Creating a Magic Box (new local class, too!)

Starting this month, I’ll be running a monthly mixed-media class. I’ll be teaching projects and techniques at a lovely little studio space near downtown Phoenix, and we’ll have a yummy dinner & dessert to enjoy while we’re creating! 

I am so very excited to show you November’s project — a magic box! 

I wanted us to create things that could be given as gifts or help us record the upcoming holiday season for the next two months, and became enchanted by the magic of nature and wishes and boxes combined! 

The process of creating this box was brilliant! I know we talk about the transformative power of creating art, but it is one thing to read the words and another to experience them. 

My new awakening has me out in nature, more, reconnecting to my roots. I want to stand in the grass and soak in the energy of the Mother. I want to jump in pile of leaves (in dreams, as there are not enough leaves here to create a pile). I want to pull nature into my daily life and art, and I learned that through creating this piece. 

I also began working with clay. As a child, my mother was an amazing clay artist, using found objects and her own hands to craft faces and shapes and little creatures. Textures for skirts and faerie wings. I’ve missed that, and became inspired to add clay to my box. 

And then there is a bit of collage. Washi tape. Paint. Crayons and marks and scallops. Stamps. 

But my love is the bundle of twigs, held together with wire and findings, old seam binding from my grandmother’s stash. The wire loops down through the lid of the box to create a handle with which to open your box of magic. Of photos. Of books. Of memories. Of wishes for the future, dreams you hope to come true. 

There are so many possibilities. 

I am so excited, I’m going to create more! More and more! 

You can come with and make one, too! 

I’ll be teaching the first class of my new monthly shindig on Tuesday, November 20, 2012, at 6PM. 

It will be held at Spread the Weird Studio down near 7^th Street & Roosevelt, right along Roosevelt Row and all those galleries and shops! 

Cost is $30. Part of the cost goes towards yummy food. 
Please bring your own cigar box (or you will be able to grab one at class for a small fee).

This class is organized by me and Denise of the Make Stuff Club meetup. You can either pay via PayPal with the link below, or call me to pay over the phone. Please note that space is limited!

I really hope to see you there! I want this monthly meetup to be full of art, fun, and new discoveries. 

{studio vlog tuesday & some nice words!}

I've had some pretty nice things said about my various projects lately!

About Hodgepodge #1, Theresa wrote:

Samantha refers to this as a "gentle hug"...I call it a great, big, comforting mama bear hug! This is a must-have for all new, aspiring art journalists. I have not been able to put it down! I have been so inspired and for this Samantha consider yourself hugged! I can't wait for #2!

And Beth did an entire blog post about the first issue, saying many nice things, including:

I loved the personal side of this zine. All to often we admire other artists work, but never really get much of a glimpse into THEM aside from what they post on their blog or websites. Samantha’s zine is honest, raw and unashamed. It shows us that even those whose work we admire are real people too, with the same hopes, fears and dreams.

The first issue is still available for order as an e-book here. Pre-orders for #2 open on August 26th!

Nolwenn did a great post about the Small Art Mail Swap, saying:

I really miss receiving snail mails. I remember how excited I was to go to my mailbox everyday and check if someone sent me a letter (and I still am, but except bills… we don’t receive lots of personal letters).

It’s free (you just have to pay the shipping), and it’s simple: you create something (6×6 maximum) and you write an handwritten encouraging letter to someone that also signed up. And this person will do the same for you. You’ll make someone’s really happy.

Just a little note about the swap: we're up to 83 participants. It's going to be EPIC. :D

Also, it was brought to my attention that many of the hard links aren't working on the blog. I changed a setting to hopefully make links shorter, and it's only made things more complicated! I'll be fixing these right away, but if you can't wait, simply replace the httpwwwjournalgirlcom with blog in order to get where you're going.

I'd better get set up for tonight's live vlog! Check back here when it's over for the link to the recording.

ETA: I still haven't finished this journal page -- I had no idea what I was making! I'll have to take a pic when it's done for you. Hope you learned something nonetheless!

[studio vlog tuesday, 8/24/10: a journal page of layers....that keeps going!]

I think a lot of this was me playing around with new colors, ideas, and materials. Sometimes, that's how it happens...you have an idea and go to your journal to see how/if it works. I've been into experimenting lately, in such a major way that my studio's more a lab than anything else. I've come out of that cocoon, seen the beauty in my wings, and now have to learn how to fly by, well, throwing myself at the ground and missing. 

{videos! my own experiments book & altered cigar box}

:D This was a fun little project I'm so, so proud of. Who knew I could make pretty like this?

