ArtiphyTheHeart

Making A Statement

From time to time throughout history, a discussion about the function of art resurfaces.  I personally believe that art is above function.  It needs nothing to justify its existence.  But there is no denying that art can be used in many ways and can have many functions.  Making a statement is one of the ways that art can be used functionally.

This is page five in my Swatches journal, a tiny handbound book made from pieces of discarded library books.  This page which I worked on top of had been part of a discarded children's encyclopedia. The entry was "plantation".  I had already cut out the red dress and the white flower, grabbed some pieces of shreded washi tape, and was painting out the background when the picture emerged of the plantation owner sitting on a bench smoking a pipe while a slave labored over a barrel.  I looked for a Lincoln stamp and found one.  Then it all came together fairly quickly.  

Sometimes when you least expect it, the pages themselves have a story to tell or a statement to make.  

The necklace and heart are dimensional resin stickers, and have been included as part of my plan to use at least one sticker per page in this book.

One Page At A Time, For Now

This is page two in my Swatches journal.  None of the pages in this tiny book are the same size or shape.  That means that parts of  both previous pages and next pages, peek through from behind the smaller pages.  This creates a puzzle for photographing them as individual pages because in the book, each page becomes part of the artwork of the greater whole.  While they are pages of journaled mixed-media collage in their own right, as a book, they are not separate from one another, but parts of many different pieces.

I decided to scan each page solo, without the surroundings you'd see if you were flipping through the book.  Maybe later when the book is complete or when lots of pages have been completed, I'll do a quick flip-through video and post it so you can see each page in its natural habitat.  But for now, one page at a time.  

A Little More Time, And Some Advice For Your Mojo

Here's MYPL page 28 after a little more work.  To compare, you can see the start of this page by clicking HERE.

In the last few posts, I've talked about working in ten minute segments, which was a challenge Kelly Kilmer posted HERE.  But sometimes, even when you have a couple of hours, for whatever reason, things just don't click.  That's when you have to relax and make up your mind to just be happy doing what you can.  

A couple of urgent matters set me almost two hours behind schedule on Thursday, which for me is a real mojo drain.  When I was finally able to get to it, it took all I had just to decide what would come next on this page.  One thing I was sure I wanted to do was construct a bridge to unify the top stenciled portion of the page with the image of the planetary surface on the bottom.  I let my brain rest with that thought while I chose a neutral colored architectural element that would compliment the scrolling lines of the stencil, and freehand cut another piece to use on the right side for balance.  After that, it was fairly easy for my mind to conjure a border design that would echo parts of the top element and repeat it across the page.  

I penned the negative lettering of the page's theme, and decided to put the date at the top.  Just as I was making the date lines thicker, I was interrupted with news of three--yes three--serious traffic accidents which were backing up traffic with lengthy projected delays, and all of them on the route I would be taking to where I needed to be next.  I had to leave immediately to take another, longer route which would get me where I needed to be.   So the pen stopped moving and things were packed up and put away so I could head out the door.  

Two hours was less than half the time scheduled for artwork on Thursdays.  And usually, after two hours of work I have much more to show for it.  But the time I spent was productive.  In those two hours, decisions were made, problems were solved, and the general direction of the page began to emerge.  

This was the opposite of accomplishing much in ten minutes.  It was accomplishing less than usual in two hours.  But the level of satisfaction and accomplishment were equal.  As I said in this post HERE: 

Feeling accomplished cannot be measured by time or weight.  It's only measure is satisfaction.

With all the curves thrown that I had to catch and pitch back throughout the day, it was just as satisfying as if I'd finished a hundred pages.  So I'll add "number" to my sentence above.  Here's my revised declaration:

Feeling accomplished cannot be measured by time, weight, or number.  It's only measure is satisfaction.  

