Category Archives: Challenges

Circles

So my dogs are still trying to figure out what they think about me working in my new studio space. Right now it is just a desk in the corner and all my house painting junk around me. Here they are at my feet waiting for me to get up and play with them instead of make art.

This page took me 3 daily sessions to finish. First day I used water soluable pastels to make a background. It was really wet and needed to dry. I tried to use my new heat gun, but I felt like it was crumpling the page too much and I got bored. Next day, I added the collage elements. I decided I wanted them to be gears. I used my phone to look up images and my PITT pens to turn the circles into gears. Â After I found a quote that I liked, I added the clock and time collage elements to tie it together. The quote says, “We all have a time machine. Some take us back, those are called memories, some take us forward, those are called dreams.”

In my moleskin journal that I am using, I always skip pages in between… Mostly because the paper is kinda thin… But then I use the inbetween pages to write about my process. I have been recording the date and place where I made the page. (A lot of my summer pages were in the garden.) Then I record my process and the meaning of the page. I hope to share this journal with my students, so they can see how I, as an artist, work. Plus since I am exploring new materials as I try to do a daily practice of visual journalling, I want to record my materials and how I use them. I know a lot of other visual journalists write all that stuff within the art page… But I prefer a cleaner look.

Kindness

Our theme for school this year is Kindness, and a recent Journal 52 prompt was the same. So perfect for a new page in my journal.

I started with some collage, then acrylic paint wash over that. This dried overnight. I drew a little sketch of 2 people hugging to add and then included a fun quote. This was a 2 day page for my daily September Art Challenge.

September Art Challenge

My new SAL (School for Art Leaders) Leadership Experiment is to work on art for at least 15 minutes per day for the month of September. This goal/experiment is inspired by my friend Keri, who wanted people to make art with her for the month. She is bed-ridden with a broken butt and can’t do her usual large paintings. So she is journal sketching for the month.

I didn’t finish my studio remodel project by the end of summer as planned, but things are done enough that I have a little art desk in the corner of the room. I have been taking some time before and/or after work to work on journal prompts from Journal 52.

I will try to keep updated with the new pages and projects here.

The page here is for the Journal 52 prompt of “plans.” Since it is the beginning of the school year, I am very busy with making plans. While this page is a little less “pretty” than my usual journal pages, it does capture what my life is like right now with all the calendars, lists, forms and other things that make up the start of the year.

Rain or Shine

We have had one of the hottest and driest summers on record. So it has been a serious shift to have rain yesterday and today. It is very needed and smells wonderful.

Here Comes the Rain Again

This page has several layers of collage and paint. Even though I started with the collage layers yesterday, I did the paint layers today and wished I had a heat gun to help with the drying time. Especially since it is infact very damp today. So I ordered one. And some more Pitt pens.

http://journal52.com/week-14/

Road Trip/ Travel

Travel

I am about to head out on a trip, so this week’s current theme seemed perfect.

I made a mono print style painted background with my left over paints from painting my suitcase. (Decorated for this trip.) The results looked a little like a map, so it was perfect. I added some collage pieces and then used my new whiteout pen/brush.

I listed all the places I can remember living and travelling to as a kid and places I plan to travel to in the next year.

http://journal52.com/week-22/

You Make Me Smile

Journal 52 Week 3(2014) theme: You Make Me Smile

Cosmo always makes me smile

It was a no-brainer to make Cosmo the focus of this page. He is always so happy it is contagious!

I did an acrylic wash on this page spread right after I finished the previous page so it would be dry and ready the next time I wanted to journal. I like this plan as it allows for drying time, which I am usually too impatient for and lets me wrap up a journal session with something quick and fun. So as soon as I was done with this page, I did the same thing… Making a background for the next journal page.

When I did the red border it looked too much like flames, which was not my intention, so I had to add blue to bring it back to more playful and less flames from hell. The photo I had printed using the Walgreens onlune photo app. It was fast and cheap and easier than dealing with my old, slow, dusty computer.

