Thursday's Child: Less Herger

This week's Thursday's Child is

Less Herger

of

Comfortable Shoes Studio

 I belong to Less's Ning group, Art Journaling, and had the honor of being with her in the 21 Secrets workshop.  She's an awesome art journaler who proclaims, "it's all good!", and I'm sure you'll enjoy her instructional videos and tutorials.

Less completed an awesome interview at Crafty Moria last week, so go check it out!  You'll find more links to Less on the Internet in her interview.  Remember: "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"

Three In One

OK...I hope you've got your comfy spot and favorite beverage set again, because here are the three days worth of posts I promised for today!

Before I get started, I want to mention a couple things.  First, one of my dear followers mentioned that she has a difficult time reading and listening to the music at the same time, so I've moved the music box to the top of the sidebar.  All you have to do is click the middle button to stop the music.  I hope this helps anyone who prefers to not to listen!  Secondly, I've decided that "Thursday's Child" is a bit much for me to handle at this time.  It's a lot more labor intensive than I anticipated, so I'm still mulling over what to do with this feature.  I was experiencing technical difficulties posting the last interview to the page, so I'm going to have to figure that out as well. 

I will continue my "Tuesday Tips and Techniques" as well as "Wednesday's Word".  I enjoy bringing these features to you and I hope you're enjoying them too.  "Angelia's Art Journal's" is still in it's infancy, and I'm still evolving and growing and (hopefully) making improvements along the way!

I want to say again that I appreciate EACH AND EVERY COMMENT, and I am trying my best to answer each one.  I know I've missed some along the way, but please know that I do read each comment.  Thanks to all of you for your support.  I maintain this blog for YOU!

LINKS! If you've created pages from inspiration you've found here on a post, I encourage each of you to post links to your pages in the comments section.  We would ALL love to see what everyone is doing!

I hope to begin instructional videos soon.  My tech guy (one of my sweet sons, Mike) is helping me walk through the tech problems such as converting and editing MP4s (I think that's what we're doing! LOL), positioning of the camera, etc.  I'm determined!  OK, enough of my babbling.  On to the art!

TUESDAY TIPS and TECHNIQUES

Wax Paper

Wax paper is your friend.  Most commonly, I use it between pages in my journal that tend to be a little sticky or between pages that have oil pastels that tend to smear.  It's invaluable for those purposes but it's fun to use in creating pages too.

Using a stylus or old ink pen, you can emboss your page using wax paper. Using a fairly heavy pressure, the wax from the paper is left on the page as a resist.  This technique works really great with watercolor or colored pencils.

I've used a fine point Sharpie that's beginning to run out of ink so you can see what I'm doing.  I've made vines, spirals and random lines as a background.

Here's a close up of a watercolor wash on top of the embossed area. Some of the areas where I wasn't so heavy handed left less wax so the lines are much thinner.

After the first wash dried, I took the wax paper and drew a face on the upper right side of the page.  The dark areas are the areas that I want to retain the original wash and remain as highlights on the face.  You have to think in terms of "opposite" when you're doing this.

Here you can see the dark blue wash that I applied.  As the was began drying, I added more pigment to the areas that I wanted to be even darker.

Here's a close up of the left eye.  I love the way the eyes turned out!  I haven't decided what else I'll do with this page, but I'll post a picture of the page when I've finished.

Wednesday's Word

"MUSE"

I've given a lot of thought to my creative muse this week, and I've decided that I have a team of muses.  Yesterday, I told you about my inner child muse, but what I've discovered is I think I have a team of muses, each with a distinct personality.

I'm happy to say that my other muses are much calmer than my inner child muse.  I have a muse that loves the outdoors.  All of her inspirations come from the things of nature.  She's the muse that loves the lake and long strolls through the woods.  She loves flowers and animals and the way the clouds move through the sky.  She is my messenger of SPIRIT.

I have another muse who is "the philosopher".  She loves exploring the unseen and mystical.  She loves the night sky and lives among the stars.  She loves symbolism and has connections with the ancient worlds.  She knows the secrets of the indigenous people of the land.  She is solemn and sensible.  She is the muse that grounds me.  She is my SOUL.

