Day 13: 30 Day Journal Project

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.

And the world will not have it.

You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you.

Keep the channel open.”    ~ Martha Graham

What a wonderful quote for our 13th day with the #30DayJournal project!

I went with my creative flow and the first thing I put on the page was the Henry David Thoreau quote. I have it on a card from Rem. I love it and it fit perfectly for today. The green curlicues were my response to the “vitality, a life force…”

I created a collaged peach because that is Rem’s nickname for me: Peach, or Peaches. This one even has some soft, fuzzy paper on it.  The magazine picture in the background is a peach orchard.

I traced the Graham quote on vellum and my journaling for the day is written in white pen on the peach trees, under the vellum.

Thank you for checking out the post for today!

Day 12: 30 Day Journal Project

“Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.” ~ Chung Tzu

This was a pleasure to create for the #30DayJournal project. I found a picture in my stash of magazine pages of an art installation by Tara Donovan. I’ve had the photo for awhile and love the curves and light. I thought it might be a window until I looked up more information.

She does site specific art installations using everyday items like toothpicks, buttons and plastic cups. The work in the picture made from sheets of plastic film, like Mylar. I used this page as a cover for my journaling. Not that it was so private, but because I didn’t think the sloppy handwriting added to the page.

The prompt I was writing in response to was “I have trouble accepting…”

On the other page I imitated the curves from Donovan’s work, using some of my new Pitt pens that I got at Riley Street Art Supply in San Rafael. I’m enjoying these pens and wanted more colors.

I had a really great day including the visit to the art supply store, two walks (got in my 10,000 steps, yay!), grocery shopping, a nap, juicing for breakfast and lunch than a delicious dinner of corn on the cob with lime, chili and salt, baked butternut squash with cinnamon, and sauteed mushrooms. Oh, and plenty of time creating in my art journal!

After the ink-seepage situation from Day 10,

I decided to glue a strip of white paper down to cover the ink and reinforce the pages.

Something I’m learning with this daily project: how I’ve avoided my craft desk in the past when it is piled with supplies. I don’t want to take time away from the creating to put stuff away and I let it get out of hand. How fitting that today I journaled on “I have trouble accepting…” because I have trouble accepting that I need to clean up after myself when I craft (well, always, but this has been a problem area).

I decided that to successfully get through these 30 daily journal entries, I would really need to keep my work space in order. I’ve made a point of putting things away when I finish each page and…I love it! It’s a joy to see my desk ready and waiting for creativity to flow. It’s my plan to keep up this practice. That and stay centered.

Thanks for the visit.

Day 11: 30 Day Journal Project

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.” ~ Rumi

This is a work in progress. If I spend the time to finish this page today, I’ll never catch up!

I will do another post on it with more pictures when I finish it, but that may not be until August!

This is a technique to journal and then, with the art, cover or disguise most of the journaling, highlighting just a few words. I am not actually trying to hide my words in this case, just play with the method.

Thank you for keeping up with this 30-Day project!

Day 10: 30 Day Journal Project

“The cure for anything is salt water. Tears, sweat, or the ocean.” ~ Isak Dinesen

This quote strikes such a chord for me. Being near the ocean and smelling the salt air is a wonderful remedy, and certainly tears and working up a sweat have both worked for me.

It was late when I started this and I had a mental image of what I wanted for the page. I didn’t actually write my love letter to the Pacific Ocean, or rather, I wrote it in my heart but didn’t get it on the page.

The paper in this particular journal that I found on sale isn’t very good, so I’ve been using a glue stick to adhere two pages together, than priming the page with gesso.

I used water-based dye ink dripped on a very wet page then moved the ink around with a brush.

Then I added salt.

Flaky Maldon salt, to be specific, sprinkled on the wet inky page.

The salt pulls in the water which causes patterns to form in the nk.

I used my heat tool to dry the page, then scraped off the salt with a plastic credit-card type card.

In the quote, at the top of the page, I embossed actual salt in the word salt.

Unfortunately, I was dismayed when I discovered that though I’d prepped the page with gesso, the wetness of ink and water together had seeped through a number of pages at the center. Wah wah wah wah. I did some clean up on earlier pages (with white paint and some matte medium).

