Have My Cake and Paint It Too...

One of my most recent journal pages started out with a sweet theme and just got sweeter from there! With cake as the subject matter... can I really go wrong?

If you know me, any form of pink and teal or blue can be a predictable starting point. This time I thought I'd add a little brown and cream for good measure (a baking reference...get it!).

I had actually painted the cake on the page before the girl was there... part of my brave new strategy of just doing something and not worrying about how it will end up in the final composition. But, I have to confess that I liked it so much, I didn't want to cover it up.

So, of course when I added the girl, she had to be eyeing up that slice of chocolate cake with strawberry frosting. Mmmmmmm. I see that little smirk on her face! She's totally thinking.... MINE!

When I create these pages, I like to alternate painting, drawing, embellishing and pasting stuff on. I kinda sorta randomly pick from my ephemera pieces that just look good on the page... like this number 5 from a flash card. I think I chose this because the nicely aged cardstock went well with the polka-dotted scrapbook page next to it. And because 5-year-olds like cake!

But then i found this cute little spanish language flash card that had a 5 on it... and so I added that to the piece as well. And I just love sounding out (say it with me now...) OO-nah moó-CHA-chah.

Even more delightfully delicious ephemera kept finding its way to my cakey journal page and this one was probably my favorite. The celebratory birthday girl and boy were precisely placed over top of the music page so that the words "be good" appeared between them.

It's funny how when I'm working on a page, it feels like I'm on auto pilot. Not in a bad way. But I just make moves and then work with what's there. Then I make more moves and add more, tweak more and play more until the layout is pleasing to the eye.

But when I look back at all my detail photos, I see dozens upon dozens of carefully calculated decisions... a warm wash of paint here... some extra glitter there... a pencil scratch here... a candy wrapper there.... or the smallest of elements that really felt good at the time. And then I remember what a joy it is to create in the moment... even though my goal is a finished page.

So I guess I can have my cake and paint it too!

Taking Time to Play...

If we think about the last time we actually played with paint and pencils and crayons and stamps — with no expectations and no judgements about our work — it was probably like... when we were 7 or so? I know for myself... I can't even remember what it was like to not make an icky face at my first attempt at anything!

Which is why I felt it was so absolutely necessary to take Mindy Lacefield's Play Journal workshop at the Art & Soul Retreat recently. She teaches... nay... preaches... living from your authentic childlike self and her fun and whimsical attitude is contagious!

Her work is so playful and visually stimulating in a witty, lighthearted way... that I just needed to be a part of that type of creation face-to-face...

That's why even though I've taken her classes online for almost a year now, I still felt compelled to learn with her in-person in a 2-day workshop. And I am so very happy that I did!

We started off with some warm-up exercises... drawing on deli paper with our non-dominant hand (we'd use that later in our journals). Once we crafted our journals (it was easy peasy!), we jumped right in to putting paint on paper, which is still always exciting and scary for me each time I do it!

Painting. Stamping. Mark-making. Drawing. Gluing. Lettering. These are things that just bring pure joy when there is no end result in mind. And it was fun! I gave myself permission to let go.

And it was so cool to watch my pages as they progressed. I ended up disassembling my journal because I wanted to add elements to multiple pages and my 7 year old self couldn't wait for them to dry (who am I kidding, that's the impatient me today!). I was so overcome with excitement and the desire to add more and more (and more!) that I found myself shoving lunch into my mouth faster than I could chew it... just so I could get back to the classroom more quickly. Come on! Hurry up! So you can have more fun!!

We had a fabulous group dynamic in our class and we all fed off of each other's energy. We journaled and shared stories, got a little teary-eyed, laughed a lot, shared some more, got ideas from each other and evolved as a group. At the end of day two we had a little show-and-tell. Everyone did such a great job and each person's creations were uniquely their own. It was a blast!

And after I returned home, the party didn't stop! I was obsessed with mark-making and doodling and painting and finding just the right piece of epemera to complete an empty space. I was kind of cracking myself up over cracking up. Is my therapist on call, I wondered?

But I finally came down a bit, off of the major adrenaline high I was on, and just enjoyed the whole process. I found that after Mindy's workshop, I was more free to make marks, really letting go of the fact that they might get covered up. I had more confidence that I could make those marks again if need be, or take the technique and use it as a new tool in another way on another page. And yes, I will be making like a gazillion more of these journals!

In fact, this mermaid is the result of what I created over that background above. I covered up a lot of marks and painting and drawing and little bits of ephemera. But I love this page oh so much. And I made sure to document it before I covered it. So anything I had, I'll know exactly how to re-create it again for another page.

To be honest,  I wasn't sure how much I'd learn from an in-person class from a teacher I had studied with online. But to my surprise, the person that signed up for that workshop and the person who came home from it ... well, they're two different people. And it's hard to find words that express what a wonderous time I had, and how much my art has changed as a result of it. I am over-the-moon excited every day knowing that all I had to do to move forward, was move backwards... and revisit my childhood self.

I'm so happy I remembered how to play. Makes life (and art) a lot more fun. Wheeeeeee!

Thoughtful Thursdays: Playing With Symbols!

I've been playing around with symbols and mark-making in a primitive, childlike way lately — thanks to my online workshop with Mindy Lacefield. It's interesting when you're actually given the assignment to find out what kinds of symbols you like and what kind of marks you are drawn to! (hee-hee.... get it? drawn to)

So I finally signed up for a Pinterest account and I looked for various examples that sparked something in my brain. I realized that I like stars... scribbly springy marks, houses, flowers, and the use of text as a design element.

I like rainbows and clouds and hearts... as well as childlike scrawlings of letters and numbers.

And swirls. Boy do I love swirls! Especially with my non-dominant hand.

Oh, and raindrops. I'm having way too much fun with raindrops.

Oh, and... well... I'm not sure if food is considered a symbol... but you know me! There's bound to be some sweet treats in my art.

I have to admit that although it is fun to uncover where my tastes lie when it comes to symbols and mark-making... it's a little tough figuring out how to incorporate them into a piece of art and make it cohesive. I'll let you know how that goes!

In the meantime... what are some of your favorite symbols?