Sunday Session - Art Journal

I did some more on my art journals.  I collaged the back of the composition book, thickened some more pages. I built a new J.O.Y. journal and decorated the cover with scraps from building the journal. I had painted pages a couple of months ago (on Labor Day, I think) and hadn't used them, so I used them to make the cover. It is different than what I normally do, so I like it a lot - just something new...

This is the back of the Composition Journal - the front says, "Never Hide" but the cover isn't done yet.

Made from painted strips of scrap from making the journal iteself.

I liked the phrase that was on the cardstock I was using for the cover of this journal, so I decided to keep it and play around a little bit to see what I would get.

J.O.Y. From the Weekend

Here are some of the pages I did over the weekend:

I'm not done with the last three pages - but I have been away from it all for a while, so I wanted to post the progress.

Back to J.O.Y.

Even though I keep telling myself that I should go back and do the pen work and writing in the J.O.Y. journals (The Journey of You) from my Kelly Kilmer class, I made a new journal today. I think sometimes, if I'm not feeling particularly artful, it is easier to do that - I feel like I'm doing something related to art and creativity.

I love the size and flexibility of these journals.  If you want to explore more, they are very inexpensive classes - click on the link above to find out more.

I took half a down day today to just lay low and recuperate from the adrenaline rush of last night. It felt good although I didn't really accomplish anything today.  I hope to have some pages done tomorrow or Sunday and will post when I can.

Catch Up Sunday - Days 22 - 24 of 30 Days of GYAO

I love, love, love the "30 Days of Get Your Art On" Challenge.  It helps me to think about art every day and helps me to stay committed to doing it. I just do it for myself. Sometimes I think that my gluing down colors and images isn't really art, but it IS creative and it does express something. I want more - I want to do more, learn more, but I also know that sometimes things happen in time.  I'm just happy to be doing it. It keeps a weight off my shoulders - doesn't take it all away, but it is very Zen-like - you have to be in the moment when you are trying to put something together visually. I need that.

On Friday (Day 22), I chose images I wanted to use as focal images for the last two pages of my J.O.Y. Journal #2.  I have completed the journal's collage portion, which was exciting.  Now I have to get to the pen work.  I did some on Friday - some added embellishments to a couple of pages and pouring over images and backgrounds for the last two pages.  Here are the pages with some embellishment.
Also, I added some glitter to the front cover of the first J.O.Y. journal, but I didn't take a photo. I feel like I have posted a million photos of that cover, so I decided to leave well enough alone. :)

Some of the embellishments were fairly minor, so you may not even see the difference unless you are REALLY looking for it.

 On Saturday (Day 23), I went out with a friend, collected my fused glass (pictures to come), we took some photos together at Cathedral park (mine sucked), ate at my favorite Thai restaurant and drove out to Lacamas Lake (not sure if I'm spelling it right). It was beautiful out and I got a little bit of sun on my arm that is sore today.
I did one art journal page when I came home:

Today, I thought about doing some "spring cleaning", but I didn't. I listened to some good music, did some art, enjoyed some of the sunshine, surfed the net for a while. Nothing exciting, but very nice in terms of weekend.  Today is Day 24 of  "30 Days of Get Your Art On".  Here's my page for today. I'm sort of fond of it.

All in all, a good weekend for art, sunshine, relaxing. I wasn't super-productive in other ways, but that's okay.

Day 21 of 30 Days of Get Your Art On and Overload

I always write my post titles in the wrong order. I guess it doesn't really matter, but in my head, you should write about the first think in the post title first. It doesn't matter, but I do it on a regular basis.

So, overload.  I feel like everything is out of control and CRAZY.  Drivers and people who don't take responsibility for their kids, the crazy political kabuki theatre antics, the outlandish way issues and situations are portrayed by the news media.  This week, all that "stuff" is just like a burr under my saddle. I know it will be okay - I will work my way out of it soon, but for now, it is a little bit exhausting.
In an effort to combat the sensory overload, I did work in my art journal a bit. Again, I struggled a bit with the color matches, but I'm pretty happy with the end result.  I only have two pages left in J.O.Y. journal #2. Pretty exciting. :)

I just love the colors on the focal images. Makes me very happy to see ANYTHING neon. :)

And, tomorrow is FRIDAY!  That's always good news.

