Diva Challenge 178 & Whimsical Writing

Tags

altered art, art journal, Diva Challenge, gratitude, lettering, zentangle

The Diva is back and her challenge for Zentanglers this week is to use tangle patterns that begin with the same letters as your initials. As you can see, my initials are JC and I used the patterns Jingles and Capell in a simple arrangement.  To see other interpretations of this challenge or learn about an interesting artist check out the Diva’s blog.

This page in my gratitude journal covers yesterday and today. I have been joyfully working my way through Joanne Sharpe’s book The Art of Whimsical Lettering and here are some of the results. You will see many more in days to come. This combines so many things I enjoy creating and I am having fun illustrating some of my favorite quotes. I have a pain monitoring journal that I have started to use as a repository of inspirational quotes. That helps me remember why I am keeping track of my pain levels and I am so happy to say that my levels are going down, down, down. I am so grateful for acupuncture and a new medication combination and metta meditation and yoga and my most wonderful husband. Amen.

Something I can do

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art journal, collage, flowers, gratitude, Helen Keller, quote, sunflowers, zentangle

I hope you enjoy my Zentangled watercolor sunflower and the variation included here today. Yesterday’s journal entry includes the Helen Keller quote “I am only one, but still I am one…”

The photo I took of the sunflower seemed to embody strength and joy and I hope my illustration captures that.
 

Existential Landscapes, Flowers, and Cats

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altered art, art journal, cat, collage, David Foster Wallace, existentialism, flowers, friends, gratitude, landscapes, zentangle

This is a sketch for a Zentangle Inspired Art(ZIA) piece that I’m working on, but it kind of makes an interesting landscape on its own. I am almost done with the piece and I will include some kind of copy of it in my journal in the next week. I have been working on it off and on all week and I’m pleased with the result. Stop back to see how it turned out.

I’m continuing to play with different methods of journaling on my pages and I’m really loving this super loopy writing inspired by Dina Wakley. It makes my gratitude for air conditioning look beautiful.

I enjoy listening to audio books while I do some kinds of art, particularly some of my larger ZIA pieces. I have been listening to The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace. It has been interesting to draw flowers while listening to the twists and turns of the tale. At some points it made me laugh out loud and at other points I just let the story wash over me. It inspired my title. I fall more into the camp of flowers and cats than David Foster Wallace on the existential crisis spectrum. However, in my youth I struggled greatly with these big ideas of purpose and place in the universe. I have a great love for language and philosophy that permeate this book.

And some days include skulls mixed in with the hearts and flowers.

 

Secret Garden Tour

Tags

acupuncture, art journal, flowers, gratitude, meditation, watercolor

You may have noticed that I like flowers. So, I was very happy when I saw that our local art association was having the annual secret garden tour a day and time that I could go. And the weather was fabulous! This year I had a different approach to the tour. I have been studying the freaky shapes that flowers come in and this tour provided me with some spectacular photos. I will be using them as inspiration for my art in the upcoming days. Here is a taste of things to come.

I had started the day off with acupuncture and unfortunately had another panic attack while hanging out with >30 needles in me so I thought I should get back to work on my color meditation collage. It is a collage I have been working on that imbues plants and flowers with different beneficial healing properties. It is based on a biofeedback audio recording that I have that has been extremely helpful during unpleasant physical occasions, such as acupuncture. For example, the grasses are imbued with calming energy so I imagine breathing in the sight and smell of grass accompanied by calm. It sounds strange, but it really works. Anyway, the secret garden tour provided me with lots of crazy flower shapes to use in the collage.

Today my gratitude journal page is based on going for a wonderful swim and having a relaxed summer day with my husband and cats. The picture book that I’m using for my journal is a fun canvas for summer. Namaste

July Adventures

Tags

art journal, Boston, cats, gratitude

Flew out to Boston with Marq. We spent Friday walking around Back Bay and explored the gardens. It was a beautiful day and we topped it off with a fabulous dinner. Then on Saturday it was time to dig into the world of the Berklee 5 week summer music program.

