"Artify": To make arty; To imbue and beautify with art. "Heart": The center or inner core of one's being. Thus, to "ArtiphyTheHeart" is to imbue the inner core of one's existance with the beauty of art.
I'm a curious and creative explorer of the world, currently working in book arts, collage, mixed media, fiber arts and acrylics. Each day I try to share a snippet of my life and musings through a piece of artwork, and every once in a while I spice it up with a pinch of practical wisdom.
I'm coming to terms with just how much a child of the '60s/'70s I was. I used to do posters for local rock groups and some of the venues that booked them. We weren't San Francisco, but a friend of mine and I were sort of the Family Dog of the local set in terms of poster design. We rigged up a rudimentary print shop in my bedroom (I had a really big bedroom), designed and executed the graphics and printed posters and handbills. Most of the groups are gone now. One lives on with a new name and that's all I'm saying...
But I keep falling back on those early graphics. Especially the lettering. Methinks I must embrace it anew. Do I see some flower power in my near future?
Interesting how patterns sometimes seem to emerge randomly and when you least expect to see them. Patterns which otherwise might have gone unrecognized often begin to display as sets of coincidences once they're noticed and taken note of, as the deep mind seeks out for the conscious mind to notice more of what has been called to its attention, deeming it as a potential necessity to survival.
This is probably the rationale behind the repeating sets of numbers that I've begun to notice for the last month or so, every time I make an off-hand glance at a clock. It's odd, but when I'm not specifically looking for the time of day, but happen to glance at a digital clock display that is unexpectedly within eyesight, more often than not the time displayed consists of repeated digits in pairs, triples, or quads, such as the pair, 12:12; or the triples, 1:11, 2:22, 3:33, 4:44 and 5:55; or the quad, 11:11.
Metaphysics and numerology would provide their own explanations for these occurrences, I'm sure. But I believe that once I noticed the repeated digits a couple of times and also took note of them, I sent a signal to my brain, telling it that it was somehow important for me to become aware of what my eye sees on the clock when those numbers repeat. How many times a clock is within eyeshot containing numbers I don't notice because my brain filters that information in favor of other information in my line of sight is something I would not be aware of consciously. But I'm sure that there are plenty of digital readouts that my eyes see, but my brain does not take note of because it doesn't matter.
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.
Some of the pages in my diary-style art journal are simply made up of random bits of stuff like doodles in a phone book. Doodling with everything: pens, markers, even the collage.
Sometimes these books end up a lot like the books in high school, when you doodled around the pictures and text in notebooks and then stuck stickers in the book and glued, stapled and taped stuff on top of it all. Totally unplanned. Spilling it all on the page for no other reason than to put it there. Nothing's really finished in these books, nor is it unfinished either. It's just there.
Perhaps what I've done with the pages of this book is more along the lines of K&Company Smash 365 Folio style. But I've been doing this for years and years and years in books I've made by hand, and Smash books are a new product that's partially already put together. With Smash books, you don't so much make it, as finish it. Still, I think they're a lot of fun, and I think I probably want one.
At any rate, the pages above are from the same book as the page in yesterday's post.
When I make books, I make so many books. So many radically different styles, bindings, and designs. Some are serious, some are whimsical, and some can't be catagorized at all, and they don't need to be. But sometimes it helps to have one book for one thing, and one book for another. Any way you look at it, it all adds up to lots of books. Containers, really. Containers of artistic expression. This book is a container for the doodles of my life, and most of those doodles are bits of collage.
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.
The page above is from one of my "Everyday" journals.
I keep several visual journals for different types of things. A couple of them, like the pages I posted yesterday and the day before, are introspective and deal with thoughts and issues. This page is more fun/utilitarian. It's pretty much a chronology of what-happened-when, so it's on the lighter side. Every once in a while a particularly heavy day will creep into the book and I'll let loose. But for the most part, it's just a who, what, where, when, why.
If you're interested, you can see the covers and the binding by clicking HERE.
Here's one more page from this book.
A card in a magazine I was flipping through inspired my St. Lucy, so I had to draw her. I was on an art date with my friend Rita and the only plain paper I had with me was a sketchbook that was not meant for water media, as you might be able to tell from the scratched up fibers in the background. Once I figured this out, I decided to collage St. Lucy and outline her with my Rapidosketch. This worked much better.
