"Je Dessine" (I Draw) Show-and-Tell Mondays

Yes, it's Wednesday. But my excuse is that I've been traveling in Europe (and recovering) for the past 2 weeks! I went with sketchbook and pencils and Aquacolors, and the good intention to draw amidst the hectic, creativity-inducing environment of London and Paris. I did zero -- well maybe not "zero". One afternoon my husband and I revisted the Luxembourg Gardens. This is a beaiful park, very relaxing, with winding paths, statues, fountains, a small vineyard, a sailboat fountain, pony rides, etc. While my husband read the newspaper in a chair, I took some photos of a nearby fountain then quickly sketched a commemorial statue under the trees and some gesture drawings of people on benches. Nothing I'd like to post here, though!
On the transAtlantic flight back from Paris, I was reading in a current favorite book (actually one that has kept my attention for two years) Trust the Process by Shaun McNiff. I've been doodling and drawing in theis book as I go. So I drew an imaginary room. No view out the window though. Just couldn't imagine what might be out there!

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Year3...Day 5

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge: Year3...Day 5: Adding That Touch Of
last spread created while in London

London is such a curious mix -- a city that I will continue to enjoy -- each time I return. I love the mix of history and present day influences. I love hearing 20 different languages being spoken as you walk down the streets. I love equally it's pristine, architecturally correct buildings and gardens and the blasphemous, graffiti-smeared walls.

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Year3...Day 4

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge: Year3...Day 4: The Third Mind

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Year3...Day 3

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Year3...Day 3: Love the Way They Make You Feel

Second spread I created while in London. Feels unfinished. Like my life I suppose. My husband and I always stay at the Bailey's Millenium when we are in London for the London Book Fair. It's an old, British hotel that was kept intact and connected to a larger, more modern convention style hotel next door. We have always loved the feel of the Baily with it's vintage brass and wood interior and intimate, antique lobby and pub-style bar area. This year the pub had been altered to reflect the new restaurant that had moved in. The casual, relaxed sofas had been replaced with spillover dining seating from the restaurant. I found it wrenching on some level. It's not like I don't like new -- but the qualities of the pub had changed for me. I always looked forward to having afternoon cappuccinos next to the fireplace and doing some journaling or blogging. It was special and different from my regular life routine. Unsettling to see how attached you get to things. Nowadays I just take note of it, shed a tear or two, wave goodbye, and move on....

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Year3...Day 2

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Year3...Day 2: The Cowgirl in London

(This is one of four journal spreads I did on my trip. I'll just have to catch up over the next week or so.)

I generally don't like to be away from blogging this long. But it just turned out this way. I can beat myself up about it but what good does that do except perpetuate the negative. I spent the last 10 days in London and Paris. I love Europe, especially these two cities. I resonate to their character and am generally thrilled with being exposed to so many different things, places, foods, languages, people. It is creatively very stimulating but often overwhelming, and this year my trip was high on the overwhelming scale. I found it very difficult to focus. I felt scattered, fragmented, and creatively barren. I felt it difficult to put one foot in front of the other. So basically my strategy quickly became to do one thing only each day, let things fall where they may, and just keep moving in between. I gave up attempting to journal or to post, and just collected images and experiences. I figured that eventually something would come out of it and find expression in my art and jewelry at some point later down the road.We'll see.

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Year3...Day 1

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Year 3. Day 1: Knowledge Is Power

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 365...YEAH!!!

 2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 365: Life Is Magnifique

I have reached the end of year two of my personal art challenge of creating one journal page a day! Hard to believe that I have stayed with and met this challenge! It definitely has supported my creative pursuits -- both artfully and personally. I see no reason why not to continue for another year. The format may change a bit -- or it may not. I'll see what evolves as I go!

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 364

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 364:Different Travel

a different way of moving through life starts with a question...with no answer

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 363

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 363: The Driving Forces

love and hunger

"Je Dessine" (I Draw) Show-and-Tell Mondays

 Painting 2011 Still Life with Clay Horses 

I didn't draw this past week. Taxes, an out-of-the-blue necklace commission, catching up with journal pages, and an impending trip to Europe was taking all of my energy. However, today (which is actually Tuesday), I had my art lesson with Sabrina. I was late and Sabrina was lying on her bed with her headphones on, waiting for me. I had to yell to get her attention. "I almost gave up on you" she said. I started to say I thought we had changed the time, and then I thought -- don't argue with the teacher -- and sat myself down and grabbed a sharpie. "Arrange this still life I started to create" Sabrina said. So I got up, rearranged the bright red tulips, the patterned scarf, and added a few pottery horses to the arrangement, and sat down again. "Now look through this viewfinder and paint in the colors that you see in the corners. Don't draw -- just paint in the corners with the colors you see."

 

How Do I Make Orange? Palette

Fumbling around I felt totally out of my element. I have never really "painted". Don't draw what I see first? I.was not happy. I was just putting down blotches of acrylic paint. It looked gross. I felt out of control. I grumbled. Sabrina said, "Now paint the center with color -- then fill in all of the white areas." "Keep adding color." I finally filled in all of the paper, and then said "Now what?" "Take a pen or pencil and add in what you see." My alarm meter went haywire...but I did as I was told.

With Patsy Cline playing in the background. ("I've got your photo, she's got you..."), at some point I stopped being concerned with what was actually in front of me and got into whatever was inside of me. This is hard to describe. Like the flowers don't really have to be tulips. Or the scarf's flowers are becoming part of the bouquet. But at one point she looked at what I was doing and said "Now you're painting." And I could feel that the she was right. When I finally finished and looked at what I had done, I started crying. It didn't look like what was in front of me, yet it did. It wasn't perfect, yet it was. And I was extremely grateful that I had been encouraged, and that I had been courageous enough to go to a place that was unknown. Something of who I am combined with what I saw, and ended up colorfully on paper. "This is the seed of a painting," said Sabrina. How amazing!

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 362

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 362: In an Instant

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 361

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 361: Extraordinary

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 360

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 360: The Mouth of My River

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 359

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 359: Larger Than Life

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 358

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 358: Alien Emotions

It ain't Kansas anymore!

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 357

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 357: You Should Know

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 356

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 356: Bad to the Bone

The other title I was going to give this was "Magic Carpet Ride" -- but for some reason the rope seems to have kept this chick firmly rooted to the ground. Plus the paint background I chose seemed like bloody sweat dripping down the walls. Could reflect my current rocker mood -- I'm in the midst of rehearsals to Joan Jett's I Love Rock and Roll -- I luvvv being able to live out parts of myself that I didn't quite get to in my earlier years. Hot Damn! I'm a rocker chick!

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 355

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 355: Combat the Signs (Closed)

Three page journal spread. Oil pastels, Neocolor & Portfolio watercolor crayons, pigment inks, acrylic paints.

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 355: Classic Looks for Spring (Open)

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 354

2011 Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 354: Something's Up In...