Cath Sheard Art

Tag: Dina Wakley journal

  • New art journal

    I’ve been waiting (im)patiently for some new art supplies and they arrived this week, but playtime had to wait until the weekend because I’m working from home. I was super excited to get a Dina Wakley Media blue edition journal and I love it! I had one of the original mixed media journals Dina put out and enjoyed it, so was interested to see her using denim. I also got some of her collage tissue, a few paint colours and some of her new gloss acrylic sprays.

    The thing about new supplies is there is always a learning curve. Not all acrylic paints work the same way, tissue papers are different weights and so on. With a mixed media journal you need to learn what the various substrates do. Often there’s some completed pages you love early on, and a few you’re pretty ho hum about.

    The only way to get really comfortable with new supplies is to play, play some more, and then play even more. Test, retest, and start to understand how they work. Today I’ve done 3 pages in the new journal. Two I’m super happy with  and one is in the ‘ho hum basket’ but that’s ok. As I say to people when I teach a class, in the end it’s only paint and paper…

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  • Calling the angels

    There’s a story behind tonight’s page, but it’s not my story to tell. Just know I believe those that have gone before watch over us, ‘angels’ if you will. This weekend I am calling on my angel mother to watch over my family.

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  • Don’t assume

    This is one of my “pouring out the feelings” pages, done in my Dina Wakley mixed media journal. I can get very frustrated when people make assumptions about me, my life, my abilities etc. Don’t assume…

    I used a Tim Holtz diecut, Ranger Distress Collage medium, DecoArt paints, Distress Oxides, Tim Holtz stencils and various pens.

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  • Hiding the details

    When I journal, it really is the good, the bad, and the ugly. Currently I’m using a Dina Wakley mixed media journal, which I love, to “download my head”. If you’ve been foll wing me a while, you know I’ve had weight loss surgery and as part of that journey have faced up to my food addiction, abusive first marriage, miscarriages etc.

    All my feelings get poured out into my journals, and I share all my pages, but some of that I don’t want others reading – and don’t even want to re-read myself because the psychologist think that creates a ‘loop’ in your head.

    How do I write down the hard stuff, then share it safely?  There’s a number of things I do:

    • Cover the writing with a light coat of gesso or Tim Holtz Distress Paint
    • Put it in a sealed pocket or enveloped attached to the page
    • Cover it with printed tissue paper, such as the Tim Holtz range
    • Use scribble writing – this is my go-to

    I did the background with Tim Holtz Distress paints and StencilGirl stencils, and the tag with Andy Skinner stamps using Stampin’ Up ink and a red Tombow, then wrapped some red cotton round it. I used a thick black Pilot pen for the journaling and added some messy burgundy and red cotton under the tag with Tombow glue to ground it a bit.

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    This page talks about some hard stuff we’re facing at the moment, and how I feel about it. It’s personal and involves other people – it’s not just my story – so I needed to think about their privacy too.

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  • Inner thoughts

    When I’m getting ‘stuff’ out of my head I often use this Dina Wakley journal – it has 4 different types of media in it and I really like it. The writing on this is about my weight loss, the ongoing struggle to be in the right head space, and the reasons I eat as an addict.

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