ArtiphyTheHeart

The Last Page--And Something Added

Today I finally scanned and uploaded the final page to my first art journal with the sewn-on tabs binding taught by Mary Ann Moss in her Full Tilt Boogie class.  You can see more of that book by clicking HERE, and at the end of the flip-thru video on that post you can see what this page looked like before anything was added to it.  

I began this journal last year on the fourth of July for no other reason than that is when I finished binding the book, and I journaled the last page this year on Memorial Day, for no other reason than it happened to be that weekend when I got to the last page.

I'm still working in multiple journals at once, but I must admit that I have more fun with this style than most of the others.  They all serve different purposes, but this is the one I work in chronological order.  I'll be sharing pages from the newest journal soon, so be ready for it!  It's a bit smaller than this one, but the style and the binding are similar.

And now a drumroll, please!

I've added another blog to "My Other Blogs" list on the sidebar.  This is significant since I've always kept this blog separate, it's not a typepad blog--it's a blogger blog, and it's all about cards, templates, die cuts, and crafty stuff artfully designed and arranged.  I haven't added to that blog since 2009, but I've decided to ressurect it because I've fallen in love with making .svg files (scalable vector graphics) in Inkscape, turning them into die cuts with SCAL software, then cutting them.  I've also fallen in love with scanning my own line drawings as well as creating them in Inkscape and also using line drawings from other sources, adding pattern, color, shadow, etc. in Photoshop, then printing to use as custom images for hand cuts and diecuts.  So be sure to stop by ArtyCards'NCrafts.  You can get there by clicking HERE, or by clicking on ArtyCards'NCrafts on my sidebar.  

And soon there will be even more news to share with you, so come back often!  You can subscribe to this blog, or to any of my blogs by clicking on the rss widget or "subscribe to this blog" and adding that blog to your feed reader.  If you don't have a feed reader, you might want to get one.  It took me years to figure out how much easier it was to see new posts on the blogs I want to keep up with by using a reader.  I use google reader, but there are lots of others out there and they're all free, so check it out and take your pick!  

Lining Up My Ducks

I first used a computer in the early 80s.  The first one I owned was a Timex Sinclair.  The first computer language I learned was BASIC.  I've been online continuously (read: daily) since the early 90s.  I'm equally Mac and PC savvy, and I evolve with the updates.  I'm no stranger to social media and can carry on conversations about most of it before it hits the public airwaves, although I am picky about what I use personally because I'm not out to collect widgets;  I want what works for me.  I like keeping my knowledge complex, but my experiences simple.

So where did I miss the boat on feed readers?

Yesterday I started using Google Reader to organize my online reading and news.  I spent the afternoon creating and refining subscriptions and making files to house sites I visit daily, weekly, etc.  I took a break long enough to grab my moleskine and put my ducks in a row.

Then I went back to the reader to catch up on what I've been missing by haphazardly cruising online without a navigator.   What a time saver!  

Now I'm off to broom my internet files and bookmarks.  I've accumulated a lot of trivia and it's time to bin everything that isn't useful.  In the process, I've reacquainted myself with some great websites that had gotten lost amongst the rubble.  Big, clean, deep, breaths of fresh air!

Once Upon A Time

I sat down with my brush and inked out a rooster, with absolutely no idea why.   What is a rooster?  Why is it on my mind, so close to consciouness that my brush put it on paper?  Roosters signifiy morning.  Wake up.  Sunrise.  A new day.  

Then my daily dose of Wylde Women's Wisdom from Tammy Vitale hit my inbox.  It all became clear.  My rooster was there to remind me to begin each and every new day with Once Upon A Time.  

Once Upon A Time, Barbara woke up, and by opening her eyes to the morning, she began a whole new day, filled with endless possibilities and magical outcomes!

 Once upon a time is always now and always forever.

 Once upon a time is a sacred place and a sacred time

in which miracles happen.

 

It's the essence of a fairy tale.  It's the essence of story.

 

When we hear it, we become a child.  That is,

we become innocent.