All the pages in this book were pieced together from various papers and images before the signatures were sewn into the book. The duck and cranberries (they're really jelly candies, but let's pretend they're cranberries...) on the page at the top were already there when the book was bound months ago. So were the papers and the red bench in the second picture. It happens so often that what's already on the page lends itself perfectly to the theme of the day. It isn't planned. It just happens that way.
Here's a new discovery for those of you who love to use tape in collage: Post-it now makes Post-it tape as well as Post-it Notes. The tape comes in white, green, blue, yellow, and maybe other colors which I haven't seen. I prefer white because I can do anything with it. Like turn it into a name tag with a pen, black india ink, and a piece of beige tissue paper layered on top. Like the notes, it's removable. Great for positioning around a page. And it can always be glued down when you're ready.
Just playing. I wanted to see how hard it would be to add some hand stitching to something in a spiral sketchbook without ripping out the page. Not difficult at all.
This evening was the final teleconference for the Creating Time Mega Event launching the book Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life by Marney Makridakis. I've attended all three, and I must say that I've had more fun, met more people, and been introduced to more new books and websites than in any other webinar I've taken part in.
In each of the three events, we've doodled clocks. Instructions were to take moments instead of taking notes. So I recorded the pregnant pauses as well as the salient points while I looked for the metaphors. I listened intently, watched a video, composed a group poem, and adjourned to small groups twice for discussions. All this over a period of an hour and a half, all the while doodling my clock and taking notes moments.
At the end of the webinar, I was surprised. I really hadn't looked at the paper I was doodling on in the process. I was on autopilot, expanding time by layering my activity, my attention heightened and present for listening, moment taking, doodling, and coloring, all at once and equally present, all happing at once within the same moment in time.
Who says time isn't pliable as putty? Here's what I discovered I had done by the end of the evening: Not a piece of art, but a cohesive collection of ideas, colors, pattern, and metaphor. A surprising outcome for someone who was present in so many places at the time the drawing was taking place.
Quite different from multi-tasking, this was a free act of letting the hand do it's work while the brain watched and listened. The words "Creating Time" and the date were added afterward. Everything else was done while participating in the event.
So I wanted to take the time to share this with you, and let you know that I highly recommend the book, Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life. It's filled with insights, activities and wisdom from the more than 80 artists, creatives, authors and other luminaries who contributed to this effort. Yesterday was its release date on amazon.com and it hit #1 in sales in numerous categories. I'm not surprised.
If you're interested -- and who wouldn't be? -- in celebration of the book's overwhelming success on it's first day of release, the special offer I mentioned in yesterday's post has been extended until April 24. You can find out more by clicking HERE to read yesterday's blog post, or by clicking HERE to sign up for the offer itself. There are more than $125 worth of fabulous and absolutely free items and perks, just for buying a book you'd want to own anyway. I know, because I took advantage of it and spent hours downloading all the fabulous morsels and tidbits, which include e-books, online courses, audio recordings and more. Really. What are you waiting for? This isn't a sales pitch, it's my own personal opinion. As they say, you snooze, you loose, so go for it!
WOW! Marney Makridakis of Artella has put together a package of freebies worth more than $125!
This post is not an advertisment. It's a public service to creatives everywhere! I just hope I'm not too late in posting for you to take advantage of this amazing package of goodies!
To get the more than $125 worth of freebies, the book must be ordered on the release date--TODAY! I have been excited about this book since I first heard about it last December, and I have mentioned it in past blog posts. But call me skeptical, I wanted to see for myself what was in the free package of goodies before I urged you all to place your orders on the 17th of April -- Today -- so I decided to place my own order first, open my package of goodies, then decide whether or not to pass along the information. I've been saving an Amazon gift card just for this very purchase, so it was great to find out that in order to get the freebies, the order must be placed online with either Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
I'm not going to list everything that is in the package of goodies because I think it's meant to be a surprise, but suffice it to say that there are audio recordings, full length online classes, and more. If you're interested in art, writing, or otherwise engaged in right-brain creative activities, this is SO generous, and SO worth it! And all for the cost of a book you'd want to buy anyway. At least I couldn't wait to buy it!
I rarely tell you to go out and get something, so today is really special. Just don't wait. Offer ends at midnight!
