New Site Ready (I think)

I think Im done!

All info and links can be found on my most recent post on my blog:

http://trishbee.co.uk/

New Site

Currently working on my new website which involves a lot of html coding and uploading of pages and pictures! A lengthy process which should hopefully be over soon. Im almost finished, I just need to add those all important final tweaks and stuff to the site and put the bits and bobs on then I will announce it! Check back soon.

Update:
Ive just about finished adding a selection of my archives which I want to feature on the site so now all I have to do is concentrate on this blog and get my sketchbooking stuff on here! Once Im done I will be ready to go live!

Black & White ATCs

Made my Black And White Atcs last night with the black and white background I did in an earlier blog entry.

Heres the scan of my atcs:

What Is Art Page

Im currently working on Ms Peas board book for an altered round robin swap:) The theme of Ms Peas book is ART - my FAVOURITE subject! I love themes like this :) Ive been given strong hints to do a bit of sketchbooking type journalling and doodles on this page so Id best do as I am told!

This is what the book looks like at this stage, I havent added any journalling or major doodling yet as I was waiting for the glue and paint to dry first! I will do that this weekend probably :)

The background on the left hand side of the page is painted kitchen towel paper using purple and metallic paints. I added a piece of book paper to the right hand side of the book page and then went over with a light layer of gesso to mute down the text, then finally I added a wash of bright pink watercolour paint over the top.

The printed photograph in the page is of Frida Kahlo, a true inspiring artist! I added the words 'but what is' using my letratag. The 3 ART words are plain chipboard letters which I painted gold and stuck down. 3 stamped square faces where added.

I next used a black pen to dot round the righthand page and added white borders round the dots, next I outlined the join between the 2 backgrounds and added a dotted and lined border with my pen, then finally outlined all the words and pics on the page.

More scans as soon as Ive done the next step, heres what it looks like now:

Finished this page last night and added my journalling and doodling to it:

Path To Enlightenment Page

Ive just finished Maggis page for the altered board book round robin swap Im in! Maggies theme was 'journeys' - so this got me thinking....instead of going down the usual travel route I decided to go down the personal journey route because these are the most important journeys of them all!

I painted the page gold first, then I added some painted background pieces I did and a print out of a ruler. I then added the stamped image of the Buddha, and had a look through my stash of collage images and found the printed picture of another buddha and the smaller circular buddha too and stuck them on. Next I added the words 'discover your inner peace' using my letratag.

Then out came my pens :) I did a doodled border around the entire page spread, then I added some little swirl trees around buddha and some dots. Next I wrote on the words breathe and life as they seemed to kinda just go with the theme somehow. I added some more words around the buddha image and finally some hearts and I was finished!

Here it is:

Look On The Bright Side Page

This is another page taken from my Teesha Moore Journal Swap, the original page artist of this page is Annie!

Annies page is painted bright yellow and orange and features lots of lovely sunflowers, I dont know about you but to me sunflowers represent all things positive and bright! I decided to use the sunflowers as my inspiration and wrote on the words 'look on the bright side' in large lettering and went from there.

I added borders and lines and dots here there and everywhere! I also drew some small freestyle suns to fill in the gaps then I finally finished off the page by writing on various words and stuff which came to mind from the theme I was going with - reasons to look on the bright side.

Heres my page:

Princess Georgina Page

This is another page I have done for my sketchbook, it seemed fitting that I dedicate a page to my other fur baby who is no longer with us; Georgie :) This photo was taken just before she got really ill, she had cancer and had a huge growth on her head as a result of it which was the size of a tennis ball. If you look closely in the photo you can see the lump had already just started to grow then, we only noticed afterwards when she was gone:

Memorable Moments Page

This is part of my ongoing personal sketchbook challenge which I have set myself to learn how to start sketchbooking! Im working my way through my list of page prompts which I have listed and this page is one of those prompts, 'memorable moments' - pick an event from your life which stays strongly in your mind. I decided to pick a holiday I spent as a child in Great Yarmouth as it is such a vivid and strong memory that I have.

Heres my sketchbook page for this prompt along with photos of myself as a kid in Great Yarmouth!

News About My Website

Its not looking promising I have to say! Im a bit frazzled at the moment to be honest!

