Peaceful Hearts

Tags

Altered book, art journal, collage, gratitude, Heart, Journal 52, Peace

This journal page reflects the influence of the Journal 52 prompt and really fun  art journaling video, my work on the sets at our theater, and my time in the swimming pool at our local YMCA. I participate in aquacize classes and swim 5 laps once a week when I can. I am grateful for the activities that I am able to participate in that help keep me healthy. The lights reflecting off the water last Saturday were really beautiful in my super blurry vision. I am so happy with the heart stencil that I made. It needs to be remade on something a lot more substantial, but the shape makes me happy. The word Peace came from my yoga class this morning. It just seemed like the perfect way to complete this page layout. May you be peaceful.

Morning Pages Psychedelic Synthesis

Tags

100 Mandalas, Altered book, art journal, Art Journal Every Day, collage, gratitude, Journal 52, Morning Pages

I have really been enjoying the practice of “morning pages” that I have discovered on my Inspired Year Retreat with Kathryn Costa. These pages represent a couple of days of morning pages. I have been writing 2 full pages rather than 3, but I can see how that third page may be beneficial. However, the 2 pages works better with my aesthetic sensibilities. As you may gather from the use of an altered book as my journal I am very enthusiastic about reusing things. I reused the “Word Audition” worksheet as my pallet for my Flower of Life word mandala. And as the background for the markers to go through and add color to the page. Then the next day I used it to journal on both sides with different colored Sharpies. So here are the photos to show you the steps in my process:

Morning pages day 2.

Flower of Life word audition mandala.

The words are written in gel pen and don’t show up very well on the photo or this scan, but perhaps the most important words are “cleaning=sanctuary building.” This process has motivated me to really get going to transform our extra bedroom from our storage room to my studio. While “thrive” is probably my main word for the year, sanctuary building, play, art, opportunity, delight, contentment, and of course and always, gratitude.

Here is my morning page from day 4. I missed doing it on day 3. I’m ok with that, this isn’t something I will be really strict about, but I do find it to be a helpful way to start the day.

Here is a closeup of how I cut and embellished my medallions from the page to make psychedelic flowers. The journal prompt for Journal 52 is psychedelic this week and that was an easy one for me.

Have a beautiful day!

Say yes to thriving

Tags

altered art, Altered book, art journal, gratitude, gratitude journal, Journal 52, Maya Angelou, quotes

I have been working in my journal, even if I haven’t been posting. Here are 2 page layouts that represent the beginning of the year. I’m also rejoining the Journal 52 community and the prompt to say “yes” to something.

This layout is composed of some of the practice pieces from the new art I made for the exhibit I have been talking about in my recent posts. I’m trying to keep my mission in mind as I am really struggling with depression lately. My gratitude journal is an important piece of my defense against depression. This quote of Maya Angelou has already helped me through some difficult days and I hope to live up to it this year. Thinking about how I can thrive really keeps my mind occupied in a healthy way. Expressing gratitude for my husband and friends, music and books, and the beauty that I can put on a page really help me turn a day around. I’m still having really dark moments, but playing with paint and paper and loved ones keeps helping me say yes to the wonders of life. Having good enough vision to really make all kinds of art is such a marvelous boost!

I am doing well enough, health-wise, to get back to yoga classes and I am SO grateful for that. There are a lot of layers of meaning in these 2 pages and not as much careful design on the left hand page. The most important component is the things that went into the making of my husband’s birthday card. I can not express how grateful I am for his love and kindness. He is the most generous soul I have ever known and I am so lucky to share my path through this life with him.

Crazy Quilt of Gratitude

Tags

100 Mandalas, art journal, crazy quilt, Flower of Life, gratitude, gratitude journal, Journal 52, Mandala

Hey, I did a journal 52 prompt! The prompt this week was grid, but on Julie Fei-Fan Balzar’s Art Journal Everyday blog she had some posts about an amazing quilt show. And I thought, what a great combination! She also posted about a class she did on lettering and I realized I hadn’t done much with that in a while, either. I’m feeling somewhat better and have been able to get back into working in my gratitude journal every day. That in itself is something to be super grateful for!

The eye and some of the other work on the right hand page was done by a guest artist who was here over the holiday weekend. Great synergy to help me get back into the habit.

I finally did a flower of life mandala and I’m excited to do another one. I’m over half way on my 100 mandalas challenge. I thought I would be able to complete the challenge this year, but my body had other plans. I am happy with the progress I have made and plan to continue drawing mandalas (at least) until I get to my goal of 100!

Have a beautiful day!