We are ready and able to understand

what is mysterious.

 

I mean, you can hear as you listen to the story

the way it speaks our journeys.

 

Deena Metzger

 

 

Wylde Women's Wisdom collected and brought to you by Tammy Vitale.

 

 

 

Oldies But Goodies

Yesterday my friend Rosie Rowe posted a journal page to her blog that made me squeal with delight!  The colors, the pen work, and the subject matter all resonated with something deep in my soul.  You can see that piece by clicking HERE.  

I left a comment for Rosie, and told her that her piece reminded me of an art journal spread I created more than a year ago, but had never posted.  I told her I'd photograph and post it, and see what she thought.  

Rosie and I have a connection.  Like twins separated at birth.  What I'd like to know is this:  Do you see kindred souls when you look at my piece, then at hers, then back to mine again?  Is this something that can be seen from the outside?  Or is this just something that Rosie and I notice from time to time about ourselves?  I'm not asking you to compare and contrast.  I'm just wondering if you see the similar personalities.  The kindred spirits.  

Here's mine:

There are tons and tons of things I do that never make it to the blog.  This spread was one of those things.  The number one reason something gets left off my blog is "category".  Lots of artwork I do just doesn't fit the look, feel and format of this blog.  The number two reason is quantity.  There's just too much stuff, and it won't all fit.  And while I love looking at blogs that display picture after picture in a single post, it really isn't the way that I'm comfortable with making my posts.  At least not here.  

If we're going for the top three reasons things get left off my blog, the third reason often has to do with photographs.  Either the lighting was poor on the day I was ready to shoot a piece, or it didn't fit in the scanner, or maybe there just wasn't enough time left to shoot and upload.  

So what you finally see posted on my blog is most often an art journal page or a hand-bound book, and it's most likely what I worked on and finished on the day it was posted.  I just don't post many slow pieces, as in the ones that evolove over time, although those are almost always my favorites, and most often are stand alones, not pages in a book.  

That may be what happened with this piece.  I know that there are layers of crackle paint which had to dry overnight before the type of glitter I used could be added, and that took another overnight.  I also know that a year ago in May, I had several works in progress, and this was just one of them, so it was left behind until today.  And since I create what I create from what my heart and soul yearns to do, and not usually for challenges or themes that aren't my own, unless of course the challenges or themes are what I'm yearning to do, a lot of these pieces are so personal that it's hard for me to decide which ones someone else might want to see, and which should stay in the cabinet.

More Frames

Day 13 of Traci Bunkers 30 Days Of Get Your Art On, and I'm experimenting with the many frames I cut as practice runs for the thicker mats that will make it into my next book for FTB.  In the meantime, I was 2/3 of the way through today's spread when I realized that King Richard the First really deserved his own frame (look at the muscles on those arms!).  Tomorrow you'll see how it looks on the page, but for now, here's a quick peek before it is glued forevermore.  

I used my hand-carved stamps to decorate the frame as a special tribute to my friends Belinda Schneider and Hermine Koster.  Belinda and Hermine began Wednesday Stamper many years ago.  But all good things must come to and end, and WS closed its doors at the end of June.

WS was the original, or at least one of the very first and certainly one of the longest running, blog challenge sites on the web.  I started blogging in 2007, shortly before Belinda's SantaClaus Fest, and this is when and where I met some of my longest-standing and dearest friends on the web.  In addition to web friends, through Belinda's posts from Luxemburg, half a world away, I was introduced to a friend right here in Phoenix.  

Belinda's Icicle Doll Fest was the first and best swap I've ever participated in.  A couple of years later, Belinda's swap and our icicle dolls were published in Sew Somerset.

The good things which have come to me personally through my association with Belinda, Hermine, and everyone who participated at Wednesday Stamper are too numerous to mention.  One of the absolute best things, hands down, was meeting my best blogging buddy, Rosie Rowe.  So to commemorate the end of an era, I'm about to post my offering as a final tribute to WS, the place on the web that started it all.  It may be over, but it will never be forgotten.  