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, here's the video I did for Stampington & Co. (Check out the page there for materials, how-to, and photos!)

{ a bit more through my head, and a tour through the studio's projects! }

Happy Monday!

Things have gotten right back on track here in Kira Land. New projects are finally going from the planning state to actually becoming something tangible, and I'm going through my own new metamorphosis.

On Saturday, I gave you the link to a grouping of material from a few different places -- I couldn't rip them from their notebooks and journals, and so, I used the internet to collate them together and create something whole. Isn't it amazing what we can do with something as little as a few html pages?

If you missed it, here's where you start:

Wander through my thoughts as shown in visual and written form. See what kind of stuff goes through my head, gets written and remembered. I've really felt like a door's opened ever since I've started self-reflecting (though I hesitate to go through a lot because I'd sound new-agey or crazy).

When you've returned from that journey through my head, how about a little trip through the studio?

I grabbed this little frame a few weeks ago, and adapted my ink drawing to be the cover for it, then colored it in with Copic markers. I really need to pull them out more...they're tons of fun! Then some stamping and white pen work finished it off. I cropped a picture from this weekend's hiking trip at Glacial Park with Jun.

And here's the first piece of a banner that'll say DREAM. This has been on my mind for awhile, and there was totally a failed attempt before, magically, everything came together. I've really been changing the way I think. I'm also in love with dimension dots. The pom-pom trim is so awesome fun, and I've got it in a nice blue too (I'll be alternating colors for each banner). And clouds! Because don't dreams live in the light, fluffy places?

Of course, I had a few orders to send out, and I just ADORE wrapping everything up like a present before sending it on its way. I just got some baker's twine in a few different colors and want to use it with EVERYTHING! Eee. So much fun. And I got it for a really great price even though it came from Australia.

I have to screenprint some more cards, though, because I've gone through my stash already. I love stationary and creating my own. As soon as I finish with some projects and get labels printed, I'm going to design my own and print it on some creamy iridescent paper from Paper Source.

Finally, there's more progress on my newest painting. I gave myself a headache fine-tuning things on the sketch today that I had to just walk away. I'm really impressing myself with how my drawing abilities have improved in the last six years; before then, I could only do stick figures!

Any more ideas for tomorrow's live vlog? Let me know!

And I KNOW....I have so many back emails I need to get through. Rest assured, they're all organized and in a folder and I'll totally get to them by the end of the week. I've just found my creative juju flows better when I'm not on the computer all the time....I limit myself to a few hours if I have work, one if not, and I'm feeling less blocked. XD Not to mention more productive!

{Changing your perspective to achieve your dream...}

+ My Art Saves story is up at Crescendoh this week. Writing this story was a liberating experience and explains how I got started with art & art journaling.

+ I'm teaching this Thursday at Hannah's Home Accents in Antioch, IL from 6-9. What, exactly? Read on!

+ My long-awaited Etsy shop is reopening by the end of the week. Journals, collage books, jewelry, journaling bits, prints, & paintings! All waiting to find great homes!

--

Have you ever had an idea so clear in your head, you were convinced you’d be able to make it, no problem? That, through your dream, you downloaded the instructions and way to manipulate the material in just the right way?

And then, have you sat down with everything, gotten through the easy part, and then everything comes to a screeching halt?

Yes. Me, too.

When I originally conceived the project and class above, I was convinced I’d be able to make the flowers I wanted, by folding over painted canvas and sewing through a button to the canvas. It would be amazing. And each person I told this idea to was equally excited.

Since my studio removes me from the atmosphere and materials available to me in planning a class, I brought only my favorite supplies to the shop to work at one of the workshop tables. There is, in the back of this shop, an amazing little alcove created by a moveable aisle. I compare it to a candy shop. It is the magical place we all wish we had in our closets, our studios: vintage wall paper, ribbon, trim, patterns, every ink pad, mist, paint, stamp you could imagine. Papers and patterns and items and dimension dots and magic.

And this is the place I was encouraged to pull from.

I discovered Glimmer Mists by Tattered Angels and thought, “This is a great alternative to spray paint when you can’t get outside!” Sparkly and colorful, I grabbed a basket of them and went to work, spraying over stencils and papers and bits pulled from the shelves. If you’ve ever worked with spray and stencils, you know how fun this is. And sparkles! Who doesn’t like sparkles!

But when it got to the construction of the flowers themselves, well...