It was the second mishap of the evening. The first occurred when I was rushing to prep this page with gesso before taking an evening walk.  The scrap paper I grabbed to protect the other pages was fine one the first side, but it had some gesso on it that I missed when I stuck it between pages on the other side.

Ack! White gesso on the blackout page. I took a wet brush and started cleaning the gesso off and in doing so, took off some of the black paint. I will probably go back and do some repairs. I’m glad I’d finished that page and had photos!

Back to the soothing ocean and tang of salt air.

Thanks for the visit.

#30DayJournal

Day 9: 30 Day Journal Project

“80 percent of life is just showing up.” ~ Woody Allen

Here it is, 7 minutes until midnight on July 10 and I’m trying to post pictures from July 9. I got behind and skipped yesterday, so did it today. But I also decided to sleep in, take a long walk, read my new PEOPLE magazine and have a very leisurely morning.

In the afternoon I worked on this page, but was a little distracted.

Rem and I had the pleasure of puppy-sitting Stella for awhile this afternoon, and though I worked on my page, I couldn’t resist some puppy time.

Two artists participating in this #30DayJournal inspired my page today. Shari Adkisson and Lisa Flanders Fowler both posted variations on black-out pages. One did a collage with black Sharpie over it, revealing some of the collage in letters sketched on top, and the other used crayon covered in India ink then scratched to reveal the colors underneath.

It is a variation of art projects we all probably tried in grade school! I did mine using crayons (which took more time than I anticipated), black markers and black watercolor paint.

The black watercolor took a few coats to get the crayon covered.

Although I understood the thought behind the quote, you need to practice every day consistently whether it is your piano lessons, your writing, your workout or whatever. I had something a little different in mind.

I thought about how in scary or sad situations, when there doesn’t seem to be anything else to do, we show up and try to do our best.  I guess, in a way, it really is similar to what Woody was talking about in the quote. Life can be a challenge, and we don’t know what is going on with those around us.  It is best to treat ourselves and each other with respect, love and tenderness. Did you catch how I included “ourselves” in there? We need to practice every day and be consistent and determined in this practice of loving and tenderness.

A post I wrote when my brother was critically ill came to mind, it is here. I’m very happy to say, for those who don’t know, My brother, Beau, is doing well.

I’m pleased to have tried my hand at the technique I used but it was too much head and not enough heart creating for this page. I didn’t know how to convey my “just show up” variation in the page, so used a technique I wanted to try.

Thanks so much for the visit.

Day 8: 30 Day Journal Project

Leaping into the unknown was the prompt I wrote about on Day 8, #30DayJournal.

“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water” ~  Rabindranath Tagore

The two biggest leaps in my life were in 1998 when I quit my job and traveled alone to Italy for four weeks, and last year when I jumped out of a plane.

Late Wednesday night when I was working on this page, I wanted to check a little detail so dug out the journal I took on the Italy trip, and ended up sitting and reading for the next 20 minutes. I started writing in the beautiful little book a few months before the trip. I wrote about being very sad and lonely and nervous about my plan to spend a month traveling alone.

I look back on the trip with complete delight.  The sadness is not what stayed with me, so it was very interesting to discover these emotions in my journal. I was very proud of myself for having made the decision to go – doing something that the friends and family members who were getting married and starting families could not do as easily.  I saved money for a year, quit a job that didn’t seem to have much future for me, packed my bags and went to Italy!

My journaling for this page covers both pages but the writing is underneath the collage.  I remember talking to the therapist I was seeing about a year before the trip. I was seeing friends marry and have kids and my prospects in that area seemed pretty dim.  His question to me “What can you do that your friends with their jobs, families and commitments can’t do?” and my immediate response was “Travel!” His next question, “Where?” was answered with “Italy.” I guess somewhere in my heart I was just waiting for someone to ask the right question!

Rem gives me envelopes from his ham radio mail – so I have stamps from around the world. I added the Italia stamp for some authentic flavor on the postcard.

