My journaling was all over the place this week! I've been puzzling over this first page that I created on Monday, and can't for the life of me remember what my hissy fit was about. I do remember that "Miss Cranky Pants" woke up on the wrong side of the bed after a night of insomnia. I guess it's a reminder to myself that energy spend on impatience is indeed energy not well spent.
Apparently I settled down by Tuesday, because this page reflects that "It's all OK in the end". I'm just wondering if I should be concerned that I can't remember from Monday and Tuesday to Friday. Hmmm?
I'm not one to hover in Dark Mood for long. (although the old Angelia had a residence there once upon a time) By Wednesday I was in the mood for lots of bright colors, texture and layering. I even added some Pearl Ex pigments to her earrings and lace collar.
The skelly face "appeared" plain as day as I was working intuitively. I'm not surprised as I was just recently invited to participate in a Day of the Dead gallery show this fall and I've been mulling over ideas for this year's skulls. I've been looking at this fragment of lace for months! I'm glad it finally found a good home.
The bright colors continued on Thursday, and to my surprise <insert sarcasm here>, a couple of birds appeared. It looked tropical to me so I added the word "Paradise", and 2 teal colored tickets that were enclosed in my goody envelope from April Cole. "Two Tickets to Paradise", anyone?
Well, that's about it for this week. Have a wonderful, creative weekend, and remember - don't let your feathers get ruffled over something you won't even remember a few short days later!
This is my friend, Staci. Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Painesville Recreation Center, she used to be my boss where I was the art instructor. She's a gentle soul with a flare for the spiritual and creative. When the stars align properly, we get to share a couple hours and catch up on life and art. We also worked with 2 other wonderfully creative women in the center. When the universe allows, all four of us get together. It's magic.
Recently, the stars reached their proper alignment, and we had the opportunity to look at each other's journals and catch up on life. Staci was there in the beginning of my art journaling classes that took place around Ro's kitchen table. They were wonderful guinea pigs and supported my efforts wholeheartedly. Staci was there for the next phase as I traded in Ro's kitchen table and spread my wings to a nearby art gallery. She also attended one of my latest classes when she could. She's been a huge support to me. Thanks, Staci!
I love looking through Staci's journal pages. She works very intuitively, working on her entire journal at once. She begins by creating backgrounds for all of her pages and adds thoughts and images on the pages day by day on the page that feels appropriate.
Her pages are always filled with beautiful and exotic imagery, and she adds glitter, rhinestones, and lots of texture with stencils that she's made. I love the orange rhinestones around the car.
Staci recently lost her father, and she had the opportunity to share his final days and hours. She found healing by recording some of the things that he said as he was making his transition. One of the things he said was, "When I close my eyes, I go to different worlds!" One can only imagine.....
Staci finds the most intriguing images and messages as she examines her backgrounds. They always feel ancient and mysterious to me.
I really like this method of writing that she incorporated into these pages. Each layer of writing is a different color written on top of the previous writing. It makes it almost impossible to read and makes for an interesting background. The student has indeed become the teacher.
This spread was inspired by one of my classes where we discussed "The Inner Critic", aka "The Committee". I'm sure you've met them. You know - the voices that tell you you're not good enough, you're not an artist, you CAN'T do something. Staci told hers to "Shut the hell up." I hope you tell yours the same!
BURNOUT IN ANGELIALAND
I haven't done any new journaling pages this week. Well, that's not quite true. I've been completing journaling projects to turn in for an upcoming gallery show. I'm having a lot of fun completing these projects, but it's difficult feeling the pressure of a deadline. I'll post photos of the completed projects soon - you might remember a couple of them.
I did complete some pages in my daily journal last week (or was it the week before?) All of the surprise gift journals are lovingly completed and ready to be shipped, but they really took their toll. I worked like a madwoman to get them finished before our vacation. I have to say, I can't look at them too much because I like the finished products and they might want to stay here! That's a good sign though, because I know it will give me great joy to know that they've brought their recipients a lot of pleasure.
These are the last pages I created. This page was inspired by goodies I received from April Cole.
This is an intuitive page where I highlighted the images that I could see in the baackground paint.
These three pages were inspired by the movies I was watching as I created the pages. Can you guess what movies they were?
Ha! I didn't think so. The first page is from "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", the second page is from "Pan's Labyrinth", and the last page is also from "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". I created the pages by first writing down lines from the actors and taking my color cues directly from scenes or the overall mood of the scene. It was a lot of fun and made for some interesting pages.
So that's about it. I think I'm officially burned out. I read someone's blog post the other day (sorry, can't remember who wrote it), but it struck a nerve with me. It was a real light-bulb moment. The gist of the post was this - just because we love what we do doesn't mean it's not work. A simple but profound thought. I've been working day after day after day without time off! So you know what I did yesterday? That's right, I took the day off and enjoyed EVERY second of it! I said to hell with the deadline, the journal, the creative process. I cleaned. I did laundry. I began gathering things for vacation. I stepped away from the work environment. And you know, what?I feel rejuvenated and creative today. Know when to step away from your work! I don't know about you, but I won't wait so long before my next day off!