Day 2. Book 2. July 2.

I'm committed to Traci Bunkers 30 Days of Get Your Art On, and I spent the day working, having fun, and shooting crappy photos, as I worked through book two for FTB.  

Here's the book.  It's one of a gazillion that I've acquired *ten for a dollar* at local library discard sales.  This one obviously wasn't purchased for the condition of it's (boring) cover.  I wanted the images inside.  But at 9" X 11-5/8", the book is the right size and shape for a journal, so I decided to work with it.

And here's the story.  Since FTB is really all about turning vintage photo albums into art journals, everyone else in the class has acquired them. Gorgeous ones. Victorian celluloids, antique leather, silver and brass closures, velvet spines and backs, filled with cabinet card frames and sometimes the photos as well.  I looked for weeks. Really.  And found nothing suitable.  But I didn't go to Etsy or Ebay, I wanted to find mine locally, if possible.  Why?  Mostly because of mold.  There are serious allergies in this household, and I wanted to be certain there wasn't any.  

So I emailed Mary Ann and asked her what she would think if I made a knock-off.  A faux.  Not really a phony, more of a book pimped as a vintage album.  She thought it was a fine idea.  

Originally I was just going to jigsaw cut the cabinet card frames from mat board, using a Cricut expressions with a deep cut blade, .svg files, and SCAL 2 software.  I thought of using the red book you can see by clicking HERE and then scrolling down the page, since I have an entire set of them (also library discards), but today I realized it wouldn't do.  I needed to start from scratch.  Research time.

First stop:  Pinterest!  I pinned my way through the web, finding tons of examples of albums and innards all over the place.  Now I have a head full of stuff to pull from as I get ready to sit down and do this thing!  

Once my head is full of inspiration, my head communicates directly to my hands, and without thinking at all, I found myself asking my daughter for, of all things, used velvet?  She said, "Uh, yes!  A purple dress I wore when I was ten is in the Goodwill bin.  Do you want it?"  "That depends," I said.  "Is it nice and used looking?  Any bare spots? Flaws?"  Fortunately there were a few, which not only made it perfect for the project, but eased my guilt at cutting it up (although the chunk I removed could be replaced with a lace panel and the dress would be gorgeous again...).

So that was today.  If you're on Pinterest, you can take a look at my antique albums board, use your imagination, and maybe you'll know what it is I'll come up with before I do.  

But that's for tomorrow.  Now, it's cocktail time!  Instead of choosing one from the official list (yes, MAM has provided us with an official list of FTB cocktails), I've come up with one of my own concoctions to share with the group.  I'll let you know up front that I'm not a rum lover.  Mai Tais are wonderful, the rest is (ugh) rum.  But never say never.  Here's my variation of a side car -- stretching the original recipe so far that I'd probably have to call it a "beside the limo".  If you make it, let me know what you think.  I'm enjoying mine right now!

Beside the Limo (Drink two or three and the name automatically changes to under the limo...)

Put into a shaker with ice:

2 measures golden rum

1 measure triple sec

1/2 measure simple syrup

3/4 measure fresh lemon juice

Strain into cocktail glasses (chilled, with sugared rims is best...)

Add a generous splash of soda and stir

Enjoy!

Don't add the soda to the shaker unless you like liquid explosions.  And if you'd prefer something equally wonderful and refreshing but non-alcoholic, click HERE, and scroll down through the post to Amy's mint lemonade with lime!

It's July! Time To Update the Map!

But first, here's my offering for today:

There's just so much going on in cyberspace, it's easy to get lost.  I find it handy to carry a map.  Maps are useful tools.  They don't determine where you're going; they just give you an idea of what's out there, and how to get there.  They help you get where you're going, and you can circle your destination choices on a map.  

At the beginning of every year, I map out my online itinerary, keeping it general enough to allow for additions and subtractions, but specific enough to give me an idea of how I plan to spend my online minutes in a way that will meet my goals and desires most productively.  I do this in January, then in July, I take another look at the map from my life's point of view, and make adjustments as necessary.  

