Classroom Glimpses

June was an exciting month for me as my first Creative Art Journaling class began.  In four short weeks, I've had the pleasure to witness the most amazing women take a leap of faith into the world of creative exploration, and their results have been nothing short of spectacular.  As Kathy's pre-class journal pages illustrate so nicely, "There will be many doors" - one only needs to have the faith to cross the threshold. 

Doors - Kathy Harris Szerdy

Most of these women had never worked in an art journal before.  I even had one student, Nancy, who stayed for  the entire June session despite thinking she had joined a colored pencil class! (A little mis-communication in the center's newsletter. Whoops!) Quiet Nancy, with a twinkle in her eye, never missed a beat and although she insisted that, "I don't know what I'm doing", her pages were thoughtful, creative and beautiful.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera last week, so I don't have any of her images to share with you.  Nancy had to take July off (as did several other of our members), but assured us that she will return in August when I'll be able to share some of her images with you!  (Your presence is missed ladies!)

Synchronicity - Kathy Harris Szerdy

We spent the first two weeks exploring imagery and color emotion, using prompts that would encourage the creative muse to "come out and play".  Kathy's synchronicity pages really hit home with me.  We attended high school together, and we just found each other on Facebook a year or so ago.  That we have come together again in this time and place is no accident.  She is a talented, creative woman who is an English teacher, and drives an hour to get to this class every week.  I'm so grateful to have her back in my life as a joyful and encouraging "blast from the past"!

Here's Patti with her colorful pages illustrating her love and longing for her daughter and grandchildren that she doesn't get to see often enough.

Joy - Patti Belt

Patti created this spread using our "Photo to Fantastic" prompts, and techniques from earlier classes like writing thoughts and feelings down and covering them with paint to make the background more interesting.  Patti is my angel.  She quietly whispers words of great healing and encouragement to me, as well as wonderful advice from her own spiritual journey.

Emotions - Patti Belt

It's taken such a short time for all of us to feel like family and to share our deepest thoughts and feelings with each other.  We've shared sorrows and tears, triumphs and applause, silliness and laughter, and everything else in between.

Flower child - Kathy Szerdy Harris

Yesterday's Lesson - Painting Without Brushes! - Tina Bishop

Yesterday, Kathy said, "You tell us something terrifying every week!"  She was referring to "self portraits" (with hands) and "painting without brushes" (we used credit/store cards and fingers).  She made me laugh and it made me happy because I know I'm doing my job - getting that creative muse to come out and play!

The color black - Tina Bishop

One of the most difficult challenges for all of us was using our hands as self portraits, but I think it was one of the most rewarding of the prompts we've explored.

"Human Being & Human Doing" - Kathy Harris Szerdy

Kathy's exploration of her hands was poignant and thoughtful.  The left side explores the negative aspects of time, the binding chain loosely fitting around the fingers and hand because we can make a choice to free ourselves from the bond.  She has also drawn her hand as fading- as with time.

Past, Present & Future - Tina Bishop

Tina (whom I have adopted as my own mom), is wonderfully spirited and has become a great mentor to me.  Her hands probably amazed me the most.  It took her over a week to be able to begin her exploration.  She persevered through her "block" to be able to complete this exercise, and triumphantly explored a painful past, delighted in her present with gratitude, and looked enthusiastically into her future.  She even included a "bucket list" hand!

Past, Present, Future - Tina Bishop

When I look at Tina's pages, I see not only her own personal journey, but I also see the  deep kinship we have  with each other as we explore ourselves through creative art journaling.  I see how each of us as unique individuals, bring something special to share with each other.  I see growth, fellowship, understanding, acknowledgement, fear, joy, support, and all of the other wonderful things that happen in our group of amazing women.  I am constantly reminded that "the greatest illusion is that we are separate."

These wonderful women, my amazing sisters, have told me how much they are enjoying our class.  I can only hope that I'm offering them as much as I receive from being in their presence.  It's truly a blessing to be in their company as we "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Nick's perfectly built cheeseburger from our July 3rd cookout, featuring pepperjack cheese,  my homemade mayonnaise (boy was that ever time consuming, but yummy), sis-in-law, Berta's homemade pickles, and the first harvest of lettuce from the garden. YAY!

Tuesday Tips and Techniques: Give Yourself a Hand!

The general reaction I get when I speak the words "self portrait" to budding creatives is one of panic.  There are many ways to create a self portrait, and one of my favorite ways is to use the outlines of your hands.  When I use my hands as a self portrait, I like to outline both the left and right hands - one on each facing page.  I like to use this method to explore contrasts and opposites such as, past/present, best qualities/worst qualities, etc.

I recently taught this method to my Creative Art Journaling class, and I completed a few pages myself.  The first "opposites" spread I did was "Physical Me" and "Spiritual Me".  Here's the left page, "Physical Me".  I used colors that portray my color emotions as discovered in my monochromatic color spreads.  As the page developed, I was a little surprised to realize just how much of my physical life has revolved around loosing weight.  The spiral surrounding my hand says it all.

"Spiritual Me" is full of color and energy.  My golden fingertips and area on the palm represent the power of the Creator within me and my quest to come in contact with that power.  I used lots of squiggly lines to get the feeling of movement and electricity and the color purple surrounds my hand as the color that best represents spirituality to me.  I also used adhesive backed, metallic papers to add more energy and to make the page feel more special.

The second set of pages I completed were "Happy Me" and "Sad Me".  "Happy Me" was a blast to complete.  There are so many things that make me happy and joyful.  The colors reflect my happiness, and of course, art is at the center of my being.

"Sad Me" was a difficult page to create.  I thought about feeling sad and what it looks like to me.  I thought about how feeling sad literally feels as if it's draining the life out of me, and that prompted me to place my hand  facing downward.  

I thought about the things that make me sad, like bigotry, prejudice, negativity, egotism and DRAMA.  I contemplated the fact that these are things that are thought based, and it led me to contemplate the things that I sometimes think about that make me sad.

I thought about the things that happened in the past and continue to resurface from time to time. . . 

And I thought about how deeply we try to bury old wounds.  Buried beneath layers, they seem to lay in wait like toxic chemicals.

I think we all have little areas of "toxic thoughts" that try to leak out from their confined areas and wrap us in sadness.  I think the great part of realizing this is that the acknowledgment that they exist give them less power.  That's my theory anyway, and that's how this mini book with fold-out pages came to live in the palm of my hand.


I hope this post inspires you to do a self portrait.  Self assessment is a great tool in personal growth, and using your hands as a catalyst isn't near as frightening a prospect as looking in a mirror!  "Celebrate YOU, love YOU, and Create a wonderful day!"

PHOTO OF THE DAY

July 4th Fireworks, Mentor, Ohio

July Art Journaling Prompts

Well, I totally blew it on posting June Art Journaling Prompts, so let's give it a go for July!  I hope everyone is having a great summer, and I wish all of you a safe and happy 4th of July weekend of perfect weather, great food, and spectacular fireworks.  As always, "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"

Click to enlarge image, and as always, the link to all journaling prompts can be found on the sidebar.  Happy Journaling!

Tuesday Tips & Techniques: Share Your Bounty

Let's face it; as creative entities we succumb to the art of collecting, and as much as we prefer not to admit to it, the collecting can boarder on hoarding.

If I were to live to be 200 years old, I could NEVER use all of the art supplies at my disposal.  My studio and home are overflowing with magazines, decorative papers, paints, stickers, ribbons, buttons, pigments, stamps - you name it!

It's difficult to get rid of materials that you know you'll use "someday".  Each item has been carefully selected and preserved over time waiting for that "special" project.  Sometimes the project manifests, and sometimes it doesn't.  What does manifest is an abundance of materials that might better be put to use in another creative's hands.

I'm in a great position to share items with my Creative Art Journaling students, and I'm looking forward to sharing my goodies with them.  I found these great, adhesive backed, 3D mylar papers the other day.  I only needed a small amount of each paper to complete my journal page.  I could have saved the remainder for another "special" project, but what's more special than sharing a great find with someone else who will appreciate it as much as you do?  I cut the remaining paper into rectangles and I can hardly wait to see my students' smiling faces as they marvel at each color.

Who doesn't love a magazine?  They're a great source of inspiration and art journaling fodder, but really, STACKS of magazines are just a few stacks too many.  Every week I take a stack to the senior center after removing any images that meet my immediate needs.

I've only just begun going through the papers I've collected over the past 10 to 15 years, but I know there will be lots of sharing on that front as well.

Sharing your excessive is a win/win situation.  The pleasure received in surprising someone with a gift is a priceless and monumental feeling.  It's a small thing to put a smile on someone's face, and as an extra bonus you'll gain a sense of renewal when you find yourself surrounded by less clutter.

Remember, you can let your art shine all over the world, but you can also let your generosity but a smile on someone's heart when you share your bounty!  Until next time, "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"

Tuesday Tips and Techniques: Go Monochromatic!

Creating monochromatic pages forces you to not only explore color on a different level, but also encourages more detail to design and texture in your artwork.

Color provokes an emotional response as well as associations to objects and memories.  Everyone has their own unique color story that's as individual as a fingerprint.

As you look through your own completed journal pages, you'll note that you gravitate to the same type of color palette; bright hues, grayed hues, and pastels, earth tones, summer colors, etc.

As you look through your collection of imagery torn from magazines, decorative papers and favorite paints and markers, what adjectives come to mind when you look at them?   What does blue remind you of?  How does blue make you feel?

By finding your associations with a particular color, and by attaching descriptive words to the thoughts and feelings each color represents to you, you begin to understand your color choices on a deeper level.

It's no wonder to me now, that pink isn't a color I use very often.  It reminds me of childhood and frilly ruffles - things that I haven't related to for a very long time.

To me, red is bold, dramatic and larger than life.  It's confident and makes a statement.  I'm not surprised at all that I decided to paint our dining room red and still love it!

Exploring individual colors is a good exercise to do whether you're a seasoned creative or a new beginner in the creative arts.  As we change with new experiences and environments, so do our color stories.  Colors you may have had a strong aversion to in the past may now be pleasant and welcome additions to your current lifestyle and personal growth.

I've only just begun the exploration of color and have just begun my pages.  I recommend that you work on this type of exercise over the summer as you continue to art journal in your usual fashion.  I think you'll find a few surprises along the way, and you might even make friends with a new color or two!

Wherever your creativity is taking you during these warm summer (officially!) months, I hope you're living in "the NOW" as you "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"  I'll be sure to post my pages as I complete them, and I hope you're inspired to give this a try.

Journaling Outside the Book: Planting Flowers

As I sat on my deck this morning drinking my mug-o-coffee and enjoying the flowers, birds, and sounds of the neighborhood coming to life, I thought about planting my last few flowers into pots and contemplated the similarity of planting flowers and art journaling.

I thought about how I approach flower combinations in much the same way I approach paint combinations on my journaling pages.

I thought about adding contrast, color and texture.  I thought about balance and using materials I already have - like digging up some Lamb's Ear from the yard to help fill the space in this pot.

I thought about taking color cues from mother nature.  How fabulous will a yellow, red and magenta art journaling spread be?

I thought about the similarity in rescuing these less than perfect yellow petunias from the clearance bin, and turning a junk mail brochure into a fun journal.  All they needed were some tender, loving care.

As I looked around the deck, I realized they symmetry and balance I had created with color.  I could see pink/magenta paired with red dispersed evenly around the deck with splashes of yellow and deep purple.

I thought about discovering new things, like this phenomenal, black and yellow petunia, and that sometimes a pricey supply is worth it's weight in gold.  I still can't believe I paid $5.00 for this single petunia, but the great joy in watching this spectacular specimen grow is worth every penny.  I've never seen a petunia like this!

I noted that over the years, I have carefully planted my perennial flowers so the colors vibrate off of each other.  I have purple Spiderwort planted in the vicinity of spectacular, orange-red lilies which are planted next to a tall, spikey, purple, sage-like plant.

I looked at the non-flower elements on my deck.  Like old, familiar friends, my sun faces welcome me each time I venture out to the deck, and greet me on the way into the house when I arrive home.

My giant, artsy frog watches over the deck and flowers waiting for any bug or creature who would do harm to my precious flower children!

Different elements of life, like my sun water fountain or the birds coming in to feed, bring vibrancy and interaction in much the same way you stop in to read these posts and leave comments.  

Photo by Nick Thompson

As the beans from my garden box shall feed and nourish me (hopefully!), art journaling feeds and nurtures the spirit.  As a creative spirit, I realize that most every activity I undertake involves some form of creativity.  Are you realizing that in your own life?  Even when I'm not able to be directly involved in the art making process, I am almost always involved in a creative process.


Like art journaling, planting flowers over the last week has been a healing process as well as a creative process.  As we bid farewell to our "baby" as he traveled across the states to a new adventure, there was healing and acceptance as I once again realize that change is inevitable and things are "as they should be".

Photo by Keith Thompson

I'm thrilled to hear from Mike that he's "having the time of my life", and "it's a whole different world out here". After spending a good deal of time on Google Maps Street View with Keith, I know that Mike's new adventure is just right for him, and I have come to the realization that this "extended trip" is probably going to become more of a permanent situation.  I also realize that although separated by distance, we are always closely joined forever in the heart.

Whatever journeys and adventures you partake of this weekend, I hope they're exciting and rewarding, and I hope that you recognize the creativity in your life outside of the art journal.  Above all else, dear friends, remember this life is an amazing adventure, and remember to "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!".