Art Journal Forrest

Windows in Paris

2012-02-07T14:51:00.000-05:00

I will confess, I'm not much of a picture taker. I usually leave that up to my husband and daughter. I don't have a fancy camera. When I remember to bring a camera with me on vacation, it usually stays in my bag. I am usually too caught up in the experience to think to take a picture of it. I also don't tend to look through photographs remembering vacations past. With digital photos I have found a new reason to take photos- for textures or objects/images I may want to use in my artwork. I am now dependent on my iPhone to take these photos. I rely mostly on the camera app that comes with the phone, but I have downloaded the Hipstomatic (because I like the look of old photos) and the Pocketbooth Apps (I am a photobooth junkie and you don't find them out there too much anymore.)So with that said, it takes a lot for me to reach into my pocket to pull out the iPhone and use the camera to take a photo of something, despite my husband stopping every few minutes to take a photo of something (and if he is taking a photo of something I can use later, so much the better, since he has a better camera than I do most times!) Here are some of the shop windows that made me stop and take a photo while I was in Paris. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did. I won't be surprised if these things become an influence in future art projects I end up working on.

The Dogs of Paris

2012-02-02T16:03:00.000-05:00

I spent a long weekend in Paris, France. We stayed at a wonderful little hotel in St. Germaine called Hotel Verneuil. The goal my husband and I set for the trip was to go to the Musée D'Orsay and Louvre and spend some time wandering around St. Germaine and other parts of Paris that we hadn't gotten a chance to see on our last trip six years ago. We met with great success, and I will share some of the highlights of our trip on my blog this week.

Our flight arrived in Paris around 7:30 am and we arrived at our hotel around 9:00 am but our room wouldn't be available until later that afternoon. So with the recommendation of the concierge we headed down the street to a bakery cafe called Eric Kayser for croissants and hot beverages. Once set with baked goods beyond compare and a hot cup of tea for me, we sat at a table that had a view of the side street. I snapped this picture while seated in the bakery- this little dog waited so patiently for it's owner while she shopped at this beautiful cheese shop. (I have plans to do a watercolor sketch of this scene.)Paris is definitely a dog city, like New York. I saw many small white short haired dogs (don't know what breeds they were) and overall the dogs were extremely well behaved, keeping to themselves as they walked along, with and without leashes. Missing my own dog (Cailean is my 11 year old Scottish Terrier, who was checked into her favorite doggie spa, Smitty's Kennel of Middle Island, NY.) I continued to take notice of the dogs of Paris everywhere we went.They didn't allow photos inside the Musée d'Orsay, but they did in the Louvre, so I continued my dog watching on day three of my trip:

One more stop at Eric Kayser at the end of our stay, and this big fella was waiting for his mistress while she bought bread inside.

Countdown to Paris

2012-01-25T21:28:00.000-05:00

Going on a long distance art field trip to the City of Lights- Paris, France. I hope to spend some quality time at the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay. I have packed my art supplies and journals, now I just have to pack my clothes!

Art Field Trip- NYC, January 2012

2012-01-10T22:06:00.000-05:00

Went on a drive on Saturday with my husband to Long Island City to visit Five Points, which is a huge warehouse/building where graffiti artists from all over can apply to showcase their work. They have rules about taking photos here, so if you want to see more of the great work on display please visit their website: 5Ptz.com. I fell in love with this piece featuring an innocent eyed girl daydreaming:

After checking out both sides of the building we headed over PS1 which is an annex of the Museum of Modern Art. To be honest I was not thrilled with the experience. They had an exhibit of work commemorating 9/11 which was somber of course, but unusual in that the art was all done prior to September 11th. The other exhibits didn't do too much for me. I did enjoy a sound exhibit which was a room with speakers set up in the round playing some amazing chanting, as well as one of the stairwells which was painted in black silhouettes of trees on one floor and a series of event based scenes with a person involved in some sort of tragic attack which I thought was beautifully done. No photography allowed inside- so sorry no pictures to share.

Drove back on Sunday to New York City to bring my son back to college (he attends the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan). We spent the afternoon having lunch and shopping. Lunch was at a great place in Chelsea called the Grey Dog. Sandwich place with a great menu board of hand painted signs describing different sandwiches and entrees. Food was great- big hunky slices of fresh bread- I had a grilled cheese and tomato on rye.After lunch we took the subway down to Spring Street so I could check something off my bucket list- I've always wanted a pair of Dr. Marten's boots. We started at the 14th Street station where these great brass sculptures by Tom Otterness are all over the place:

We got off at the Canal Street Station (due to subway repairs being done over the weekend- limited service) where we found these beautiful blackbirds decorating the iron fencing forming the exit. The work is named "The Gathering" and it was done by Walter Martin and Paloma Munoz (for all kinds of great info on art in the NYC subways check out their website (this photo was taken by Conrad Trautmann)

After obtaining my new black buckle boots we went up Spring Street and stopped for a look at this amazing window for the Frye Boot store. The inside of the store was just as fascinating and worth the time to look around (and if you've the got the money to invest in some great boots and bags!):

Transitions 2011 to 2012

2012-01-09T18:21:00.003-05:00

I've been working on these two pages in my art journal on and off for the past two weeks, during the last of the holiday parties and family get togethers. I'm trying to come up with a list of things I want to tackle this year, but I don't want to make a list of New Year's resolutions, since they usually don't go anywhere when I make them. I've been doing some artistic field trip over the weekend, which I will post later this week, so check back soon! Let me know what you've got planned for 2012.

Adventures in December

2011-12-16T16:48:00.000-05:00

The holiday season is in full swing, and I've been consumed with consuming- aka shopping for Christmas presents (after hosting Thanksgiving this year). I also spent a whole week making Christmas stockings for my daughter and her boyfriend (which I forgot to take pictures of before I mailed them off- silly me!). My husband has been helping out quite a bit this year, which is awesome especially considering that he is VERY BUSY at work merging the technical requirements of two media companies together since October. He treated me to an awesome trip to the Cloisters Museum, which is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. I've never been there before, because it is in Fort Tyron park, quite a trip away from where the museum is in Manhattan. I can now assure you it is well worth the trip if you love medieval art and architecture (which I do). Here are a few of the cool things that struck my fancy at the Cloisters:

Working through creative blocks and procrastination

2011-12-01T23:18:00.001-05:00

I don't know what it is about the month of November, but I find it hard to get my head together and create much of anything. It seems to be a month long celebration of procrastination. My workspace becomes an unbearable mess, I do busy work to avoid working in my art journal, then comes Thanksgiving and the prep that is involved with that. For some reason I find it harder to sit myself down and do creative work in November, but can manage to shake off the lethargy and get things going again in December. Maybe it's because I know the year is almost over and it's time to make a last ditch effort to get some things done that I've been putting off.

I decided I needed some extra help to fight my way through these times of procrastination and creative roadblocks. She looks like she can handle anything that comes along, but notice she is relaxed and smiling, leaving it up to me to handle things, but waiting to be called upon if help is needed. I like that. Not an overbearing body guard, but a friend ready with the right tools (she's got a very ornate book in hand, perhaps a journal of her own?), a smile and a light in her eyes, ready to suggest something fun to get things going.

Journalfest- Classes Days 2 & 3

2011-11-09T15:22:00.000-05:00

We are all born children. The trick is how to remain one. Picasso

My class on day two of Journalfest was "Making Faces" by Roxanne Padgett. Of the three classes I signed up for at Journalfest, I probably expected the least of this one, and maybe that is part of the reason I enjoyed it so much. I find when I just go with the flow and play I am very happy with the results at the end of the day. Roxanne does a fabulous job of getting you out of your head and back to that childlike state of play and making art for the pure joy of it, and not for some grand result. The picture to the left was one of the first exercises we did as a class. After loosening up drawing ovals on pages we drew an oval, put our name in the lower right hand corner and were told to pass it to the right. When we all had someone else's oval in front of us we were told to draw a facial part- an eye, nose, ear, mouth, whatever we wished, but just one. Then we had to pass that on and get another 'face' to add one element to and so on, until the pages ended up back to us, complete with portrait. Fun!