Most of the groups I belong to have been around awhile and do extensive advance planning.  It's easy to take a look in December and get an idea of what will be offered in the coming year.  There's a comfort in things that are established, not the least of which is the benefit of consistent, predictable quality.  It makes the choices easier.  But things change rapidly online.  New things pop up all the time and former things vaporize daily.  I don't serve my rules.  I believe that my rules must serve me, so I want to make sure that my choices are flexible enough to make additions and subtractions without having to look over my shoulder at every crossroads.  

If January begins your year, then July's a great review point.  I keep my choices simple.  This year, I chose three places to hang-out for the summer: Kelly Kilmer's J.O.Y, Mary Ann Moss's FTB, and Marit's Summer Camp, and one place for all-year-long: Julie Fey-Fan Balzer's AJED.  There's also an invitational group of online artists that I belong to which is perennial, and I made my choices in January regarding which projects I'd tackle in 2011 with them.   

When I made my choices, I knew that new things would inevitably pop up on the horizon, and other things would be called on account of rain.  When Effy Wild created Wild Precious Studios earlier this year, I made the decision to jump in on the first day and add this goup to my active list, allocating time to facilitate a weekly Mandala prompt group there, Making Mandalas, Art Within The Circle.  When I post about the goings on in that group, I usually do it from my sister blog, ArtiphyTheSoul.  

Last, but certainly not least, there's SoulCollage®.  Particiaption with the KaleidoSoul Kindred Spirits group is an uplifting, daily joy of mine, and any activity I post regarding SoulCollage® and my participation with KaleidoSoul can be found at ArtiphyTheSoul.  This month, my personal practice with SoulCollage is featured in the KaleidoSoul newsletter, which you'll automatically receive if you're a member.  There's even *gasp* a picture of my face!  If you're an art journaler, a collage artist, a mixed media junkie, or all of the above, you should take a look at KaleidoSoul and see what group membership has to offer.   No matter what you put into it, your return will be greater.  Guaranteed!  

So those were and are my choices for 2011 as decided upon in January.  

Now that it's July, I've added one more, and this is more of an incentive and a promise to myself than an obligation.  Traci Bunkers has initiated Traci Bunker's 30 Days Of Get Your Art On.  It's a bit like AJED, except that it's for the month of July instead of for the entire year, and it's more about doing anything creative daily, even unfinished, and blogging about it, than specifically creating art journal pages.  For me, the two will work hand-in-hand.  Julie's AJED posts and prompts are wonderful and motivating, although I sometimes work differently and often don't post the artwork I've made to her group.  I have found that just looking at Julie's website and her daily offerings sparks my creativity, and I've noticed that I've been more productive since I've had her site as an encouraging resource.  Traci's art is more in tune with what I do daily, even if I don't always post my abstractions and mixed-media work.  And knowing that I'm committing to doing something, even something not finished, every day and then blogging about it, is a real benefit generator for me!

Happy July! 

 

Completely Spoiled By Rosie!

I got the best surprise in the post last week!  

My best blogging buddy Rosie Rowe  has turned me into a completely spoiled child!  Her limited edition line of "Arty-Farty bags" are the perfect blend of art, fun, and frivolity, with a huge dose of practical magic thrown into the mix, and she sent me one as a birthday gift!  

I wish I could have videoed myself opening the envelope.  You would have seen the longest, loudest, happy dance on record.  But alas, my trusty camera is frapping out.  Very temperamental these days since it's getting on in years -- it doesn't want to hold a battery charge, and I've had to result to scanning most things I've posted lately.  So I waited for a particularly sunny day to snap this pic because I knew I'd get only one shot at it.  The photo isn't bad at all, but I can tell you that this bag is totally amazing up close and in person!  A hundred times, so! The scrummy flower was an added giftie from Rosie.  I pinned it to the bag and I love it there!  

