully.  The shapes of the light sent me on my way with this piece.

Rock a Billy

I would like to introduce Billy and his keeper Renoo. Billy loves nothing better than to eat rocks (hence Rock a Billy). they roam the countrside together with the other creatures of Bazoo devouring rocks. Renoo keeps all his belonging around his neck for safety.
I have a store of my handmade paper and these two pieces were the basis for this piece. A black Uni Pin pen was the inventor of Bazoo and its inhabitants. And as often happens a piece of poetry evolved as I worked. All my pieces take on a life of their own.

Over the mountains they do trek
Carrying belonging around their neck
Billy devours a feast of stones
Renoo gets tired and forever moans
The creatures laugh and tease
poor Billy and Renoo
Saying and braying
"You freaks should surely be
IN THE ZOO"

Blue Lagoon

My pen collection is varied and vast and every now and then I feel guilty they haven't had a turn so this page I used my ZIG blues. I began with the long horizontal shape (one line) but quickly came in with the second and straight away sea creatures were born. I can't help myself with becoming intricate so the bottom of the lagoon is a world within itself. Of course in my world of imagination there are dwellings everywher and anywhere.

Fashion parade

I so enjoyed doing this. I started this page with the shape which is now the head of the model on the far right of the page using ZIG pens in their pure brown. After about 5minutes of looking I added one stroke which is now her neck from there it all flowed. As I said in the beginning of this journal I gradually refine and arrange and here I needed balance which came about with the birds. Birds of course are my staple diet in my art.

Alphabet Horse graffiti

Oh! how I love graffiti. I don't profess to do it well at all but it is something I keep trying. Alphabet horse came about when I was just playing with 'free sewing'. The shape I made accidently looked like a horse and for no good reason I sewed some metal alphabet's on it and decided to use it on this page....again, intuitive working as I painted the page (acrylic) and just stuck the horse on and it tended to tell me 'graffiti'. It took off from there.

Head talk

A girlfriend and I were discussing how 'head talk' interrrupts art process. Especially for women. We both agreed, we would settle in (if we finally get to that point) and make progress when the 'head talk' starts....better do this better do that...don't sit and fiddle with art and if we listen enough our art process becomes unravelled therefore our work suffers. This piece I guess, whilst not contrived in any way, it did begin with a thought.

Cambodia

I had not long returned from Cambodia when I began this piece. The pages had been pre-painted with acrylic before I left and I was most surprised, again, working intuitively what evolved. Of course in Cambodia there is lush and tangled nature but to produce that was never a concious decision

Graveyards of time

Kinda hard to see this but it was thoroughly enjoyable to do.
(Acrylic ink and pencil-Staedler Micro Mars 0.5 retractable)

As I worked this piece of poetry evolved:


Before they came
They'd lost their rhyme
They lost their youth
Not told the truth
Of the passing of time

Now they are here
They've found their rhyme
In the graveyards of time
They come and go
They blend and weave

With the flow of their shroud
And the drift of cloud
They slide and glide
With the moon and her tide

In the graveyards of time
They dance and sway
They've chosen to stay
Together in rhyme
In the graveyards of time

Owl's domain

Nature is a never ending source of beauty
(Mixed media)

Hand Made Book