WholeLife Mastery

I almost didn't post today...

because the spread I did this morning didn't seem to be related to the theme I thought I'd chosen for this month's ArtSoMoFo.  I wasn't consciously aware that I was even using a theme until I was about three days into the challenge.  Oh, and the theme is "Celebrate Everyday".  Yes, I know I wrote it on my first day spread, but I didn't have eyes to see it then.  Inspired by the wacky holiday greetings my altered buddy Elizabeth occasionally sends, I've been hunting around for one to do everyday.  And no, I didn't art everyday, but I did more than I usually do when school is in.  So far I've found my the most interesting and accurate dates at Holidays on the Net and the online version of Chase's Book of Days.  Journaling, like life and work and ... , is supposed to be fun.  LIghten up.  Play.  Experiment.  Enjoy. Grow.

Art Unraveled Confessions of a Daily Journaler Class

This was my first Traci Bunkers' class and it definitely won't be my last.  What I love about Traci's teaching style is how easy she makes it for folks like me who are afraid of making a mess to "slap on some color, glue some stuff down" and throw some text over it.  The supply list for the class included "Personal ephemera: shopping lists, to do lists, etc."  WOW! What a wonderful way to corral all those post-it notes I've been saving because I didn't want to throw away a good idea.  They made a great background for my second spread, "Grading", because the blue ink from my Uniball pen tinted the white gesso. The list rubber stamps are from Traci's full sheet of unmounted journaling stamps.  I have three more pages of post-it notes glued down waiting for me to art them up. I love it when I start journaling a spread only to figure out later what it's trying to tell me, a lot like interpreting a dream. I just finished -- and finished is always provisional when I'm crafting -- the "Grading" spread I started Thursday, 10 August. While grading has always been my least favorite part of teaching, looking back at this spread to scan and blog it today reminded me that "It's only hard when I try to do it from anyplace other than Center."

Art Unraveled Journaling with Watercolor and Ink

   

Bev Brazleton's class was the first one I took at this year's Art Unraveled and it turned out to be the perfect start to a perfect week. We painted with both watercolor and watercolor crayons.  We bound the books using Bev's Rubicoil machine.  She guided us through some fun composition exercises including "Art on the Grid" and the "Exquisite Corpse" as described in the Winter 2006 issue of Artitude.  This journal ended up being my Artitude 2007 journal including the postcard and themed bottle cap on the cover.  This was my second straight year taking a class with Bev and my only disappointment is that this generous and gracious teacher won't be back teaching next year as she'll be taking a year off to change her artistic direction.  I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. 

Art Unraveled Kelly Kilmer Taped Journal Class

This year my intention for Art Unraveled was to do things a bit differently.  In Kelly Kilmer's Taped Journals class, mission accomplished.  When I finished the cover of this taped journal it was definitely different -- edgier, busier and more colorful -- than anything else I've done.  It was so, dare I say it, scary -- yes, I know it's only playing with paper and paint and tape -- I started a collage to cover it up.  Kelly, insightful teacher that she is, stopped me before I could hide it all.  I'm really grateful that she stepped in! Here's what I wrote on my evaluation about Kelly's class:  "Yep, I'm a repeat student of Kelly's and I love her focus on basics -- this is what you can do with acrylics and this is how your colors will blend -- with a fun and creative flair. She's also very generous with ideas, encouragement and materials. And her handouts are like a great cookbook full of enough ideas to keep me playing until I'm lucky enough to take another class with her. I think I'm a Kelly groupie!" I think I'll use this journal for an A to Z Encyclopedia of Me, inspired by Patti Digh's A to Z inventory.

Book Clearing

The piles had become unmanageable, not to mention dangerous.  Once upon visiting, my father commented "I'm going to get a call one day saying they found you under a pile of books."  This particular pile was out because there were so many great lines and good ideas that I wanted to remember.  I just hadn't gotten around to writing the ideas down and putting the books away... UNTIL TODAY.  Last summer I started a reading journal and it felt so overwhelming I just put it away.  Doing this spread on four books from the pile reminded me of the joke "How do you eat an elephant? Bite by bite."  Yes, I know, that's what an artist's journal is supposed to be for--honoring ideas by collecting them and letting them incubate. Maybe now I can get around to a few reading journal entries.  And if not, at least I've gathered some ideas. 

I think it also helped that I'd just read Kelly Kilmer's chapter in In This House: A Collection of Altered Art Imagery and Collage Techniques, where she described "I find it easier to work on a painted page as I can always add stuff until I get a look that I like" (p. 68).  Lisa Vollrath has instructions for this credit card painted background on her website (free registration required). 

Butterfly Mind

Inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert's description of her meditation practice in Eat, Pray, Love: A Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia, I re-committed to my meditation practice.  Of course, Butterfly Mind was right there where I had left it!  Float on!

Years that Ask and Years that Answer

Last week I trekked across town to the Franklin Covey store to buy a couple of storage binders to help me keep track of all the projects -- artistic and otherwise -- that I've got going.  In the back of each binder is a set of year labels and I remembered I have labels reaching back for years.  The title of the spread "There are years that ask questions and years that answer" is from Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, which I finally read in 2005, a year of hibernation for me.  Thank goodness I have journals that prove I was at least here and doing my best to survive.  At first just looking back was quite depressing UNTIL I remembered that I came out on the other side ready to "Bloom Where [I am] planted" (rubber stamp from Rubbernecker).  The background is Moon Shadow Mist in Landlubber Green and Mulberry. 

Build Thee More Stately Mansions

One of the things I absolutely love about summer, i.e., when school is out, not just the season, is having a wide open swath of time to follow an idea through to its manifestation.  This journal spread started with a quotation I read while studying nurturing as a spiritual practice.  Then a line of poetry came and finally a painting named after a line from the poem.  I'll definitely be playing with transfers this summer.  The background for this page is an ink-jet print onto Great White paper, which I can't find anymore but bought a cart-full of the last time I saw it at Big Lots.  I managed to get rid of the brush strokes from my last transfer experiment by applying the fluid matte medium with my finger instead of with a foam brush.  I need to be a lot quicker about the whole process.  Some of the medium dried before I could get the transfer onto the journal page. 

Today is Freedom From Self Improvement Day

I'll be celebrating by "Making Peace with Where I Am", the title of the journal spread posted here.  Sign the Declaration of Independence and choose your own way to celebrate.

 

Think on These Things

While reviewing my last journal volume, I noticed there were way too many times when I finished an entry with "think on this" only to never re-visit the topic again.  So in this new journal volume, I've added this page to the front matter of my journal, reminding me to tie up those loose ends and make some decisions.  The quotation on the left page of the spread reads "Most of us need to recognize a good idea and then think about it for a while before we actually implement it.  The lag between knowing and doing isn't neurotic; it's normal.  We're just gearing up for change" (Borysenko, 2001, p. 31).