So here are places where you can see what Rosie has for sale:  Click Here for her Artfire Shop               and:   Click Here for her Etsy  

We should all be good to ourselves, making it a practice to be a little bit better, upping the ante each day.  I suggest that you be good to yourself today by treating yourself to a little slice of artsy heaven by visiting Rosie's shops and gifting yourself!  Go on!  Do it!  Buy yourself a pressie!  You'll get much more than you paid for!

2011--Year Of The Barred Owl

The year has begun with a creative frenzy.  If it continues at this pace, it will end as one of the best on record for the art blogging community.  Only two-thirds of the way through January, and I've already stumbled upon dozens of new workshops, challenges and creative tutorials, all given freely by talented artists as their gifts into the new year.  

I just completed the first three phases of a workshop by Pam Carriker for Strathmore Online Workshops.  It's amazing, and when it's finished, there are still two more to go!

Strathmore is where I met artist-blogger Effy Wild, who got a wild idea to host an art community herself, and without any hesitation, voilá!  Wild Precious Studio was born!  I joined along with 15 others on the first day, and now just a week later, membership has risen to 76 and counting!  

Among other micro groups, Wild Precious Studio features a weekly art journaling group. Week 1's challenge is painting owls.  My Barred Owl was born last night, but not before serendipity led me to Green Isles Crafts  where I found a journal prompt for "Wings".

My Barred Owl is below.  On the left he's painted in acrylics, and on the right, he's the feature of a darker, finished journal page created from a color copy of the original, including one of my favorite poems by Pulitzer Prize winning Richard Wilbur. 

 

Click to enlarge the pics and read the poem.  If you think "Who cooks for you, Who cooks for you" is mere poetic license, watch the video below of a live Barred Owl, and listen to its wonderful, haunting voice.

Late edit-  Here's the poem, in case you'd rather see it in print:

A Barred Owl   by Richard Wilbur

The warping night air having brought the boom                                                                                                             Of an owl's voice into her darkened room,                                                                                                                         We tell the wakened child that all she heard                                                                                                                     Was an odd question from a forest bird,                                                                                                                           Asking of us, if rightly listened to,                                                                                                                                          "Who cooks for you?" and then "Who cooks for you?"

Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear                                                                                                           Can also thus domesticate a fear,                                                                                                                                           And send a small child back to sleep at night                                                                                                                     Not listening for the sound of stealthy flight                                                                                                                   Or dreaming of some small thing in a claw                                                                                                                         Borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw.

ArtiphyTheSoul

Get ready....it's coming soon.  In the meantime, here's a preview:

Mandala One

 

Re-blogged Wisdom From www.tammyvitale.com: 4 Positive Possibilities For Procrastination

I ended last week with my first ever re-blog, and I'm beginning this week with another.  While I don't intend to get into the re-blog habit or make it a regular feature of my own blog, it was just good fortune that brought both of these pieces to my attention, and because I feel strongly about the importance of this piece from Tammy Vitale, I'm bringing it to you.  Enjoy!   --Barbara

4 Positive Possibilities For Procrastination 

via tammyvitale.com

One of the biggest “problems” potential clients talk to me about is procrastination.  I hear:  “Oh, I’m such a procrastinator.”  “Oh, I always wait to the very last minute.”  “Oh, I procrastinated too long and then couldn’t do my best work.”

Everyone thinks procrastination is negative. 

Here’s a secret!  Procrastination carries a message, you just have to consciouisly pay attention to what your actions (and your subconscious, driving those actions) is trying to tell you.

1.  It isn’t really procrastination.  It’s overwhelm.  So you’re stuck stock still in the headlights of the oncoming truck and your conscious mind is blank. 

You have a list.  You woke up with 3 must dos, 2 want to dos and 4 should dos.  Before you were out of bed, you were already behind.

Stop!  Take a breath.  Bring all the worries to consciousness.  Write down all the to-dos whirling around your brain.  Make them concrete.  Now prioritize your top 3 things.  If there are more than 3 things that MUST be done today, you are on overwhelm. 

