Keep an Art Journal - Room to Create 2

Here you can see what I was talking about in the previous post I'll try to describe going clockwise from about 11:00.

1. single-item-depth shelf above treadmill
2. acres of table space looking at pegboard corner
3. Same as 2 only you can see the top of the new wheely-drawer behind the stool
4. Wire drawers with finished work, sewing machine as well as pin board above
5. Wider view of 4
6. part of clothes line, top of rolls in bucket, treadmill as paper holder, single depth shelf, large shelves and in the distance small shelf of large items

Having the clutter in manageable spaces inspires me to clear the table at night and to put out new stuff to begin every day - isn't that we want?

Keep an Art Journal - Room to create

I decided to do whatever it takes/took to clear off my workspace - my 10 foot table - in such a way that I could have more than a square foot of workspace. I have been meaning to put up this pegboard for the entire summer. Finally got it cut, painted and sanded a month ago and NOW it is up and loaded. This was just the beginning. I cleared rolls of paper and other necessary items into standing buckets and waste baskets. Added a shelf above my treadmill that is one-item deep and easy to reach, added a large paint storage shelf and sorted ephemera to bottles, jugs and jars. Also made a clothes line arrangement for prepped paper in between uses. I did splurge and buy a second set of plastic-wheely drawers and have moved my rubber stamps into it. I have had stamps 6 inches deep in bins and have no idea what I have or where - no longer true! Also reorganized my semi-organized wire drawers so I can find things. Decided it is okay to have things stand on the sideboards as I don't need to work there.

ALL this allowed for my table to emerge to the point I could put a clean paper cover on it. Now the real work begins - changing habits so that I actually put things away at the end of the day or the end of the project. It has been a week and so far I am putting 90% of my things away each night. There are always the things that need to dry sitting out and usually a few things awaiting processing the next day but overall I suddenly have expansive room to create!

Handpainted Pages with Tape Added

In my last post I said I would show you the pages inside the second handmade journal. Since then I had to uninstall and reinstall the photo software - and I had a big case of Idonwannas.

Now it is done and I am very pleased to show you the inside of this journal. I usually hand tear my pages and leave a deckled edge, but for some reason I couldn't get these pages torn to my satisfaction. Luckily for me I have recently discovered decorative tape which is the white lacy stuff you see here! The tape also comes with black lace.(karl@oboiler.com to buy)

l.

The second set of pages you see has a different decorative tape that has script on a clear background. This tape furthers my ongoing experiment with using script or text for interest and depth. I love the effect. I found this tape on Etsy at the direction of my current art journaling mentor Kelly Kilmer.

The e-mail address for this tape is Yangyanggo@hotmail.com I cannot remember the Etsy name though. I also have a transparent tab/extension on this spread of pages to the right which just makes the next page sooooo inviting. When I write and collage this page I will turn the book so that the extension is on the top of the page. Then the vertical lines in the page will be there for script! And no one will be able to just flip through the book without pause.

Now the question is should I give this journal to my sister for her birthday? Even if I am not sure that she would use it? Or even if she wants something more to dust lying around on a shelf? This is where I am stuck right now.

Making Your Art Journals - Recycle and Reuse

This is the second journal I have handmade on my own - I LOVE it! I took a class in which I learned how to reuse an old book cover and paint, collage and bind it, into a beautiful work of art that anyone would be proud to carry around, work in or just look at.

I have spent a lifetime looking like a church lady just because my hair is curly and my figure is prim. I have a practical bent that talks me out of outrageous clothing and flashy cars. But when I get to my art table I can see no reason to be practical. If I were going to be practical I would just go buy the sturdiest journal that would serve my purposes.

So for this cover I painted the binding tape a mix of Lumiere's metallic rust and halo pink gold acrylic paint. The book boards are the same metallic rust, and the grid tape is painted Golden's Copper Acrylic. Then I decided to make dingle-bobs on the binding thread and to put them on the outside. They will probably tangle and be in the way, but oh, they look so cool. I got my husband to help me drill a hole in some Austrian Pfennigs and used one of them as a dingle-bob, I also used some bronze beads and charms from Vintag. Oh and I had a pearl laying right there so I tied it on too.