My other muse is "the explorer".  She thrives on experiences, visiting new places and meeting new people.  She is the "class clown" and is the one who continually gets me into trouble!  She doesn't know the meaning of "politically correct".  She speaks her mind and really doesn't mean any harm when she thinks without speaking.  She loves laughter and happy times.  She loves words and language.  She loves communicating with everyone and thrives on art shows and creative websites.  She is my hoarder.  She is my MIND.


All of my muses keep me busy and are part of who I am.  There's never a dull moment with my muses around.  What are your muses like?  Do you have one?  Do you have many?  Do they come and go?  Can you summon them at will?  Do new muses come along?  Create a journaling spread about YOUR muse!

"I follow the muse, and that's when it always works perfectly for me." ~Jackie De Shannon

"The most potent muse of all is our own inner child." ~Stephen Nachmanovitch

"There is something else at work here that is beyond me." ~Genie Francis

THURSDAY'S CHILD

An'Angelia Thompson

Since I don't have a new interview to share with you, I thought you might enjoy seeing a snippet of my life.  I created this video as part of the 21 Secrets workshop that I was so honored to be a part of.  What began as a trip to my old neighborhood for "just a couple of pictures" for a completely different story, turned into a life changing experience for me.  I hope you enjoy my video.  I recommend watching it in full screen so you can see the subtitles.  Thanks for watching!

"Going Home" from An' Angelia Thompson on Vimeo.

VIDEO NOTES:

Circumstances had to be "just right" for me to stumble across that marble.  Just the very top of it was showing through the dirt and the sun was hitting it just right.  I walked right over it and had to step backwards to see what it was.  The large maple tree where I played marbles is long gone, so for me to find this (obviously old) marble was somewhat of a miracle.  The whole experience was incredible for me.

When Mom died, my brother and sister and I had to pick out her headstone.  We had decided that since Mom so loved roses, we would incorporate roses into the things we had to get for her memorial service and burial.  It was important to my sister and me to have three roses on her headstone, representing one for each of her children.  That there were three red roses left blooming on that rosebush hit me after I got home and looked at the pictures.  Coincidence?  I chose to believe not.

Here are my completed journal pages.  I painted over the letter to Mom and the words, "everybody sails alone but we can travel side by side" are lyrics from KT Tunstall's song, "Heal Over".

Well, that's it for today, dear friends.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend filled with lots of creativity.  I'll see you again Monday, so until then remember: "Celebrate, LOVE and Create!"

Thursday's Child

This Week's Thursday's Child Interview Is

Connie Hozvicka

of

Dirty Footprints Studio

AT:  Connie, tell us a little something about yourself, and please include something quirky!

CH:  My name is Connie Hozvicka. I help women rise above their fears, strengthen their intuition, and grow confidant as Artists through my FEARLESS Painting Adventures and my business Dirty Footprints Studio--which also happens to be the name of my blog too! I was born in Cleveland, Ohio--but five years ago my honey Hansel and I took our three fur babies across the ol' U.S. of A. and traded in snow and grey skies for the sunshine and desert of Phoenix, Arizona. But, as much as I swoon over desert life...my heart is in Costa Rica where I'm planning to move to and open up my Dirty Footprints Studio retreat in 2012. As for something quirky, yikes--I'm a huge quirk ball. Each of my fur babies have voices--which are far from your typical cute pet or baby voices--but instead sound more like years of smoking, drinking, and living the night life has taken it's toll on them. Yes, I have candid conversations with them daily--and their mouths would make even the seasoned trucker blush!

AT:  When did you begin tapping into your creative spirit?
CH:   I was born this way An'Angelia. That's the truth.  When other little girls wanted Barbies and tea party sets--I wanted art supplies and construction paper. I was the little girl making mud sculptures and drawing chalk masterpieces. Creativity and I have been joined at the hip since I can remember--and that's been both a blessing and sometimes a curse!