Day 18 and 20 of Get Your Art On

I am unpaused today and realized I had another journal page I had not posted yet from Day 18.

 I love the model's dramatic eyes in this photo. I'm not sure I picked the best background pieces, but some of them I really like. I think this page will benefit a lot from some pen work.

I am absolutely IN LOVE with the color of this dress. I love fluorescent colors. This photo just jumped off the magazine page at me. I didn't want to put super dramatic background colors on it because I didn't want to detract from the brilliance of the dress color.

I have decided that I will finish this J.O.Y. journal and the 30 Days of Get Your Art On and then focus on pen work and starting to integrate more journal writing. I decided I will just use the prompts from one of the classes I took. I'm going to go in order and just let it take me where ever I'm going to go. Writing in the journals is a lot like writing the blog - I just need to develop the habit and DO IT. Kind of exciting to realize that and decide to go for it. I don't know why I shy away from it, so I'm going to try to conquer my hesitation/fear of writing things down. I used to write my whole life down, so I'm hoping that this will be an easy transition.

Day 17 of 30 Days to Get Your Art On and A Blogger Rant

Here is the art journal page I worked on yesterday. I really have been enjoying the work.  There is definitely something zen about it - ripping paper, gluing, arranging, etc. I do think that I want to also be posting OTHER stuff - that's where I'm heading. Somewhere between the Ralph Waldo Emerson posts (FAIL) and All Art Journal - All the Time. :)

You may recognize this photo from yesterday's post. It slipped in. I was hoping to post what I had done THAT day, but I have fallen into posting what I did hte day before. Sometimes, I get overly enthusiastic. :) Sorry about that. 



RANT about Blogger's new interface:  Just because you CAN make it different, doesn't mean you should! For heaven's sake. This isn't any faster or easier or better. Now I can't find stuff, I can't figure out how to manoever around. Many of the features show up on a white page with white text and a little orange box around it. I'm sure I have the old IE or something. I like things that stay the same. The world is constant chaos. I would like for something to stay the SAME. 

What is the drive that causes people to want to radically change something or discontinue a whole service because you MIGHT be able to connect 2 nanoseconds faster or you MIGHT be able to run a video and talk on the phone at the same time?  Who the heck knows what the impetus was behind the change in Blogger. I'm sure it had something to do with the Google/Blogger merge. But at least Google is easier to use.  I finally found a groove and was really able to manage the old interface. Now, I just feel frustrated. :( Bad Blogger. Bad.

Hi. My name is Jean and I'm resistant to unnecessary change.

Day 16 of 30 Days of Get Your Art On

Well, yesterday was a big day for me.  I went to Art Media and purchased some art supplies. It was sort of impromptu - I had to go to the bank which is conveniently located in the same strip mall.  I used some of the money I deposited as a special treat for myself. I got some metallic water colors, some sponges, a couple of pencils and pens. It wasn't too extravagant, but I enjoyed my little "Artist's Date".  I'm close to being done with my second J.O.Y. journal collages and I want to do something a little more involved in the next journal - whatever the type.  I still need to do some pen work in both the J.O.Y. journals, but I'm going to finish the collages and then do more.
I also received some fun supplies from friends and family for my birthday that I can use in the art journals. All in all a nice day and weekend.

Here is the page I completed yesterday. I did some pen work on other pages, but not enough to warrant posting photos of them. Perhaps when I finish, I will do side by side comparisons. Who knows?  I'm also looking at some of the prompts that come with the classes. I might use some of them to write in the journals and I might even use some of them here. Exploring my options. :)

Day 15 of 30 Days of Get Your Art On

Here are the things I worked on yesterday. I had the day off, so I got to play for a good part of the day. I'm pretty happy with these pages. It's funny how that happens sometimes - things just fall together and feel right.