It seems that the website hosting that I was with have decided to do a dissapearing act and wont be coming back! Theres thousands of angry customers who like myself have all paid for hosting and now discovered that theyve been ripped off! I wouldnt mind but Ive been with this webhost now for 3 years and up until now the service has always been good! And now they've buggered off with my cash! At least it wasnt a humungus amount but it is the principle of the thing! Im so bloody annoyed!!

Still no use crying over spilt milk. Whats done is done.

Some good news however, the server company who sublets the reselling package to my web host has temporarily unsuspended my website accounts for 24 hours to enable me to go in and back the much needed backups! Phew! Ive not lost it all afterall so I can breathe easy on that score. Im frantically backing everything up now as I type...

On the flip side it does means I now have to find some suitable affordable alternative website hosting AND upload all of my site again! A prospect I really am not looking forward to :( I think Im going to have to be brutal and prune some of my site back and upload my favourite bits as its an awful lot of files and images!!

Never rains but it pours - more like torrential downpour!!

Normality Is Boring Page

Another page from my Teesha Sketchbook stash, this one was created originally by Rena!

To begin with I went round with a black pen and I added lines, dots and borders to the design to make it stand out, and added some white highlights too.

The words 'quirkiness is everywhere' were already on the page so I decided to use them as my jumping point. Thinking to myself, the words quirkiness made me think of things outside of the norm - which gave me the idea for 'Normality Is Boring' - so I wrote those words on the page and I was away! The other words kinda followed on naturally with the theme. I just kept going with the doodles and swirls till I felt it was complete:

Da Vinci Tip In Page

Im signed up for a tip in swap where you make altered book pages, this months theme is Da Vinci! To be honest Ive been struggling to get started because I havent lifted a rubber stamp up since last month!! Im too addicted to sketchbooking at the moment.

Anyways the swap is due at the end of the month so I knew I had to get started on it very soon!!

So here goes!

First of all I folded a sheet of A4 card in half, then I watercoloured a background on using different shades of brown paint. I then got a brown inkpad and stamped Da Vinci style images over the card. This is going to be the backdrop for my tip in pages, Im gonna add some images and stuff to complete them. Meanwhile here is the scan of the first stage:

I think Ive finished this tip in page now, last night I added some images and some words to the page and folded it to complete it. Here are scans of both the front and back of my tip in page:

Front:

Back:

Friends Are The Flowers Page

Another Teesha swap page :) This one was created by our very own Ms Pea.

I decided to add some more doodles on the page, Pea had added a line of leaves on the left hand side, so using the same style I continued the leaves so that they would also appear along the top of the page too. I also drew on a couple of flowers to add interest and wrote the 2 large words flowers and garden in large lettering - Im enjoying learning how to do lettering I must admit!

Then using my letratag I added the words around the page to complete the quotation. Final bits where added by outlining the images and adding dots and bits here and there, basically I just kept going till I was happy with the overall feel:

Walk In Their Shoes Page

Here is another page taken from my Teesha swap stash, the original page designer is Kacy, this page was already decorated with a pair of high heel shoes so I decided to use that as my inspiration for the page theme.

I decided to draw on the quote 'Never Judge A Person Until You Have Walked In Their Shoes' - it just came to me while I was looking at the page and it felt right. Particually as its a sentiment I also happen to agree with 100% and always try to apply it on a daily basis.

I also added the words 'walk on with hope in your heart' along the top in slightly smaller lettering, another shoe/walking themed quote Ive always loved being a closet Liverpudlian at heart.

I added highlights to the dots which where already on the page by drawing around them, then decided to add even more dots (going blinking dotty at this point) I also added some hearts and coloured them in with a red pen.

Finally I felt the page was complete:

My Life In Numbers Page

Heres is another page for my personal sketchbook challenge, the idea for this was taken from one of my page prompt ideas where you have to list numbers which have played and important part of your life.

For my page I decided to write down different numeral events from my life and then I drew bubbles around them all. Then to add interest I drew lines and coloured them in to make it look like a mosaic stained glass window with gel pens:

Black & White Background

Im signed up for a Black And White themed ATC swap, for this swap the atc has to use only 2 colours - black and white! So I decided to set myself a personal challenge to see if I could make a background only using those 2 colours.