And here's what I have to say about my day, especially the early hours which kicked my muse out the door and exploded my mojo to smithereens:  

Even when your muse has abandoned you and your mojo is shattered beyond repair; Even when after too much time looking and too much time thinking, you still don't know what to do, there's one answer to heals all artistic wounds.  Touch your materials.  Just that.  Get them onto the table, pick them up, and turn them around.  Draw anything.  Glue anything.  Things can always be glued on top.  Or paint anything.Things can always painted over.  Write anything.  Things can always be glued, painted or written over.  Just touch the things you work with.  Then use them with no outcome in mind.  Your muse will immediately get jealous that you're working without her.  Your mojo will pull itself together instantly because it can't stand to be left out of a creative adventure.  Especially one that starts out without any particular destination in mind.  

Just do it.  It's magic!

 

Another Ten Minute Start

This is the first ten minutes of work on what will become MYPL page 28.  I chose and positioned the images to collage, then chose a couple of my stenciled papers, photocopied them onto the paper I wanted to use in my journal and cut them to size, then glued the pieces in place.  

 

That's all for this ten minute stretch.  If you're interested in learning more about working in ten minute intervals, click HERE.

 

I'm loving the new Liquitex Acrylic spray paints.  I used them for the stenciled papers used on this page.  I've used them with and without stencils, and I'd rather work with them than with any other sprays I've tried.  I've been using Liqutex acrylics since college and they've never disappointed me.  I prefer them the other brands I've tried, and I'm glad for that because the sprays are the same paint as the other Liquitex acrylics so the colors are exact matches.  Liquitex acrylic markers will be in the stores soon.  Cross your fingers for me.  I'm hoping they'll send me some to work with.  

 

In the meantime, I have two 6 to 10 hour days of artwork in a row coming up tomorrow and Friday. This page will get more tomorrow.  I'll post my progress, so visit often and let me know what you think.

More Simple Pleasures

From time to time I post about my simple pleasures.  This not-so-simple journal page filled with layers of my stenciled prints contains a list of some of my favorite simple pleasures.  

Tea always heads the list, and the page with it's tie-dye colors reminds me of an old hippie coffee house where good whole leaf teas are stored in air-tight containers and brewed fresh, pot by pot and cup by cup.

Next on the list is birdsong.  I live where the birds spend their winters.  There's nothing more pleasant than waking up in a warm, quiet room with a window cracked open for fresh air, and the first sounds of the day coming from a choir of birds.

Two more of my favorite simple pleasures are tide pools, and just breathing deeply.

This is MYPL page 25.  I've incorporated many stenciled prints using Liquitex acrylic spray paint for Stencilry.  The tea photo is a print of the photograph in yesterday's post which you can see by clicking HERE.

The Truth About Can't

I was blessed to grow up with parents who eschewed limiting ideas and behaviours.  

I remember coming home from kindergarten and complaining to my father that Kathy D. told me I couldn't do something on the playground.  "You can't do that," she said.  

And my father answered very simply and quietly, "That's ignorance.  When someone says you can't do something, they're just showing what they don't know.  There is no can't".  

So I told my father, "Tomorrow I'm going to go back and tell her that you said I can." 

And he answered, "No.  That won't do.  It's about ignorance, so she won't understand.  She'll argue, and that's no good.  Let it always be enough that you know you can.  Just go about your business and ignore the can'ts.  Life is full of them.  You need to let them be and just keep going.  If you pay attention to the cant's, you won't see the cans."

It wasn't about defying authority.  I knew the difference between can't and shouldn't, or may not.  It was about CAN.  And being told that I should quietly go about knowing that I can, made all the difference.  It gave me the motivation to learn new, difficult things and the patience to wait for things.  Why rush just to give up?  Especially when you know that you CAN.  So what if it isn't today?  You CAN.  

I learned a third exercise that many people don't think to do.  People think to stretch their bodies, and people think to stretch their intellect.  But most people don't think to stretch their capabilities.  Even if they don't know it, they're stuck with the question, "Can I?  Will I be able to?  Until you answer that question with a yes, you're a member of the billions club.  You're part of the billions of people that don't try until they're sure that they can.  They don't know if they can, and they're afraid to try until they know.

I learned the answer to that question in kindergarten, but that doesn't make me special.  Anyone can learn it anytime they want to.

