cjs18 the month that was…

This is the third time I’ve done #cjs (or 4th?). I love it – it gets my year off to an arty start, teaches me new processes and techniques, and I get to meet and reconnect with amazing artists from all over the globe. Fantastic! Huge thanks to Nathalie Kalbach for bringing it altogether. It’s well priced, and you can download the videos and refer back to them all year-long. Here’s a look back at the pages I did each day in January; some things I won’t do again, or seldom anyway, other techniques and processes will become part of my current art journal practice.

cjs18 day 31 Finnabair

I love Finnabair‘s work but it’s not my style, so I took some of her recipe and made it my own, which is a good way to work anyway. I’m still using old photos belonging to Tony’s cousin Alison – she has dementia and no longer remembers the people and places, so using them in my art gives them some new meaning. This is the last day of cjs18; I’ll do a wrap-up post shortly.

cjs18 day 30 Pam Carriker

Today’s artist was Pam Carriker, whose work I have enjoyed through magazine articles etc for years, so it was great to follow along with her project. The photo is of our cat, Goldie, and in real life there is little angelic about her 😉

cjs18 day 29 Jane LaFazio

Today’s artist was the lovely and talented Jane LaFazio. Her project used a lot of drawing skills which I don’t have, and would have needed more time than I have on a week night. However, I loved it so much I wanted to use the general theme. Since my weight loss surgery in late 2016 this recipe has become one of our favourite recipes, so it was good to document it.

cjs18 day 28 Jodi Ohl

I recently read one of Jodi Ohl’s books so was excited to see she is today’s artist. I said to Tony “this isn’t my kind of art process so I won’t be long” – and then got totally engrossed in working on it!

cjs18 day 26 MaryBeth Shaw

I’m a StencilGirl fan from way back so was delighted to find MaryBeth is one of this year’s artists. Her recipe was all about the layers, which suits how I work – this piece has taken a couple of days because the various mediums needed time to dry. I decided to work on a 10×10″ canvas because this wouldn’t work well in my art journal, and loosely based the image on photos of the Patea cliffs where I live. I took photos of two of the layers as I worked.

 

cjs18 day 27 Dina Wakley

I love Dina Wakley‘s work so was excited to see her name pop up as today’s artist. Her paints are wonderful to use, by the way!

Her process is not too disimilar to mine, but is more controlled; as always there was something new to learn. I enjoyed making this page and am pleased with the final result.

cjs18 day 25 Sandra Everston

Artist Sandra Evertson makes the most stunning jewellery and mixed media pieces. I tend not to do 3D work but enjoyed learning to use my hot glue gun in a whole new way. I’m posting this late because I’ve been unwell the last few days – ongoing issues with my throat/voice. (tedious…)

cjs18 day 24 Gina Lee Kim

Today’s artist, Gina Lee Kim, had a fun recipe for us, with multiple steps. Some of my forward planning wasn’t so good, so my glasses are sitting in front of the shelf suppoprts – but I had a great time anyway!

cjs18 day 23 Kasia Avery

Kasia Avery was talking about colour mixing today – this was fun and I ended up with something that feels substantially different to my normal layout, even if it looks quite similar.