Journal Gypsies

It's our first birthday, so here's a little challenge for you to celebrate!

Come and play #hauntedhalloween with us. Interpret the challenge prompts in any way you want for your planners or journals, and share your work with us using the hashtag #hauntedhalloween on any social media site!

This week I wanted to share Wind with you. Wind is so unpredictable which is exactly how she was painted too! I really wanted to express her hair blowing in all directions and her cheeks puffed out as she was blowing, instead I have painted an 80s rock star! I feel bad for Wind, this is not how she wanted to be portrayed yet that is all that came out for me, she was hard to paint, maybe because she is mainly air and wouldn't sit still? I ended up changing her lips after my husband remarked that she looked 'a little naughty'. I won't go into that but I will leave it to your imagination so she now has closed lips in a smug kind of expression. Never mind, I got to experiment more with my acrylics and not every thing you create in your journal has to be gallery worthy, it is all about how you felt and what you were documenting or expressing at the time. This is Wind.

For me Sun doesn't need much explanation or description, everyone knows who she is and why she is here, she doesn't need me to justify her or give her an introduction or an explanation.

This is Sun. She was created with acrylics although not free form like Rain. Sun started life as a pencil sketch and was then painted in.

Following on from last week I wanted to share another weather goddess with you. This week I wanted to share 'Rain' with you. Rain was created in the same way the Storm was so please read that blog post if you would like to learn more about the thought process behind the art. This time however Rain was created with acrylics. She was created at a time when my acrylic muse had just decided to come out and grace me with her presence again so I wanted to adjust myself to using acrylics again but also to try a new sort of technique for me. As I say, my journal is also about experimenting and trying out new things.

Rain was created solely in acrylics. No pencil sketch first just my brush and acrylics and I love her. I love that she is abstract-y and not 100% lifelike as for me that just reinforces her goddess like stature. I like that she is a bit rough round the edges with no defined lines as rain is fluid and not solid this just emulates that. There was no mixing of the paint on a palette, all mixing was done on the page as I went and it was very freeing. I was able to truly be in the moment letting my paint and brush flow, just sitting watching and listening to the rain beat against the window.

I tried to add a quote or text with her but nothing seemed to come to mind. Well nothing good anyway. I wanted something powerful and awe-inspiring but I just wasn't getting it, maybe one day something will click and fall into place and at which time I can go back to her but for now I am happy with how she is. She is kind of sad because no one appreciates her, no one understands her. They know that they need her to nourish the ground, fill up the reservoirs and feed the crops yet no one likes her, no one really wants her around and that is or must be quite a hard thing to live with even for the strongest of goddesses. Because of this she carries with her a slight sorrow in her eyes, there is a story there that none of us could really know for sure but only wonder at.

I hope you like Rain as much as I do, she is actually one of two of my favourite weather goddesses. I will be back next week with another weather goddess for you and my second favourite, until then have a great week.

Anna

Part 1

Part 2