We did a lot of painting, drawing simple portraits and then doing things to them: coloring them, collaging them, making stamps of faces with foam sheets and cardboard. Here are some of mine:

My class on Day 3 was Grimoire with Juliana Coles. She had hinted that we could get dressed up for the occasion and donning my Luna Lovegood Spectospecs and witch's hat I attended a class filled with a few more witches, an enchantress, and Juliana looked absolutely grand in her enchantress outfit as she led the class through journaling spells to enter into a mystical place where we could reach inside and draw out our own magical secrets to put down on the pages of our special journals. A fun, relaxing class, even though she had us working fast and furious through several points in the morning. Since the journal is supposed to be personal and secret, I won't be sharing pictures here, except for the one posted yesterday:

Journalfest-Class day 1: Shimmer and Bling with Lisa Engelbrecht

2011-11-08T21:13:00.000-05:00

Shimmer and Bling with Lisa Engelbrecht was my first class and it was all I hoped it would be- it was awesome. What a fun teacher Lisa was! I wish I could show you the gilded letters and words we did in class, but they don't translate very well on the scanner. The word Dream featured here was a warm up exercise we did with gold markers and decorated with these very cool Uniball Signo glitter pens. We worked with different glues and gold/silver/pink foils, gold leaf, pearlx powder, glitter, and schminke powder to make writing shimmer and bling! Here is a sampler sheet I did, but you really can't get the full effect without seeing it in person.The letter P below is done with gold foil. I sketched out the letter, painted it with a special sizing, let it dry and applied the foil. Amazing! I have always wanted to know how to do this, and been put off by the 'medieval method' I've read about in books. The methods Lisa showed us were very easy and I was very impressed with the results. I will definitely be using this new skill in more of my projects.

The Last Journalfest

2011-11-07T22:59:00.000-05:00

October 25-30th I was in the Pacific Northwest having the time of my life at my second Journalfest. Lucky for me that I had decided to go because this past weekend Teesha Moore announced that she will not be planning another Journalfest in 2012, and the Artfest planned for 2012 will also be the last.

Although I support her decision and any new projects she may undertake in the future, I cannot help but be saddened at the thought that I will not have more Artfests and Journalfests to look forward to in the future. These events have been life changing for me, and a creative/mental/spiritual boost that lasts for months. I am glad I was able to participate in the two Journalfests and five Artfests I've already attended.

So without further ado, here is a recap of my art excursion: Getting to Journalfest

I flew to Seattle on Jetblue on Tuesday to meet up with another Journalfest attendee with whom I would be sharing a rental car. I met up with Dana the first time ever in the garage of the SeaTac airport and once I stowed my luggage into the trunk of the rental car and hooked up my GPS we took off to find our hotels in downtown Seattle. Luckily our hotels were right around the corner from each other and once we checked in and got settled we decided to meet across the street at the Seattle Public Library, an incredible building inside and out. Here is picture of one of the floors inside:

After a quick tour of the library we headed off to Pike's Place Market for a quick look around before they closed up for the night. We grabbed dinner at an Irish pub and then walked back to our hotels for the night.

In the morning it was back to Pike's Place Market where we had breakfast overlooking Puget Sound at the Sound View Cafe. We checked out the market, this time in set up mode before heading back to check out of the hotels and head over to the ferry to Bainbridge. We spent some time wandering around the Bainbridge main street checking out the stores and galleries before heading to the Pegasus Cafe for an awesome lunch then we were back in the car and off to Port Townsend and a stop at Akamai art store (a truly awesome store with a truly awesome staff!)before heading over to Fort Worden for checkin.

We checked in at Fort Worden and after I hauled my 44 pound suitcase, my overloaded messenger bag and pocketbook up several flights of stairs of Dorm 225 I realized that my room assignment, Rm 41 was the same room I had my first time at the fort for Artfest back in 2007! Funny how that sort of thing happens to me so often. Here's the view from my room.

After dinner we headed over to the small theatre on the grounds of the Fort for the welcome meeting and introduction to the teachers and what Teesha and Tracy had in store for us for the rest of the week.

My three classes were very fun. Here are photos of some of the work I did. More details tomorrow!

Journalfest-making trades

2011-10-23T12:07:00.000-04:00

Just a few days left until my cross country trip to Seattle, Washington and on to Journalfest! I spent yesterday finishing up on my other trade item: positive voodoo dolls, since this year's Journalfest is right around Halloween. I first made these dolls for Art Countinuum in 2003, and made them for an Artfest a few years later. In the past I have had a bit of trouble getting the right ink to make the stamp on fabric that can take the wear and tear of sewing the dolls together. This time I used StazOn black ink, and it worked very well. My finger nails are black from turning the dolls inside out after sewing and prior to stuffing, but I am pretty happy with the way they turned out.

My Artist Voodoo Dali version is a positive doll. I like to think of it as a remote acupuncture to stimulate your artistic energies to be more creative, playful, inspired, etc. Made with love and positive thoughts, I hope they are met with joy and laughter when I give them away at Journalfest!

Countdown to Journalfest

2011-10-21T12:20:00.000-04:00

I've been very busy the past two weeks working on projects and gathering supplies for Journalfest in Port Townsend, Washington October 26-30, 2011. I am taking Shimmer & Bling with Lisa Engelbrecht, Altered Portrait Portfolio with Roxanne Padgett, and The Grimoire with Juliana Coles.

If you've never been to an art retreat before, one enjoyable activity is trading with other artists some homemade token of some sort. The item you make to trade is usually dependent on the event. Since Journalfest is about art journaling, I make mini ephemera packs to trade. I am also working on another item that I have made for other art retreats and since Journalfest is so close to Halloween, I thought this one would be fun to have to trade. You'll get to see what I am up to in my next blog post.

I made this smaller journal for my class with Juliana Coles on Saturday. From the class description this class looks like it should be a lot of fun.

Occupy Wall Street- Creativity and Civil Discourse

2011-10-10T17:31:00.000-04:00

I spent some time on Sunday visiting the demonstration at Zuccotti Park, otherwise known as Occupy Wall Street. There was a variety of signs proclaiming a wide array of views, most home made on whatever cardboard was handy. Some signs were more graphically pleasing than others, but that's not what's really important. What is important is that American citizens were exercising their freedom of speech, speaking up against things they see happening that they disagree with in our country. I saw a cross section of Americans, young and old, some quietly holding up signs, some singing protest songs, others making noise on bongos and other noise makers drawing attention to the louder voices and a very interesting emaciated bull someone had constructed and covered in gold (remind you something?) I saw people having engaging discussions with other demonstrators as well as tourist (like myself) who came to just witness what was happening for themselves without the media spin.

As for all of the politicians, bankers, media pundits and other nay sayers claiming these people are unAmerican, dangerous mobs, etc, I think they doth protest too much. They obviously know deep down that what they have done to our country is wrong and they desperately want to shift the focus away from having what they've done come under any more scrutiny. What I saw on Sunday, was a calm center of people who believe they have to say something, or as I saw on one woman's jacket "If you don't stand up for something, you'll fall for anything."

The above photo was taken by my husband, Conrad, and used with his permission. Please visit his blog, Interesting in NYC all this week to see more photos from Occupy Wall Street.

Journal No. 11 made and ready to go!

2011-10-04T20:55:00.000-04:00

Here is my finished journal! Visual Gossip No. Eleven ready to go with me to Journalfest later this month. If you are an avid art journalist like myself, or wishing to learn more/experiment I hear there is still room to be had. Go over to the Journalfest page on Teesha Moore's website to get the information and check out the great classes being offered! Hope to see you there!

Day 30 of 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-30T21:21:00.000-04:00

Success! I have completed the challenge of doing art everyday for 30 days!!!! Today I worked on making a new journal to take with me to Journalfest at the end of October. It's quite a process, from picking what to put on the cover, to ordering the paper (which I did last week) to tearing down the paper to make the signatures and pasting and painting the canvas boards which will become the covers. Tomorrow I hope to have some time to put it all together. Thanks for checking in with my blog during my challenge. I hope you will continue to visit in the the days and weeks to come!

Day 28-29: 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-29T11:29:00.000-04:00

Here's the journal page I did last night after coming home from my weekly Irish Language class. It says "I like tea"

Today my art activities include cleaning my studio/art space, making two new journals to take with me to Journalfest in October and spend some time working with InDesign and Muse on my computer, because I love to learn more about the graphics programs.

Now that I am in the home stretch of the 30 day challenge I have learned that it is indeed a challenge to make art everyday, but it is worth the effort. There is definitely pressure to produce something that I can show, which is something that I wanted to give myself a break on this time around, but then again, I'm a Virgo (enough said!).

Days 26-27: 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-27T23:23:00.000-04:00

Here's two more pages that I've been working on in my new journal. I am still experiencing problems writing with Sharpie markers over the acrylic paint that's on the page. Knowing this I purposely used a light color to journal on the first page below, making use of the journaling as a background textural element. On the next page I used StazOn ink and letter stamps and cut out words from a magazine to journal on the page. The leaping rabbit is cut out from a Gaelic newspaper I had on hand.