I am really loving the PITT pen for writing, but it took a beating on the lettering I did on my suitcase, so I might need to buy a new one soon.

http://journal52.com/week-3/

Somewhere, a Simple Place

Journal 52: week 2 (2014)

Charger: Lord of the Lawn

I sat in the garden journalling on a beautiful breezy day. I found a picture of Charger and it reminded me how much he loved to hang out with me in the yard. It didn’t matter what I was doing, he would lay around in the grass looking regal and guarding me with a quiet ferociousness. I collaged a view of my garden with the red metal bed headboard that borders the iris bed. Only the big green leaves remain but they are pretty up against the red. I added some goofy lollipop flowers. I got stuck and frustrated because my sharpies would not write on top of my oil pastel background. So I had to seek out some new pens. The PITT Marker and paint pens ended up being the solution.

http://journal52.com/week-2/

Craft Demon

Fabrica the scrappy fabric demon

One of the assignments for the Craft Cleanse Class is to draw out our craft demon.

Your mission today, should you choose to accept it, is to silence your inner demon by giving it a face. Put your inner demon on paper. You can sketch, paint, collage, or just write about whatever it is inside you that drives you to keep on buying things you donâ€™t really need. Journal it out!

I decided right away that she needed to be a fabric doll, not a journal page. But I wasn’t ready to make her until I got the fabric area of the studio organized.

I finally made my craft demon. She is a messy little girl. She has crazy eyes that are mostly hidden by her scrappy fur made of shreaded scrap fabric. They prevent her from making good choices at the fabric store. If it is on sale it is a good fabric. She strangely likes girly fabrics, (even though I don’t) and buys them even when she has no projects for them. She has velcro hands that pick up everything. She seems to think that grab bags of fabric at the thrift store are potential treasure chests. She never puts away her supplies, she throws garbage, thread and junk on the floor. Her name is Fabrica.

Up, Up and Away

Now that my studio is getting in order, I can finally make some ART! Based on the suggestion of my past co-worker Megan, I joined Journal 52 group. I decided to jump backwards and start at the first challenge. I thought doing one a day for the summer, that I could catch up. It wasn’t until later that I realized that they are in their second year and I went to week 1 of 2014. Oh well, so much for catching up. I figure I will just pick and choose the prompts that I like.

Week 1 Prompt

I used my travel art kit sitting at my table in the garden to create. This is inspired by the purging of materials and the studio revamping… which has allowed me to find my muse again. I am using a new moleskin journal for these and tracking my inspiration, materials and techniques.

check out the prompt here:Â http://journal52.com/week-1/

Travel Art Supply Folio

Art supply travel folio

When I travel, I like to take some art supplies in the theory that I will do some journalling. Back in the Artfest days this did happen. But 2011 was the last one of those. ::sad face::

Because of the craft cleanse, my fiber area was tidy enough to make a project! I decided it would be cool to make a supply kit to take my art supplies with me, instead of the gallon zip lock bags I was hauling them around in. The other inspiration for this plan was the Schools for Art Leaders trip later this month. It is an “unplugged” trip where we will be visual journalling for assignments.

I looked online and found some ideas, patterns and images of examples. But none of them really matched my needs. I needed something to hold collage papers, pens, pencils, scissors, glue, etc. Most of the examples just held writing tools.

Inspiration Examples of Art sSupply Folios

Inspiration Examples of Art Supply Folios

So I had to just make it up as I went along. It’s base is like a fabric file folder with inside pocket on each side. Then in the center I sewed in a pencil pouch for glues and such and a clear plastic envelope for papers. Â I sewed some small pockets for individual pens and the cut down and sewed another clear plastic pocket to hold the colored pencils. Finally I had to make a flap for a closure, but I am still deciding if I want to use a velcro or ribbonÂ keep it closed. Leaning towards the ribbon for size flexibility.

Once it was made, I needed to decided which supplies to fill it with! So time to finally test my supplies. (One of the assignments of craft cleanse is to make test sheets of all your pens/inks etc.) I dumped out my zip lock bags and started testing. I was sad to discover 4 years of disuse had ruined many of my supplies. The pens were dried out, the oil pastels had melted into a blobby mess. On the plus side, I guess AFTER the craft cleanse I will get to buy some new supplies. 🙂

House Journal

I also ran across this book kit that is probably 7 years old. (Turns out I got it in 2002!Â http://michelleward.typepad.com/michelleward/home-improvement.html) Â It was stiill sitting in the package, never made. I decided to finally build it and use it to record some of the house improvements that we are doing this year.

I was exciting to be making stuff! It has also felt great to just PURGE! Tossing things that are too old, no useable and donating stuff I have never and will never use. Three hours flew by in the studio today!