As usual, it's been a busy week and I've been concentrating on projects for my upcoming shows. Here's a look at what I've been working on. These two are finished.
"Altered Ego" 8" x 10" mixed media on canvas board
9" x 12" mixed media on canvas board. Not yet titled
The weather was perfect yesterday, so I set up a work space on the deck. Ready...Set...PAINT!
Nearing completion, but still a few more touches to add. The color is most accurate in the above shot.
Abour 98% complete!
I didn't do any additional work to this yesterday, but I'm really liking it.
These Native American inspired images intrigue me. I don't know where they come from...
I'm eager to see how this one progresses. I'm liking it a lot. 16" x 20" mixed media on canvas board.
Every time I look at this I hear Alex Harvey Band's, "Faith Healer", playing in my head!
This one has a slight African feel to it ...
And remember this one? Wave bye-bye. It got a new paint job today and I'm liking it better already. I just wasn't feeling it before....
ART JOURNAL PAGES
There was some art journaling but not a lot is completed. I'll share what I have though.
I'm teaching "Windows, Doors & Pockets" this month in my journaling class. This is the beginning of "The Windows of the World", based on the song made popular by Dionne Warwick.
One of my students gave me this clipping of a de Kooning painting because it reminded them of me. I LOVE it! My intention was to use it on the pages below, but I like these pages so much I had to put de Kooning on another set of pages.
Here's the one spread I finished. I created it while I was watching one of the worst movies I've ever watched. It was called, "A Bucket of Blood", and it was released in 1959. Here's the synopsis of the movie. As with any bad movie, there were some funny and redeeming moments in it. I like the line, "All that is comes to the eye of the artist."
Here's yet another spread inspired by a movie. I was flipping through channels last night and stumbled upon one of my all time favorite movies - Alfred Hitchcock's 1954, "Rear Window", starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly. Maybe I'll get it finished this evening.
Last but not least, here's a preliminary drawing for a special project I'm working on. I'll tell you more about it in the weeks to come. ( Yes.....I'm being mysterious!)
I hope you're having a wonderfully creative weekend, and I hope that you're finding time to enjoy the outdoors and the wonder of all that surrounds you. See you tomorrow with "Monday's Musings".
Well, here we are again - another week has seemingly flown by and we find ourselves here in mid-January already. It was a busy week, and I have this strange sensation of time being a figment of my imagination. Things that I know I did this week seem like they happened weeks ago! Have you felt it, or is winter making me a little nuts despite the nice weather we've been having? Nice weather - until now, that is. Today's talk of the town is the weather, but we'll get to that later.
JOURNAL PAGES FROM THIS WEEK
Here are three journal spreads from this week, all in three different styles inspired by subject matter and imagery. Do you recognize two of the images that I used from the calendar pages I posted last week?
Collage, gesso, Pitt pen, acrylic paint
Gesso, collage, acrylic paint, Sharpie fine point marker.
Acrylic paint, water soluble pastel
FABRIC JOURNALS
My class continues to work on fabric journals throughout January. We are all having a great time with these! I have assembled the cover for my first journal, and I'm really pleased with the way it. I can't stop looking at all the bright, patchwork of colors, and I can't stop running my fingers over the embellishments!
There are sequins, buttons, fibers, beads, lace, and charms sewn to the cover. That's Christmas garland sewn along the edge of the front cover. I can't wait to show you the finished product!
Here's what it looks like opened with both the inside front and back covers.
Here's the outside back cover. I'll be adding a couple things to it, but not much. I have the signature pages prepared to sew inside of my journal, but I've decided to complete the journal pages before attaching to the book.
PHOTO JOURNAL - SNOW!
As I said, today's big story is the snow. Snow is usually no big deal here - after all, I live in the Northeast Ohio snowbelt! What makes this a big deal is that we've gotten use to 40 degree weather, and we got absolutely hammered with snow overnight. Keith measured 18" this morning around 8am. I'm just a little annoyed as I was supposed to be judging an art show this morning. Que Sera, I guess. It finally stopped snowing about 2 hours ago, and now that I've resigned myself to the fact that I am indeed snowbound, it's really beautiful.
Keith finally got a path cleared to the bottom of the deck stairs. It's been a very long time since we've seen this much snow!
My little red zoom, zoom (Mazda) looks like a mini van sitting in the driveway!
Standing at the end of my driveway looking west at snow-laden pines. Gorgeous!
MY ARTIST SON
I'm really excited to share my son's video with you. It's really artsy, and this proud mom has watched it....well, let's just say a lot! I can't wait to see Mike's next artistic endeavor. I think he's found his creative niche, don't you? I suggest watching on YouTube and in HD if you can. The video is set to a musical score, so you'll want to turn my blog radio off. Please comment and "Like" (if you do!) to encourage my budding artist!
Well, I guess that's about it for this Weekend Journal edition. I hope you're snuggled in and warm in your neck of the woods, and I hope your creative genes are bursting with inspiration. Until next time, much love and many blessings to you!
