Signature Page

Remember that yummy paper I bought - see one of the posts from August 21 - well I have decided to mainly use it for the inside the journal covers I make. It is so scrumptious I don't want to cover it up!

I am trying out a few ideas for a signature stamp ala Prince. I have in mind making a large round stamp and then use it to sign books etc. when I'm famous! Here are the three I like best on my signature page.

I want my signature to remind me (mostly) and others to have direction, and the direction I am striving for on a moment-to-moment basis is Live, Love, Laugh and Be Happy. Yes, I know another song.

Keeping an Art Journal on the Road

This is a different journal, one in which I have painted and stamped on and dried in advance. Then on a trip I can fill it in with events and ephemera picked up on the way.

I can't stand the thought of paint in my car, but we snipped and glued and collected pictures at every rest stop.

On the way home we also added stickers that we picked up in Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park that do not show here. Always ask for stickers, you would be amazed how many ice cream parlors, sweet shops and other places have their own stickers!

Sharing Food for Thought

Sharing for me is a way of being. I believe I exist in what I share, whether it is conversation, art or food. I have a very practical helpmeet that grounds me in the reality of life that I need to have it before I share it...so picky.

This page uses my own 'made' papers as well as some little mosaic tiles I found somewhere. It is also another sample of the water-based poster paint pens by Sharpie...I understand they are a discontinued product so I will stock up.

I don't know if it comes through that I also love to share my values. See the post below for a look at the page with the flap lifted for the items I don't share.

Sharing with Flap Up

Childhood Friends

When I was 12 I ran into Bilbo Baggins, introduced by my friend Janet Meddings. We were at the stage where we were in love with the Beatles and the Hobbits captured our imaginations. I was sucked into Middle Earth and no matter what I said, I could not get my friends and family to read the 'fairy tales.' It was very frustrating.

When my niece was 4 years old I read the entire four books to her out loud, a chapter a day. My dad and mom as well as my sister would listen in. We moved away and my mom said that my dad went to the library and checked out the entire trilogy and they read it together.

I read the series aloud again when my daughter was very young and the audience was her and my niece again, then I read it aloud again to my daughter and my son. A chapter a night.

I would love to meet both Bilbo and Frodo and go on adventures with them and then come home and write the adventures down in my journal - just as Bilbo did.

Keep an Art Journal Experiment

The experiment of a script layer seems to have worked a little better in this page. This time the song Try to Remember or maybe it's The Days of September or !@#$#%$@! it's probably Follow - aside, I'm having a Dory moment, I refuse to have senior moments...

Ahem, where was I, the song script seems to be more visible for this page although I used the same translucent paper. And I do think it adds quite a bit of depth. I will go look at some paper in person and see if vellum or something else is available that is more translucent without being transparent.

I think every year could have a 13th month.

Treasures Found

I took the picture of this page before I finished it.

Sand dollars have always seemed miraculous and mysterious to me. How come the flower pattern? Or is it a star? The delicate and intricate pattern on each shell is incredible and I am assuming, like snowflakes, no two are identical. Mind boggling!

I keep sand dollars where I can see them and be reminded daily of the infinity and perfection of the universe I inhabit.

Old Enough

I was trying to layer writing in as it's own "depth charge." I wrote the entire song the
12th of Never in tiny script and then put a translucent overlay. I should have used transparent. In another post below Beginner's Mind I used tissue with script with the same experiment in mind. I will just say that the experiment continues.

This will now be my new birthday and the song will be the new birthday song requirement.
Happy Birthday.

Who I Am 1

I am going to do a series of Who I am and see what that reveals. At first I didn't really care for the dark colors and flat, matte surfacing of this page, but it is growing on
me. Of course I couldn't find the Spanish dictionary I keep for this purpose, only the French and English. So I put in a French Bulldog as a nod to my French-Huegenot background as well as my tenacity.

Double Page Display

I love bridging two pages and two subjects with a focal point. It is kind of like putting a mirror on the wall to enlarge a room. My favorite play images and my sentimental journey are easily bridged by the fun image of Max - it seems to give continuity from my childhood to my present life.

When the Fog Lifts

The last year BC (before children) we lived in the coastal range above Refugio Beach on one side and Lake Cachuma on the other. Our property was surrounded by Los Padres National Forest and from one side we looked down into the Santa Ynez Valley and from the other we looked down on the ocean if the fog lifted and went out to sea.

That was the beginning of our bird watching life too. The danger of fire in the chaparral and the deteriorating road final sent us off to another even more remote site. Keeping an Art Journal can easily return you to the adventures of your youth even when you aren't old (LOL). My daughter is now in her thirties and my son is close behind.

Keep an Art Journal to DeClutter

De Clutter is in De Can

Journaling about things I keep really got me looking around at what I keep and why.

I have a lot of things to do my work (office machines, files, phones) maintain my presentation (nail polish etc), support my hobbies (piano and music books) books, and books, and books. Oh yes and an art studio. So I have a lot of things not necessary to my survival that are useful, but I have just as many things that have sort of drifted in and made a home for themselves. Each with its own coating of dust I might add.

The journaling got me moving and this past two weeks I have sent 4 large garbage sacks to various charities, listed hundreds of books on half.com and e-bay and dusted and dusted.

It felt easy, a relief even. The stacks of books and journals that were stealing all my desk space now have plenty of room on - GASP – the bookshelves!

Keep an Art Journal - Paper online

Today my new

papers came in the mail. I normally

make my own paper backgrounds with paint and collage, but I found a scrap of beautiful paper at the last class I took and used it in one of my journal pages. I sleuthed out the name of the company and then found the actual papers. And for the first time I bought decorative paper online!

K & Company make these papers and I finally found them online at

Two Peas in a Bucket. The name of the design line is Que Sera Sera, and there are textured papers, glittering papers and flat papers. The papers are designed for scrapbooking so come in the 12 X 12 format. I will use them for inside covers in my next altered book and art journals and any leftover scrap will definitely find its way into the interior of the book.

flat papers - click image to enlarge

Beginner's Mind - Keep an Art Journal

(click image to make it larger)

I was trying to figure out why these pictures were so compelling to me and looked up a wiki for Self Actualization.

Check it out - it may improve your self talk, self image, self esteem. I may be falling short, but I am on a mighty quest.

The blossoms are from the orchid plant on Carol’s kitchen window sill so they are doubly dear. Silly to try to put dried flowers in an Art Journal or an Altered Book, they are just too fragile. I did it anyway and then spent a week coming up with something to protect them (hopefully). I finally ended up cutting up the shopping bag from Two Hands Paperie, it was the best thing I got there! The problem then is that you cannot actually see the page being protected unless you are there to pick up the covering. I’ll see if I can get another picture with the cover lifted as I think the page itself says a lot.

And here is the real advantage and beauty in keeping an art journal, combining several elements that speak to the real me also gives the world access to the real me. Kind of like standing around with your protective covering lifted up.