Heres stage 1 of my background which I admit looks a bit of a mess at the moment, it was created using a white and a black watercolour crayon. I will update this blog entry when I do something interesting to this background:

Stage 2 of the background is below, still doesnt look like much!

This background is getting more and more grungey like as I go on!! I dont even know if its finished yet!

A Royal Visit

Yesterday the Queen came to visit us and grace us with her presence. We recieved 'The Queen' dvd of the movie starring Helen Mirren. A fantabalous movie I have to say and Helen really pulls off the very essence of her majesty! Its amazing! Not only did she look like her, she became her too! I love Helen Mirren as an actress as she never dissapoints me, each and every one of her roles are believeable and down to earth. She really gets her teeth into her characters. I read in an interview with Helen that when she was dressed as the Queen for the movie and in character noone could look at her in the eye or make eye contact with her as they were almost afraid of her! Even her own sister couldnt look at her! Theres something about the sight of the Queen that makes British people come over all peculiar apparantly!

A Perfect Cup Of Tea Page

Another page taken from my Teesha stash of journal pages, original page design artist is Rebecca. I loved the simplicity of this page and decided to use the Tea theme as my inspiration. What makes a perfect cup of tea? A very good question as we are all different and we all have different preferences, heres mine!

Whats YOUR perfect cup of tea?

Life Is Too Short Page

Heres another page taken from my Teesha Moore Journal Swap, this one was also created by Maggi too! This page had a party theme, I decided to use that as my jumping ground for my creativity and went down the 'life is too short. lets party' route.

I like this page because Ive used some of my favourite John Lennon lyrics on the page:

After All Is Said And Done,
You Cant Go Pleasing Everyone,
So Screw It.

You cant put it better than that can you?! It is so true, a sentiment I now live by!

Heres the scan of my page:

Imagine Page

I recently took part in a Teesha Moore Style Journal Page Swap on our Swap Group, we each had to create blank decorated journal pages in the style of Teesha Moore. In return we recieved gorgeous artwork created by all the participants of the swap. We are supposed to now bind these pages and make them into a sketchbook which we can use.

I decided to start decorating my journal pages first prior to binding them so that I could work on them in stages and also to allow me to work freely without the bindings or other pages getting in the way.

Here is one of the first pages I decorated, which was created by Maggi, I decided for this project Im undertaking Im going to use the main journal theme for my inspiration when I do my journalling.

Here is my 'Imagine' Page:

2 Good Movies

Ive just watched 2 good movies on dvd and really recommend them.

One is Notes On A Scandal starring Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett - a fantastic drama centred around an older school teacher and a new teacher. Its brilliantly acted and twisted at the same time full of lots of twists and turns. I loved this and it was great to see a movie by 2 strong actresses who didnt need any super action special effects to make a good movie - just raw acting skills and a superb script!

The other film I watched is Little Children, starring Kate Winslet in the main role, centred around a group of adults who meet with their kids in the playgrounds. Its a fantastic hard hitting adult drama which focuses on realism and good solid acting. Its great to see Kate in another good role again which calls for her to do some serious acting! First class!

If you have the opportunity to see either movie I really recommend them!

Website & Blog Is Down

My site and blog are currently offline, apparantly the hosting service I use has been hit by a financial fraud scam by one of their users and because of this the web hosting service has temporarily been shut down while the police look into it. As a consequence myself along with all their other customers have had their sites suspended and are currently without a site :(

Hopefully the site will be back soon - Im keeping everything crossed that it will be as I dont have a lot of it backed up! Anways in the meantime Im using this blog to make entries on as a back up.

If worse comes to worse and my site doesnt come back I will have to find a new host :(

Family Traits Page

For this page we are supposed to come up with a family tree of sorts of our relatives whom we are most alike and have inherited traits from.

After much thought I decided that I didnt really take after anyone in my family apart from my father. I found a photo of him taken when I was a toddler and decided to put that on the page along with a more recent photo of myself to show that we do look similar. We are alike in many ways and this is a cause of much annoyance on my part sometimes. The same features, expressions, same greying hair, same mood swings and stupid sense of humour too.