(This pic above is page 24 from MYPL.  The stencil is from yesterday's post, HERE)

Cutting Edges

One of the things I quickly discovered while cutting this stencil/mask: When cutting your own stencils by hand with an Xacto knife, the edges are really important.  You have to pay careful attention to the intersection of horizontal and vertical cuts.  It isn't enough for them to just meet each other because you risk frayed corners if the edges don't intersect.

Cutting text is good practice.  It helps prepare you for the combined straight and curved lines in artwork.  I could have used purchased stencils, but I wanted the practice.  And I like that I can control the look when I do it myself. In an Art for Elementary School class I took in college, we were told to emphasize to students how much their drawing would improve if they practiced improving printing, script, and penmanship in general.  I think this extends to cutting letters with an Xacto.  If you practice cutting letters, your stencil cutting skills in general will improve by leaps and bounds.

Do you recognize this page?  I started it a while back and posted about it HERE.

The first decision I made when designing the stencil for this page was where I wanted to put it.  This art journal very conveniently has 8-1/2" X 11" pages.  That means that if I cut the area which will receive the paint from a separate piece of printer paper and I position the cuts carefully, the stencil I cut will also successfully mask out the rest of the page.  Once I decided where I wanted the letters, I  drew the letters in a type style that I thought would look good on the page.  Cutting out the letters proved to be quite easy.  

Here are some notes I took to ensure the success of future projects:

• Make sure cuts intersect at corners
• On some curves it's easier to turn the paper than the knife
• Fresh, new blades.  Always.
• Clean, unblemished cutting mat
• No day dreaming!  This is not the time to lapse into the zone!
• Remember, you're pulling the knife, not pushing it.  All cuts are on the pull.

This is page 23 for Marvel: Your Precious Life, an online art journal workshop offered by Kelly Kilmer.  The stenciling exercise is for Stencilry, an online workshop for designing, cutting, and using  stencils.  It's offered by Mary Ann Moss.

I used Liquitex low odor acrylic spray paint in medium magenta for this stencil.  The layer of acrylic spray on top of the printer paper reinforces and strengthens it with a light coating of acrylic polymer.  You end up with the best of both worlds:  A very easy to cut sheet of paper which becomes more durable after it has been sprayed.  

I think the top pic of the stencil cut from the paper is actually pretty cool looking.  I'm sure it will find it's way into another journal page soon.

Stenciled and Sprayed

Last week I received a box in the mail containing 14 colors of the new Liquitex acrylic spray paints.  But I was too sick to rip open the box.  If you know me, you know that I will never let a box sit unopened.  I'll rip and tear until I've found every item.  Finally today I felt well enough to shred the box to get to the paints inside, and I spent several glorious hours familiarizing myself with the contents.

After setting up a make-shift spraying station outside, I took a large sheet of paper and three of the transparent colors:  Quinacridone Crimson, Phthalocyanine Blue (green shade), Yellow Medium Azo, plus Raw Sienna (opaque).  I wanted to see how these would layer, mix, and blend together before moving on to the opaque colors.  

The pic above is most of the left side of a 17" X 11" sheet of practice paper.  Not the good stuff.  Just 68# cover from an office supply.  But it held up remarkably well, and it helped that it was a very bright white.

The pic below is most of the right side of the sheet.  If you look closely, you'll notice that much of this side contains off-load prints from the stencils themselves.  One of the nice things about the acrylic sprays is that the paint remains open long enough to get a good reverse print, unlike enamel sprays which dry permanently almost instantly.  The paint is quick drying, but like all acrylics, it is water soluble while wet, and permanent when dry.

I'm looking forward to becoming more familiar with holding the can, setting my distance from the paper, and learning how to direct the spray to maximize the desired results.  There are a variety of caps available for the cans which produce different effects of spray, and I can't wait to try them out.  But for today, the goal was to watch how the spray hits the paper and pay attention to layering and blends, so I grabbed a handful of stencils and didn't pay too much attention to anything other than how the paint reacted to the paper, and to the other colors.