Back to the Gratitude Journal

Tags

acrylic paint, altered art, art, art journal, collage, grateful, gratitude, Journal 52, quotes, stencils

I have been writing and arting in my gratitude journal, I have not been very good about posting about it however. Posting does make me a more faithful journalist, too. These pages started as a pallet for my collage and a place to clean off stencils used in the collage. I have a lot of scraps of watercolor paper left over from the cut pages I use to make coloring pages. I am starting to practice with new art supplies in little sketches that I will then write over. It takes the pressure off of making something finished looking when exploring new supplies and is providing me with lots of interesting backgrounds for journaling. Stay tuned for more!

The Journal 52 prompt for this week is Hiding Out and I feel like that is kind of what my journal pages have been doing. Actually, my interpretation of this prompt is about hiding the private thoughts and experiences in my published journal pages. Writing over images and some of my scribble/stream of consciousness handwriting provide me with ways to write about whatever I want without thinking about the publication part of it.

Here is a page full of quotes from the book I made for Jacob and with the city stencil from my most recent collage. Do you like it when I write out the quotes?

I have so much to be grateful for. How about you?

Have a beautiful day!

Completed Altered Journal

Tags

acrylic paint, altered art book, Altered book, Journal 52

Lots of finished pages for the journal. I have already given it to the wonderful young man and he was so happy. It is so wonderful when a handcrafted gift is appreciated. This process has really rejuvenated my personal journaling practice, too.

The book that I altered was about the senses and I had fun playing with the different headings. This orange page has a lot of interesting textures on it and I put some of the paint on the drawings of the hands on the facing page to go along with the idea of touching the paint. This layout for the “Smell” page is one of my favorites. It is created with a stencil, a sponge, and some black gesso then a white pen for journaling lines.

This page is another one of my favorites. I wrote some favorite quotes on the pages and I hope they are legible as I’m not really up to typing them each in today.

I’m having some technical difficulties. So I think I’m going to wrap this post up and post the rest of the pages another day.

Raise Your Words

Tags

acrylic paint, altered art book, art journal, collage, handwriting, Journal 52, lettering, Rumi

I have been making progress in both my altered art journal and Jacob’s. Here is his title page. This page in his book inspired one in my own!

Here are my journal pages from Monday. The page above and the two pages below are originally pages that have macro photos of butterfly wings and they make such a fabulous backdrop for whatever I am putting over the top. It is one of the great features of altered art books to incorporate what is already there. I had done some of the paint layers on the pages below on previous days. I have increased my use of leftover paint on stencils and brushes to make marks on future pages so as not to waste the paint. It has led to some interesting backgrounds (like the paper flowers background – that had been created over the course of a few days, but just a few minutes each time.) I am including a scanned copy of my journaling page because this has become my favorite form of “handwriting” in my art journal. It allows me to express private thoughts in a way that I can then publicize the product. I also really like how it looks. I exaggerate any loops and go back into them with short and wide lower letters. On the facing page I did some more traditional journaling with acrylic paint.

And this page includes one of the many quotes I love by Rumi:

Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.

The images and words on the page are not completely obscured by the layers of different papers I layered over the  top of it. I used matte medium to make an interesting surface to write on. I also included a single layer from a paint filled napkin in the collage. I really love this technique. There can be so many layers of colors, images, and meaning.

Have a beautiful day.

Valentines and Gratitude

Tags

100 Mandalas, Altered book, gratitude, gratitude journal, Journal, Journal 52, migraine, serendipity

Here is my journal page for the Journal 52 Challenge on the topic of “Valentines.” I was so happy that my Mandala I did for the Diva’s Challenge last week would complete the page so nicely. You may notice it is the only mandala on the page. In my attempt to adhere to the 100 mandala challenge, I have veered off my path of gratitude. I am enjoying the mandalas, but I really need to work on the gratitude every day for my physical and mental health. My migraines have been getting a little worse (which makes mandala making beyond me) and my doctors and I haven’t quite been able to tease out why. I have been considering looking for some paying work or applying for Social Security Disability insurance and the increased pain levels make me think I need to go the latter route. That is really depressing. So, gratitude.

Here is my 2 page spread for the past week.  One of the things I love about altered books is the serendipity of what is on the page I’m going to use for any given week. I really love the photographs in this book. Look how the huge rock suggests a huge heart. It works so well with the Lao Tzu quote, too. I played with some patterned papers to accent the photos and  did some journaling about my week and my love. I hope you have a lovely week.

The quotes, in case they aren’t very legible:

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply give you courage.      Lao Tzu

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.     Shakespeare

This week I’m grateful for things coming together nicely and the fun word serendipity. How about you?