Weekend Journal

It's been a busy couple weeks!  After just one week of vacation from the usual daily grind, Keith and I both found ourselves struggling to get back into the "groove" of things.  It felt as if we'd taken off more like a month!  I think we're finally back on track.

I spent a little more time playing with my new watercolors.  I gessoed the page and then poured and splattered blue and green watercolors wet-into-wet, wet-into-dry, and everything in between.  What I could see was this tree and landscape, so I enhanced what was there.  I added violet and yellow to liven things up a bit.

I had torn the top Blue Jay image out of a magazine, and it kept falling out of my journal.  What was I to do except create a page around it?  One of my students saw I was working with it, and as it turned out, she had the mate to it and happily gave it to me.  This is a mixture of acrylic washes, Mod Podged magazine images and text that I assembled in the "intuitive playing" method.

This is another intuitive playing spread, created in much the same fashion as the spread above.  I'm surprised to see myself using so much green and yellow.  I guess I needed the change.

This spread was also created in an intuitive fashion, only this time, I didn't use any magazine images.  I started this page with a dip pen and black India ink.  I drew a random pattern of squares and it evolved into this.  It's mostly craft acrylic.

Here's the latest addition to my journal, a WIP begun in my journaling class last night.  The lesson was using your hand as a self portrait.  I may have to detail that in a Tuesday Tips and Techniques in the near future.

WOMEN'S  CENTER


I can't believe it's that time of year again - my art workshop with the women of the SMART (Single Mothers Achieving Real Triumph) program!  We had our workshop last Friday, and I met a terrific group of women in the final days of the quarter.  I'll write more about this after next week's graduating ceremonies.

NEW VIDEO


I've been on a roll with the videos lately.  Thanks to my "tech guy's" help, I've been able to get Windows Movie Maker to cooperate with me!  The real test will come when I try to record and publish actual video footage as opposed to stills.  Here's my newest video, "Inside Out".  Please enjoy and check out my other videos if you haven't seen them yet.  You can watch them on YouTube by clicking on their icon in the lower right of the video screen.

Everyone  have a wonderfully restful and creative weekend.  Pamper yourself, ok?  I took my own adivce.  I used this wonderful coffee cup that Nadia brought me all the way back from the Kiltrea Bridge Pottery Company in Ireland.  The photo doesn't do justice to the beautiful glaze on this mug.  She also brought us into the current century with this awesome electric teapot, and dark chocolate from See's in California.  YUUUUUUMMMMMM!

 I had been savoring one piece of chocolate a day, but yep, I ate all three of these with my favorite cup of Chai.  Now I have to go walk!  I'll see you back here on Monday with some more of my musings.

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

A Full Plate - A Busy Mind

A BUSY WEEK!
Life seems to have EXPLODED for me this week!  It happens every year and yet I'm somehow unprepared for the occasion.  After six, yes, SIX long months of dealing with cold, snow, and rain, finally the weather breaks and everyone comes out of their winter cocoon to celebrate the new season.

A NEW CREATIVE JOURNALING CLASS!
I have been trying for over a year to find a location to teach creative art journaling.  I have longed for, hoped for and worked towards this goal, and at long last it has come to fruition.  My first public creative journaling class begins on June 2nd.  I am so excited!  My classes will be held at Painesville Senior Center, and registration begins this week.  I am busy planning lessons, making fliers and gathering students.  Did I say "freaking out?"  Currently, that's under control for the moment, but why do we do that freaking out thing when what we've been longing for finally comes our way?

APPOINTMENTS AND IMPROMPTU VISITS
In the midst of all the wonderful art related activities, there were appointments and visiting.  I had an eye appointment, a meeting with the Senior Center Director, and impromptu visits (long overdue) from my awesome sister, my girlfriend who is here for a visit from PA, and my lovely niece who came as a "flower fairy" sharing plants with me for my flower garden.  She brought me purple/white irises, a hollyhock, (I'm REALLY excited about that!), and a mystery plant that gets "big, round, individual white (?) flowers.  She doesn't have a clue what they are.  I don't have a clue what they are.  For now, I've planted them in a large planter and will eagerly anticipate their blooming and identity.

The "Mystery Plant"

GARDENING

Finally, I have the first soil of the season under my fingernails!  My son and I got our vegetable seeds ordered this week and they're on the way.  My brother ordered a rear end (?) for his hobby car, and it came in a wonderful crate that will be perfect for a vegetable garden on my deck!  I've been imagining such a planter for the past month, so imagine my delight when it unexpectedly showed up when my brother and son, Mike, came by for tools to open it!