I just love the gloves she is wearing in this photo. I'm trying to use some colors or patterns that I wouldn't normally use, so this spread was fun to do.

Days 13 and 14 of 30 Days of Get Your Art On

I know I have not been great about getting my pictures posted daily recently. With the show and long work days, I have a hard time getting good photos sometimes at night, so I have to put it off.

Crappy photo, I know.  This is the inside cover of the new journal. I decided that I was going to put whatever I wanted on this page and the next (in terms of celebs, pics I have used before, etc.). I think this journal started out as something I wanted to do differently.  

This is the next page in the first spread of the new JOY 3 Journal. :)

this page is a little too much for me. I started with the black and white designs on the left side and had a hard time after that, so I just decided to experiment.

Cool Oprah quote. :)

This is the spine of my new book. I made it from the J.O.Y. art journal workshop techniques. If you want to know more, go here.

 

 

I will say that as I was playing around yesterday, I felt like I'm not doing the ART part which is why I used "art-y-ness" because gluing photos down isn't exactly the height of being artistic. I think I'm sort of afraid of the art part. That's the "different" purpose of the new journal - I want to try some different stuff and not be worried about messing it up. :)  We'll see. Maybe I'm just a gluer. I'd be okay with that. I enjoy it. That's what it's supposed to be about.

Birthday Extravaganza, "Harry Potter" and Art-y-ness

Today is my birthday. I usually don't work - since I was a summer kid, I never had to celebrate my birthday at school and I have just sort of carried it over to my work life. I get a "personal holiday" each year and I mostly use it for my birthday. This year, I had to work due to some needs. I was a little annoyed, but I decided that I could either be annoyed and let it ruin my day or I could just enjoy it. People are lovely on your birthday - everyone stops by to wish you a happy birthday. Yesterday, a friend brought homemade cupcakes - decorated and everything! for everyone to enjoy. It kind of made me rethink the whole "take your birthday off every year" decision. Maybe taking a three day weekend the weekend after my birthday is the best thing. That's what I'm doing - tomorrow, I'm off!

On the birthday theme, I have been on the fence about going to see the last "Harry Potter"movie tonight for my birthday. For one thing, I know I will get a little tired. Sad, huh? I'm usually up until 12:30am or so, but I'm not usually in a darkened theatre. But I know this movie will be filled with battle and excitement. I have seen every movie since #3 at the opening show, so it feels appropos.

As for art-y-ness, I did work on my new journal, journaled in my first J.O.Y. journal and took some pics for days 13 and 14. I haven't doctored them up yet because I have to leave for the movie. I know I'm kind of taking a chance going so late, but I'm not willing to camp out to see a movie. I'm sure I will get a seat. :)  I'm going to a more rural location to see the movie because I know that it isn't as popular as some of the local theatres.  So, tomorrow, pics of my art journaling for Days 13 and 14. Really. I will post them.

So, all in all, a very good day. Thanks to all of you who helped to make it so. :)

HP Fail :(

Well, not only did I not manage to read the last "Harry Potter" book before the movie is released, I barely made it through the first chapter. Disappointing, I must say. I thought maybe I would spend part of the day tomorrow reading it but it turns out that I didn't get my requested time off for a variety of reasons.  Ah, well. It is sort of par for the course in my reading right now.

I did work on my new little journal today. I'm kind of loving how it turned out so far.  I worked on the inside front cover some more and I taped all the signatures into the cover. I didn't take any photos because, again, I didn't do the work until late in the evening, so it is too dark and the lighting is poor for photos. I will post tomorrow.

I have a lot of stuff percolating in my head, so I'm kind of itching to do some work in one of the collaged journals - just haven't made the time this week. Sometimes, I can't decide if I do that to allow the percolation or if I do it to avoid writing stuff down. Maybe a combination of both.