This journal has hand-painted pages in it and I will show them in another post...I must go get some journaling done so I can finish my current journal and start using one of my new ones.

An Altered Book Art Journal

Ah software - the band on the left of each picture is actually the top and the grid tape will go down the left side.

This is the first altered book journal cover I have made on my own. I took a class in July, with Kelly Kilmer but since the journal I made then is still being filled, I haven't tried making another cover on my own.

This cover is beautiful, but it isn't perfect. I made the space between the two book boards too narrow so the book will not be one that lies flat when the pages are added and filled up. I could do it over, but I think I will just learn from it and make another and put the lesson to better use. Re-dos never work for me anyway.

I still have to sew in the pages and have to wait for my waxed linen thread to arrive in the mail...the pages are painted and standing by.

I'll post the art journal again when the pages are in - stay tuned.

What Chases Me in Circles?

When in a mode of procrastination my creativity declines, slumps, goes stagnant I don't care how you say it. On days where I am more behind than usual I get less productive.

With the days getting shorter and the morning sun coming through my window later and later, I can easily get side-tracked into a 'normal' pace.

My morning practices (and my morning) go better when done before other folk are moving around the house. They are quiet practices. Meditation, writing, and a quick walk around the hood. If I am up very long before I begin my practices my mind gets the upper hand telling me about chilliness, darkness and just this once.

If I get to the meditation before I can really think (but after I brush my teeth) I know my day will be more productive, which means I'll be itching to paint, glue and write by the time I get a chance to do it. Then procrastination and putting off aren't even an issue.

Well I think I got sidetracked right there - I notice that the more I put things off the harder it is to get up in the morning. If I don't get up EARLY in the morning I miss my daily set up. When I miss my set up I don't have the energy to tackle the icky stuff and then it builds up in my mind, gains weight so to say. Then the next obvious step is to the 'put it off' mode...it's a vicious circle is all I'm saying.

The Heart of the Matter

Why I Art Journal
I had an idea that I would like to use some old ledger pages for collaging and decided to add a new ledger page that would tally all the things that I use and use up on a daily basis. Since it was on ledger paper I added up the new tally and came to a grand total of $37.00 give or take a few pennies. On a side note, I thought of several things that I did not add to the list that I use on a daily basis. Like I did not add in the daily amount of utilities and phone costs and car gasoline consumed just to make it through my day. So back to the $37.00. I was mucking about looking for a focal point and thought this bag with a gold Sacajawea dollar in it would look good on the page and was busily attaching it when my eye fell on the image of the little African child licking a minute amount of food from his/er fingers so as not to miss a single bit of meal.
Feed this child for $5.00 a month.
According to this my daily consumption - DAILY - would feed this child for seven months or seven children for a month...What will it take for me to lower my consumption by $5.00 a day? Could I do it and sponsor one child a day for a year? The thought is staggering.

Keep an Art Journal in the Great Outdoors!

Here is the story and accompanying picture from the camping trip - different from my 'at home' work, but still quite fun.

Keep an Art Journal Plein Air

Camping is a way for me to reconnect
with the universe and the natural world. Normally I only take my writing journal and wait until I'm home to let the art out.

It seemed such a shame to let the long unscheduled hours to drift by without any art journaling at all that I decided that I could at least do a little bit, at least prep a few pages. I forgot about such things as wind, no running water, ants and drifting leaves and blowing dust.

Even though I didn't attempt anything using my normal acrylic paints and collaging, I was able to make a couple of satisfying pages with the water color pencils and Sharpie water-based poster paint pens. I never have enough
good reading material when I go off into the mountains I so have to make up snippets of my own, something I would love to find in
a book at the library.

I am having trouble uploading another picture so I will fool this
software and get it in another way...hope it doesn't look too out
of order.


Here is the happy camper journaling away bundled up for pre-breakfast coffee in the cool mountain air.

I think everyone would benefit from getting away from the everydayness of life and get a little uncomfortable and inconvenient in order to be in a place that's beauty is so big that it expands any mortal wishing to rise.