2.  It really IS procrastination.  You are putting it off because you don’t want to do it.  Have a look at the “why” of doing it – why do you HAVE to do it in the first place?  Is it in accordance with your true priorities and life’s passion?  If it’s not, why are you doing it?  And if it is – what are you hiding from yourself, because if it’s really your passion, you’ll dive right in!.

3.  It’s productive procrastination.  You find yourself cleaning the refrigerator rather than tackling something you know is your passion (if you’re home-based).  Your subsonscious is saying:  take a break.  You need to think about this some more.  Go for a walk (that take something out of the “must exercise” column).    Don’t think – just go through the motions.  In half an hour what it trying to break through will have had the space to do so and you can dive right in.

4.  It’s really procrastination and it’s bringing unconscious motivations into the light showing you what you avoid.  It allows you to see patterns.  And once seeing, it allows you to correct by identifying the story running in your head – and then pick the story apart.  Are you giving to much time to things you don’t love and aren’t passionate about?  Are you afraid of failure (or success? – the end result is the same.  Don’t do anything and you’ll have neither).  Do you need to hire help or delegate work (share control)? Do you need to get clear on what your true passion is and what you really really want to do with your life instead of that thing over there that you are so assiduously avoiding?

Contrary to what we all think, procrastination is a positive experience that calls us to have an inner conversation.

So next time you think “I’m procrastinating” – stop and breathe.  And change your reaction of  beating yourself up for it.  Instead welcome procrastination to the table and sit down and chat for a while!

via tammyvitale.com

Some Things Are Worth Repeating

A couple of days ago, I showed you a page I colored from Tammy Vitale's Wylde Women Coloring Book.  You can click HERE to see the original post, but here's a thumbnail to refresh your memory. 

If you want to see it bigger you can click on it.  But I'm keeping it small because there's another version of this that you just have to see, and see it big!  

Carol, whose blog  Swallowcliff's Art  is full of beautiful and wonderful things, chose to color this page with fabric!  You can click HERE to see her original post, and you really should click to see her pic, and to read about her process, which she so generously shares with her blog readers.  

Carol used reverse applique and some of the yummiest fabrics on the planet to make this piece, which measures about the size of a sheet of paper.   She's given me permission to post about it and to show it to you here, so feast your eyes on this!

Fabulous, isn't it?   Anything this amazing needs to be seen, and commented on.  So get yourself over to Swallowcliff's Art and leave Carol a comment to tell her how wonderful this is!  And while you're there, take a look at her adorable Dotees!  

Also, don't forget to stop by Tammy Vitale's website to get your own pages to color, which she so generously offers as a free download.

Enjoy yourself!

Hawaii In The Desert

A taste of Honolulu in Tempe, Arizona

 Clockwise from left:  1.Snowcone 2.Hawaiian prints 3.More fabric 4.Nets & sea glass 5.Hawaiian groceries 6.Wax flowers 7.Almond cookies 8.Starfish.  9.The center photo is the old Hayden Flour Mill.  It's the view across the street from the festival. Tempe is almost never this green.  Ever.

While we're on the subject of festivals, I didn't take a batch of photos at the Renaissance Fair this year, but I did get a shot of this guy playing the Carillon.  

 

 He's part of a group called Cast In Bronze, and if you click HERE, you can take a look at their website, listen to some tunes, and maybe even buy a CD or DVD.  I don't work for them and I get nothing at all for referring you.  I was just amazed at what they can do and what they do it with!

                

This video was on youtube.  It gives you a pretty good idea of how large this thing is and what it sounds like.  But for sound quality, visit their website where there are audio clips of most of their songs.

 

A couple of posts back I showed you a pic of Mona when she was just a background. 

 

Here she is now after a bit of fixing.  

There's a French web museum that posts pics of altered Monas which is worth a look.  Click HERE to see Mona's journey since her escape from the Louvre. They already have one of my Monas, and I think I might offer this one as well.

  

Bringing Hope...

For Layers of Color, Mixed Media Monday and Pointy Hats and Wings

A Celebration...