Day 25 of 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-25T22:41:00.000-04:00

Another day spent unpacking boxes. Here is what happens when you are just tapped out and try to make something art related (and I am using that term very loosely.) But you know, it's better to try than not. Who knows what this could inspire, or develop into.

Day 24: 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-24T17:25:00.000-04:00

More work on the journal page. Added some journaling text and doodles. I may do some shading, but my allotted time for art today is done.

Days 22-23 of 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-23T23:52:00.000-04:00

Been busy doing art related things. I started work on a new journal page in my Big Time Journal(see the post before this one) and I picked this fetching page of blue and gray with water spatters:

From there I added some ephemera and computer scans/printouts of my daughter's favorite quote from Alice in Wonderland, and artwork from the aforementioned book:

My next step is to journal on the page, but since I was having marker malfunctions on the last page I did in this journal I decided to use rubber stamps. The alphabet I picked needed to be cut apart from the sheet rubber it came on, so I've been working on prepping the stamps for stamping since late this afternoon. It is now close to midnight and I am still working on putting velcro backing on them as well as some other stamps I've been meaning to prep, so that's what I've been working on.

Day 20 -21 of 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-21T15:29:00.000-04:00

Time to start a new journal (although I have pages in the last one to work on, I like to start a new one once that last page is completed.) This journal is one I made at Artfest 2010 in L.K. Ludwig's Big Time Book class. This journal will be a challenge for me to work in because all of the pages have been painted with acrylic paint, which is different from the watercolor paint I'm used to working with. Here's the cover, where I titled it Visual Gossip #10 (I name all of my journals Visual Gossip) using rubber stamps and StazOn ink (which worked pretty well, but the stamps were slipping a bit on the slick surface).

Here is the side of the book. As you can see I have lots of pages to work on. This binding is supposed to allow the pages to lie flat while I work on them. The binding is left loose to accommodate additions, a problem I have encountered with some of my other journals where they wouldn't close after I worked on the pages. We'll see how this goes.

This is my first journal page. I can report that I am indeed having problems using my markers - black Sharpies that are supposed to mark on anything but seem to dull out after a few minutes on the acrylic paint surface. If anyone would like to offer some tips or helpful hints I'm in need!

Day 18 & 19- 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-19T15:42:00.000-04:00

Sept. 18th was my birthday, so I spent most of the day visiting with family and friends. But I did spend some time journaling on the last page in my journal and finished it up today. I am in a total state of transition. I sent in a late registration for Journalfest coming up in late October at Fort Worden in Port Townsend, Washington. I am waiting for my confirmation packet from Teesha Moore and trying to make travel arrangements. I am also unpacking the bulk of my supplies, which have been in storage with a lot of other household items since mid March of this year. I thought I'd be unpacking them in new digs, but that's another story. My creative space is very cramped and clutter at the moment. I also am on the lookout for gainful employement! A full slate, to say the least. But I'm smiling, I'm excited and filled with a sense of adventure!

Day 17-30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-18T23:36:00.000-04:00

This is the last page in my art journal. I just started pasting in whatever was laying around on my worktable. The background was done with the Tim Holtz Distress Stain in Peeled Paint. Not sure what my next step will be- this was a 'just do it' kind of page.

Days 15 & 16: 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-16T22:47:00.000-04:00

Finishing up some pages that have been in progress. I am using the term 'finishing up' very loosely. My journals are filled with pages in progress and so these pages could see more changes along the way, so here they are further along in the process:

Day 14- 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-15T00:54:00.001-04:00

Here's the start of something new.

Creative Boost #6- Be a virtual flâneur

2011-09-14T14:07:00.000-04:00

Even though I am posting almost everyday on my creative challenge: 30 Days of Get Your Art On, I didn't want to totally abandon my Creative Boost list. #6 is all about surfing the internet for more creative/inspiring diversions when you need to take a break from an oncoming bout of creative stagnation/block. So here are some inspiring sites that I like and some assignments/suggested viewing:

1. Wikipedia- you can look up the definition of flâneur. Wikipedia Commons is also a great resource for images for your artwork (but that will be another post!)

2. TED.com: a collection of talks given at a very elite conference that's been held every year at various locations since 1984. Check out some of my favorite talks:
Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity

Robert Lang folds way new oragami:

3. Youtube- it's not always memes.

Here is an oldie but a goodie- one of the first films ever made-

and here is a music video that was inspired by it:

4. Blogs- the work and thoughts of other artists on the creative process is the next best thing to being involved in a collaborative project or taking a workshop. In fact many artists are now teaching online classes. Check out some of my favorite blogs in the column to the right.

What are some of your favorite places on the web for inspiration?

Day 13- 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-14T00:34:00.000-04:00

Here's todays effort. Enjoy!

Day 12- 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-13T00:41:00.000-04:00

Sometimes you do a lot of work (digging around through piles of ephemera, cleaning your art space (kind of) and have little to show for it when the day is done. Sometimes making art is more of an internal process. Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Here is layer one of my journal page for Sept 11th 10 years later. It is actually two layers- the first was a layer of watercolor paint (Twinkling H2O's sky blue) then some images: Freedom Tower photo courtesy of my husband's blog: Interesting in NY, city grid from a postcard from The City Bakery in NYC, blue sky and clouds from a travel brochure, 9/2001 recovery picture from Entertainment Weekly. My next layer will most likely be white gesso to obscure most of it so I can journal over it.

Sept. 11- Journaling about the day

2011-09-11T21:20:00.000-04:00

I spent the morning in front of the television watching the families reading the names of the fallen at ground zero in New York City as I do every year. I sit there and cry even though I was among the fortunate, I did not loose a loved one that day. I do know someone who did. My husband works in NYC and he heard the sound of the plane hitting the first tower as he walked to work that morning. I was out walking my dog and came home to check the answering machine (something I usually forget to do) and received his message "I'm okay, turn on the tv and call me." Pretty cryptic but I did just that and watched the coverage in disbelief as I called. He told me he was okay, but that he would not be coming home that night, since he worked in the media and he knew it would be a long day and night ahead. I watched the surreal as that second plane hit, knowing that this was no accident and that there was more to come. I called the school where my kids were, trying to get a message to them that their daddy was safe but that message did not get to them before the news did- their classmates were getting pulled out of school, some of them lost their moms and dads that day.

I always feel drained by the day, and I am one of the fortunate ones. I looked back at my journals and wasn't all that surprised that I hadn't journaled about it at the time. In fact it was only the five year anniversary that I made an attempt to get something in my journal to document the day in a graphic way.

I haven't done a page since then. Since it's the 10th anniversary, I want to do one now, so I've been trying to work on one, but it is slow going. I had hoped to post something tonight, but these things take time.

Let us remember the fallen, the families, the first responders and our military and their families.

Remember, renew, rebuild.

Day 10- 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-11T02:15:00.000-04:00

Here's what I worked on for day 10. A meditation on imagination and creating.

Day 9- 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-10T00:43:00.000-04:00

Working on a page I started a couple of weeks back. I really love playing around with words, so that is what I decided to do here. It surprised me that many of the bird related phrases we use to describe people with have a negative slant.

Days 7 & 8- 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-08T18:46:00.000-04:00

I've been giving some thought to what the next step is on this layout. For some reason this rabbit jumped into the scene. Not sure if I will add much more. I have some shading to do. What do you think? Is 'less is more' or 'more is more'?

I've been going through a lot of my piles of collage fodder looking for what I want to work with for some other pages I've been prepping with paint. Stay tuned!

Day 6- 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-06T23:32:00.000-04:00

Another day of errands and tending to my art companion/dog Cailean, who seems to be suffering from a seasonal allergy. So I only got to add another layer to the pages I've been working on in the last few posts. Hopefully I will be able to do more tomorrow.

Day 5- 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-05T22:54:00.000-04:00

I am recovering from a very exhausting day of physical labor yesterday and a night of my dog wanting to go out every two hours. So another day of limited art activities - I watched several art documentaries on Netflix, starting with one called Art City, which was three episodes of interviews with artists in NY and LA and which I found to be a tad boring. The next thing I decided to watch was Lost Treasures of Tibet, which was interesting, especially to see what the culture clash of east vs. west was over in the restoration of a Buddhist temple. After this I watched Gypsy Caravan which was a music documentary of the Romani musicians that were brought together to do a North American tour in 2006. This I really enjoyed because it spent time with members of each group back in their native countries- India, Spain, Romania and Macedonia.

