Focus on Life - Week 4

Hello... I'm late getting to the party but after looking at many blogs and the wonderful heartwarming pictures and messages - I just had to get in on this event.  What a wonderful idea and thanks to Sally Russick for encouraging us to stop and focus on life.  Her prompt for this week was Create Art and I'm happy to say, that is right up my alley.  

Blown glass fruit and star fish light catchers to inspire me in my studio each day 

I am taking a little break from bead work and signed up for six online art journal classes which I am enjoying to the max.  My reason for getting into art in the first place was a result of a tragic event in our family.  Last summer my daughter's boyfriend was killed in a plane crash and the life was literally sucked out of her and us as her support system.  We all went through the grief process with her but for me, my creative muse just up and left and I felt like I had nothing inside anymore when all my life I have been artistic and creative.  I heard about the healing aspects of art journaling so thought I'd give it a try.  WOW is all I can say!  It has been a life saver and really..... I feel like I am overflowing with art and beauty again.  One of my online instructors has a favorite saying - Beautimous which means beautiful and fabulous at the same time.  That is how I feel about creating art - It is a beautimous thing!

Part of the reason I am inspired these days is my new art studio.  It is upstairs in a 74 year old house and the window faces south so it is full of natural light. This space makes me smile - a BIG smile every time I go up there. 

 Yesterday I started with these items:  cotton canvas duck, gesso, water color paper, cord, sari silk, stencils and stamps and of course lots of paint - which I didn't photograph!  

 And today I ended up with this bound journal in which I hand stitched four signatures into a decorated canvas cover and tied with sari silk.  Ta da!

It is hard to believe that the ugly patterned canvas when covered with gesso and many layers of paint can become a beautiful cover for your own hand bound journal.  This is the second journal I have made and I absolutely love them!

This is an art journal page I made and yes, I did draw the girl.  I am taking a Fabulous Faces course with Tammy Laporte and she is absolutely the best!  I have most of my art journal pages on my flickr page so check them out if you wish.  The link is on the side of my blog.  

Thank you for stopping by.  I love comments and do my best to answer each one.  Now head over to Sally's blog to see who is participating.

What to say for a New Year

I have been pondering what to post to start off this New Year.  It is hard to come up with any words to express what is on my mind.  I'm not sure why that is.  

I want to be positive but both my husband and I have been sick - him more than me and it is worrisome to say the least.  On New Years eve. he woke up with pain and thought he was having a heart attack (pain was similar to when he did have one 9 years ago) so I took him to emergency.  We sat there for 8 hours having tests done and in the end, they said there was no sign of a heart attack.  That is good news but he continues to feel poorly every day.  What in the world is going on? 

I am looking forward to this year because I am geared up and taking several online courses.  Last summer I discovered Art Journaling and it literally has been a life saver in the midst of everything that happened.  I have always been creative and artsy fartsy but in a controlled and perfectionist kind of way.  Taking mixed media courses has allowed me to go ahead and fling paint and find out what beautiful things can happen.  I love the freedom that I have when creating an art journal page.  The best technique I learned was to journal negative thoughts and then cover them up with paint or gesso.  How cool is that - to write all your bad stuff and then release it by covering it with beautiful colors?  

 

I took Art Heart and Healing from Tamara Laporte (Willowing) and loved it so much that I signed up for Fabulous Faces and Life Book 2013.  She has a lovely compassionate way of teaching her courses. 

In November I found the site of Effy Wild and really found out how to not be afraid of layering color and paint on the page.  I took two courses before signing up for Book of Days 2013.  She even taught us how to make our own hand bound journal...... that was awesome!  Effy is a giving soul and shares her talent with anyone and everyone.   

This is the first hand bound journal I have ever made  and it will be my Book of Days journal for 2013.  Effy gives weekly videos with lots of good information.  Some free classes too!

My BOD has a canvas cover which I gessoed then painted many layers of paint and stencils over until it was a mottled color I liked.  I love how the canvas looks like it is aged!   A length of purple Sari Silk wraps to close it.

 

 Four signatures sewn together using a book binding method taught by Effy Wild.  (link above)

Hemp cord is used to bind the signatures of watercolor paper together

A recent course I signed up for was Unravelling with Susannah Conway  In it, we take weekly photographs and are then given a writing assignment.  It is designed to make us more aware of our surroundings and get real about our thoughts.  I am looking forward to this.

I so badly wanted to have a thought provoking post written for the New Year but I can't seem to dig deep and find the right words.  Maybe that will come with the Unravelling course.  

I do know that I appreciate every single one of you who read my little blog.  I want to be more active and inspirational this year.  I will take pictures of my art journal pages and post them soon.  Can't wait to share!

Thank you for your comments and support as always!!