P.S. I get nothing extra for passing along this information. As I said at the beginning of my post, this is a public service, not an advertisement. But if you do decide to order, please consider using the links to the books that I've provided within this post, because I do get credit from Amazon if you place your order directly from clicking the Amazon links in this blog post. Then go back to the link on this page to the form and type in your Amazon order number. Thanks! You won't be disappointed!
Monday marked the official start of Creating Time, a mega event that you can learn more about and even join for free by clicking the link on my right sidebar. Part of this event is the featured launch of a new book by Marney Makridakis of Artella: Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life. I've been anxiously awaiting the release of this book for ages, and I can't wait till a copy is in my hands!
Every day throughout this event a new exercise in seeing, thinking about, and experiencing time in unique and potent ways is presented to each of the participants. Monday's activity focused on answering a list of questions about time specifically and in general, culminating with an art project to illustrate the essence gleaned through the process. You can see mine in a minute.
But first, before I share the journal page I did for this project, I'd like you to take a few seconds and watch this snippet of a video I put together with watches from various magazine ads. And I want you to notice. Notice what? Well, that's what you have to figure out. What do you see? Don't scroll down till you've watched or you'll spoil what may be a surprising fact.
Ok, now that you've watched, did you notice anything unique? Unusual? Different? Similar? Surprising? Or perhaps even suspicious?
Before I tell you what I noticed and what it means, let me share my journal page for Monday's Creating Time, Day 1, and tell you a little bit about it.
The first thing I did was to sketch my little drawing of someone (me, perhaps?) laid-out flat in her efforts to uphold time. She has to keep time balanced while the clock is ticking without letting it crush her in the process. Sound familiar? I'm sure we all feel this way at times.
Next, I found the clock image I wanted to use. I could have drawn it. It would have taken less time and effort, but I wanted the contrast and interplay that comes from using multiple types of images in collage. I found a few other parts of pages in magazines that caught my eye, so I ripped them out too. Then I decided which journal to use.
I keep several "open" (aka: ready for use) journals of different shapes and sizes available at any given time. One of the benefits of this is that there is always something on hand, ready to accomodate any size page that a combination of images will dictate. This way the artwork is king, not the size and shape of the page. I grabbed the journal that best suited the project, and started arranging and re-arranging the components until I came up with a pleasing composition, then I glued them down.
All the while, I kept my answers to the time questions in front of me so that my answers stayed in the back of my mind throughout the selection and arrangement process. When everything was on the page, I took a break, had a cup of tea, then came back and took a look. The page contained all my answers, and more. It showed me things I hadn't thought of while answering the questions. Things that were just as pertinent, perhaps even more. So I began to write. First a thought here, then a thought there, then another over in that corner, and also one right here at the side. My thoughts flowed onto the page, becoming commentary on my perceptions of time.
And now, back to the video. I was searching for clock face images when I happened across the watches I clipped for the video. I wanted a clock face or two to add to my little drawing. I kept finding images of diamond watches, artsy clock faces, and unusual artistic shapes when all I wanted was something clear and the proper size for my drawing, but I decided to cut them all out as I went through the magzines and sort them later.
As I clipped, I noticed that all the watches were set to the same time. 10:10. I looked through another magazine. Same thing. 10:10, regardless of brand. I started to Google "watches set to 10:10". The minute I typed-in "watches", the words "set at 10:10" automatically popped up in the search. Apparently lots of people know this. My husband knew it when I asked him about it. You probably already know it too. I would have thought that I would have known it, having worked in advertising, but then I never did a clock or watch ad, or worked for anyone who carried those accounts. Here's the deal: 10:10 is an industry standard. When watches and clocks are used in advertisments, setting them at 10:10 puts the hands in the best position to frame the name of the maufacturer. It's easiest to read "Timex" or "Rolex" when the hands are set at 10:10.
So there you have it. Now you can say: "I knew that!" Or, you can say, "Wow! I never knew that." Or you can get your friends to watch my little video and ask them what they see. If you have the time, of course.
Not too long ago, Diana Trout published her book: 
style. But I've been doing this for years and years and years in books I've made by hand, and Smash books are a new product that's partially already put together. With Smash books, you don't so much make it, as finish it. Still, I think they're a lot of fun, and I think I probably want one.
by Marney Makridakis. I've attended all three, and I must say that I've had more fun, met more people, and been introduced to more new books and websites than in any other webinar I've taken part in. 
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