I think heavy-handedness, and a tendency to hold the can too close to the paper must be a beginner's hurdle.  I had to learn to stand back farther and spray less aggressively.  

This is something I've been wanting to explore for years, but my lungs couldn't take the odor of spray enamels.  When Liquitex introduced their line of low-odor acrylic paint sprays, I was overjoyed!  Presently the sprays are available in 100 hues which are exact matches to the other Liquitex acrylics, and I can't wait to use the sprays together with the heavy bodied and fluid acrylics.

For some guidance in using the sprays and in cutting my own stencils, I've signed on to Mary Ann Moss's "Stencilry" class.  It's an older online class, no longer live, but all the information is available in videos and .pdf format, and several other friends have decided to play along.  It's great to have a group when you're learning something new, and this is really very new to me.  If you'd like to join us, we're learning each at our own pace, but together.  No rush.  For more information, click HERE. The class now comes bundled with a second class: "Stitched and Stenciled", so it's a two-for.  Join us!  The more the merrier, and I think you'll have fun!

Looking Forward To Everything, Always

I'm so excited to begin each and every day.  I look forward to absolutely everything.  Life wasn't always like this.  There were days upon days that I anticipated with boredom and exhaustion.  What changed?

Something tiny.  A very tiny thought popped into my head one morning while I was making breakfast.  I thought that maybe I would enjoy cooking, eating, and after breakfast clean-up quite a bit more if I did something creative with it.  So I did.  

That morning I rummaged through the fridge and came up with a small handful of veggies that I washed, chopped and added to a dab of melted butter in a skillet before scrambling my eggs.  And a pinch or two of spice.  Maybe four extra minutes of my time made all the difference, and I really enjoyed breakfast.  

During clean-up, I kept a notepad and pencil handy.  I thought about what I might make tomorrow and I wrote it down.  I even thought about busy mornings on the fly when a piece of toast and Nutella was all I'd have time for.  I resolved that on those mornings, I'd use fine china for my tea and toast.  Or spread a cloth and have a floor picnic.

Those thoughts took me through the day and here and there I began to write down things that would easily add pleasure to other routines.  I thought about adding a flower--just one--to my table every day.  And I thought about places to get flowers and about crocheting doilies and all sorts of other things, too.  And I wrote them in my notebook.  Some weren't practical, but it was fun thinking them up and writing them down.

I thought about expanding this.  Seeing every single piece of monotony in my day in a different light.  And I thought about driving, and how I hated it.  So I resolved to notice one new thing on each and every drive and to remember to write it in my notebook.  Once I noticed a shirt on a man standing at a corner.  Another time I noticed that the telephone wire running along the outside of a building I always passed was painted blue.  Just tiny things.  But life started becoming more exciting.  I began to look forward to seeing.  And I fell in love with thinking up ways to add something playful to every routine.

Some other tiny things that made a big difference were how I turned book reading and film watching--things I've always savored--into an end of the day ritual, and how I purposely skip some days and just keep them open.  How I randomly pick a day each week to sip wine or tea in bed while listening to music.  How I invite my family to join me, or ask them let me spend my time privately, and what a huge difference voicing an invitation or a desire to be left alone can make, and how it gives a choice to others.

And then, all of a sudden one day I realized that I looked forward to everything.  All of it.  And the most beautiful thing happened along the way--I have very a hard time now remembering how it felt to be bored.

One More: From Collage to Journal Page--Two

One more page journaled over collage.  You can see the almost naked page--the collage only version--by clicking HERE.  And if you missed the page I posted yesterday and it's progression, you can see that by clicking HERE.

It isn't whether or not you liked it better before, or if you like it much better now.  It's about the process of art journaling with collage and the choices I make while working.  There's no right or wrong way.  It's just how I work.  Like the thousands of recipies for sugar cookies that are out there, but you developed your own, and you make yours this way, as opposed to all the other ways.  And they all taste pretty good--more or less.

This particular method of journaling over collage is taught by Kelly Kilmer.  This page is #9 in the series from her workshop:  Marvel: Your Precious Life.  Lots of new ideas there, and also some new ways of applying the old ones.

