Friday 31 July 2015

Rare indeed

It's a rare blue moon tonight, an auspicious occasion. The image below is from my journal, worked on this morning. What will the blue moon bring for you ?


The golden rays of the moon light up the people adrift in the boat. A symbolic crane, protector from evil, stands on the words, 'expect someone to answer, open the door right away'.  Once in a blue moon !



The article below was taken from elephantjournal.com


On Friday, July 31st we will have a Full Blue Moon in the sign of Aquarius.

A blue moon is the term for the second full moon in the same month. The first full moon of the month was in Capricorn on July 1st, and now we are saying good-bye to this month of change with a special blue moon.
These full moons have been the bookends to the important lessons learned over the past month.
One of the most special aspects of this moon is that we won’t have another blue moon month until 2018. For many of us, we will be receiving our last bits of a long awaited wake-up call that actually began back in 2012, far before most of us were aware of the changes that were developing.
The energies of this moon are only being magnified by Venus turning retrograde on the 25th, which is just one of seven planets slowing and turning retrograde the week prior to this lunar event.
This cosmic event is unprecedented—it’s truly a month of transitions.
The skies have collided to physically slow all of us down. It seems that it is so easy for most of us to get caught up in our daily lives that we often feel we can push aside issues or decisions because it seems like there will always be more time—more chances.
This moon we are being asked to stop, look around and to see the bigger picture.
We are being asked to notice where in our lives we have been neglecting the truth, or what situations we have been putting off. It’s not easy to deal with life head on—but this moon isn’t only encouraging it, it is making it a requirement.
There is so much happening around this moon in terms of once-in-a-lifetime type chances. It’s as if we are all on the edge of something so big and we have to make the decision to take the path we’ve always taken—or to jump into the territory of new possibilities.
Because of Venus, the planet of love, going retrograde a week prior to this moon, there will be a heavy connection to romantic relationships. This isn’t about just any sort of love though—it’s about the kind of love that comes around only once in a blue moon.
The full moon will be shining a decadent light of truth deep within our hearts.
This will give us the opportunity to get  a good grasp on what is in our heart of hearts—if we don’t have our soulmate or twin flame as our lover, then there is a good chance we are aware of who they are, or may start to recognize them around this time.
Sometimes the most wonderful aspects of our lives can be the most terrifying—and that is okay, no one ever said greatness and easiness were one and the same. The thing we all have to remember, though, is that if it doesn’t scare us even a little bit, then it lacks the ability to be that once in a lifetime opportunity to change our lives for the better.
Nothing amazing ever comes from us staying in our comfort zones.
This is about opening our eyes to what is right in front of us—and knowing that some chances don’t come around every day.
Sometimes situations come down to now or never—this blue moon is showing us exactly what we are afraid of losing the most, and it’s challenging us to make the big moves necessary now.
While it is true that those people that are meant for us, that they won’t ever leave us—sometimes humans make the wrong decisions. We make choices based on fear, or try to do what we think is right instead of listening to our hearts.
It seems that so many of us the past few years have been making as many wrong decisions as possible, and while it has seemed difficult, and even painful at times—know that it was necessary, and all part of the divine plan.
Sometimes we really do need to experience everything that is wrong to know what is right.
As amazing as this moon will be, and necessary—it’s going to be one that challenges us on every single level. In the build up to this lunar event we may have been feeling restless, or have had an excess of nervous energy. Our pulses may have been racing, and it may have been harder for us to relax or fall asleep at night.
Our souls can sense that we are on the verge of something big—but it’s up to us to initiate change.
We are on the threshold of having massive pieces of the puzzle collide. There may be big changes or upsets in the status quo during the next several weeks. We may find ourselves acting in ways that only a few weeks ago we never thought possible, but Aquarius is lighting a fire inside of our hearts and daring us to break the boundaries that have held us back for far too long.
We can only deny ourselves of what we want the most for so long.
While we may feel anxious at all of the possible changes being presented to ourselves—know that the universe won’t bring us anything we aren’t ready for.
The truth of it is there is no such thing as the perfect time—so now is as good a time as any.
Everything that we have been going through the past year has been leading up to this moon. It’s the time of infinite possibilities, of desires bubbling over and manifesting themselves in our lives in ways we never thought possible.
No matter what has come in or out of our lives in the past few years, once in a while we are given the chance to have everything we’ve always wanted—we just have to make the choice now to not let it go.
Because certain chances only come around once in a blue moon.

Wednesday 29 July 2015

Dar ir-Rummien

A short film set in the Mill Room where the artist's co op had a gallery last year. If you click on th link and go to the  FaceBook Page you will see the photos of the shoot. If you look closely enough you may just spot some of my artwork used in the stage set !

Friday 24 July 2015

Re purposed books

To make an art journal, find yourself a book from a charity shop. Hard backs are best and if they have an interesting cover all the better. You should be able to pick up a no longer loved novel for 50c.



First job is to reduce the number of pages so that when you start to work in your journal it has space to expand. Take a steel rule and scalpel and take out evey other page. Don't tear the pages out as the stitching will come undone and the whole book will fall apart.
Keep the removed pages to use another day. They can be used in mixed media works or back in the journal.


Unless you specifically want the written word, typed pages, paint with white or black paint as a neutral surface to work on. Any old paint will do for this job,... household emulsion or cheap poster paints. Gesso makes a lovely velvety surface to work on but is comparitively expensive.



Don;t forget to paint the hard back cover as well so that you can decorate as you wish.


So this book is going to be based on some intuitive collage. A notebook or diary as I go through the Summer. We plan to do some workshops in the Autumn , so this will be a great reminder for me,


I randomly tore pages from old magazines. Not thinking too much about what I was doing but chosing images that appealed. Lay them all out in front of you and start with one image for the background. build on this with the images that catch the eye. When you have finshed, take time to ponder the collage, what is it saying to you ?

The symbolism: Mountain (Xwejni in Gozo) with a figure on top, unreachable perhaps. A figure has been placed on a pedastal, possibly by them selves ? Perhaps the characture is not what they seem, snake skin for clothing, a peacocks head dress, a mask for a face. Three monkeys climbing, hear , speack, see no evil. There are guides to help travellers accross the water aided by some ancient words. You have to be able to see them before they can help.