Below are photos of the work I did last night and tonight in my art journal. Last night I added a layer of watered down gesso that I sprayed on to the page with a mini spray bottle. After it dried completely I used a Pilot pen to write across the pages to journal my feelings about the last two days and my thoughts on art journaling. My next step will be to add another layer of collage.

Day 4- 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-04T21:15:00.000-04:00

Today I spent helping my husband load up everything in our storage unit into a U-haul truck and unloading it back at our house. Good news- I will soon have access to art supplies I had to pack away for a while. Bad news- I am exhausted. So my art venture today consisted of spraying gesso onto the two page spread I did yesterday in my journal. Once that dries completely I plan to journal across both pages in a fine black pen and then collage something on top of it. That is my plan, but it is subject to change.

I will spend the rest of the evening watching an art documentary. I haven't decided which one yet. For your enjoyment, I am posting a link to a very interesting short film/video I found on the web by a group called Beats Antique:

Day 3-30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-03T17:55:00.000-04:00

Okay, today was a slow day, and I had lots of other things to do. Art activities today: went to Michaels and AC Moore to buy art supplies- looking for the Tim Holtz distress ink, distress stains and the ink blender tool. Also grabbed another mini alphabet stamp set in the dollar bin and some very cute little $1 stamps for halloween (my favorite holiday).

Worked on another 2 pages in my art journal- this background has three layers so far:
1. Twinkling H2O's watercolor paint in pink (probably azelea)
2. Distress Ink- faded jeans
3. Foam stamped 'visual gossip' using FW Acrylic Artists Ink in light green.

Not sure what my next step is, but that will have to wait for later.

Day 2- 30 Days of Get Your Art On

2011-09-02T19:23:00.000-04:00

Here is what I've been working on today in my art journal. To the left is my tribute to my favorite month and season: September/Autumn. Below is a spread I've been working on, where I took a two page advertisement that featured Dave Matthews and pasted it into my journal because I liked it. Then I ripped out the center of the ad, which was just empty space in a room between Dave and the small monkey to the left. Pasted down book pages (electrical manual and dictionary scraps) and then I gessoed and painted to start incorporating them. Stenciled a sunburst around the monkey. Both journal spreads are works in progress. I think I'm close to finishing the Sept. homage spread- just have to journal on it. The Dave spread is going to take a lot more work.

Below is the link for the video they made for this John Varvatos ad campaign featuring Dave Matthews. It's very quirky, which I really like. It transports you to a very different place.
)

Sept. 1st - Day one of 30 Days of Get Your Art On!

2011-09-01T16:06:00.000-04:00

Day one of the 30 Days of Get Your Art On. This is a pastel/watercolor pencil/Sharpie marker drawing of my dog Cailean that I started on a long weekend we took with her up to Stowe Vermont. I had used the pastels to color the background of the page in my smaller travel journal along with an outline of my favorite Scottish Terrier, and didn't have the supplies to finish it. So today I spent time filling in the sketch I made of her with her summer haircut. Below is the photo that helped inspire me. I'm also working on some other pages in my journal, layering paint, but that takes a while to dry.

30 Days of Get Your Art On Challenge

2011-08-31T16:05:00.001-04:00

This is one of the journal pages I've been working on over the weekend that hurricane Irene hit the east coast. Luckily here in the middle of Long Island, NY my home didn't suffer any damage and I didn't loose power or internet. Not far from me there are friends without power here on Long Island, and I have friends and family in NY, CT and other parts of New England that are without power, or suffered more damage. The preparation and aftermath of the storm have left me tired and unmotivated, even though the days since have been sunny and bright. What I need is a challenge so...........

I am taking on the 30 Days of Get Your Art On challenge in the month of September.

Here are the rules I have set for myself:
I will be playing in my art journal, trying out new art techniques, taking art adventures for inspiration, photography, ATC's, whatever strikes my artistic whim as long as I do it everyday and document what I do. I will share this documentation of my daily art adventures during the month of September here on my blog. I might not post ever day, but I will let you know what I've been doing each day in summary posts. Sounds like fun with a deadline!

Want to join in? Click on the 30 Days button to the right, or visit the blog of the host of the challenge, Traci Bunkers and follow her directions.

I better get ready to start! September starts tomorrow.

Laying in Supplies for hurricane Irene

2011-08-25T14:43:00.000-04:00

All week I've wanted to spend time art journaling, but real life elbows it's way in and you just have to make other plans. So I've filled up the gas tank of my car, refilled the propane tanks and stocked up on batteries, water, and lots of non-perishable items so I will be ready for hurricane Irene which is on course to hit Long Island, NY in it's current trajectory. Oh yeah, I am also well stocked on art related necessities....I'm ready!

What creative things do you have planned for a rainy day?

Creative Boosts #5- When in doubt draw yourself

2011-08-19T16:57:00.002-04:00

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
Oscar Wilde

Stuck for inspiration? Want to make your art more personal or introspective? Try starting with your own image! No worry about copyright restrictions - at least as long as your take your own photo, or make the artwork yourself. No modeling fees. You just have to be brave - after all it is the most personal thing we can feature in our art- ourselves.

The above collage was made out of prints I made in an Artfest class I took several years ago with Dorit Elisha. The printing plate was made out of cardboard and we inked it with water soluble printing inks (if I remember correctly.) I took several of the prints and cut them up and used pieces to make this page. Here are some other samples of things I've made using me:

Inspiration Boost #4- Visit Museums/Galleries

2011-08-12T16:30:00.011-04:00

I love going to museums and galleries to see what other artists are doing. Even if painting is not your thing (the closest I usually get to painting is swishing watercolors around for journal page backgrounds) or you are into sculpture, or performance art, or fiber arts, etc., looking at other artists work is inspiring on a very deep level. Getting out of your studio/room/art space is also a good thing to do on a regular basis to give you a fresh perspective.

Nothing can replace being in front of an actual work of art. There are things that just aren't captured with photography. Many works of art that I have seen in books were a major revelation when viewed in person, and seeing art in relation to other artworks is also inspiring. When I visited the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam I was surprised at how much more impact his paintings had for me when I saw the works of art that inspired Van Gogh to paint the way he did, as well as seeing how his work influenced other artist of the time. And seeing so much of his work, all in one place was amazing because I could see how his style developed over time and practice. This journal page recounts my trip, using a postcard I bought in the gift shop as a starting point.

That said, if you don't live close to a museum or gallery, your computer can take you to some of the greatest museums on the planet! Google has just launched a new site where they are curating museums in an easy to access way- with the added benefit of working with museums to digitally photographed some of the amazing works there so you can view them up close...in a way you may not be able to if you went to the museum in person.

Google Art Project

Other places to see the work of others: fabric stores, specialty paper stores (my new favorite is New York Central Art Supply- 62 3rd Ave, NYC. The upstairs is dedicated to paper from all over the world- amazing selection!), bakeries specializing in cake decoration, wallpaper catalogues.....

Where do you go to see the artwork of others? What are your favorite art museum/gallery websites?

Creative Boosts #3- Furry friends and artists

2011-07-29T18:11:00.001-04:00

We love our pets (furry or fishy, birds, reptiles...whatever) and the time spent with them can inspire your art. My Scottish Terrier, Cailean, shows up in many of my journal pages. Other artists have been inspired by their pets: George Rodrigue gained famed for his Blue Dog series, which was inspired by his beloved dog Tiffany and the legend of the loup-garou (a Cajun were-wolf dog). Beatrix Potter was inspired by her pet rabbits to write of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny and painted beautiful watercolors to illustrate those stories.

Feature your animal friends in some art this weekend. I would love to see your results!

Creative Boosts #2- Watch a Movie

2011-07-24T12:34:00.001-04:00

I've been working on compiling a list of visually stunning movies that inspire me to be creative. Sometimes I just want to experience a different time period, a different world, or take a peek into the life of an artist I admire- kind of look over their shoulder and see how their art meshed with their life. Sometimes I want to submerge into a fantasy world completely separate from the day to day world I inhabit now. I'm up to 30 movies, but I am going to list my not necessarily top 10 here. What movies inspire you to be creative or to view the world with a different set of eyes? What movies do you like to watch to recharge your creative batteries?

1. Amelie
2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
3. The Beatles Yellow Submarine
4. Frida
5. Moulin Rouge
6. Alice in Wonderland
7. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
8. Marie Antoinette
9. The Addams Family
10. Across the Universe

Obviously, I enjoy fantasy films, and in general anything by Tim Burton. These movies are a visual treat that gets my mind moving in a creative direction. A good way to transition between the day to day grind and a more contemplative world where anything is possible.

