Four Seasons

I've been working on a fun project at Coach Creative Space called "Four Seasons." There are twelve artists who will each be making four pieces of art to represent the seasons. We can use any media we want (we even have someone writing haiku!).

I decided to make trees in mixed media. My first tree ended up being a winter wonderland! The base is card stock covered in texture medium. I did some garage sailing :) and brought home some very inexpensive collage items to use. I sprinkled my tree with sparkly white glitter, pearls and beads. I only wish my camera could give you the full effect of the sparkles!


Here's a close up peek...


Of course, spring must follow, and I'm off to a good start by carving some cherry blossoms out of clay. I love carving clay!


Will post more as it materializes! In the meantime, check out the Coach Creative Space link above and visit the "Four Seasons" group. You'll find some beautiful work there!

No winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn.
-Hal Borland

Stronger Than I Think...

I'm taking part in a collaborative art journal project at Coach Creative Space. It's called "Journey of Journals" and it began in June 2010. Seven people are in my group - two from the UK, one from Canada, and 4 from the US. What a wonderful journey it's been! We each chose a topic for our journal. We start our journals with two page spreads, then mail it to the next person on the list, who then gets to add two more page spreads. Eventually, your journal is returned to you!

Some of the journals have already arrived back in the hands of the original owner, so now I can share some of page spreads that I've worked on (I'm still waiting for mine to come home...it should arrive sometime in April!)

The photos I'm showing here are from one of my page spreads in Paula's journal. Her topic was "Strength." Thank you to Paula in New Mexico for allowing me to add to your journal!


Have you ever worked on a collaborative art project? I'd love to hear about it!

Art is the collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.
Andre Gide

Road Trip

Well...it's not an actual road trip. It's really a book cover. I am a confirmation partner with an 8th grader at my church and we decided to make covers for our Bibles. I found some old maps lying around, and decided it would be the perfect use for a Bible cover. Here's the back...


I used a map of the United States amd intentionally placed New Mexico on the front cover. I feel I'm being called to Santa Fe sometime in the future. Maybe a trip to Ghost Ranch!! So many courses to choose from...

Art & Spirituality
Artful Journaling
Artful Spirit
Exploring Your Spiritual Journey: A Contemplative Art Retreat
Handmade Tiles: Images of the Southwest in Low Fire Earthenware
Mapmaking: The Art of the Personal Atlas
SoulCollage® As A Spiritual Path

There! My Ghost Ranch wish list in a nutshell! Maybe I'll see you there!

Till next time!

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.
–Martin Buber

My Dream House

About a mile or two away from me, is my dream house. It reminds me of an Italian villa with a long driveway leading up to it. If you're not looking for it, it would be easy to drive by and miss it. As for me, the people who live there probably think I'm a stalker, because I have, on occasion, pulled over to the side of the road to look down the drive and admire it. Every time I drive by it, I wish that it was mine! If you live nearby, maybe you know which house I'm talking about.

So, my journal page that I've been working on lately was in response to this dream house of mine. The actual house doesn't look quite like this though. The real house is white, and it has many more windows (and there's a lake in the back, too!).


But, like any art journaling, I've used what's inside my own mind to create this image. I think I chose yellow to show how bright and alive the house is in my mind. I had to put at least one window there, to let some all important light into the house. When I added a door to my house, I realized that there is one thing that is absolutely required in my dream house....it must be filled with love! (good thing I printed out 3 of those same phrases in different sizes...it really made it quite clear to me how important that is!!)

So my original simple intentions to honor my dream house turned out to be much more important than just a house down the street. It opened my eyes to show me what really matters to me in a home....

If I were asked to name the chief benefit of the house, I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.
-Gaston Bachelard

Four of a Kind

It must be Thanksgiving break, because I'm finally making some art at home again! I was in the mood to play with some paper, so I got out some ATC size cards that were already painted and a box full of paper scraps that I needed to sort through...Glad I did :)

Hmmmm....

Ooohhh...

Aaahhhh...

And my favorite from tonight...

Thank you to Deja Views and K & Company for your lovely paper :) and thank you to the wonderful people who make linoleum and linoleum carvers, so people like me can carve stamps like this...


Let me know if you want to trade any ATCs with me :)
Must go now...time for a relaxing story before bed...

Till next time,


The thing that makes a creative person is to be creative and that is all there is to it.
-Edward Albee

Speaking Your Truth

Finally finished....Here's my Chapter 6 Project from Kelly Rae Robert's Taking Flight book...


We worked with two new art techniques with this project - gold leaf and molding paste. I really liked the molding paste :) Last night, I went over to Nikki's house for our final art night together - the nerve of you, girl, to move away from me, and leave me without a real live art friend! We worked on the FINAL project in the book, but you'll have to wait for photos since I still have some touch ups to do. Way to go Nikki! We made it through the ENTIRE book!! I can honestly say that I couldn't have done it without you!!

Now that we're done with the Kelly Rae book (!!!) I'll be focusing on my clay for the rest of the summer. Stay tuned!

