Monday 23 March 2015

Things with Wings - Weed Wide Enough to Wrap a Fairy in.

Hello and a warm welcome to Magpieheaven, Followers and Friends. I have never entered a journal challenge before, but over the weekend I started a journal page that was something of a new departure for me and that just took over! Every available minute I returned to it to add a detail or some colour. I have done a journal page here and there before, but never anything that really was as therapeutic or - dare I say - as addictive as this! Because it is about 'things with wings' I should like to enter it in the Art Journal Journey, Things with Wings challenge here.



I hope it is acceptable as an entry because really it is just a huge doodle! When I was a teenager I would fill books with these doodles and they gave me such a sense of release. Last week had been tough so I started to doodle in my journal and I got so much pleasure from exploring this enchanted land of my own making! It's just black Pitt Pen and Inktense pencils with some stamped Red Lead labels clear embossed and tiny paper butterflies punched from card coloured with Distress Inks and misters, and some little hands I had drawn and scanned into my computer for doll making, collaged on.



Two things inspired me: A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare and the art of Richard Dadd, the famous painter of the fairy world. You can see examples here  http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/richard-dadd-130. His life was such a sad one, touched by mental illness, which was so little understood during his lifetime. A talented artist and reputed to be a kind and gentle person. he became mentally ill on a return from a drawing trip to the Middle East and in 1844, murdered his father. He spent a number of years in Broadmoor, painting and drawing. I was intrigued by his work when I first saw it in the 1970s and then when we moved to our present house, we discovered one of our neighbours had written a book on his work.


I don't possess the incredible skill of Dadd who can create the shape-changing world of 'things with wings' so that as we gaze through the undergrowth we start to discover that a whole culture of tiny folk exists under our noses: mischievous, not always benign and camouflaged by nature. 


Shakespeare, of course, creates just such a world in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' where after dark a forest becomes an enchanted place, where Queens can fall in love with donkeys and a tiny red flower squeezed on your eyes can make you fall hopelessly in love. I hope you can see that there are more things with wings than just the butterflies that have settled on the journal page.


But by the time my page was completed and the cardboard butterflies had settled down, I had so lost myself in the world of Fairy that my problems seemed far away. I had spent some time with the winged things on the Fairy Queen's grassy bank where
... sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight.
And there the snake throws her enameled skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in...

Thank you for stopping by Magpieheaven today and looking at my journal page. I hope your week will be one full of creative enchantment.

22 comments:

  1. Like all the rest of your art,your doodling is fantastic too! I hope we see more pages like this one, as it is wonderful! Hope this week finds you at peace but equally able to create!.

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  2. Fantastic doodle journaling, so much to see. Thanks for joining us at Art Journal Journey! Hugs, Valerie

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  3. Julie this is amazing, it's far more than doodling it's a real work of art! xx

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  4. Absolutely fantastic! What an amazing artist you are, Julie Ann!

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  5. Your journalling is amazing, julie Ann!
    Lucy x

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  6. Oh! this is a incredible page Julie ann. It is very fun and I'm staring at the lovely details again and again. I am a fan of your journalling. xxx

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  7. Stunningly beautiful detail to investigate, such depth x

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  8. This is AWESOME! What a fantatsic doodeling!
    Great page and you intoduced me to a to me new artist!
    Thank you for sharing this with Art Journal Journey!
    A warm welcome to the challenge!
    xxx
    Susi

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  9. Wonderful doodles with lots to intrigue everyone

    Thank you for joining us at Art Journal Journey

    Love Chrissie. Guest hostess for March xx

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  10. Amazing doodling and colors, you need to fill a journal with this amazing art.
    Good luck in the challenge Julie ann xx

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  11. So sorry life isn't treating you kindly Julie and I hope this week is an improvement. How wonderful that creating this amazing page took your mind off the problems for a little while. You really are a huge talent as well as a lovely person wrapped in a tiny package!

    Hugs
    Lesley Xx

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  12. Julie Ann- this is absolutely Fantabulous!!!!! So many neat little things to look at at and discover! You my friend are a very artful doodler!! I love this and nice to see you stretching your wings! love and hugs! xoxo

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  13. Oh I say, this is rather stunning. Such a release to just put pen to paper and make marks and loops and swirls. Jo xx

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  14. A gorgeous page, so much to see.

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  15. Wow! Saw this on my phone but seeing it on the computer now - it has just the same impact! This is an amazing piece of art Julie Ann! Hugs, Chrisx

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  16. Wow,ist beautiful and little bit crazy*lol*Love this.

    greetings Jeannette

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  17. Wow, Julie, I really like it! This page contains really an entire world! Of feelings, images, fantasy and literature, too. Gorgeous!

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  18. Well, "you had me at hello" - or at least at "weed wide enough"! What an incredibly brilliant doodle of a page, Julie Ann - the creative imagination let loose to play, and what a Wonderland journey it takes the viewer on. I clicked on the pictures for a proper sized look - and so enjoyed my journey through your Midsummer Night's Doodle.
    Alison xx

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  19. What a fabulous journal page ~ and great first entry! Love it and welcome to the creative madness!

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  20. That is a seriously fabulous journal page Julie Ann, I love it. I hope this will be a better week for you.

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