Creative Boosts- Let's go to the Circus!

2011-07-20T15:59:00.005-04:00

A friend of mine recently complained that she wasn't feeling inspired to create art and asked me for some hints to jump start her back into the creative groove. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, since I have lots of time on my hands but my creativity is coming in dribs and drabs and I want to fix that myself. Of course the best advice is to make yourself do something, however small, every day (set aside a block of time however small and consider it a must do errand) and over time you should loosen up enough to get the creativity flowing- like a muscle that needs daily excercise. At least I've heard that works. I sit staring at blank journal pages a lot.

So I'm making a list of things to do to refuel your creativity reservior, hopefully to inspire you when you are feeling tapped out and caged up by your daily routine.

1. Let's go to the Circus!
All those colorful outfits, the barrage of activity and visual stimulation, the thrill of the 'death defying feats of acrobatic artistry' etc., that gets your heart pumping! What's not to like, right? I recently had the privilege of seeing the new Cirque du Soleil show "Zarkana" at Radio City Music Hall. The background sets were fabulous, and the show was great. I kept looking at stage sets and had to remember to look at the acts. One of the biggest surprises of the show was a woman who came out on stage alone and stood in front of a pedestal with a large bowl on top. This was a sand painting dish that was projected onto a large oval screen that dropped down from the top of the ceiling so we could watch as she used her hands and blue sand against a white surface to create images from the show, one after another-- it was amazing and the audience was riveted. (I can't image the pitch to include this act in the show...describing it just doesn't do it justice!)
To take a sneak peek at what I saw go here: Zarkana

If you are in the New York area I recommend you make it a point of going to see the show if you can.

Can't make it to the circus? Why not take a tour of the Circus Museum online.

Another site I like to visit is for the Yard Dogs Road Show, a vaudeville act that I have yet to see perform, but I do love the videos on their website.

Here's a photo of two of the journal spreads I am doing with a circus theme. They are works in progress-

More ideas to come in the days ahead!

Weekend In NYC: The Highline

2011-07-05T18:31:00.001-04:00

I spent part of the Independence Day weekend in New York City, and while I was there I took a walk on the Highline. A fabulous way to walk through part of the city, people watch and just chill out. If you aren't familiar with the Highline, it's a reclaimed elevated railway track that goes through part of Manhattan. I just found an excellent video about the project on TED Talks (an excellent website if you haven't already been there go! www.ted.com ) Here is the video:

Moby Dick- The Whale Wins

2011-06-15T15:51:00.000-04:00

Back on Long Island, another island involved in the whaling trade by the way, I spent yesterday reading the end of Moby Dick. I also spent some time reading about Herman Melville on Wikipedia. When the novel was originally published, it was not greeted with enthusiasm, and received very critical reviews. One edition of the book was published without the epilogue, which is the final chapter and the book doesn't end very well without it (although I don't think the end is very well written.) Although the novel has a lot of things wrong with it, it was somewhat enjoyable to read. My recommendation: if you want to read a great sea novel read Mutiny on the Bounty. A well written, well paced novel that holds up over time.

One of the reasons I think I have avoided Moby Dick for so long is not the length of the book, but the idea that it was written on many levels, and it took a lot to understand all the hidden parts of the story. Okay, I can see that the novel is much more than a sea adventure. But I guess I am a better reader than I have given myself credit for, because I don't think I missed anything. So here are the top 5 themes I have gotten out of the book:

1. Moby Dick is a sea adventure story.
2. Ishmael is a closet homosexual and there seems to be quite a homoerotic theme going on here.
3. Herman Melville documents the whaling industry as well as a classification system for whales and the possibility that unchecked the whaling industry could precipitate the extinction of whales.
4. A portrayal of religious tolerance/superstition/civilization and anarchy.
5. Man vs. Nature: nature wins.

The morality themes in the book are a bit ambiguous. The first mate, Starbuck, seems the only voice of reason onboard the Pequod, and in the end he choses to go along with the way things are and ends up dead with the crew, which he knew would be the final end if he did not act and relieve the captain of his duty. Being the only one on board who saw Ahab's madness for what it was, he would most likely have ended up dead for mutiny if he had acted. He was in a no win situation. I think he was hoping that Ahab would end up dead trying to kill Moby Dick and then he could sail back home to Nantucket with the remnants of the crew. Unfortunately he underestimated the whale. Oh well.

I think Melville forgot his narrator was Ishmael. We totally loose his perspective of what is happening on board the boat after a very homoerotic scene involving whale blubber (Chapter 94: A Squeeze of the Hand). We don't hear back from Ishmael until the epilogue where *SPOILERS* he tells us he is the sole survivor. Not much more than that. Not how he got back after the Rachel picks him up, and how he was tasked with explaining the fate of the ship and crew back in Nantucket, if he even returned there again. Not his feelings about the death of his friend Quequeg, or how he got along with him on board for that matter (perhaps those were too steamy for publication in 1851.)

I've been noticing a lot of whales turing up in my life lately. The Nantucket whale sticker we have on our car, the white whale symbol on the Real Estate for sale sign in front of my house, this book, turning on the TV and catching a scene of a whale in the ocean. What is the universe trying to tell me? Since I live in a culture that embraces the whale as an intelligent mammal that needs to be protected and respected, I hope these whales in my life are more symbolic of happy tidings on the horizon.

Art notes: all photographs in both of these Moby Dick posts were taken on Nantucket using my iPhone.

Reading Moby Dick on Nantucket

2011-06-13T16:41:00.008-04:00

I just returned from a week long family vacation on Nantucket Island. We were there before the 'season' really starts, for which I am very glad. This is my third trip to Nantucket. The first two were at the end of September. I would not like to face the massive crowds of the season, where the year round population of 10,000 grows to about 50,000. We also had cool temperatures, while the rest of New England was experiencing a heat wave and thunderstorms.

I decided to bring along some reading options on my ipad. This is my first try with ebooks, and since there was limited space to bring things in the car (four of us and the dog amounts to a lot of 'stuff') I thought ebooks and the ipad were the way to go. Moby Dick is one ebook that you can download for free, so I though, yeah, I've always meant to read Moby Dick. Whales, and the sea and Nantucket is a whaling port, so it fits.

Little did I know that Nantuket takes a starring role in the book. The crew of the Pequod leave from Nantucket on their voyage. Although I doubt that the Nantucket of today is anything similar to what 'Ishmael' experienced:

"Nantucket! Take out your map and look at it. See what a real corner of the world it occupies; how it stands there, away off shore, more lonely than the Eddystone lighthouse. Look at it -- mere hillock, and elbow of sand; all beach, without a background. There is more sand there than you would use in twenty years as a substitute for blotting paper. Some gamesome wights will tell you that they have to plant weeds there, they don't grow naturally; that they import Canada thistles; that they have to send beyond the sea for a spile to stop a leak in an oil cask; that pieces of wood in Nantucket are carried about like bits of the true cross in Rome; that the people there plant toadstools before their houses, to get under the shade in summer time; that one blade of grass makes an oasis and three blades in a day's walk a prairie; that they wear quicksand shoes, something like Laplander snow shoes; that they are shut up, belted about, every way inclosed, surrounded and made an utter island of by the ocean, and to their very chairs and tables small clams will sometimes be found adhering, as to the backs of sea turtles. But these extravaganzas only show that Nantuket is no Illinois." Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 14, second paragraph.

A little wordy, but I wanted to give you a flavor for that, if you haven't had the pleasure of reading this 'American Literary Classic'. I think I've finally come to the realization that when you see those words connected with a book it's like saying someone's got a 'great personality' before you send them on a blind date with someone because you think they are desperate enough to try anything. This book would never make it past a modern editor to be published. I will say that it has some good character development, but the pacing is totally lost to chapters about whales, ships, rules of engagement for claiming whales hunted down by others, etc. This is not as bad as the book The Octopus by Frank Norris, which was not about the sea, but about the railroads being built across the United States. That book spent a whole long chapter on the plowing of a field. I consider it the worst book I have ever read. But I digress.

I managed to read close to 600 pages of the 800 plus the novel goes for. They still haven't seen Moby Dick and Captain Ahab has spent most of the book in his cabin, away from the action. I plan on finishing reading the rest soon, since I really hate leaving books unfinished once I start reading them, even when I suspect they will not end well.