AT:  Tell us about your "Painting Fearless" techniques.
CH:  I developed FEARLESS Painting as a soulful reaction to when years of trying to be an "Artist" come crashing down on me. Yes, I finally threw in the towel and stopped worrying about getting things right--and instead started painting directly from my heart. No plans, no sketches, no freaking idea even where my painting is even going to go--just listening to what my intuition wants of me--and staying connected to my Creative Source each brush stroke of the way!



FEARLESS Painting has literally changed my life. I'm serious. When I finally got real with my Artist heart--I stopped working a job that didn't fuel me and started focusing on a life that nourished my complete being. I'm so blessed as well to share my FEARLESS Painting process with women from all over the world in my FEARLESS Painting Adventures!! Thank you for asking--because I feel that this is my gift ....what I am meant to do.

AT:  You recently gave up your art teaching career to become a full time artist.  How are you feeling about     that?
CH: I finally feel 100% me. There's no other way to explain it or describe it. 100% me.
 

AT:   Who are your favorite artists?
CH:  Oh my goodness--if you would have asked me this a year ago I would have rambled off a long list of masters.. I was really good at that. But the honest truth is my favorite Artists are the FEARLESS Painters I paint with in my FEARLESS Painting Adventures. Totally. These women have heart. Have soul. Could give Picasso a run for his money for sure. And wow!! I'm just so lucky to say that my favorite Artists are these beautiful women I run with--paintbrush in hand!!



AT:  Do you have a favorite quote?
CH:  I'm a quote junkie!! But I do have one quote that I adore that hangs on my studio wall and it is by the singer Neil Young. It says: "I work for noone but the Muse."


So true! So true!

AT:  When and where do you create most of your work?
CH:  All the magic happens in my tiny little studio in our tiny little 2 bedroom apartment. Even though I'm an Artist that loves to paint BIG--believe me, I am always grateful and fully aware to have a life so abundant that I am blessed with a space of my own to let my creativity flourish and have a home. As for when--well, I'm starting to learn that my Muse is a tiny bit of a maniac. She loves to keep me up all night for weeks--then all of a sudden hit the road with out a peep for weeks. I used to struggle with this. I used to get down on me thinking I need to harness her whims and find "balance" in my life. But it is what it is. We can't do much about the way our Creative Source likes to dance with us--except either join in or sit on the side!



AT:  What do you want everyone to know about creative expression?
CH:  That it's not as hard as we make it out to be. Just have fun. Breathe. Push paint around or play with color. If it turns out awesome call your friends over for champagne. If it looks like crap--do the same! We're human--not machines--and that's the beauty of Art, including our big, ugly mistakes.

AT:  When and what inspired you to blog about your art journey?
CH:  I started Dirty Footprints Studio because I was looking for an Art community to share with.  I was new to Phoenix, and working as an Art teacher in an elementary school--which does not lend itself to much Art talk that doesn't involve scribbling or Elmer's glue!  So I started blogging to find kindred souls...and almost three years later I have made deep friendships and found a soft and supportive place to share my thoughts.


AT:  What are your other interests and hobbies?
CH:  Basically Yoga and FEARLESS Painting define my world. I am so dedicated to my Yoga practice that I've decided to commit to a year long Yoga Advance Studies & Teacher Training this year--and I can't wait to see how it will influence my painting practice as well!!

AT:  Where can we find you on the Internet?
CH:   BLOG and  WORKSHOPS: Dirty Footprints Studio
         FACEBOOK
         TWITTER




YouTube: Kitchen of the Soul

Thank you for your most inspiring interview, Connie!

Thursday's Child Re-Deaux

Whoops! Apparently there were some file/compatibility/user ignorance (me) issues with Ro's photos for the Thursday's Child Interview.  Her pics were showing up fine for me but others were kind enough to contact me to let me know they were showing up as black rectangles with question marks. 

