Same Place....Different viewpoint...

An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her

rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later

enable him to express himself in his own language.

::: Henri Matisse :::

I try to walk daily just in my own neighborhood.  My neighborhood consists of one street.  So if I'm going to get any exercise benefits  I have to do the same route many times.  So to prevent it from getting too boring I try to focus on different things,  in different ways.  Yesterday's walk, I took my camera and focused on looking down.  It was just one of those "down" kind of days.

 

it is quite evident that the seasons are starting to change.

I'm looking forward to fall but trying to savor what is left of summer.

Today on my walk my view was upward.........

The sun was shining thru the trees......

Trying to soak in the green before the leaves start to change color.  It will be interesting to see how the drought we have had will affect the colors.

And enjoying the expanse of blue skies while they last.......






And finally heading up to the treehouse studio....




The right page was actually done first, not sure why ...just the way I was feeling I guess.  I tried to do an image transfer that totally failed but I actually liked the results and decided to embrace imperfection and go with it.

embracing imperfection

looking upward

The left page definitely inspired by the blue skies and seeing things from a different point of view....looking up instead of down.  Sometimes that's all we need to do to see things in a different way.

double page journal spread

It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to, the feeling for the things themselves, for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures.::: Vincent van Gogh :::

:

See you in September....

What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness. ~John Steinbeck









How can it be the last day of August?  Although Fall is one of my very favorite seasons I am not ready for summer to come to an end.  It went by way too fast.  I find myself saying that a lot lately.  But as Joni Mitchell sings "the seasons they go 'round and 'round-we're captured on the carousel of time".  I did get to spend quite a bit of time in the "treehouse studio", journaling, trying new things, making messes that never seem to get totally cleaned up.



Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.  ~Twyla Tharp

working on some more abstract pieces.

Started an altered book with a thrift store childrens book-embellishing the existing pages and making it my own.

Did a piece that I call my homage to Back to School-thinking about how schools no longer teach beautiful cursive handwriting,  how library time is limited to once in blue moon, feeling nostalgic for how things once were......

And even added some embellishment to this piece with my sewing machine while I had it out for my sewn tags.



What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit.  ~John Updike


As always my journals kept me company and provided
space for practice and play and just plain letting go.

Ledger turned Art Journal

Final page in my Canson Mixed Media Journal.

Hope you had a good August.       See you in September.     Enjoy life.

Evidence-Prepping and Playing

I think I may have mentioned before that I like to work in more than one journal at a time.  When I find time to be in the studio I like to start a few things while something else is drying.  Plus I just like to try stuff-I'm all over the place.  I started to count all in progress journals I have and stopped before I reached a number I won't even divulge.  Not to mention the altered books I'm working in also.  But it works for me.

Gessoed pages drying on the studio floor

  Sometimes I'll just take some time to prep pages-I always coat them with gesso before I start painting or collaging so they will stand up to the abuse different techniques and mediums I use.  And sometimes I go up to the studio with no ideas, no expectations, and when an idea strikes or I just want to enjoy the process I have something in some journal ready to go.

 Many times I go up with the intention of cleaning and re-organizing and an old paint color I forgot about insists on going down or a torn page or collage image needs to be glued down.  Maybe an idea needs to be worked out in a sketchbook,  or maybe a new technique or supply needs to be tried.  I'm always prepared!

Prepped page patiently waiting.

Journal Page

Large and small journals in progress.

Old ledger turned journal.

And sometimes I just need to play, not worry about the outcome, composition, color, image, design.  I just want to splash, spritz, rip, tear, cut, glue,  and see what happens-no expectations-no pressure.  Just do what I like to do.  That's what I did the last couple of days-I needed to.  No deep thought, no self criticism, just doing what I know how to do, playing, having fun.

 Painted Papers

 
 
Tags made from painted papers, old book pages, sheet music, etc.




Of course that comes with a price-the treehouse studio is a disaster and sadly in need of cleaning and re-organizing.  Why don't you come on up and help me?  I'll show you a journal or two or........

Drought,Quotes, and Morning Musings

We've had quite the drought here in the midwest and I have been in a bit of a creative drought myself.

After some very warm days it has cooled down quite a bit and my morning walk was quite invigorating.  Some morning musings:

" We are all born artists of some sort if we care enough to believe it."  Orly Avineri
This was in a blog I like to follow and it really rang true for me.  Believing in yourself as an artist is always a struggle, at least for me, so we have to put the self doubt aside and just "Believe".

"Normal is in the eye of the beholder"   Whoopi Goldberg
Not even sure where I saw this but it struck me as being so true and thought provoking.  What is "normal"?  Who and what defines  "normal".  Is anything really "normal"?  Do we need "normal"

So back in the studio and referring to my "idea book" that I made for the online class I am currently taking,
The Julie Prichard Mixed Media Variety Hour http://thelandoflostluggage.ning.com/group/the-julie-prichard-mixed-media-variety-hour?

Very old elementary school library book

The idea book is not really an art journal but more of a place to record ideas for future projects.  So I gathered some papers, an old elementary library book that I had purchased just for the pictures, and my 40 year old sewing machine.

selection of papers for pages of book

After some very frustrating machine and hand sewing I did manage to put together several pages to glue between the old book covers and make a new book.  the inside front and back cover of the original book were a little stained and moldy and after gluing the front and back end papers there still was some original showing that I didn't care for.  I decided to trim that out with an old measuring tape keeping with the "old" and "sewing", "hand made" theme.

signatures that will be sewn together for inside of book.

And I also decided to embellish the covers to put my own spin on them and make it more personalized to me.  Also took the leftover cut papers and embellished a few of the inside pages.

Finished book,front cover.

Here are the inside pages that hopefully will be filled with lots of new ideas!

Pages waiting for creative project ideas!

Now for some ideas?????????????  Have a few I'm working on.  Come on up and visit me in the treehouse studio and we can talk about them.

Summer Manifesto and a new class

Today is the first day of summer -officially- but it has been such a warm spring and June that it feels like it's been summer for a long time already.

And as if there's not enough to do in these short summer months I decided to take another online course.  This one is from Julie Prichard at The Land of Lost Luggage.  You can find the details here.http://www.julieprichard.com/blog/2012/6/16/my-dream-new-concept-in-online-teaching.html  I have taken several classes from Julie and I highly recommend them.  Once you sign up you can take them at your own pace, they have great videos, great PDFs and online support and community.  Really, make this part of your summer manifesto.

On my morning walk yesterday I picked up some varied leaves and decided to do leaf printing 101 in a few journals I'm currently working in.  So easy, so messy, so fun.  Nature never fails to inspire me.

dictionary pages and deli paper

in my journal using acrylic paint and inks

last page and inside back cover

on black gesso with gray paint

in altered book over bubble wrap print used first as a mask then with ink

So what do you have planned for your summer?  Come visit me in the treehouse and tell me about it.  I'll have the iced tea ready.