A little trivia, being a big Starbucks fan (the Seattle Coffee chain), their name was selected from the book, after the character of the first mate. The name Starbuck is an old family name on Nantucket (along with the name Coffin, and Macy- yes the department store Macy). There are three Starbucks listed in the Nantucket phone book, and none of them are for the coffee shop, since there has always been a restriction on chain stores on Nantucket. I did notice that that rule seems to be slipping away however. I made several shopping trips to the Stop and Shop supermarket near where I was staying in Madaket, and on Nantucket Main Street I was disappointed to see a Ralph Lauren store. Oh well.

Splendor in the Grass (not that movie!)

2011-06-01T23:30:00.029-04:00

Everyday (unless there is very bad weather conditions like blizzard/deep snow/ice) I walk my dog Cailean. It's a mile from start to finish, and this time of year it's a pleasure to see the green grass. I've been taking the time to notice all the different kinds of grass/ground coverings that I pass on our walk. I thought I'd share them with you today.

New York City in Spring

2011-05-13T14:04:00.009-04:00

Here goes my second try. I thought I had successfully posted this yesterday.

Here are some photos of things that struck my fancy enough to inspire me to take a photo of them using my new iphone.

I was walking through Madison Square Park and came upon this sculpture from behind. At first I didn't know what it was until I got close enough to see what looked like a braid in the back of the large white oval shaped form. Knowing it would most likely be a female head I was still impressed as I viewed it from the side and finally from the front.

This sculpture looked ethereal against the green trees and the green grass. The sculptor is Jaume Plensa, and the work is entitled Echo. For more info go here: http://www.madisonsquarepark.org/art
The sculpture will be in the park until August 14th, so if you are in NYC I suggest you take a stroll in the park!

A few blocks from the apartment that my daughter and son share for college I took a shot of this grate. It was at sidewalk level and easy to pass by without seeing it:

I am always admiring the mosaics in the subway and the look of the stark black numbers against the shiny white tiles:

Artfest 2011: There and Back Again

2011-04-15T19:54:00.007-04:00

Artfest 2011 took place from April 6-11, 2011 at Fort Worden, in Port Townsend, Washington. Always a wonderful time, with good weather (I think the organizers know some secret sun dance or something!).

Due to real life obligations I had to keep my pre-Artfest prep to a minimum. So for trades I made ephemera bags

and had new Moo Cards printed up:

Getting there was more of a challenge than what I anticipated. Delta Airlines delayed my flight out of JFK in New York by 3+ hours and I missed the shuttle I had payed to be on to get me from SEATAC airport to Fort Townsend (2+ hours away). Through the magic that is Artfest I met up with fellow Artfestians on the plane and at the airport and we pooled our resources and one larger rental car later we were on our way to Artfest.

I took three wonderful classes: Printing on Alternate Surfaces with Kathyanne White;Photoshop with Pamela Huntington, and Big Time Book with L.K. Ludwig (a picture of my completed new art journal from this class is here:)

Home now, I've been spending the week trying to get my bodyclock back on East Coast time (always have a problem with coming back, not going there). I look forward to posting to my blog on a more regular basis.

Art Field Trip: NYC in Autumn

2010-11-15T22:35:00.006-05:00

I spent an exhausting fun filled weekend in NYC. Saturday I went with my family to see the Dave Matthews Band play at Madison Square Garden (which was an awesome show, even though Dave was a little hoarse...but the audience helped him out...) then on Sunday it was off to see the new Christmas display at the MacKenzie-Childs store....my future dining room is seen above. On to Bryant Park where the shops were up and the iceskating rink had a line despite the absolutely beautiful day. In our travels we came upon the work of one of my favorite sculptors--Tom Otterness.

When it's time to move on.

2010-08-10T22:17:00.003-04:00

I am definitely at a crossroads in my life. Things are shifting around, and I feel ready to run and embrace new things...I just don't know what I should (or could) be running for. That is the frustrating part. I think I need to do some more art journaling on this theme and see what comes up. Here is the page I am currently working on.

Quebec trip.

2010-07-23T22:42:00.003-04:00

Last weekend I was in Quebec Canada with friends and did some art journaling while I was there. I also convinced one of my friends to bring along the journal I made for her a while back and she worked in her journal. It was a lot of fun. Here is my page. I need to do more journaling (and more posting to my blog.) Goal for the weekend- work in journal and post another entry this weekend.

Playing around.

2010-05-24T22:55:00.006-04:00

Images and doodles I've been playing around with in my journal. All in progress.

Collage Lab 3- Diffusing Imagery

2010-05-11T22:47:00.008-04:00

Back on track with the art making. Here is my attempt at Lab #3: Diffusing Imagery. I used two photos I took on my last field trip to NYC, and a page I ripped out of a magazine. I did not take a picture of the magazine page before I started the project (oops!) but here are the two photos I used:

I'd show you the original photo of the building, but my iphoto has decided that it doesn't want to give me access to my own photo (can I tell you how much I hate iphoto!)
So here are all three images, mounted on watercolor paper with a couple of layers of a wash of gesso over them. I used a spray bottle with the gesso wash on the plaza photo with the tree in the foreground. I liked this method the best. I really don't get this lab, or how I would make use of this technique in my work. I guess I will learn how to integrate this method in my work as I move through the Collage Lab book.

Collage Lab 2

2010-04-17T22:04:00.009-04:00

On to Lab 2:Basic Paper Surfaces- this lab involved using different types of paper and using matte medium (I used Modge Podge- Golden Gel Mediums and I don't tend to do very well for some reason, so I thought I'd try this stuff- so far I had much better results) paste them down to 140 lb cold press water color paper. This one is little bits and pieces of different kinds of paper- copy paper, tissue paper, punched card stock (the black bird, white sun), magazine and newsprint.

On the left is one where I used strips of card stock in two layers, one verticle one horizontal.

This is tissue paper on water color paper. I really like the results I got over all with the Modge Podge as far as everything going down smoothly (except with the tissue paper, where I wanted it to wrinkle and be textured). No buckling. No peeling up. I don't know about painting over this stuff (that remains to be seen. I think that I will be doing that in future labs, but I haven't really looked that far ahead.)

Here's a group photo of all of my pieces from this lab.If you are interested in learning more, go visit Bee Shay's blog:
http://collagelab.typepad.com/

Art day Saturday

2010-04-11T15:51:00.009-04:00

Saturday I decided to make the day all about art. I got out my new book "Collage Lab" by Bee Shay (who I've had the honor of having as a teacher twice at Artfest- she is the best!) and decided to do the first lab. It involved putting gesso on watercolor paper and then doing stuff to it. It was a very zen activity and got me in the mood to play. Here are my gessoed pieces of paper, which I hope to use in other art projects down the line (or other art labs that I do as I work my way through her book.)

Then I read a chapter in another book I bought recently called "life is a verb" by Patti Digh. The intro was serious (and a bit of a downer) but the activity was fun- dancing. So I put on a Dave Matthews Band song and danced around for a few minutes and got in the spirit to work in my art journal. (See page below) Then I worked on getting all of these images scanned and ready to post today, along with the images from the Going for Baroque class I took with Lynne Perrella at Artfest (see last post).

Today (Sunday) I am cleaning...at least I was until I took a break for lunch and decided to come and play for an hour or so. Now it's back to laundry and cleaning some more. Grocery shopping and then hopefully another round of art journaling.

Going For Baroque

2010-04-10T23:44:00.022-04:00

I had the best time in Lynne Perrella's "Going for Baroque class at Artfest. Working way out of my comfort zone- I like to paint but never really do it outside of painting water color washes for the backgrounds of my journal pages. In this class I got to create textures with gesso on red rosin paper (awesome stuff- got to go to my local Home Depot or Lowes and find me a roll of that stuff!) and then use my Portfolio water soluble oil pastels (I bought the box about 5 years ago and never had the courage to use them before!), along with paint and collage to create this incredible banner. (As you can see from the photo, I had some buckling problems with my collaged face/image. We used gel medium to put the image down, and I just don't get good results collaging with gel medium of any sort. We all had problems with it in class that day. Not sure if the rain/humidity had any role to play. Given my track record with the stuff, I would think it was just my problems with it. I have some work to do on this, but I am very happy with the results. I learned a lot of new techniques, and even if my finished project is far from display worthy, I like what I did/learned.) I took a photo of it at the Show and Tell on Saturday at Artfest, along with other examples of what people created in the my class and the other two (Lynne taught the class all three days.) She is awesome. I had always wanted to take a class with her and when I saw this new class being offered at this year's Artfest I made sure I indicated on my registration that I had to have her class on one of my three days! I lucked out to have it on Friday- where I've made the adjustment to the time change and got my creative juices fully flowing. (I always pick a relaxing class to take on the final day- I'll post about that one next.)

