Lil Journal Project...Still Having Fun!

Thank you, Ashley Hackshaw at Lil Blu Boo for helping me keep up with my art journal for almost a month!  This is monumental!  I love Fridays, when we link up and get to take a look at what everyone else has been up to. 

It was a busy week, so most of my entries were doodled while I waited in pick-up lines at school or sat with the fam at night.  I put together a bag of supplies to carry around with me...makes me feel like a school girl! 

This week we made a timeline and listed all the jobs we've had over the years.  Since I stayed at home with my kids for so long I also made a list of all the "Hats I've Worn".  Whew...it makes me tired just to look at it!

Tuesday's prompt was to list magazine subscriptons we'd like to have and on Wednesday we drew a map of a route we travel often.  I decided to have some fun and let one entry randomly spill over onto the other.  I really love this page.

Yesterday's descripton of my favorite vacation as a kid looks like a page straight out of my high school binder.  I really got in touch with my inner teenager!

Finally, I just needed to remind myself of some truth one day, so I sketched out a bit of scripture and this wise little owl...just a reminder to be still and know.

If you have a few minutes, head over to The Lil Journal Project and check out some really fun journals or better yet, pick out a prompt or two and do a little doodling of your own this weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

Solitude

In solitude the mind gains strength and learns to lean upon itself.

Laurence Sterne

These are quiet days for me.  They're not quiet in the sense that not much is going on...there is plenty to do and even more to think about.  So much of my work, though, is accomplished at home, in solitude.

Sometimes my spirit rebels against the quiet...the stillness.  Sometimes I want to fill all the empty spaces with activity and excitement... maybe even a little retail therapy ;-)  But when I lean in and allow the solitude to do its work, parts of me that beg to be nurtured timidly speak up and the conversation begins.

A Well-Designed Life

As a graphic communications major I loved everything about art school... the white-walled studio classrooms with huge windows and sky lights...the smell of bad-for-me-to-breathe rubber cement and spray-fix.  Weirdly, I even loved the sleep deprevation.  Coming into my own and looking for a cause in my young adult years, I gladly sacrificed a little sleep for the noble cause of art!

Student Work from 1987 (Visual Mapping)

I realize I'm dating myself here, but desktop publishing was just on the horizon at the time of my graduation, so all of my student work was created by hand.  We spent a lot of time learning to paint clean lines and make exact cuts.  I could not believe my good fortune in getting to go to class every day and "play" with paint, paper and type.  I loved every minute of it!

More Student Work from 1987 (poster inspired by the designwork of Herbert Matter)

The student pieces I've posted here are exercises...projects designed to help train our eyes to see relationships and balance.  I sometimes shy away from talking about my training in graphics because I only worked a few years before leaving the marketplace to raise a family nearly twenty five years ago.  Great design is timeless, though, whether it is in a magazine, on a canvas, or in a beautifully arranged home, and I use what I learned in school every single day.  (And that graphics training is invaluable as I build my jewelry design business!)

In those classrooms with the huge windows and white walls I learned to really look...not just at the printed page, but at the world around me.  It was a privilege to have such an experience and I want to start sharing more of what I learned with you here.  Let's open our eyes to the rich visual world that surrounds us.  Let's look at ways to incorporate the basics of good design into our everyday lives. 

Stay tuned, my friends.  There's more to come!

Keenly aware...

of these blessings today:

Familiar steps leading to my front door.

Little dogs who love to snuggle.

The smell of homemade laundry soap.

Pine trees and clear blue skies.

Solitude.

Bird nests collected from the woods.

A nubby blanket in the most delicious shade of blue.

A coffee mug from the wheel of a local potter.

How are you blessed on this beautiful day?

Lil Journal Project Part 3

I am excited to tell you I am still keeping up with the Lil Journal Project!  Following the prompts from Ashley at LilBluBoo has really helped me stay stay faithful to my journal.  The change of seasons also inspires me greatly (as I'm sure it does you) so I've been journaling en plein air (in the open air) as much as possible.   

Here's a recap of this week's prompts:

On Monday we drew a map of a neighborhood (other than our own) that we remember from childhood.  I drew the neighborhood where both of my grandmothers and several aunts and uncles lived.  It was a magical place to me.

We made a list of our favorite childhood reads on Tuesday.  I revisited some of the books I still have and practiced drawing characters just as I did when I was a little girl.  It was a fun exercise.  The world would be a better place if we all read children's books instead of newspapers once in a while.

