Weekend Journal

New Journal Pages

I was a creative mad woman this week.  It felt like I couldn't get the paint down fast enough.  I like it when I have that much creativity flowing through me, but thankfully, that kind of creative energy seems to come in spurts.   Here are some of the pages I created in my journal this week.

I continue to work intuitively, focusing in the moment and enjoying the process with no anticipation or destination.  The bird imagery continues to manifest and leave me puzzled as to why they keep showing up.

This page never evolved beyond doodles.  I wonder if using this (very unlike me) color palette had anything to do with my lack of vision?

Yet MORE birds!  This time I was feeling goofy and a bit whimsical.  After I outlined the birds I remembered the cover of this Somerset Studio magazine I was browsing through the night before.  Luckily, there was a small image of the cover inside the magazine.  The cover art was created by Mindy Lacefield, creator of  "Tim's Sally".

THE CANVASES

I continued work on all of the canvases.  I work on multiple canvases at one time for several reasons: 1.  It allows time for paint to dry between layers.  2.  It gives me an opportunity to set aside what I'm working on and come back to it with fresh eyes.  Here are the three that I completed this week.

This strange little skeleton creature makes me laugh, and since Dia de los Muertos will be here before we know it, I decided just to roll with it!  In addition to these completed pieces which are 9" x12" and 8" x 10", I'm working on 2 additional 9" x 12", two 16" x 20" and one larger canvas that I haven't measured yet.  Hopefully, I'll be showing those completed paintings to you next week.

A COUPLE PHOTOS

It seems I'm not the only creative genius in the house!  Keith has been busy with the new photo app upgrade on his phone.  I would tell you what he has (if only I knew).  Some type of smart phone?  Maybe I'll be a tech geek in the next life!  Anyway, he captured my true essence - barefoot and cross-legged on the bed surrounded by art related stuff!  I rather like it.

Keith also took this photo of these lilies at the side of the garage.  They are lovely in spite of the fact that like so many other places around the country, we are in quite a deficit of precipitation for the year.

So that's about it for this Weekend Journal.  I hope that you're keeping cool and creative.  Have a wonderful, arty weekend, and I'll see you again on Monday for more of my musings!

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

Journaling Outside the Book: Canvas

I haven't painted a canvas since my fall and winter commissions, so with paintings for a juried show due on Monday, I decided to transfer my mixed media journaling techniques to an 11" x 14" canvas.


I began by applying some heavy bodied gesso in several places, and followed that with a layer of water soluble pastels.  I decided to apply a strip of newspaper for added interest near the bottom, and as I tore a section of the paper, I noted that it was a high school honor roll.   

"Honor Wasn't Enough" Mixed canvas by An'Angelia Thompson

I started thinking about all those things I learned so long ago: study hard, get good grades, be the best you can be.  That was the way to the "American Dream".  I thought about all of the hardworking people who are now, beyond any act of their own, unemployed with nothing to show for their efforts except quiet desperation, unpaid bills, and in some cases, the death of their spirit.


I began adding layers of acrylic paint, and as the layers were born, so was the face that emerged on my canvas.  So that's the evolution of my first canvas using my journaling techniques.    It comes from a reflection into the madness of today's society and how much has changed since I was on that high school honor roll.  I know it's not the optimistic, colorful work that you're accustomed to seeing from me, but sooner or later the unpleasant things of this life work their way to the surface and spill on to the paper or canvas.  


I don't know about you, but I'm hoping the next page I decide to tear from the newspaper comes from the gardening section.  Life is short, dear friends.  Remember to "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"

Outside The Book - Supersize Your Work

Have you ever considered taking your journal pages "outside the book" and onto a canvas?  If you don't have any experience with painting on canvas, your initial reaction to this question might have been, "What? Are you serious? I don't know how to paint!"  OK...I'll let that go for today, because I'm just planting the seed . . .

I'm willing to bet that if you browse through your journals, there are pages that beg for "more".  Maybe the color combinations really speak to you.  Maybe when you look at a page it triggers more imagery that you would like to create.  Maybe it would look really cool hanging in your dining room!



"Mardi Gras" 24" x 30 acrylic on canvas

So think about journaling outside the book.  Look through your journals  and see if there's something that begs to be supersized onto a canvas.  I've planted the seed, but now it's up to you to nurture the idea until it sprouts.  I'll be here to help you through your "Happy Creating!" and together, we'll make sure that seedling blossoms into a beautiful painting.