In my opinion, one of the brightest spots on the web is also an online shop.  If you haven't visited Layers Of Color art stamps, you owe it to yourself to stop by and take a look at the gorgeous artwork that owner Laura Campbell lovingly puts into the stamps she sells!  And visit the gallery, too!  There is plenty of inspiration not only from the talented design team, but from customers as well!  This is the perfect time to do so, because if you visit right now, you can pick up all the details about the huge give-away that's coming up on November 14th and 15th in celebration of the release of nine new LOC original art stamp sets.  

The Collage...

I'm going to go into a bit of detail here so you can pick out the LOC stamps I used in creating this collage.  The background was painted with layered acrylics.  I recycled a piece of gift wrap tissue with script by adhering it to the surface with gel medium and then added successive layers of medium and acrylic paint over the top.  I buffed it smooth, and assembled my little party fairy using wings, hat and body parts from Lisa's Altered Art, a star from Sandra Evertson's Fanciful Paper Projects, and two different Layers Of Color architectural block stamps for the skirt and top.  I drew and painted the hand on a separate piece of paper, then cut and collaged it to the surface.  The sleeve was made using another one of the stamps from the LOC architectural block set, colored in-between with watercolor pencils.  I added the scrolling, flowery rub-ons from Heidi Grace, and as nice as they are, in retrospect, wish I had painted them myself by hand.  Lastly I laid-in the shading and the dots.  

Mixed Media Monday...

"Opposites attract" is this week's MMM theme, and what could be more attractive to a human than a tiny fairy bringing beauty and hope.  There are also the obvious opposites of color and contrast, handmade and mass produced elements, and rough and smooth textures.  

A Spot of News...

This is the only place on this blog that you'll hear about my next piece of news, so if you're interested, please read-on!  I've begun another blog.  It's a home on the web for the very satisfying cards and crafty pieces that I love to make to unwind at the end of a long day.  Early on, I tried to blend these pieces in with my other artwork and into this blog, and while this may have worked, it confused me, and some other artists who emailed me, wondering just what it was that I did primarily.  The answer was, and is, that I'm one of those rare-ish half-right, half-left brain people who's hemispheres are so equally balanced, that I find it just as easy and just as satisfying to make fine art on the one hand, and graphic design on the other.  I spent a great deal of my life drawing and painting and getting an arts degree, and just as much of my life writing and working with publishing layouts and graphic design.  As one graphic designer friend of mine put it, "You've joined the ranks of artists who get as much satisfaction from creating your own art from scratch, as you do from pushing around and arranging the elements created by others."  This is so true, and it describes me to a "T"!  So for my own peace of mind, and at least for the time being, you can find my arty cards and crafts at ArtyCardsNCrafts.  ArtiphyTheHeart will remain the place for everything else I do.  Maybe I'll even choose to post some of my drawing and painting in the future...we'll see... But for now, that blog will link back to this one, but this one will stand on its own.  

Asking A Little Favor, If I May...

If you decide to visit ArtyCardsNCrafts, or if you get there through a blog challenge I've entered, please take a minute to look at the list of links in that blog's sidebar.  My hope is that it will become the most comprehensive and up-to-date listing of card and craft challenges on the web.  So if you know of a challenge that is not listed on that blog, please email me with a link so I can add it to the list!!

And now I'm off to:

Have a late lunch

Catch up on some reading

Visit GoodReads, as my DD recommends it so highly,

Do a bit more tweaking and blog maintenence, and

Work on an art journal page, already in progress

Have a great day, Everyone!

Row "C"...

...For Crowabout and Saturday Surprise

 

Creative Vitamins...

Kelly Kilmer was in Phoenix over the weekend, and being with Kelly is like taking vitamins!  She refreshes and energizes my creative spirit like nobody else.  Yesterday was extra special, because my daughter, Amy, worked right along side of us and I hope she'll share on her blog what she did in the workshop.

Process...

