Weekend Journal

Well, the first week of 2012 is already behind us!  I hope you can put this first week into the "good" column when you reflect back on the past six day's events.  This week went by in a flurry for me, trying to get re-organized from the holidays, packing up decorations, and planning new projects.  It was also a week of catching up with friends.

What is a friend?  I like this definition from The Free Dictionary: "One who supports, sympathizes with, or patronizes a group, cause, or movement", when I think of all the new friends I have made online through social networking.  These alliances become as powerful and important as the friends whom we gather with in the flesh, and this past week has been filled with connectivity from you - my online friends.

Luna Raven

I've been friends with Luna since we first met on Twitter - rapidly approaching the two year mark, I think.  This darling of a diva has her creative hands centered in the kitchen making delicious goodies and sharing her culinary experiences.  Her blog, Luna's Kitchen Magic, is filled with lots of great culinary information and recipes.  She asked me if I had an image that she could use in an article about Ujamaa to be featured on Kwanzaa Culinarians.  I was more than happy to oblige.  Her article is insightful, informative and well written.

Alease Michelle McClenningham

Alease Michelle and I met about a year ago on Facebook.  She is a gifted mixed media artist, blogger and and art professor.  Her site, School of Creative Business, contains a plethora of useful information for the creative person striving to start and run their own creative business.  I was quite honored when Alease Michelle asked me to do an interview for her, and I'm happy to announce that I am her Featured Interview
for January.

Phoenix Peacock

Phoenix Peacock has been a regular reader, supporter and enthusiast of Angelia's Art Journals from the very beginning.  I had the pleasure of participating in her Community Art Project last year, and if you didn't have a chance to see it then, take a look now!  I was delighted beyond words when Phoenix surprised me with her "Happy Friday" post, featuring journal pages that she completed using my January Prompts. They're wonderful! Have a look, and check out the rest of her beautiful, inspiring blog.

Milliande

I joined the Milliande Ning group a year ago.  Milliande is a wonderful artist, and her ning site is loaded with creatives from all across the globe.  I enjoyed using her January prompts last year, and I'm following her January prompts again this year.  The theme is "Seeds", and I've found the prompts to be thought provoking and inspirational.  To see more of Milliande on the Internet, check out her YouTube Channel.  Here are my pages for the first three prompts.

Day 1:  What would you look like if you were a seed?

Day 2:  What would your seed vessel look like?

Day 3:  What "s" words come to mind when you think about the word  "seed"?

I hope you've enjoyed today's creative journey, and I hope you've begun your own creative journey as we step into a new year.  I hope you visit the sites of my creative friends, and I hope you find them to be as inspiring as I have.

2011 Calendars

Don't forget to put those old calenders to creative use!  We receive a community calendar in the mail each year and that's what I hang on the side of the fridge to write in appointments, etc.  The calendar is filled with art images from local high school students, and they're great to use as inspiration in a journal spread.  Speaking of calendars, I have to say I LOVE THEM!  I always like to go out in February when the new calendars are marked down by at least half, and often times75%, and grab a couple that inspire me.  My favorites are 365 desk calendars that have a picture every day.  Have some fun with them!

CELEBRATE - LOVE - CREATE

Potato Prints

I've had a lot of fun in my journal this week!  I've done some art exploring via Milliande's Journal January prompts, and art journaling books from my personal library. 

One of Milliande's prompts was to create a journal page using stamps:  hand carved stamps from rubber, linoleum, erasers or potatoes.  I decided to make some stamps using a potato and I had so much fun!  I made three different stamps using one potato and a small paring knife.

I had so much fun with them, that I decorated some copy paper that I had stuck in the back of my journal.  I'll use them as collage items later on in another journal spread.

Here are my finished journal pages.  For the background, I used my zebra inspired stamps to resemble African mud cloth, and I put a border around the page using my triangle stamp.

I applied a light wash of gold craft acrylic to the background, and I blended black and gold craft acrylic to paint in the mask.  The mask still "reads" as black, but by lightening the black with gold, I was able to add black accents to the finished mask.

I added details with red, black, ochre yellow and white Prismacolor colored pencils.  This was a great project to do on a cold, dreary afternoon.  It wouldn't surprise me if you see more potato prints in the future.  The potato was easily carved using a paring knife, but if you have linoleum cutting tools (which I was too lazy to dig out!) or other sculpting tools, those would be helpful too.  Whatever your material of choice, I hope you'll try carving your own stamps.  Remember:  "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"

Leaving My Comfort Zone

Every now and then I go on the hunt for new ideas and new techniques.  I've found plenty of both at Milliande.ning.com.  I decided to continue the Journal January prompts this past weekend, and boy, did I ever step out of my comfort zone!

I had already used her Day 4 prompt when I created this page.  It wasn't really out of my comfort zone, but it did set me on the zebra stripe thought process.

I went back to Day 1, which required using a zebra as part of the image.  Hmmmm....me? Draw a zebra?  (downloading her zebra printout just wasn't an option for my artist)  So, after sketching out 3 animals that looked like everything from pigs to new species, I finally came up with a zebra that I liked.  I kept the original and scanned and cut out the zebra from those.  The original has some "goof" lines, so I'll have to always cut it out to use in my artwork.

I wanted to use more than one zebra for my page, so I used 3.  I have a thing about using even numbers of images in my work, so I always use an odd number of like images.  I used Prismacolor pencils to add color.  (You KNOW I couldn't leave it black and white!)

Having completed Day 1 (and Day 4), I moved on to the prompt for Day 2 which required a "zendoodle".  A what?  A zendoodle.  I had noticed zendoodle displays in my craft store, but I hadn't really paid much attention to them.  Doodling little areas in black and white - NOT my thing.  But what the heck, I decided to give it a try and it was really a lot of fun.  I began with the head of a zebra and began drawing in areas to doodle from there. 

I like the resulting image, but honestly, it's a fussy method that I probably won't be prone to revisiting.  (I still have a tedious, colored pencil drawing class to get through!)  When I finished this zebra mandala, I scanned and copied the image in a couple different sizes.  I cut the zebra head from a couple of the mandalas and used some of the pieces in my page design.  And of course, I had to add some color.  I just couldn't leave the black and white design as it was - it was screaming for some red at the very least!

I like the way this page turned out, and I will probably continue using some of her journal prompts.  It's not that I don't have enough journaling ideas of my own - I have more than I have time to create.  What I like about using others' journal prompts is that it gets me to see things in different ways and it prompts me to try new things.

If you're interested in checking out the journaling prompts, there's a blog button for Journal January on my sidebar, and a link to Milliande's ning site at the top of this post.  I have also included a blog button for "Inspired By?", the new Milliande prompt for February.  February's Inspired By? is Miro - right up my alley! I can't wait to explore him.  "Messin' with the Masters" is something you know I like to do!  Whatever medium or prompts you enjoy using, remember: "Celebrate, LOVE and Create!"