Studying With The "Masters"

I'm so excited to share that I'm going to Art & Soul Retreat in Virginia Beach this weekend to paint and play with my own personal, modern-day Master... Mindy Murphy Lacefield! Yippee! I'll be taking her Play Journal workshop where she'll coax students to let out their inner child and play and get lost in the process of painting, writing, and journaling.

If you follow my blog, I'm sure you've seen a lot of the paintings I did from her Paint Your Story online workshop...

And then mixed media pieces inspired by her True Free Spirit class online...

And maybe a few from the mini Frolic class she offered virtually! But there's not too much better than studying with someone you admire — in-person — for two days straight! I've met Mindy Lacefield and her spirit is just as colorful, whimsical and tenderly sentimental as the work she does. She is such a loving, approachable person and everyone I know who's life she's touched is more playful today... in part because of her.

Now that's what I call a Master!

Braaaaain Freeeeeze!

There once was a girl who wandered through the ice cream forest... but all she came back with was brain freeze!

For my most recent jaunt into journaling... I sprayed inks, made marks, pasted ephemera, painted swatches of color, and stamped 'til my heart's content. The pink overpainted map and placement of the ice cream cone got me thinking.

I'll make that her nose and she can really be a brain freeze girl! Can't you just feel the ice cream headache? Owwwww.

The page and the girl evolved as I went along, evening out the color scheme and blending elements together, while adding new ones to the page as well.

I figured I'd give her some pistachio hair to match the ice cream.

And then I added some funky Brain Freeze text. Although, I must have had brain freeze when I wrote it... because I spelled it wrong!! Oh well. I'll just pretend I was doing what the quilters do and putting one mistake in my piece "on purpose". Hee-hee!

I had a lot of fun with this piece and instinctively knew when to stop messing with it. I also used a color palette that was out of my comfort zone and I'm actually happy with the way it turned out. On to the next project... hmmmmm, what's next?

Thoughtful Thursdays: Down Time!

Can I just say how happy I am that it's Summer? Here at the shore, I call it summer as soon as Memorial Day weekend rolls around. Well, actually I call it Summer as soon as a weekend day that's over 70° rolls around. And I just love to spend my down time at the beach. It's only a short 3-block walk from my house, and I love to bring lots of reading material, sketchbooks, pencils, and other projects I might be working on at the moment. I've pinned sewing projects, cut out material, stuffed dolls, collaged, pasted, painted, glued and journaled on the sandy shores of Ocean Grove, New Jersey! And sometimes, I just sit quietly in my beach chair and do nothing but listen to the waves crashing and the seagulls cawing. It's a total recharge for me.

So... what's your favorite Summer down time activity?

Starting From Scratch...

And then the right brain said to the left hand... I love you more!

Who knew that what started as an artistic exercise in letting go and getting in touch with my childlike self... would lead me to realize so much about what's going on in my subconscious! In practicing mark-making, scribbling and symbol drawing for Mindy Lacefield's Paint Your Story workshop, she encouraged us to use our non-dominant hand (mine's the left) for some of the time. And when I did... oh boy... I fell in love! In fact, I loved my drawings so much more that I did with my left hand that I found myself saying...

...don't practice too much Lefty, we don't want you to start drawing like Righty!

And then I had an epiphany. Why was I being so nice to my left hand who was drawing all crooked and off kilter like a child? And the things I was saying to my left hand kind of felt like I was talking to a child...

It's okay to make mistakes.... you're just starting out. Don't get all wrapped up in the outcome... just enjoy the process. Don't worry if you don't like what you make, we'll just make another one.

But on the other hand (literally!), what have I been saying to my right hand for all these years? Well, it turned out to be things like this...

You suck. You're not good enough. You'll never be good enough. You might as well give up now because you're not capable. You can keep trying, but you're not going to get it right... no matter how hard you try!

Well, how awful is that? I mean... you wouldn't talk to a child that way, would you? Of course not! So I decided to make some changes. I'm going to take a left-handed approach in the way I talk to myself. I'm going to be kinder to myself. I'm going to pretend I'm talking to that enthusiastic young girl in me who doesn't know how to give up yet. The one who might need a little gentle encouragement. And I'm going to be really nice to her. And if I forget... well... I'll just put that pencil in my left hand and start from scratch.

Thoughful Thursdays: Stamp Cleaning With A Purpose!

So how cool would these stampings look, all torn up and added to a journal page or collage? This is just one more way that I recycle everything! I was actually stamping onto my carnival assemblage boxes last week, but wanted an impression that resembled a timeworn look. So I glanced around for a spare piece of paper so I could stamp on it first, then stamp the box. I found a bunch of (losing) chance tickets on the fridge... and the rest is history (or a new journal element)!

The other thing I do, is when I clean off my stamps at the end, I'll wipe them with cleaner then stamp them out onto paper as well... creating a nice ghosted element. I'll do this until the ink from the stamp disappears. I have pages and pages of "cleaning off my stamps" images at the ready for journal pages and collages. They're fun to make... and they're free!

Happy stamping (and cleaning)!

An Open Book...

An open book can describe many facets of my life... I am an open book as far as life experiences go. I have nothing to hide, and will share anything with anyone who would like to know more about me. You might also say that I always have an open book. Somewhere. Of some kind. Usually crafting or self-help (LOL! relates to the whole "experiences" thing). And you could note that I am frequently writing things down or drawing something in some kind of a book. Namely... a journal.

Well, recently I had noticed that I've been all work and no play. Although work is my play... I was only making things that were for other people. Things to be sold. Things I needed to hurry up and get done. All that pressure! Well, some valve must have opened up when I had an extra hour and decided to watch Pam Carriker's free Visual Journaling class by Strathmore.

Because, no sooner did the first video end... I was rummaging around the filing cabinets for photocopies of my own personal artwork to alter. I brought out my largest journal with nice heavy pages... got my scissors, paints and trusty gel medium... and I was on my way. No time to wait for things to dry. Oh, certainly not. I could not stop myself! And then I realized... it was because I was working with a copy. Not an original. If I messed up... I could try again. How freeing that was!

It took me forever to learn (and I continue to remember) that it's okay to make mistakes with the creative process. Now if I could just remember that about myself!

COMING UP NEXT WEEK... Mixed Media Jewelry

Art Journaling Tip #36 (and a bonus!)

One of my favorite techniques to add interest on a journal page is to color in all the letters that are "closed". You can do it with stamped letters, printing, or cursive handwriting. They all look great. If your ink is fresh, you may want to heat set it or let it dry overnight. Then choose a marker or pencil color that coordinates with your theme... and you're set... Instant interest!

Another technique I have on this page is varying capital and lower-case letters. So as not to overthink it (that could take forever!) I did the vowels in small letters. And a few other miscellaneous consonants I thought looked good.