Wednesday was a day to collect little scraps of interesting paper to use as embellishments here and there in our journals.  I also used this day to finally decorate the cover of my journal.  My inspiration came from this:

which I turned into this!

I added a sari silk ribbon to keep my growing journal closed.  It is getting pretty hefty already!

I'm going to spend this weekend with my family back home and my journal is going with me.  I hope my mom will help me work on Thursday's prompt to make a family tree. 

This weekend's exercise is to draw something with our non-dominant hand...always a fun exercise.  Why don't you try it, too?  Let me know how it goes!  You don't have to post pictures ;-)

Have you checked out the site that sponsors the Lil Journal Project,  LittleBlueBoo.com?  This amazing blog is worth a look...lots of tutorials and inspiration.  Be sure to read Ashley Hackshaw's story....she is one talented, amazing, beautiful girl.  

Enjoy your weekend! 

Creative Community

My Grandmother Perdue taught me to crochet first.  Then she taught me to quilt.  I remember waking on summer mornings to the smell of fresh brewed coffee and the voices of Grandmother and her friends as they sat together and quilted.  She always had a quilt in progress.  The quilt frame was a constant fixture right smack dab in the middle of her living room.

The women around the quilting frame shared their lives...their joys, their disappointments, their fears. Sometimes they only stayed for a little while, stopping by to get their day started, to touch base. Wednesday was "quilting day" at the church. Everyone brought a sack lunch and a dessert to share. There was always laughter and sometimes even a few tears. Occasionally there was conflict. It was creative community and that is what many of us are hungry for these days.

We've lost a lot in the busy-ness of this world but it doesn't have to be that way.  We can choose to reach out, to make time, to get in touch.  I'm making it a priority from now on.  Care to join me?

Great Thoughts

Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.

Benjamin Disraeli

Today I am really digging in to Flying Lessons, an online course about growing a creative business by Kelly Rae Roberts.  Funny...all this talk about potential and dreaming big has stirred up a lot of insecurity in me.  Isn't that always the way of things?  We commit, we take a leap of faith, and almost instantly the voices start up...reminding us of all the fears that kept us from taking that leap in the first place. 

So I'm arming myself against the fear with sticky notes!

I love looking up and seeing reminders of all the little "aha" moments I've had lately.  If I continue stepping out of my comfort zone this cabinet will be covered in no time!  In fact, I think I'll just start leaving little notes all over the house.  I used to do that a lot when the kids were younger.

There is so much power in words, written or spoken.  I hope your day is filled with good and noble thoughts...that the voice of Truth makes its way into your heart and that you are very much encouraged in your own walk.

Ten, Nine, Eight...

“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.  Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”  - Goethe

Every action we choose starts a ripple effect in our own lives and in the lives of others.  Every word we communicate changes the world for better or worse.  I want to be someone who makes things better, who shares hope and peace.  I believe this is why we were given the gift of creativity in the first place: to help the world remember that whatever else is true, beauty is all around us if we only have eyes to see.

I'm counting the minutes to the beginning of a grand new adventure...today is the day I begin my first ever e-course, Flying Lessons with Kelly Rae Roberts.  (I will head to class as soon as I click the "publish" button here!)  Among many other things, in the weeks to come I will learn more about communicating and interacting with a bigger audience.  A bigger platform means more responsibility.  What I communicate with my words and my art is crucial.

If you are one of my new friends from Flying Lessons, welcome!  I am so looking forward to making this journey with you!  If you're not signed up for the course but think you might want to join us, click on the link above or the button to the right to learn more about it.  This is the last time Kelly plans offer Flying Lessons, so hurry and jump on board!

Lil Journal Project Week 2

Yay for the Lil Journal Project at lilblueboo.com!  The journal prompts Ashley posts each day offer such fresh ideas for my art journal.  Every day she takes us in some totally new direction.  It's so much fun!

We began this week by drawing a map of our childhood neighborhood:

I wanted mine to fold out so I drew it on an old paper sack and glued it into the book.

Tuesday's assignment was to draw and write about different cars we had when we were growing up.  Well, okay, everyone else probably wrote about cars that day.  I woke up thinking about buntings that morning (go figure), so on Tuesday my journal page looked like this:

I told you before, I don't always follow directions :-)

I also created a Pinterest board that day named "Buntings, Pennants and Flags".  Click here to see some gorgeous images and fun tutorials.  I am a bit obsessed.