I tried. I did it the way my dream had shown me, and it was too thick to sew through. And then it wasn’t popping off the canvas. I must have sat there with a pile of cut-up canvas for an hour -- I do know I was there much longer than I intended -- trying to figure things out.

And if it were for me, I would have moved on, used something else. But this was for others, and it was an idea I really, really, REALLY wanted to create.

When this happens, you need to keep going. You need to mutter to yourself, cut different sizes, try new ways of folding or maybe the folds weren’t right at all?

I found cute flower buttons I wanted in the center, and tried with my new petal system to sew throught the canvas.

Hard. Not doable.

The second flower had the bits taped to the canvas and the button sewn on.

Better. But not proper for class.

The third flower was created independent of the canvas and sewn together. Then, I knew dimensional dots existed, but where? And searching I went, through clear plastic drawers, to find what would be perfect.

Attaching the pre-made flower to the canvas with a dot, I finally achieved what I was looking for -- without even knowing it.

On Thursday, I’ll be teaching this technique to a group of creative & fun women. If you're in the area, why don't you join us? 

{journal #12, test prints, & artful journals}

Inspired by the beautiful stitched journals by Traci Bautista and all the yummy posts of journals created in Mary Ann's most recent class, I decided to do something a little different for Journal #12.

Despite my deep love for spiral journals, making my WISH journal reminded me of the distinct feel of a hard-bound journal...those wonderful pages that turn like an old, loved book, the way you can run your hands clear across two pages....those wonderful attributes that distinguish a hard-bound journal from a spiral.

Don't get me wrong, I love my spirals. They're great for curling up with in a comfy chair or in smaller spaces; I often draw up my knees, fold back the journal, and work on a single page. But I wanted to play with something different.

I am in love with vinyl. I adore those cute Asian journals with the nice vinyl covers, how it feels under your fingers when you hold them. So, after playing with thinner vinyl for the WISH journal, I decided to use a bit of the thicker stuff bought to make another WISH one on #12.

And then, of course, there was the canvas.

Play is the best way to create art. After two failed attempts to screen print on canvas tote bags, my father and I decided to grab some canvas to test out a. the new squeegee we bought, and b. the amount of pressure and ink needed to successfully print each image (I'll go into everything I've learned about Yudu printing in another post.).

So we squirted ink and pulled images and mixed things together. Each panel was a beautiful rainbow of subtle color printing my own artwork and ink writing. There's defiantly a difference between painting directly on canvas and printing on it, just the feel and new realm of possibility. All the colors and places and repetitions.

Combining the test print canvas panels, a hard-cover journal, and a temperamental sewing machine, I created Journal #12, the test print journal. I've never really done anything like this before; as I mentioned, my sewing machine is temperamental and the bobbin doesn't really work right. Let's say you sew a straight stitch. Turn the fabric over, and you'll find a huge mess of twisted, looped fabric. I wouldn't sew any clothing or, well, anything that defiantly NEEDS to stay together with it, but playing with fabric for a journal? Sure.

This is what you get for $60 at Walmart.

There are several theories as to why this happens, the most prevalent being that, not knowing how to load it at first, I took the entire thing out instead of the small bobbin cover. This news taught me how to do it right and earned the machine a few whacks that successfully realigned it...kinda.

Suffice to say, whenever I want to sew with the thing, I need to do a few test stitches before using it on my actual piece.

Even after stitching for awhile (as it seems to be like my old car in the winter – you've gotta let it warm up a bit before it runs nicely), the thing would skip stitches when using the zig-zag. Which is okay, as this was an artful piece and not perfection.

A side note on perfection: it is very hard to let go of this need to make everything perfect, even with meditative art. Sometimes, you just need to let go.

I guess I'm like the old car or cheap sewing machine, too, because after working for a bit, I finally warmed up and started to lose myself in the creation of a fabric piece. Much like when I work on collage pieces, I just GO. Grab random pieces, cut strips and blocks, put things together oddly. I somehow bypass that part of my brain that thinks and let creativity flow through me.

These last two journal-making experiments have really shown me something new. I find I'm looking at creating journals, that, instead of being vehicles of art contained solely between the covers, I'm seeing the journals as pieces of art in their own right, beautiful creations that only increase their beauty by what I put inside them. I never put much thought into the journals I worked in; now, I find creating beautiful journals on their own is a grand new adventure.

I may put some up for sale soon, as I did before the holidays. But long ago I learned that I have to enjoy the pieces I'm making or else, well, I'll never make 'em. I can't just roll out a bunch because I need inventory...I need to let it happen naturally. Then again, with all the fun I'm having, that may happen sooner than I thought.