I'll be planting Roma tomatoes, Blue Lake green beans, and red bell peppers in this planter.  I'll be planting salad greens, cucumbers, and carrots in my small, partly shaded garden space behind the garage.  I did some research online (how much do we LOVE google?), and found out how to make a small compost bin.  I did that this afternoon and I can't wait to see how it turns out.  I've been saving my coffee grounds and egg shells all week in anticipation of this project.  It was very easy.  With my hubby's help, we drilled holes in a storage bin I had in the studio.  I put in a layers of shredded newspaper, some salad greens that were too wilted to eat, coffee grounds, egg shells, left over plant material and leaves from last years garden, and garden soil to the bin.  

THE WOMEN'S CENTER

Once again, I had the honor of conducting the creative workshop for the Women's Center year end celebration.  There was a great turn out this year - about 30 women who have successfully made it through another year of studies at Lakeland Community College.  Awards were handed out and there was food galore.  We had a wonderful time sharing with each other. These women truly inspire me in the courage they show to overcome their adversities, struggle through difficult times, and achieve the goals that they've set for themselves.  This year, they published a book of their personal essays.  I am so honored that they used the painting  that I created for the Women's Center as their cover.  Their graphic artist, Carol, did a fantastic job creating both front and back covers.  I can't wait to read this most cherished of my books.

ART SUPPLIES

I received my new Dick Blick order this week, and I've barely had time to open it and peak at all the yummy supplies inside.  I bought acrylic inks, black India ink, Prismacolor Art Stix (for a colored pencil workshop next Saturday with John Smolko), a quill pen and nibs, and my first moleskin journal.  I can't wait to get into the moleskin!  Just the size and landscape format scream "doodle" at me.  I can't wait to see how this changes my journaling technique.

THANK YOU!

I want to thank each and every one of you again, for all of your support and the comments that you leave on the blog.  I read each one of them and try my best to respond.  I haven't been so great at that lately, but I hope you can see why.  So here is a collective THANK YOU!, until I can respond to you individually.  I want to especially thank you for the well wishes on our 34th wedding anniversary.  Thanks for sharing our  special day!

I want to wish all of you mothers a "Happy Mother's Day", and to those who no longer have their mother to enjoy, I wish you only the best of memories as you reflect back on the time you shared.  I'll be enjoying the day with my sons and adopted daughter tomorrow, so I'll see you back here on Monday or Tuesday.  Meanwhile, "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!", dear friends.

Journaling Through the Women's Center

Late last fall, The Women's Center at Lakeland Community College commissioned me to create two pieces of artwork for them.  One piece was to be a "mascot" that they could easily transport with them to recruiting and program events.  The other piece was to be a permanent, interactive "bulletin board" that would allow for end-of-year reflection from the women of the various Women's Center Programs: SMART (Single Mothers Achieving Real Triumph), WILL (Women Inspired by Lifelong Learning), and WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) and WOW (Women on Wednesdays). It was both an honor and pleasure to complete these art pieces for the Women's Center.

"Women helping women" is both the motto and practice of the Women's Center, and anyone who has had the pleasure of working with these women will tell you that the center has a special place in their heart.  Conducting journaling workshops with these inspiring women is one of the most rewarding activities in my life.

The vision for this artwork began with a quote given to me by the center's directors: "And then the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
~Anais Nin .  I magnetized the bottom third of this 48" x 36" canvas with magnetic paint and created the painting using acrylics. 

I am thrilled to have been able to contribute to this end-of-year project, but the real story lies in the reflection and creativity of the amazing women who have completed goals and experienced success in completing their first year of college - many of them returning to school after 20 or more years!  I applaud your courage and tenacity in finding your voice, overcoming fears and ignoring those who would say "no".  It was a great pleasure to work with you all and to share in your triumph if only for a few hours.

The Journaling Project: Journaled Magnets

To save time, I designed two different floral templates and traced them onto paper.  I applied 80lb copy paper to  5" x 8" magnetic sheets and traced the floral patterns onto them.  I was able to get 3 magnets per sheet. I cut the magnets apart for distributing, but the class cut out there own shapes.  I've found it better to leave as much room as possible around the finished shape to allow for more accurate trimming later.  The class was asked to reflect back over this past year and to think about how they have blossomed from the tight bud.  They used magazines, markers, glue sticks and crayons to transform their blooms.

By the way, did I mention there was LOTS of yummy food? I seem to recall someone mentioning that maybe gluttony should be considered as one of the things we share. We're not only creatives, we're comedians!

The finished project!  Every magnet was an amazing, inspirational work of art. Thank you for sharing, ladies.

It was an amazing morning and I am so honored to have been a participant.  As is always the case with these journaling workshops, I took away with me far more than I left behind.  Thank you all so very, very much.