Okay...back to the journal...On Wednesday we created color palettes so we could give each color a name.  This was maybe my favorite project this week.  I'm fairly certain my color names would never make it onto lipstick tubes or paint samples with names like "Used Motor Oil" and "Mountain Home Countertop".  (I promise it's the same color of tomato red used in the kitchen of the first house the huz and I rented as newlyweds.  Those countertops were out of control.)

Thursday we wrote memories prompted by a group photo we pasted into our journals.  It could be any group at all.  I chose a picture of my mother's family taken several years before I was born.  It was nice to spend time honoring the memories of some of the beautiful people that were such a huge influence in my early years.

There's just one more assignment this week.  Over the weekend we will sketch a few things that we treasure, taking note of where they came from and why we keep them.  I'm just looking around now to see what I might sketch...
I know my journal entries thus far have been a little labor intensive.  I guess I'm just so excited to have a little inspiration and focus that I've had fun losing myself in the process.  Sometimes our creative energy gets so bottled up inside of us it just needs permission to bust out!

Click on the link below to read today's journal prompt and see links to other journals.  Better yet, grab a pencil and paper and join in!

Ready?

The challenge, posed in the form of a question, is this:

"What would happen in your business and life if you set aside the question, “Am I ready for that yet?” and instead followed your creative impulses and your heart’s desires?"

(Read the full article, 3 Big Lies That Could Be Holding Back Your Business by Tara Sophia Mohr, on designsponge.com*)

Well, ouch... and yikes!  How many times have I heard myself say, "I'm not ready yet", not just in my small business but in my artwork and in many other areas of my life?

Maybe I am ready...and maybe you are, too.  Maybe that's what scares us so much.

*designsponge.com spotlights ingenious and innovative products and ideas.  Each Tuesday the site features Biz Ladies, a series of posts written to encourage and inform small business owners.

Ahhh...

The arrival of Fall is such a relief in East Texas. Summers here are brutally hot and usually very dry. The leaves won't change for a while yet but...

a little rain + cooler temps = happy me

For I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground;
 I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring and My blessing on your descendants.
Isaiah 44:3

Also heralding the arrival of Fall... 

Afternoon shadows are longer on the lawn. 

The color orange puts a smile on my face.

Soup and cinnamon-y things are on the menu.
The urge to simplify and get organized is irresistible.

I feel that I simply must knit something.
Outside is the place to be.

What heralds the arrival of Fall in your life?  What makes you say "ahhh..."?

Adventures in Handwriting

Following the journal prompt offered on Lil Blue Boo this weekend was great fun!  (Click the button below to learn more about the project.)  Being challenged to work specifically on handwriting helped me stretch a bit and it is great to know that others are thinking/creating along the same lines.

My inspiration for my latest journal entry was this piece I created a few years ago.

Lots of words on that background...why not try out some different handwriting styles on them?  While doodling and sketching I revised  my original wording and explored some different font styles I found at KevinandAmanda.com. The creators of this site turn handwriting samples into fonts and make them available to you and me for free! They call it Fonts for Peas and you can check them out here. Download a few fonts or just enjoy studying the different handwriting styles...the slant of this one, the loops in that one...just looking opens our minds to creative possibilities.

Now for my favorite part (I never seem to be able to leave things simple)...

I created a background by drybrushing brown and then orange acrylic onto the prepared journal pages. I also added some brown "spatters" with a paintbrush.  I love the texture of the underlying words showing through the paint.  I chose orange because a.) it's one of my favorite colors and b.) it contrasts nicely with the aqua blue used in the lettering.

I added a title by outlining letters in permanent marker and filling them in with acrylic paint.

  

Unfortunately I had to actually rewrite my text on a new page as I was unhappy with the starkness of the white looseleaf paper against the warm values of the background. The loose leaf paper was also a little thin.  To help keep my writing somewhat consistent I photocopied a lined sheet of paper onto a sheet of tea-stained card stock. The lines came out very light...just right.

After trimming the calligraphy pages down I rounded the corners and used a brown inkpad to "antique" the edges. (I use this technique a lot. It gets rid of that white edge and anchors the object to the background.)

My first few entries in this journal have been heavy on the cutting and pasting, so tomorrow I'm challenging myself to actually write in the book!  There's something about writing in a bound book that intimidates me a bit...always has.  Hmmm...I really need to let go of that.

I hope this is the beginning of a great week for you!