Craptastic Day and Zen in Art

For reasons I won't go into here, I had a kind of craptastic and long day.  I decided that I needed a different journal - the J.O.Y. 2 journal is bigger than I am used to and it has been challenging and interesting to fill it. I still have pages left for collage and TONS of pages left to write in and to do pen work in.  I made a 1/2 size journal from 9X12 watercolor paper, so this one is 4.5X6.  Should be interesting. I also decided it needed a firmer cover like I did for my first J.O.Y. journal, so I used an old Barilla pasta box for the cover. I haven't put it all together yet, but I made a good start.

Sometimes, even when I don't love the product, I love the process. Looking for images, thinking about colors and images and textures, putting them together - very ZEN for me right now. I need that.

First photo is the completed collage from the page I did on Day 10. I finished it last night but I don't love it. I just couldn't feel what was supposed to happen with the page, so I forged ahead. I think writing and pen work will save the page at some point. I have more I can do, but I had to leave well enough alone for now.

The next two photos are the beginnings of the new journal. The first photo is the front cover and the second is the incomplete inside cover. There is a little window in the cover which I'm excited about. Something fun will have to peek out of that little window. We'll see what happens.

Tomorrow will be a better day. I just let myself get upset about stuff that I shouldn't have today. I have to remember to breathe.

Sunday and Days 9 & 10

I went to sleep pretty early last night so I woke up feeling pretty refreshed and ready to do some art.  I went to the movies and finished my page from yesterday and started a new one for today. I didn't finish - I just wasn't feeling it, so I decided to take a break.

I started to re-read "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" and see if I can finish by Thursday night. I'm not sure if I will be able to, but I'm going to try. :)

The first focal image in my page reminded me of Madonna from her first album. I had fun putting that one together. The second one was more of a struggle - trying to find something that felt right. It's weird how you get a sense - nothing concrete- but you know what things should go on a page and what things shouldn't. I don't always get it right, but I find it fascinating how it all usually comes together.

My Day 8 of 30 Days of Get Your Art On

I found some pink wrapping paper and tissue paper from my birthday last year so I didn't have to enlist any commercially made paper like I thought I might.  I had a bunch of stuff to do tonight, so I only worked for about 35 minutes, but I like the results.  I think I'm done with monochromatic pages for the time being. I like themes, but I also like to be able to finish a page in a sitting (at least the collage part).

Anyway, here is my Day 8 piece:

Here is the spread that I put together. I didn't intend on having them be so similar in layout (which I just noticed). That's okay, I suppose. I wasn't paying attention and I really struggled with the pink page. Also, I have to add my little bee into the pink page. I will do it tomorrow.

Thank goodness it is Friday!

30 Days of Get Your Art On Days 6 & 7

Neither of the pages I'm posting today are done but I wanted to get something posted for my art challenge.  After July 4th's pages, I decided to do a couple of pages that had limited color themes. It was going okay until I got a little too exotic in the color scheme, I think.  The page I did yesterday will only have pink, white or black in it.  The page I did today is a departure from that - I just liked the focal image and what the girl's shirt says.

I'm still working on the pink...I haven't quite found the right combination but I worked for a long time on it yesterday and then I gave up out of frustration.

I think I have some paper that I will include even though this is from my J.O.Y. 2 journal - I have been trying to only use magazines and books that I have instead of commercial papers, but I think the pink is more demanding than I thought. Rules were made to be broken, right?

"One World. In it together. Your strength strenthens us" is what the shirt on the left says. I liked it and I decided I wanted to use the focal image. I used colors that appear in the focal image as the background color theme.  I still need to find some more blue, I think and cover up some of the text and then I will do some penwork or some journaling to round out the page.

**As a side note, I don't know what the h*ll Blogger did to their site, but everything looks freaky and new and I'm not really sure if I will be able to get used to this new layout and all...I will report back later. :(  Hi. My name is Jean and I'm resistant to change.