{i need a little help, a bit of feedback, and some new focus}

I have always dreamed of developing a postcard set from my artwork. The hardest part, my friends, is picking out what to use! Above is a preview of the new Girls Postcard Set I hope to have available soon. But I need your help -- I already KNOW I love it -- and your opinion. What do you think? Does this seem like a good set? Would you rather see another image here instead? Straight or rounded corners?

(The upper left one is a journal page I recently created after an uplifting email from my dear friend Roben-Marie. She keeps me sane and grounded!)

Soon, I'll show you the first Journal Pages Postcard Set that will be printed at the same time as the Girls one.

I've been thinking a lot about this blog, and what I mean to do with it. I created this blog to fill a gap I found on the internet -- the lack of blogs about art journaling -- but have found the gap has really, really shrunk. So I'm trying to revise my original vision and aim not only for blogging, but in everything I present. I want to teach! I want to show you all new things! I want to foster budding relationships with journals and this intimiate art form!

In revising things, I hope to narrow my focus and bring more captivating and helpful content. I've gotten feedback so far asking for more pages, which I can totally do! But my artistic yearnings are also growing into paintings and printed matter and such, and I'll need to adapt things to fit that.

One of the great things that's come from this new postcard project has been sitting down and looking through my Flickr achieves. I originally got the account to post photos from my trip to Japan, and soon put up artwork, so my beginnings can be seen there!

1. moleskine-1, 2. DSC07002, 3. DSC08194, 4. queen faerie, 5. squares, 6. memory, 7. Bird, 8. Tiny King, 9. Which Path?, 10. free yourself, 11. Doodle Page, 12. Fun!, 13. Uncertainty, 14. lessons, 15. kira and the terrible, horrible day, 16. De-Vine Mystery, 17. flower child, 18. new journal!, 19. a better version of me, 20. pink and red, 21. why do I need feet?, 22. I am..., 23. Happy Fall, 24. inner peace, 25. divinity, 26. broken places, 27. 27/365: fractured reality/grace under pain, 28. moments, 29. :: life vs. love ::, 30. half-wing, 31. green and red, 32. lighthouse, 33. title page, 34. girltodo, 35. betterinmonths, 36. birds

Four and a half years of journals. Yes, I've only been doing this that long! And I feel I've only just come out of my shell and created art I love in the last two or three journals. I wanted to show you my journey so you can chart your own and see we all have to start somewhere!

I'm back at twitter and will be using the account to get your feedback and send out words of encouragement. 

More journal pages coming right up, along with a bookbinding video! I have three commissions I'm finishing up and will be filming the process. As one is a gift, I still have three slots left for your own custom-made art journal, perfect for the upcoming new year!

{sanctuary intrudes on those before}

It's finished!

When I began painting outside my journal, I found larger canvases intimidating. I limited myself to the smaller 8"x8" squares or 8"x10" canvas boards. I felt I had no talent, that I was wasting my money buying canvases for paintings that no one would like or buy. There's just too much space! What ever will I fill it with?

As my style has grown and evolved, I now understand how artists fill such large spaces:

Bit by bit.

Seriously! You just work on one corner, then another, and another, and pull it all together. That last part is hard, I have to admit, and I usually seek advice from others on what can be done to finish the piece. But when you do, oh, when you figure out that something that finishes it off....well, that is just golden. An addictive feeling of joy that has me stockpiling canvases in the studio for when inspiration strikes.

I usually pull things from my journals, mining those depths for fodder. What have I liked? What was fun? New? Colorful? Spoke to my soul? And onto the canvas it goes.

This painting was inspired by a poem I wrote about ants. Yes, ants! They found a crack under the windows at work and snuck in, eating pastry crumbs on the floor. After we "took care of them," I wrote this poem for them.

Sunshine bakes them
find a space,
sliver,
a crack,
softer, cooler air
invites them in new
sanctuary, intrudes
on those there
first, a dance
and lyrical voices
carry them away.

And now, I'm off to enjoy the last day of my August mini-vacation with a hike in the prairie with my journal.

{projects & progress}

I picked up Julia Cameron's book 'The Sound of Paper' a few years ago, when I was reading through 'The Artist's Way' for the first time. I didn't read it at the time; the short essays weren't for me (and I believe in reading a book of the moment instead of forcing myself to read one), so it was shelved, lost, packed, spilled on, and finally thrown behind a shelving unit in the basement.

Kelly Rae has a list of soul reads on her blog, and this book happens to be one of them. Reading her blog one day, I saw it and remembered I had a copy somewhere. