Monday's Musings - Autumn

I feel the coolness of your breath 

Caress my skin -

Like a jilted lover's exit,

A cold embrace.

Morning sun adds warmth  

to willing branches -

Summer left overs , 

It does not touch my face.

Swirling, twirling through the sky

you make your presence known-

Summer makes it's exit left

as you command stage center.

A tragic comedy you are-

captivating audience in your tale,

cunningly you hide

the inevitable, gray winter.

Your steely touch caresses 

every surface that you touch-

Growing ripe with anticipation 

The mums await your cue -

Your drama in it's glory 

has influenced many an artist's brush-

indeed, my own.

Autumn - there's nothing quite like you.

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

P.S. There's still time to enter my giveaway!

The Fairies' Tea & Giveaway

I received a message-

It was left outside my door,

"Fairies' Tea" is all it said,

And told me little more.

I arrived at sunset

And I was just in time to see,

Fairies hanging flowers

From the branch of every tree.

They surrounded me with flowers,

On my head they placed a wreath,

And they sprinkled me with fairy dust

From my hair down to my feet.

The tea was quite delicious-

It was spicy, it was sweet.

and they served mine in a floral cup

I could forever keep.

They moved into a clearing 

Where the moon was shining bright,

And the fairies did their dance for me

Well into the night.

Thanks to Inspiration Avenue for hosting this fun blog hop!  Want to see more images from "The Fairies' Tea"?  Go HERE and scroll down the page where you'll see a list of all the participants and find links to their sites.

GIVEAWAY!

The fairies have been busy with travel this year, and they wanted me to share these Chinese joss papers with you! 

 Here's all you need to do to enter:

1. Follow my blog:  http://angeliasartjournals.blogspot.com/ (if you don't follow already)
2. Leave a comment on this post. (include an email or blog link so I can contact you if you win!)

The deadline for entry is midnight EST., Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012

A winner will be selected at random on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed 

"The Fairies' Tea"

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

Tuesday Tips and Techniques: Travel Collectibles

It's easy to come home (or if you're lucky enough, have them shipped to you - thanks again, Mike & Nadia!), with a box full of wonderful, free and almost free items to incorporate into your travel journal.  Family and friends also eagerly join in the collection process if you let them know that you're gathering these items.

Free Items

I was amazed at how many items we were able to obtain from owners and employees at some of the establishments we visited - simply by asking!  CA Daughter was a professional at obtaining some of these items.  I have paper hats from In-N-Out Burger and Krispy Kreme that she asked for.  Keith scored a clean sandwich wrapper for me from Fatburger, and I was able to salvage a paper bag and and sandwich bags from our meals, too.  By the way, we don't have these yummy food places near us here in OH.  That's definitely both a curse and a blessing!

TIP:  Don't Be Afraid to Ask for Goodies!

 Don't forget to save items that you might otherwise toss into the garbage.  These protective hot beverage sleeves and ice cream bar stick will add texture and depth.

Local attractions and historical sites always have pamphlets, booklets and handouts.  Don't forget to snatch them up.  Grab 2 of each if you can, that way you can cut one apart and still have one intact.

Remember to save those little paper bags from your purchases.  They make great envelopes for your journal or if you have one that is printed with images from the place you've visited, you can incorporate that image on a page.  Even if you don't use them in your travel journal, I'm sure they'll come in handy in your daily journaling!

TIP:  Go Where The Locals Go!

I think every community has an assortment of free papers and magazines.  Be sure to check out the local stores and look for the racks of these items.  These papers and entertainment magazines came from a Chinese shopping plaza in Irvine, CA.

Look or ask for take-out menus!  It will help you remember where and what you ate during your travels.  When I asked for a take-out menu at R.T. Weiler's in St.Charles, MO, one of the owners insisted I take one of her laminated table menus when she discovered she was out of the take-out menus!

TIP: If you don't have time for daily journaling, stick a couple items into the appropriate day's pages!

Save those boarding passes, luggage tags and receipts from your travels!  It's another great way to trigger your memory of what you did and where you went on a particular day.

TIP:  Shop Where the Locals Shop!

I bought all of these wonderful Joos papers for under $10.00 at a Chinese grocery store in Irvine, CA.  The most expensive pack was $2.99.  They'll last me for years and I have plenty to share in giveaways (hint, hint)

If you stay at a hotel that uses key cards and you feel weird about keeping it on check-out, just ask at the front desk.  CA Daughter asked for key cards when we checked out of our Grand Canyon hotel, and the clerk gave her not one, but three different cards!

ALMOST FREE

I admit it - I'm a card and postcard junkie!  I think they're a great deal for the price, and the postcards usually have information listed on the back that I would otherwise forget.  I bought the greeting card at the Sawdust Festival at Laguna Beach, CA, from a husband and wife team.  She is a mixed media artist and he is an amazing potter.  They had my favorite booth.  I couldn't afford original pieces, but I have a personally signed card from her and the memory of really great conversation with 2 fellow artists.

 Since I decided to do separate journals for our surprise trips to Catalina Island and The Grand Canyon, I kept my eyes open for other journals.  I found this wonderful journal on Catalina Island.  It's really nicely made and I thought it was a steal at $14.99.  Was it made on Catalina?  Not hardly!  According to the package sticker it was "Made in Indonesia" with a "Beachcombers, Fort Myers, FL" sticker.  Alrighty then!  That will make it much easier for me to alter the cover a little.

The pages are designed to hold 40, 4" x 6" photos and have protective sheets bound between each page.  You do know there will be major altering, right?  I don't have a journal for our Grand Canyon adventure yet.  I didn't really look for one there, after all, I was at The Canyon!

MISCELLANEOUS 

Here are a few other free and not so free items I collected.  I grabbed a couple sugar packets along the way (one had the business name on it, the other packet has both "sugar' and azucar" written on it) I found a losing CA Lottery ticket, an acorn from the Grand Canyon as well as a piece of glass and a tiny piece of the canyon (compliments of Keith), as well as a magnet and charm from San Juan Capistrano in CA.  I also saved the clothing tags from my Grand Canyon tee. Keith also found a hoop earring near the San Clemente pier, and I found a snail shell on our walk at Oso Viejo Park.  

TIP: Don't forget to look down!

Of course, not all of these items will make it into my travel journal.  Some will be used in other art projects and journaling pages.  Some will be tucked away into other mementos from our trip, and I've decided I'm going to have to create a special travel box for some of my goodies.

I hope you find these tips helpful for your travels.  Remember, you can use these tips for daily journaling and mini outings that you have in your own area.

I'm off to continue working on my first travel journal pages.  I've spent a lot of time tweaking photos, printing photos, typing up our trip itinerary so I can plan pages and sequence the days correctly, and deciding which items will go into my journal.

I'll have the first pages posted in a day or two, so until then.................

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

Tuesday Tips and Techniques: Journal on Canvas!

That's right!  You've been hiding in your journal long enough.  Why don't you try the very same materials and techniques that you're using in your journal on a canvas?  You know can do it - what's stopping you?

I was fortunate to receive a rather large stack of canvases from my musician friend, Scott. (As a side note, check out his music here.)  His grandmother was an artist and when she died, Scott inherited a lot of unfinished canvases that he passed along to me.  I've been reluctant to do anything with them, ( I felt weird about painting over her work), but I've managed to overcome that block.  I think hope Grandma would approve.

Well, we all know that covered bridges just aren't "my thing", but it will continue to live on beneath lots of juicy layers of ink and paint.  I decided on beginning with these three 8"x 10" canvas boards.

It's much easier to work on multiple projects simultaneously when you're working with canvas.  It's pretty difficult to flip back and forth between wet pages when they're in a journaling book!

Painting wet -into-wet in an intuitive fashion is where my muse is these days.  Isn't this a wonderful, colorful mess?  Do you see any images yet?

Did someone say "Day of the Dead"?  What's with all of these skeleton/skull images I see?  I'm going to keep layering and playing.

Another advantage in using canvas is that you can flip it around in every direction and look for new images.  Now, one could certainly do that in a journal, but NOT ME!  I would be horrified to have a page that wasn't facing in the "right" direction, but I would be the loudest cheerleader for you if that's your thing!

Hmmmmmmm.....flipping it horizontally, I see a fish.  Looking at the canvases today, the fish has vanished under new layers of paint and waits for my scrutinizing gaze.  I wonder what images I'll find when I look at them again later.

I was feeling a little cramped for space on the 8" x 10"s, so I decided it was time to "go big or go home".  Since I was already at home, the next best thing was to pull out a 16" x 20" canvas board.  The cherub underpainting was lovely but not me.   Here is what it looks like now.  I've got a long way to go before completion.

I was on a mad rampage, canvases scattered around me in every direction.  I pulled out two more canvas boards - this time 9" x 12"s.  I was in creative flurry.  It felt great!

This 9" x 12" is about 95% completed.  I just need to add a few more details.  The first image in this post is one of the 8" x 10"s I started out with and is also completed to about the same degree.  

Can you tell how much fun I'm having outside the journal?  I have some pages started there, too, but nothing compares to the freedom of expression that a canvas can bring to one's creativity.  Go ahead - pull some old canvases or get some new.  Either way, I promise you - you're going to have FUN!

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

29 Faces: Days 14 and 15

DAY 14

I have to say, I really enjoy playing with The Muse.  You never know what's going to happen!  I tore pieces of an old newspaper for my background, and the first headline I tore read "Spaced Out in Painesville".  Well, I was thinking along the lines of "space cadet", but The Muse had other things in mind.  As I began darkening in the background, I could see a vague outline of my little alien.  I'm sure being extremely tired after a day of having a "hair-a-thon" contributed greatly.

DAY 15

I was still in the mood to add layers upon layers this morning, so I rummaged through some more saved items.  I used magazine images that I've had forever, old receipts, a wine label, doodles, etc.  I thought you would enjoy seeing the process:

I almost always use Mod Podge as my adhesive.  I may need a Mod Podge intervention some day.

I always like to tie everything together with a wash of two or more colors.  Here I've used washes of sienna and light green.

Here's my face for Day 15, completed on the left side of my spread.  As soon as I saw the Red Truck wine label, I knew I wanted to use a man's face on this page.  I used a magazine add as my inspiration for the face.  Tomorrow's face will go on the other side.

Tuesday Tips and Techniques will be back next week.  In the meantime, hope you're getting "over the hump" and having a wonderful Wednesday!

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

Monday's Mandala

Today's mandala was inspired by the Tiffany stained glass window in Wade Chapel at Lakeview Cemetery.

Outside the Journal: The Cleveland Museum of Art

This past gray, rainy, Saturday, I had the pleasure of spending the day at the Cleveland Museum of Art with my Keith, our son, Mike, and his girlfriend (our wonderful, new daughter!), Nadia, who were here visiting from CA.  I always enjoy my visits to the museum, and it's been more than just a few years since my last visit. We were there for 6 hours - until our sedentary lifestyles rendered us helpless to take another step!

"Gray and Gold" John Rogers Cox

The museum has been undergoing extensive renovation for several years now, and the refurbished section that has reopened is beautiful.  We spent a great deal of time examining the artifacts in the Medieval, Egyptian, and African galleries, as well as the Near Eastern, South Italian and Roman galleries.  Eventually, we succumbed to hunger and enjoyed a late brunch in the museum's cafe.  Afterwards, we toured one of the special exhibits, "The Indian Kalighat Paintings", one of the museum's rarely shown collections. These drawings were originally created as souvenirs for early 19th century tourists, and contained images of Vishnu and Ganesh as recurrent themes.

After a brief tour of several American galleries and the Armor Court, we finally migrated to my favorite galleries - Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Art, where all of my favorite artists live.  Here are some of the photos I took. (Yes - photos permitted without flash - a happy surprise for me!)

It doesn't matter from what direction I enter this room - this Renoir painting always calls to me first.  His use of light and color has been a definite influence in my own work.

Modigliani's portraits always captured my imagination as a young artist, and it was his style the most influenced my portrait style in the early days.

Not my favorite Matisse, but how can I not give a nod to yet another artist whose work was an early influence to me?

My work was heavily influenced by Picasso during my early teens, and I am still thrilled by his vision.

This Picasso, "La Vie", is much larger than I had imagined it.  I'm guessing it's about 8' x 4'.   I don't ever recall seeing it displayed at the museum before.  According to the gallery notes, Picasso was only 20 when he painted this, and it is part of his "blue period" that came about as the result of his friend committing suicide.

Magritte

We finished our museum tour in the Modern and Contemporary galleries.  It was a good resting place as I sat and contemplated art on a philosophical level and tried to ignore that little voice inside my head that kept saying, "I just don't get it".  There were, of course, some paintings that garnered my attention and made me smile, as well as some old favorites like Pollack and Warhol.

When I saw this large work, I immediately thought that it was an early Pollack - Wrong!  It's actually a painting by his wife, Lee Krasner.

How could this wonderfully drippy painting of Homer Simpson not make me smile?  I wasn't able to get close enough to see the artist's name as there was a mother and her children sitting on the floor next to the plaque making art (apparently they couldn't find the classrooms?).  I searched the web looking for the artist's name.  I didn't find it, but I did find another blog that will give you another view of the museum!

Last but far from least, I return you to the Impressionist galleries where my favorite painting in the museum lives.  The last time I visited the museum I was heartbroken because it wasn't on display.  This small, unassuming Van Gogh painting, "The Poplars at Saint-Remy", is the only painting I have ever viewed that made me feel as if I was looking through the artist's eyes.  The first time I saw it, I wept.

As I studied each stroke, I felt as if I could feel what he was feeling at the time he was painting. I could feel the fervor.  I could feel the moment.  I could feel frustration, joy, emotions from every direction.  I felt the insanity of this obsessive thing we call being an "artist", and I felt the kinship of one who has gone before me.  I felt connected and I have never felt more moved by a work of art.

So that's a glimpse into the Cleveland Museum of Art.  We're fortunate to have such a wonderful collection of artworks so nearby, and it continues to impress me that admittance to the museum is always FREE.  If you ever have the opportunity to visit Cleveland, the art museum is a MUST.  You'll be pleased that you went and you'll find it to be an inspiration as you "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"