I actually went off on my own when the parent stuff was done and did some sketching in public! I’m getting pretty wild these days. The architecture in Boston is so fabulous. You will notice a lot of architectural details impacting my journal this week.

And eventually I got home. I was so happy to see my husband and my cats.

Another Gratitude Journal Completed

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Altered book, art journal, butterfly, gratitude, gratitude journal, meditation, smile yoga, watercolor

Well, rats. I had a great post all written out and I THOUGHT I posted it. Something is different with WordPress and I am going to have to figure this out.

Anyway… The post was absolutely brilliant. My best post ever. Let’s see if I can capture some of the faded glory.

Just over halfway through 2014 I have completed another altered book full of so many things I am grateful for. What abundance I have in my life! Sunshine and chocolate. A wonderful husband and two cats. Two sons who are nearly grown and sisters and friends and coffee and yoga and lots of meditation. I have selected the next book I’m going to alter for use as my journal. It is a notebook-sized picture book that will be fabulous for the adventures I have planned for this summer. You will have to stay tuned.

Here we have a lovely collection of totally unrelated images and words. The story behind the left page is another stab at calligraphy and a new way of pain monitoring. I have been filling out these worksheets that I turn in to the neuropsychologist I work with on pain management and they are the record of my pain and activities and meds and stressors and I turn them over to her and I have been for years. As a compulsive journal keeper this has not quite sat right with me. So… now I am keeping them in a journal for me and I will make copies of the pages for her. She doesn’t mind the extraneous quotes and book recommendations, etc. and I get to keep this very intimate record of my days. Yeah, I will not be sharing that journal on a blog. My art journal, however, is still going to be my record of the 3-5 or more things each day that I am grateful for from that day. The right hand page is from yesterday. I had a lesson this week on how to hang an art exhibit. Did you know it involved hammering nails? You would think I could have figured that one out. This might not be a great volunteer opportunity for me. I really support our local art center, but migraines come with plenty of pounding!

Anyway, I am sticking to watercolors. I tried strawberries again because they are so pretty and delicious. Unfortunately they are probably the last of the season. The lips are my meditation self-portrait. I was listening to a guided meditation by Tara Brach and she quoted Thich Nhat Han on “smile yoga” and that tickled my fancy. Another random thought during meditation was to wonder if butterflies have flashbacks to the chrysalis. Ok, this second try turned out ok, but I’m going to save a copy just in case.

Taking Risks

Tags

altered art, art journal, cat, gratitude, gratitude journal, quotes, watercolor

Well it looks like WordPress is celebrating my one year anniversary of blogging with some changes to how I make a new post. How fitting since the theme for my post is taking risks. Lets hope this turns out ok!   So here is me being brave. I tried to paint a watercolor picture of my fat cat. It actually looks pretty good in this photo! He is sitting at my breakfast nook table with me and there was a vase of red tulips in the background. I was worn out after painting him, so I just did my bright yellow walls and teal chair. There isn’t really a window on that wall, but I was writing quotes into another journal and this one just screamed out that I use my new window die cut and include it on the page. The facing page is just lots of fun with layers representing a really fun day I had with my husband.   So the 4th of July in the USA is generally a loud and generally bad environment for a person who always has a migraine. We chose to spend a lovely quiet day with my sister. We grilled bratwursts and ate beans, potato salad, and watermelon. Then we went for a really lovely walk. My teenage son was disappointed that we didn’t go see fireworks, but I think that going to Boston on Friday will make him forget all about it. 🙂 Something new and challenging that I have been doing is being a co-chair for one of the exhibits for our local art association. Last Monday and Tuesday were art drop off dates and I used some of the time to work on an illustrated quote. I have 4 pieces that really fit well with the theme of “Let’s Reminisce.” The one that I just finished is this collage I did on top of a print I made from a watercolor that I did many years ago. I am really pleased with how it turned out. Prints of two of my pieces are available at

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/jeanette-clawson.html