Till next time,

Honoring Your Memories

It's about time I posted some photos of my Chapter 5 Taking Flight project! Nikki and I finished our projects over a week ago (maybe even two weeks!), and I really want to post these before I move on to Chapter 6!

The theme for this project was "Honoring Your Memories." I definitely felt pulled toward some early memories from my family of origin. Not a whole bunch of happy memories, but they are memories to be honored, nonetheless. I know that all of my past experiences, positive and negative, have contributed to who I am today, and I'm feeling pretty good about how my life has "turned out" so far (AND I'm looking forward to all the future has in store :) Working on this project gave me plenty of opportunities to re-visit my past, and do a little more healing (always a good thing, even though it doesn't always feel so good!).

Back to the art...I'll start with this close up shot of my "blue bird of happiness." I love how this bird turned out! I made it from polymer clay, and finished it off with a few coats of golden acrylic paints. It symbolizes the happy times in my life - those in the past and those yet to come. The "1963" above the bird represents my birth, and the "2009" below represents the present. The bird is heading east towards the sunrise of a new day :)


Below is a shot of the entire project. The base is a 12 x 12 piece of plywood, covered with an assortment of scrapbook papers and ephemera (so many hidden messages in there...I should probably make some notes on the reverse so I remember why I put them there!)

The two photos on the top are of my mom's family (her Ma and Pa on the left, and a "Kodak moment" with some of her siblings on the right). The photos on the bottom are my family of origin. The one in the middle makes me laugh because it reminds me of all the matching outfits my mom used to make for my sister and I. She was quite the seamstress! (by the way, I'm the little sister).


I found the church photo in my Mom and Dad's old photo box. There was nothing written on the back, and both my folks have been dead for quite a while, so I can't ask them where the church is. But it is an adorable little church, and I knew just where it belonged in this project. I put the church in the center to remind me of the "bigger" family that I'm a part of, and to represent the importance of faith in my life.


I do like how this project turned out, and I learned a few more techniques along the way! I think I'll put a frame around this and hang it in my art room. It will be a good reminder of where I came from, who I came from, and how far I've come.

ps...if you know where this little church is, please tell me!!

Till next time...

Things to Do Today...

Because honestly...who else can we be?

Joy!

Last night I finished this 4x4 mixed media piece on Blick Artist Board. I not only enjoyed the process of making it, but I really like the finished result as well. I think I'll make several more with different words and put them on my Etsy shop!

Living Life...

I just finished another 2 page spread in my Art Journal. There are so many pages that "need to be finished," and I found myself really hesitating to get started. The background was already painted orange, but I was just stuck with what to do next.

I did some exploring of my favorite blogs, and came up with the idea of "circles" from Misty Mawn's Art Journaling Prompts. Circles...I can do that! But, now what?

I started to think about the times that I "get stuck" when I'm creating. Those times when my inner voice loudly whispers, "Just do it, Jean!" but I still don't listen. In my heart, I know that the journey begins with a single step...but why can't I take that single step sometimes? I think for me, it's a combination of two things: first, being tired from all of my typical daily activities and second, having too many creative choices to choose from.

So, I devised a plan...a simple plan! I thought of just a few things that I can do creatively when I am totally unmotivated to choose. Easy choices requiring very little preparation and absolutely no planning. Skip the thinking...just act!

So, here is my very short list of things to choose from when I am feeling tired and unmotivated, but know deep in my heart that once I get started, I will have so much fun creating!! (I didn't say it was a short sentence, just a short list!)

1. Cut words out of a magazine
2. Cut pictures out of a magazine
3. Paint a page of my art journal with gesso
4. Color a page of my art journal using the first "coloring tool" I see

Simple.

So, based on my new theory, here is what I came up with....



Once I started cutting out the words from my Body & Soul Magazine (always a great source for positive words), the creative juices began to flow. Next thing I knew, I was looking down at a collection of words that I want to describe my life. The important things in life...what I hope for...

See you next time!
Keep on Creating!

Home Sweet Home: Narrative Time Line

I've been working on my Vein of Gold "Narrative Time Line" this week and looking back on the places I've lived. I used my art journal to help me recall some of the important events that I associate with each of those homes. I showed my 17 year old the page while I was working on it, and she said, "What about college?" Ah, yes...I definitely lived there! I could easily write an entire chapter of my college years (and the 3 places I lived while I was there). But for now, I'll jot down some of my other memories of "home."



Boy, do those memories come back when you welcome them...One of my favorite childhood memories was the "tetherball" in the back yard. Funny, I haven't seen one of those for years. Looking back, I do remember getting quite a few bruises! But they all healed, and the joy of watching that ball on a string go round and round the pole was well worth the bruises!



Thanks Wikipedia for the fun image! A very pleasant memory excavated from my childhood mines! Well, I'm sure I'll be digging up plenty of other memories as I continue my Vein of Gold journey!!

Till Next Time....