Happiest Moment Page

For this page we had to pick one of our happiest moments and do a page about it. A strange thing happened to me when I did this page, instead of doodling and decorating the page first I just put pen to paper and started writing whatever flowed into my mind. While I was writing it I realised that I loved writing and am starting to develop a thirst for it!

The Year I Was Born Page

I was born in 1968, for this page I had to think up of one event or moment that happened during the year of 1968. At first I was going to do something about flower power and the summer of love, then I thought maybe do something about the birth of Apple Records or possibly the making of the movies The Graduate or Space Oddessy 2001. But none of those felt right so I didnt know what to choose.

I went to google and googled for 1968 and after a lengthy search I discovered that it was also the year that Helen Keller died. I dont think this is really a morose or morbid topic to choose because Helen Keller has always been a huge source of inspiration to me. I remember when I first learnt about her at school and I was fascinated, being a young deaf child myself I saw a lot of similaries in her struggle and it was through Helens life story that I was able to overcome some of my own demons regarding being deaf.

So I think this page dedication is a very apt and special one for me, here it is:

If I Was Queen Page

For this page you had to write down some rules which you would pass if you happened to be Queen - its supposed to be a lighthearted page but some of my rules arent that lighthearted! But nevertheless I still enjoyed creating this page!

My Childhood Friend Page

I havent yet added this prompt to my prompts list but I will do! I wanted to do a page dedicated to my childhood friend. In my case my childhood friend was my pony called Smokey, Smokey has long since gone to the big field in the sky but I will always remember him. Ive always preferred the company of animals over people. Heres my page dedicated to the silly bugger of a horse with a daft sense of humour as you can see from his photo in the page below:

Background Swap

Ive just made some backgrounds for a background swap on our swap group. We could use any background technique we wanted and had to create 12 sheets of the same background. I ummed and ahhhed over this and in the end decided to go for the Heated Pearls Backgrounds simply because I havent done them for so long! It was nice to revisit one of my old background techniques after all this time!

Close Up:

My Dog Harry Page

Heres another page, I started this yesterday and have just finished it off now. This page is dedicated to my gorgeous JRT.

Auntie Maud Page

Ive been taking a notebook to bed with me so I can write notes and ideas down for my journal. Last night I wrote a short story about my childhood about a family member called Auntie Maud. I decided to use this story in my sketchbook today, I havent decorated the page for this as I didnt want anything to distract away from the story about my Auntie Maud. Heres the page I just did:

For those of you who are wondering who my Auntie Maud was, she was infact my grandad! He used to get dressed up in my Nans clothes and wig and pretend to be Auntie Maud!

When I Grow Up Page

Finished this page last night, Ive always wanted to be an artist ever since I was small. My dream was to leave school and go to Art College, but I never got to do that because my father insisted that there was no future in doing art and that I should learn something proper instead

At least now in my adult life I can realise my dreams and spend my days trying to be artistic, better late than never!

I decided to make this page look like it was written on a school book with lines drawn across to help you draw the letters - I was always getting told off for my messy writing at school and constantly told to practise on lined paper like this! The pictures I used are one of myself when I was little sitting on a tiger ride and alongside a picture of Frida Kahlo a true inspirational artist which is what Ive always aspired to be.

10 Things I Love Page

Heres the second page I have done for my personal art journal. I originally set the prompt for 8 things I love, but I since changed it to 10 things I love!! For this page I drew on the doodles and the numbers and lettering using a black fineliner pen. Then using a maroon gel ink pen I filled in all the blanks. Highlights where added using gold gel pen. The orange background was done with watercolours.
Heres my scan:

Whats My Name Page

Heres my very first page in my artists sketchbook which I finished last night. The idea round this page is to spell out your name on the page and use each letter of your name to spell out a word you think best describes you! I found this a real challenge because I couldnt think of any positive words to describe myself!!

Heres my page what I did, the background was created with watercolours and apart from the cut out letters on the page spelling out my name and words I chose to describe me; the rest is done by doodling with black and white pens.

