Ever have a day where you don’t want to think? When every decision feels hard?That was today for me. I just wanted to play in my art journal with zero pressure to make decisions. No hunting for things, no looking for the “right” something. Just play. So that meant using whatever was within arms reach. I [...]
Finding Your Tribe
This 150 year old Grantee ledger was destined to become an art journal the moment I saw it. This is a one of a kind journal and it called for something special. After getting the journal home, a little research enlightened me as to to what it was originally used for. It was for recording the receiver of property, the [...]
What’s a fast way to stencil when you’re working in a large art journal (or any thing else that is big)? A gel plate! Not surprisingly, there was an O.O.P.S., an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly while I played in this vintage journal. https://youtu.be/lHoP3NnvVqc Watch Gel printing in a vintage ledger as an art journal on YouTube. [...]
There was a stress intervention from the Muse at the request of my family. Grown up responsibilities had been getting the better of me. As I played and added more layers to this collage, a ridiculous plot involving Alfred Hitchcock appeared. The sillier the plot, the less stress I felt. https://youtu.be/7SulNBaTe8w Watch Shaking off stress with [...]
What is art? A simple question that has many many answers. It can be a wide variety of things, but for me, it is a journey of expression, connection and an adventure. It’s an exhilarating adventure to see what will happen when I add patterns or colors. A place to ask what if and get lost [...]
The day had been filled with grown up thinking and decision making and I had become a bit of a stress monster so my family banished me to the art studio to play. I wasn’t up to starting with a blank page so I flipped through my journals and found a stenciled page to begin the process of shaking [...]
O.O.P.S.! I put way too much paint on my palette for my last project. Not a mistake. Not a fail. It won’t be wasted because it is just an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly for more play with stencils! I even turned this one into a free Spark of Art-spiration…so you can play too! You can [...]
There were words of painting wisdom that I just wouldn’t listen to as I played. The muse kept whispering in my ear, “Let the paint dry.” But didn’t want to stop playing to wait for anything to dry! I started with a scrap of cardboard, a piece of trash. Why trash today? Because this Let’s [...]
When I started this page, I glued a leftover copy of a vintage photo into my art journal without a clue where I was going with it. No plan meant no expectations. After all, I had no idea what direction that very serious woman in the photo was headed. In the end, she was able to release her [...]
My art journal cover started as play. No goal. No plan. I was just along for the ride. I thought I was just playing until an O.O.P.S. struck and then the muse opened the floodgates on me. I didn’t see it coming but it was just what I needed. *An O.O.P.S. is an outstanding opportunity presenting suddenly. [...]