Artfest 2010- Journal Page 2

2010-04-10T23:27:00.006-04:00

Here's page two of the journal pages from this year's Artfest. I collaged this page before I left, added the swirly doodles at the Journaling party down by the beach on Thursday night, and continued to journal as the event went on.The cheshire cat was done to disguise a bleed through that happened when I started working on the collaged image on the next page (a constant problem for me - the one draw back to using Sharpies. You never know when they are going to bleed through.) I thought my solution worked out pretty well. I started this collage before going to Artfest and added the arms (bleed through) and the pennants on the top. I still have a ways to go on this page. I will scan it in and post it when it is finished.

Artfest 2010- Journal Page 1

2010-03-30T01:00:00.003-04:00

Still trying to make the adjustment back to east coast time after coming back from Artfest last night. I will post more in the days to come, but here is one of my journal pages from my time there.

All packed for Artfest!

2010-03-23T20:52:00.003-04:00

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go to my fourth Artfest. I leave in the morning for Seattle and will take the shuttle to Fort Worden for the event. I have decided to take two journaling classes this year, and a class with Lynne Perrella called "Going for Baroque" which had the longest supply list of any of my classes. I am looking forward to seeing my Artfest friends there and meeting new people. Fun fun fun! I hope to get some journaling in on some of the new pages I've started working on in my new journal. Here's one that needs some work!

Field Trip: Ephemera fair

2010-03-23T20:48:00.003-04:00

Went to an Ephemera Society's fair in Old Greenwich, CT last weekend. Dragged my husband along for a drive on a gorgeous day. He ended up buying more than I did there, but I came away with some pretty cool trade cards, some old Japanese money and a couple of tin types that I will use in my artwork. Had a fun day.

Field Trip: Ottawa, Canada

2010-02-22T21:21:00.003-05:00

Went to Ottawa, Canada over the weekend to visit friends and see the sights. We caught the end of Winterlude, their annual winter festival and saw amazing ice sculptures done by artists from many different countries. But the thing I like the best were the trees covered with knitwear.

I also liked this dancing bear that was in a courtyard behind an amazing paper store called Paper Papier.

Newest project

2010-02-18T22:30:00.003-05:00

Here is the latest piece I've been working on. I love this quote and I think it is perfect for the cover of an art journal. I'll be on the road this weekend and I hope to get some art journaling in while I'm out exploring. I challenge everyone reading this to do at least one artistic/creative thing this weekend. The world will be a better place for it and so will you.

ArtFest Fatbook Pages

2010-02-07T22:59:00.012-05:00

I've been busy the last couple of weeks working on two Fatbook projects for the upcoming Artfest: The 4"x4" Fatbook and the ATC Fatbook. Since they have to reach their destinations by February 15th I knew I had to get them done this weekend. I am exhausted and bleary eyed...hopefully they came out okay. It's time to let go and send them on their way. I am looking forward to gong to Artfest in March.

Art field trips...it's shaping up to be an interesting week

2010-02-02T23:27:00.008-05:00

It's shaping up to be an interesting week. Let's start with Saturday, Jan. 30th. I had to go walking around a cemetery (work meeting)...took my camera and took some photos of these very cool headstones.
Today I went to the Materials Resource Center in Ronkonkoma with my friend Karen. It is a treasure trove of strange cool stuff that artists and crafters would love...and we had a great time checking it all out. The other picture is what I took home for a little over $7. Can't wait to use it!

2010-02-01T23:19:00.002-05:00

I'm back. Playing around in my journal, and lately, working on two collaborative projects (4x4 fatbook, and ATC fatbook) for the upcoming Artfest in March. I will post pictures of those soon.
Life has been crazy busy, but I will now try to get back on track with posting and tending to the artistic side of my life.

2009-11-19T00:42:00.001-05:00

Another day of zero inspiration. This page was started at Journalfest and I added some ranting journaling about how tired I am and uninspired. Hope tomorrow is a better day.

Dealing with creative blocks- working through them.

2009-11-17T23:11:00.007-05:00

A very straightforward page for today, heavy on journaling and low on collage. A tribute to Cailean, my Scottish Terrier, who is presently sleeping in the doorway of my office studio as I type this in. I've been feeling uninspired to create, never having tried to do artwork every single day. So I met today's challenge this way. I used pictures I have of her in the border of the page.
To the right is yesterday's page, complete with journaling in the form of a quote that I found that fit the image.

Blocked Inspiration

2009-11-16T23:43:00.002-05:00

Here's the page for today. I still need to journal on it, but after staring at the page for two days, I thought this was good progress. I will update this post when the page is finished.

Lost and Found: Jasper the Bunny has returned!

2009-11-16T20:15:00.007-05:00

My thanks to Cindy O. out in California for finding Jasper at Journalfest (see blogpost Oct 23: Lost BunnyPin) and sending my little friend back home to me. You can compare my hand drawn Lost poster with the actual photo. Jasper is a bit bigger than I pictured him to be, and I forgot his two white buttons. But I think the likeness was pretty close. I am doing the happy happy joy joy dance, so glad to have him back! Cindy, you are the best!

2009-11-15T22:23:00.003-05:00

I missed posting on Friday since I didn't have time to do a journal page. I started the one on the left on Saturday but had problems with my computer so I didn't get it finished until today. The one on the right was a page I had worked on before and finished it up today with journaling, and they fit together thematically, even though they are several pages away from each other in my actual journal. I've had problems concentrating and feeling inspired to work on journaling all weekend. Hopefully I will do better tomorrow.

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

2009-11-12T23:00:00.002-05:00

Okay, this is a bit lame and unfinished, but I had class tonight and couldn't spend more time on the page. But I do feel that art does clean out the dust from my mind after a long day. I just need more time to do art.

2009-11-11T22:37:00.002-05:00

I had this image floating around in my head so it became the journal page of the day. Took most of the day to do it (layers of paint that had to dry.) There are many members of my extended family who have served our country during times of war and in times of peace, and I am grateful to all service men and woman for their commitment and sacrifice on and off the battlefield. In doing this page I had to look up the information on wikipedia. We have been involved in a lot of military actions. Too many to list on my small art journal page. Many I was not aware of, some only vaguely aware of. They didn't teach me about this in school, and I wonder how much they teach today. I hold in my heart that we will reach an age of peace and go to war no more.

Help from the Blog Fairy

2009-11-10T23:01:00.005-05:00

I actually got my scanner to work, and here is today's journal page. I am on my way to bed for a good night's sleep. I will be journaling tomorrow, since I have the day off from work. I am enjoying doing these pages and hope to explore some new techniques this week. I hope if there is anyone out there looking at these that you enjoy them and hopefully feel inspired to join in on the fun and do some art journaling yourself.

Technological Difficulties...Please Stand By

2009-11-10T17:04:00.003-05:00

Finally! After having my scanner fail me last night (it would only scan the top half of my journal page) and other problems uploading this image I am finally able to get this post done for yesterday. Now to work on today's journal page. This NaNoJouMo challenge is definitely robbing me of sleep. Let's see if I can get the page done early tonight.

2009-11-08T23:20:00.003-05:00

It was a beautiful day to walk around New York City and be inspired to create. There were many signs of Christmas in the stores and around the city (the tree is up on top of the Radio City Music Hall marquee, Target billboards around Times Square are themed with the 12 days of Christmas (9 ladies dancing showed a photo of the Rockettes bigger than life) and the vendors were set up in Bryant Park and the ice skating rink had a line of people ready to skate. It was T-shirt and light jacket weather today, and we walked all over taking it all in. So now I'm all tuckered out. Hope you enjoy this page, featuring a peek at the bunny I bought from one of the Bryant Park vendors.

2009-11-08T00:01:00.002-05:00

Spending some quality time in NYC with my family. I just finished this page around 11:30 p.m. I fit in a trip to the art store this afternoon and came away with some fun goodies. It's hard to resist when you're here and know you can find things you can't get at home, so I've broken my self imposed rule to not buy any other supplies to work on this journal challenge. Not sure I like this page either, but it came out better than I thought it would when I was working on it. Hard to know what to bring in with me from home and my stash of stuff. We'll see what tomorrow brings. I may wait until I get home to work on the next page.

Insane is just a state of mind.

2009-11-07T00:13:00.004-05:00

I feel insane working on a page in a hurry to meet a deadline, but I am trying my best to stick out the NaNoJouMo Challenge and here is my page for the day- Nov. 6th - even though it is after midnight and it is actually Nov 7th officially, but it's the thought that counts, right?
I love Alice and Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass. I am looking forward to seeing Tim Burton's take on the story when the movie comes out next Spring. Until then I will ponder this question that has no real answer: Why is a Raven like a writing desk?