Book Of Me Sketchbook Prompts

Ive decided the theme of my first sketchbook is going to be all about ME - Im listing my notes which Im making on this project on my blog for the benefit of readers who might lke to have a go at making an artist sketchbook too in the same theme.

I decided to pick this theme as it makes my sketchbook personal and also it will introduce me to the world art journals and sketchbooks. Not to mention it will encourage me to play and try new things too!

So the working title for my sketchbook is something along the lines of -The Book Of Me -or- All About Me

Sketchbook Page Prompts:

Here is the list of page prompts I will be using for my sketchbook, Im listing them here and will add to this list as I think of more prompts.

I havent decided what order I am doing the prompts in, any old order I guess! I think the important thing is to have fun and to enjoy the overall process. If anyone decided to do a similar sketchbook why not leave me a message and include the link to your sketchbook so I can come have a look at it!

Whats My Name Page:

For this theme you need to spell out your first name across your pages - make it nice and bold! You can use stamps, letters cut out of magazines or newspapers, computer print outs or stamps for this. For each letter of your name I want you to think of a word that you think best describes YOU! Once youve got your word I want you to either write that word down or use visial images cut out or you can draw or stamp them if you prefer.

Another idea for this page is that you could in smaller text write on the page some accompanying text to explain why you chose those words to describe yourself.

8 Things I love Page:

The title is self explanitory! On your page write or stamp the line ‘8 Things I Love’ then use words or sketches or images to embellish your page with the 8 things you love - no need to be serious if you dont want to! Be daft or tongue in cheek if you prefer the main thing is to have fun with this theme!

When I Grow Up I Want To Be Page:

As before you can be tongue in cheek or deadly serious with this one! Maybe you want to be a cowgirl or an air hostess or even Captain Janeway! The choice is YOURS! Have fun playing and finding suitable images for this one!

The Year I Was Born Page:

You may have to do a little bit of research for this one or you may already know it! But for this prompt you need to put the year you was born on your page somehow, somewhere….and then for the theme of your page take 1 key event or happening which sums up the year you was born in and use that as your theme for decorating you journal page.

Example - I was born in 1968, so I will probably be influenced someway by the old 60’s hippy Flower Power revolution on my page unless I can find something else to do…

My ______ _______ Page:

It looks odd but thats the prompt! What I want you to do for this page is to fill in the 2 blanks with 2 words. The last word has to be a name! The middle word can be anything you choose….Use that sentance as your main theme for decorating your page…

Example - Im going to do ‘My Dog Harry’ - You could maybe do My Brother Boris, or My Friend Claudius or whoever you want to do….so long as the last blank word is a NAME you have full artistic licience to do whatever you want for this page!

Queen For The Day Page:

Heres a chance to fantatise and go wild, what would you do if you was Queen? What laws would you pass if you where allowed to and what type of things would you get up to if you was the monarch who could do anything they wanted to do, what type of ruler would you be? - draw, stick images on, collage, stamp and have fun!

My Life In Numbers Page:

I want you to make a list of numbers which have played a part in your life in stages for want of a better word. In other words you will be compiling a list of sentances all about you, each sentance should have a number in it and that number should be related to you in some way of another….
Example:

• The number 42 is on my front door
• I am 39 years old
• When I was 5 years old I split my head open on a playground swing

And so on - continue in this manner until you’ve completed your page with your number sentances and doodling - Im not giving you a set numbered list as that part is up to YOU!

Family Traits Tree Page:

This is a bit different from the conventional genealogy family trees, instead of making a tree which shows your family, make a family tree which shows the traits you have inherited from your family members. For example you may have your dads nose, your grandfathers eyes and your mothers sense of humour - whatever your traits are put them down on a page as if you were drawing a family tree and list yourself at the top or bottom of the tree and have your relatives coming off from your name along with the traits you have inherited from them. You dont have to list every family member, only the ones you have inherited traits from.

Significant Others Page:

This can be a page either dedicated to your life partner, or a page dedicated to one person who have made a very significant impact on your life.

Favourite Places Page:
A page or even several pages if you prefer dedicated to your favourite places and locations - why are they your favourite places? What special memories do they hold for you?

Surname Definitions Page:

Time to do some more research! This time do a brief history search about your family surname and what it means and decorate the page accordingly.