Turning It Into A Page

This is an example of what happens when collage turns into a journal page.  For a peek at what it looked like undressed, click HERE.

Canvas Book

Here's a look at a canvas book I constructed during an in-person workshop with Kelly Kilmer several years ago.  I thought I'd show it to you because it's one of my favorite books.  Really delightful to hold. It measures 6-1/4" X 7-3/4".  A pic would be better, but the lighting right now is awful, so I scanned it to get truer colors.

I painted the pages before binding the book.  On the left is the inside cover with the first page on the right.  The front cover actually folds over to create a pocket on the inside cover, which one of these days I'll probably stitch closed, top and bottom.  The back cover does the same.

This is the whole book, flared-out butterfly style, with the back cover on the left, the spine in the middle, and the front cover on the right. Not a great scan because of the shadows on the left (the blurring is in the scan, not on the book), but this will give you an idea of how I created the spine by stenciling over the center of the canvas in black.  It's sewn with a simple running stitch, one signature, pamphlet style.

I use a lot of canvas when I bind books, and I use it in many different ways.  Here are a few links to other blog posts where I've used canvas in bookbinding:

I used painted and stenciled canvas to cover the boards for this book:  http://artiphytheheart.typepad.com/artiphytheheart/2012/06/lateral-purple.html

I did the same thing here, except instead of stenciling by stippling paint, I slathered tinted modeling gel over the stencil to create the dimensional squares:  http://artiphytheheart.typepad.com/artiphytheheart/2012/01/a-handbound-book-start-to-finish.html

I used painted canvas for the spine of this book: http://artiphytheheart.typepad.com/artiphytheheart/2011/07/my-18x-book.html

If you scroll down past the first book in this post, there is a second book.  On the second book I used pieces of painted and stamped canvas as panels on the front and back covers: 

http://artiphytheheart.typepad.com/artiphytheheart/2010/12/orange-.html

 

I painted a piece of primed canvas for this little book, figured out where the spine would be when I wrapped it around the boards, then stenciled the spine in black using a plastic doily as a stencil.  It's one of my favorites: 

http://artiphytheheart.typepad.com/artiphytheheart/2010/07/integration.html

 

There are others, but these will give you an idea of how I use primed canvas in bookbinding.  Feel free to look around the blog.  You may find some I've forgotten about.

 

 

With A Flourish

Recently I've read a lot of commentary against the use of flourishes as decorative elements in artwork and collage.  I'd like to weigh in on the subject and add my 2¢ worth, because I feel that it's expressly un-artistic to discriminate against any design element, ever.  It's just wrong.

You don't have to like flourishes, and if you don't like them, don't use them.  If you think they're over-used, don't use them.  If you hate looking at them, turn away.  Or resolve to tolerate them.

Because the absolute truth is that the story of art is one of inclusiveness.  It will never suit everyone always, and sometimes it may even suit no one.  But the expression is always valid.  

I personally applaud the use of the flourish.  Even the name itself.  To flourish is to thrive:  To be fully present, alive, and in a state of excellence.  How appropriate.  It is the state of being that one is borne up to in the creative process.  

And with that said, in practice, I use the flourish sparingly, and usually not at all.  But in the midst of every drawing, every book I bind, and every collage, there's always a flourish in my heart.  As cliché as that may sound, it's the truth.

Avant Garde

What more can I say.  I love happy individualists who are comfortable in their own skin.  

Really and truly, I cherish my quirky friends.  All the others, too.  They fill my heart.  

And I appreciate that they value my own quirks, twists, and turns, and that they put up with the bumps and warts as well.

εὐδαιμονία

 

Both the title of this post and the journal page above have to do with a sense of human flourishing.  It has to do with a deeply abiding healthy spirit, and prospering.  

The word εὐδαιμονία is often mistranslated as happiness.  It isn't about happiness.  It's about flourishing without annoying complexities.  Prospering in peace.  

εὐδαιμονία.  It's a good word.  It describes what I wrote.  I need to go back and add it into my page.