Scribble Designs vs. 'Zentangles'

2009-11-05T22:31:00.005-05:00

Day 5 of the challenge and I've switched over to my mini journal for this one. I've seen examples of Zentangles on the Internet after a teacher at Journalfest introduced our class to the term. I immediately recognized them as something I've been doing since I was in first grade (a long time ago my friends!) They were called scribble designs and involved a box of crayons and a piece of blank paper. You took out the black crayon and scribbled all over the paper in big loops until you came back to your starting point. Then you had to color in all the spaces with different colors making sure no two spaces had the same color next to them. An easy feat if you had the big box of Crayola 64 (which I'm not sure they offered then, but I know I collected a lot of different colored crayons to do those scribble designs with). I've been doing these off and on for years. Some in black and white (see today's journal page above) some in color (check out my ATC page on my website: www.dianneforrest.com
Try it. It's fun, relaxing, and a challenge to come up with a different pattern to fill in all the spaces. And I do have that highly coveted box of 64 Crayolas. Maybe I'll break them out and use them on a journal page this month.

Bride of Frankenstein

2009-11-04T21:54:00.003-05:00

Day Four of the NaNoJouMo and this is the page. Definitely not 'done', but a stretch in trying out new things and just going along for the ride. Not really happy with it, but that's part of the journey. And I've succeeded in posting this early in the evening, which is a good thing.

Live Out Loud

2009-11-04T00:08:00.004-05:00

Day three of the NaNoJouMo Challenge. I would have posted this sooner, but my computer seems to be fighting me on these scan then post activities. But I persevered. I just have to stop procrastinating on working on the page so late into the night.
This page was inspired by watching the Teesha Moore videos on how she journals, which she's got posted to her blog and over on YouTube. I am learning quite a lot about integrating collage elements to make the page more cohesive (something I've avoided in the past.). I like this experimenting. I have a couple of new books on journaling that I could use to try different techniques this month during the challenge. Sounds like a plan of action to me.

2009-11-03T00:33:00.004-05:00

Day 2 of the NaNoJouMo challenge. I am up way past my bedtime to finish and post this, but I was working a bit on tomorrow's page also, so maybe I'll get the hang of this yet.
I highly recommend heading over to YouTube and doing a search for Teesha Moore. She has posted videos of her journaling process. It's a dream come true for me...I've always wanted to look over her shoulder and see how she journals. Now I can with these videos. They are great. She is awesome. I learn so much from her, and the other journal artists I got to take classes with and hang around with at Journalfest. I'll have to post some of the things I did there later in the week.
Have you worked in your journal today?

NaNoJouMo Challenge

2009-11-01T23:45:00.003-05:00

A challenge was issued on http://www.dblogala.typepad.com/dblogala/ by Dawn Sokol to create a journal page a day. I think I'm going to take up that challenge. I've added a few rules of my own, for my own benefit, which I journaled about on the page above: I have to use the supplies at hand, I have to actually journal on the page for it to be done, and I can finish up a page I've already started in order to meet the goal of a page a day. November is a very hectic month for me at work, and with Thanksgiving coming up, it will be busy at home too. This should be a lot of fun, and definitely challenging.

Journalfest: Lost a Pin

2009-10-28T23:23:00.005-04:00

Well I'm back from Journalfest and still recovering from the time change. I have yet to unpack my artwork and art supplies, since I've had laundry and other chores to see to and of course I had to go back to work on Monday. I did notice that I am missing something very dear to my heart. A little pin that I had on my journal bag, which I've drawn a picture of above. I've had this pin for at least 20 years. I lost it on Saturday at Fort Worden, somewhere between Dorm 225 and the Commons area I think. I loose pins all the time, but this one was special. If you have found Jasper, please let me know. I would really like to arrange a homecoming for the little guy.
I will start posting more about my adventures at Journalfest in the next few days. I had a really great time. My world is a better place thanks to Teesha and Tracy Moore, and all the great folks at Journalfest (and Artfest).

West Coast Art Time

2009-10-20T19:37:00.003-04:00

It's always a struggle to adjust my body clock to West Coast Time. It usually works in my favor, allowing me to be on time and awake at the beginning of the day when I'm usually sleepy and zombielike. There is definitely an adjustment to be made to the vibe of Seattle/PacNorthWest that I really enjoy making. Things are slower and friendlier here in Seattle. The city is smaller and seemingly more accessable. Black is not the dominate color of clothing, which makes people watching all the more interesting.
Other differences between Seattle and NYC- I see a lot of people walking around reading books at the same time. I went to visit the Seattle Public Library and it was pretty packed for a Monday afternoon. I was impressed that they could hand me a laminated page that gave me directions for a self guided tour around what is an incredible building- 11 stories---it is huge and wide open. I'll try to post a photo later, but I loved the words carved in the floor on the first floor of the library and the 'cone of sound' which made me think of the cone of silence from Get Smart. The building is a visual treat!
All of this site seeing I hope will add to my inspirational treasure chest for the art I will be making later in the week at Journalfest.

What do you do to refuel your creative toy chest of inspiration?

2009-10-17T23:24:00.002-04:00

I just spent the whole day packing up art supplies, journals and clothes for my trip to Journalfest at Fort Worden in Washington State (outside of Seattle). I plan on keeping notes and taking pictures of my journey and time there to post when I return. See you on the other side! Let the wild rumpus begin!

2009-09-30T23:31:00.003-04:00

Strange Days Indeed.
Fall is here, it's the busy season at work (one event/fundraiser after another till the last one at the beginning of December.) I have my trip to Seattle and Journalfest coming up and I need to get my supplies together. But enough whining. I haven't been working in my journal much, but this was one page I managed to finish. It reflects the intensity of this time of year for me, and the excitement as I deal with the challenges I'm faced with. I definitely need to work on managing my own time better. There is so much I want to do, and it seems I'm so tired when I come home from work that I can't wrap my mind around much for a few hours and before I know it, it's time for bed. But I continue to try, hoping to establish some sort of routine that works the best.

Field Trip: High Line in NYC

2009-09-02T21:07:00.007-04:00

It's important to the creative process (and one's sanity) to go off the beaten track of our usual routine and see something new. For me the opportunity came this past weekend when we were attending orientation activities with my son in New York City where he and his sister are going to college (different schools). My husband surprised me with a Sunday morning walk on the High Line, which is an old elevated railway that has been rehabilitated into this beautiful walking path with wild flowers and benches to sit on. You get an amazing view of the city above the traffic, among the buildings. I've included a few more photos below.

Did I Mention I'm Going to Journalfest?

2009-08-19T22:21:00.005-04:00

This October Teesha and Tracy Moore and company will be hosting Journalfest at Fort Worden in beautiful Washington State. This is the first year they are doing Journalfest, and it's looking pretty exciting. The roster of teachers is top notch (of course!) and Teesha tells of a band they have hired to play at the evening journal parties. Check out her website: www.teeshamoore.com for more information about Journalfest. I hear there are a few spots left.

Collage personas

2009-08-18T23:24:00.003-04:00

One of the first attempts I made at creating an art journal page is above. I took bits and pieces from magazines, papers, and water color for the background to create a 'person'. This is still one of my favorite collage projects and I continue to make these collage personas. Below is another example from a more recent art journal. Try it for yourself and post it to your blog and leave me a link so I can see. Or share ones you've already done.

Art Journaling changed my life.

2009-08-13T22:38:00.003-04:00

Welcome to Art Journal Forrest. This blog will focus on art journaling and creativity. That should just about encompass everything. I started art journaling in an organized way back in 2003. I grew up keeping a written diary, but this was the first time I actually started keeping a more visual document.

I was enthralled by the artist journals that I saw in Somerset Studio Magazine, but they looked too beautiful and unaccessible for me to attempt to do myself. Then several years later I stumbled upon the work of Teesha Moore (www.teeshamoore.com) and her step by step directions on how to art journal. And that's what I did, followed her simple directions that took the fear and stumbling blocks of perfectionism out of my way and let me just....PLAY.

I find art journaling wonderful and I have several art journals full of images now. I don't journal as much as I would like, but I am continually trying to do it more often. I am also fascinated and inspired by the journals of others and I hope to explore them through this blog and everyone out there that is art journaling...or ready to jump in and try it for themselves.

So what do you think about art journaling? Any great artist websites I should check out? I have a list of my own favorites, which I plan on sharing, but I'd like to hear from others about their favorites.

Thanks for reading!

Dianne Forrest Trautmann