Yes, I was scared and the trip wasn’t a perfectly blissful experience from start to finish but I felt strong and capable. I stayed in hostels and a few small hotels – albergos. I met other travelers and Italians, I saw incredible countryside, artwork, and architecture, and soaked up the history and colors that were all around me every day. The food was delicious and I was very happy. Venice was a particular favorite, so I chose Venice for my collage.

Three months after I got home, I met Rem.  A very seasoned traveler, he’d been in Africa for a year and had been home for two months when we met.  We’ve been together for 16 years now.

Thank you for coming by.

Day 7: 30 Day Journal Project

“Don’t think about making art, just get it done.  Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” ~ Andy Warhol

I found an old, discarded textbook at work today.  I’ve passed it a few times on a table. This time, I was looking for it!

I used some bits and pieces from it in my collage.

Thanks for stopping by. Time for some sleep!

I may get behind on posting, but I’ll try and get my pages up every few days.

#30DayJournal

Day 6: 30 Day Journal Project

“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.” ~Marc Chagall

Loved this page! I had done finger painting on Day 4 and had a big pink heart that I pretty much knew was going to make it into the journal. I cut it into strips than into small squares. Than I covered and decorated the little inchies (slightly larger, actually), retaining the pink for the heart, keeping the white line and using other colors around the heart. I’m sorry I don’t have a photo of the original finger painting.

I included special details, like the paper for the tiny house is from a local map, there are pieces from gift wrap, greeting cards and old calendars from friends.  Items that mean something to me are part of the piece.

I didn’t finish it last night…but got it laid out and ready.

I completed it during my lunch break at work (homemade green juice in the bottle = lunch).

I also collected material for today, Day 7, (Next Post). But one last look at Day 6.

Thank you for visiting.

#30DayJournal

Day 5: 30 Day Journal Project

“Be wild; that is how to clear the river. The river does not flow in polluted, we manage that. The river does not dry up, we block it. If we want to allow it its freedom, we have to allow our ideational lives to be let loose, to stream, letting anything come, initially censoring nothing.

That is creative life. It is made up of divine paradox. To create one must be willing to be stone stupid, to sit upon a throne on top of a jackass and spill rubies from one’s mouth. Then the river will flow, then we can stand in the stream of it raining down.” ―  Clarissa Pinkola Estés

I read this quote and the prompts for today and I was struggling with it.

In the morning I prepped a page. The paper in my journal isn’t very good, so I’m gluing two pages together and priming the paper with gesso. It was all dry and ready for my journaling.

I read the prompts again.

Today’s Journal Prompts:

• If I invited my wildness out to play, she would take me…
• If I were willing to be stone stupid, I would make…
• If I weren’t afraid of being called stone stupid, I would…
• I could stop censoring myself here:

Setting a timer for 5 minutes, I started writing on a piece of copy paper, without an idea of where it would go. I chose the first prompt and started writing. …and kept writing even after the timer went off. Inspired, I grabbed my open journal and bright yellow ink from a rainbow ink pad on my craft desk.

After swooping bright ink and splattering watercolor on the page…

I realized I was way in the middle of the book not on the right page (which I’d prepped earlier)! That’s what happens when I invite my wildness out to play!

I left that page in the journal, turned back to the right place and did another page of swoops of colored ink and splatters of watercolor.

The envelope with the invitation to my wildness also has the journaling I wrote as part of this process.

After I put the envelope in the book, I realized I’d highlighted the wrong month!  I decided to leave it, even though it is really July, not June.

Most of the things I create are fairly small in scale. This page made me think about larger, messier work that I can’t do easily at home at my craft desk.

Scratch paper that I used to cover supplies on my desk.

Thank you for checking out my latest post!

#30DayProject

Day 4: 30 Day Journal Project

A suggestion for today’s page was to use a favorite childhood art supply. After some deliberation, I decided to give fingerpainting another go. I pulled out a cookie sheet to contain the paint and used matte medium with some acrylic paint together.  After I completed a design, I pressed paper on the paint and carefully peeled it off. I really enjoyed it and did four pages, three of which were combined for today’s page.

“May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back, the way it is with children.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

I remember clothespins holding wet paintings to dry. Was that nursery school or maybe kindergarten?

Mine are made from paper and ink.

Thanks for following along.

#30DayJournal