School Subjects Page:
What was your best subject at school? Who was your favourite teacher? Which subject did you absolutely LOVE (and hate)

Memorable Moments Page:

The strongest memorable moments of your life are? Important events you can remember which made a bit impact on the person you are today.

A Time When I was Happiest Page:

When was the time you remember being at your utmost happiest? What were do doing? Why was you so happy?

Childhood Friends Page:

Quite self explanitory! For this prompt make a page dedicated to your best friend you had when you was small - can be a person or an animal!

More prompts soon…

The Book Of Me Sketchbook Challenge

Ive been wanting to start an artists sketchbook or journal for some time now and have been putting it off. Come August 1st I decided I wasnt going to put it off anymore and that I was going to actually START doing my sketchbook instead of just thinking about it!

So here goes....

Seeing as Im setting myself a personal challenge Ive decided to drag members of my Art Ventures Group into having a go too!! Maybe blog readers might like to join in too?

Just incase I'll share my notes which Ive made about this challenge incase any blog readers or anyone for that matter fancies it too…if you decide to play along why not leave me a comment and post the url to your sketchbook pages!?

Getting A Blank Sketchbook:

First of all you need a good sturdy blank artist sketchbook any size you wish - but dont overwhelm yourself by getting a HUMUNGUS one! Less is more - the smaller the book the less space there is to fill!

Consider a ring bound sketchbook because it opens flat and enables you to work easier across 2 page spreads.

Regarding paper quality in your book, bear in mind your going to be doing a lot of gluing and painting so make sure the paper is good quality in it. If you want to do double sided pages (ie paint on the backs) your going to need VERY sturdy pages! You may prefer to make your own journal using good quality watercolour paper and bind it using one of the various binding methods out there…

If your paper isnt very thick in your book you could still use it, just dont use any heavy paints like acrylic and make sure you only add paints to one side of the paper.

If your paper is thin, dont worry as you can always glue 2 sheets together to make it sturdier!

Hints & Tips For Adding Background Colour To Pages:

Once you've got your book you need to get some colour on those pages!

I like to colour my pages in batches of 5-6 at a time using watercolours, the reason I prefer the use of watercolours is because they dont weigh anything once the paper is dry, and also their colours are very rich and they dry to a smooth finish. I prefer to use watercolours in tube formats - squirt a tiny bead of paint direct to your page and then take a paintbrush dipped in water to wash the paint across the page.

You can use watercolour pencils or crayons too, scribble blocks of colour using the pencil/crayon onto the page and use a brush to wet the colour and move and blend it across your page.

You can use any medium you wish however, acrylic paints work well, but bear in mind that some paints may add more weight to your pages - you could always water them down!

If you've got good thick sturdy card in your book then you may want to colour both sides, if its not as thick maybe just add colour to one side of the paper. Or glue 2 sheets together to make it a bit stronger first.

Another reason I like to use watercolours to add colour to paper as it is a great way to add vibrant colour to your pages without adding any actual weight to the paper!

To prevent curling and warping it helps to heat set your pages with a heat gun as soon as you've applied colour.

Also take care not to add too much colour to the spines of your books as it may cause weakening and make it tear.

If your only adding colour to one side of your pages then you may want to take advantage of the blank backside of the paper with notes - you can put the date on that you made the page and any notes about paints and colour mediums you used etc.

Pens Used For Journalling And Doodling:

Im still learning myself at this stage! But I'll list my favourite pens which Ive found best for journalling and doodling onto sketchbook pages.

• Sharpies & Fine Tipped Permanent Markers - these are all great for making nice broad strokes on your page. The best thing about these types of pens is that they will write over different paint mediums so if youve used acrylics these pen types will work well.

• Gel Ink Pens - A personal favourite of mine! I love how they write in a fine line which is perfect for mapping out your large creative lettering as well as journalling. My favourite brands to use are Bic Crystal Gel ink pens - particulary the black pens as I get through loads of these! Also check out the Uniball Signo range of pens as they are lovely writers - I love the white one best!! Sakura gel pens are also another good investment! Ive found that its better to pay out for a more expensive gel pen than opt for cheapo ones as they clog up and dont write for very long!