This is one of the lovely spreads from Ro's journal.  Hopefully you can see it and the problems are resolved.  Please take a look at her other photos and interview HERE.  Happy Day!  Remember to "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"

Thursday's Child: Ro Bruhn

This week's Thursday's Child is Ro Bruhn

Ro is a mixed media artist whose many talents include journal and jewelry making.  Read her interview HERE.

Journal Page by Ro Bruhn



Thursday's Child

"Thursday's Child" is a new feature that I'm really excited about.  I was thinking about all the wonderful people I've met through "Angelia's Art Journals" over this past 9 months and how much I've learned from each of them.

We all have so much in common, the least of which is creativity.  "Like attracts like", and the evidence that those of us who embrace our creativity eventually find one another through this wondrous Internet is amazing to someone who grew up with rotary phones and transistor radio.

Those of us driven to express ourselves through creativity also share a need to communicate what we have learned with anyone else who will listen.  The need for self expression lives within each of us, and I think that as we discover the value that this expression has in the quality of life, we want everyone to embrace it.

"Thursday's Child" is a way for you to get to know more members of our creative Internet family through interviews.  It's my pleasure to introduce Kelly Watts as my first interview.  You can read Kelly's interview by clicking on the "Thursday's Child" icon to the right of this post.  Thank you, Kelly, for being my first Thursday's Child!

Artwork by Kelly Watts

Thanks to all of you for joining me here on Angelia's Art Journals.  I'm so happy to have you as a member of my creative family.  Until next time, "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"

In with the New!

A Happy New Year to you all! I love the idea of beginning with a clean slate every 365 days.  It's like having a large, shiny white canvas and complete and total access to an art supply store; the possibilities are endless!  I like the idea of using "tried and true" and I like the excitement of exploring the new.  That's what January 1st feels like to me.

I've been thinking about a new look for "Angelia's Art Journals" since autumn, and I've also been thinking about new ways to share with you and how I can blog more efficiently.   All that thinking and brain storming lead to the creation of a new look and some new features that I hope you'll enjoy.

My first new feature is "Tuesday Tips & Techniques".  I'm going to show you all my little tips, tricks, and methods, and hopefully, there will be plenty of accompanying video.  I'm still trying to work out some tech issues with compression and conversion.  We'll see what happens!

The 2nd new feature I'm offering is "Wednesday's Word".  I love words, and a lot of my artistic inspiration comes from song lyrics, quotes, and the origin and meaning of words.  This will be a weekly feature that I hope inspires you to contemplate your choice and understanding of words in your creativity.

The new feature that I'm most excited about is "Thursday's Child".  I've met a wonderful array of very sweet and talented creatives through sharing my artwork here on the Internet, and I want you to meet them, too!  "Thursday's Child"  is a weekly interview segment with my friends and fellow creatives.  I was thought about how much we all have in common and how "like finds like".  I  thought about the commonality of our struggles, our loves, our fears,  and our incessant need to create.

"Thursday's Child" was inspired by the line from the poem ("...Thursday's child has far to go") and by the David Bowie song, "Thursday's Child" ("All of my life I tried so hard/doing the best with what I had/sometimes my courage fell to my feet....)  Anyway, that's how "Thursday's Child was born, and the first segment premiers this coming Thursday with Kelly Watts.

Kelly has been an ongoing source of inspiration to me since I started following her blog almost a year ago.  One of her posts inspired me to focus on one word for 2011.  I've chosen "love" as my focus word.  If I can focus on "love" in all it's different forms and meanings, and start with myself, just how great will this year be!

I leave you with one of my favorite photos from the last day of 2010.  I took it at Mentor Headlands yesterday around 10:30 am.  It looks extremely cold, but there was a gentle breeze out of the SW and it was around 50 degrees.  I was there for 2 hours and spent the last 20 minutes watching a bald eagle feed from a small ice floe just off shore.  (I got a few pics but they're really bad.  I hope to get some good ones of my eagle friend soon!)

So, Happy New Year!, my friends.  I'm looking forward to an exciting year of unending possibility and I hope you are too.  Until next time, Celebrate, Love, and CREATE!