"Row C" is an approx. 6"X9" layered acrylic underpainting collaged with transparencies, images and decorative tape.  I never rush to finish a piece.  This one needed something more, so it came home with me unfinished.  Picture it without the dress, "row c", and "face the facts!".  Things don't often resolve themselves so easily or so quickly, but when I set this down on my worktable next to the sheet of Crowabout images for this week, "face the facts!" and the dress found an immediate home.  "Row C", which is undeniably the most important, did not reveal itself until I found it hiding in the words "crow" and 'bar".  

Books...

We make books with Kelly.  All different, and all wonderful.   We aim for beautiful, meaningful, and unexpected.  At least I do.  

I've spent years layering acrylics on two-page spreads of art journal after art journal.  Occasionally, and lately often, I've had people inquiring to buy a print, or an original page.  Prints work.  Original pages are two pieces of art, since there's another piece on the back.  These don't work as anything but prints. 

This has been a dilemma.  Especially when I've wanted to put one on my own wall.  But as much as I work in studio, I thrive on being able to work everywhere, and I love working in books, and I love art journaling.  Something of the inspiration of the place where I'm working goes onto the pages.  More places per page often equals more depth to a piece.  

I take books with me everywhere so I can work anywhere.  I wouldn't take a canvas, or a watercolor, or a sketch outside of a sketchbook with me in my bag.  I feel comfortable getting a book out of my bag to work on in public.  I would not feel so comfortable pulling out a canvas of the same shape and size.  People tend to leave you alone when you're working in a book.  Few people exercise the same respect for your privacy when you're working on a single piece out in the open, and I hate the exposure of having people who are not artists themselves peering over my shoulder while I work.

Solutions...

Last night the dilemma solved itself.  I had actually solved it by accident yesterday afternoon, but I didn't realize it until late last night.  Without thinking, I had done two things differently yesterday.  First, I didn't paint two-page spreads.  I have no idea why, except that I wanted less paint on my brush than usual so I could make thinner layers, and this worked better doing one page at a time rather than on two.  Also, I think that I didn't want to be distracted by the color on one side when painting the next page, so without consciously thinking about it, I flipped each page when finished and worked on right sides only.  

In the car on the way home, I took a look at the book.  The few pages I had begun to collage were all upside down.  I might have gotten around this problem, but the book cover was done and bound, and it had a definite right side up.  I toyed with the idea of deconstructing it, but I love the binding and the stitching on the spine.  Then I got home and set the open book on the table next to the Crowabout sheet, and I really wanted to work on the face-up page, flat.  I didn't allow myself to think or cringe.  I just picked up an xacto and sliced out the page.  Suddenly, a whole new world opened up.  Surgically removing a page made this book a very flexible idea, and potentially, a far more interesting work of art! 

Ideas...

Now there are so many ideas flooding into my head that I can't turn off the light bulbs:  Continue painting one side of the pages.  Continue taking the book(s) with me wherever I go.  It's still an art journal and a sketch book, but whenever something wants to be a stand alone piece, I can slice it out.  I gave myself permission simply by doing it.  And I can add more pages...duh!  I've been adding pages and stuff to books for years.  The difference is that before, I planned it that way.  Now it's going to happen when it's natural to do so!  I used to rip pages out of sketchbooks all the time in college, tape in new pages or parts of pages, and never gave it a second thought.  But I hadn't bound those sketchbooks myself.  The books themselves weren't works of art, I bought them at the college book store.  Something inside me had always treated my handbound books as if that made a difference.  Guess what?  It doesn't!  Is this liberating, or what!  I love art!  It's the only spot in my life where making mistakes so often make things better.

Now I'm off to:

Work in the wonderful book that shifted my vision

Make everyone a (very) late lunch

Do some long-overdue blog maintenance

Enjoy the much cooler, almost springtime weather, and

Continue reading a really great book--a library discard that I was going to use in artwork until I started reading it and discovered a great old author!  (...which brings me to a pet peeve about the indiscriminate way some libraries toss out their books, but I won't go into that now...)

Have a great day, Everyone!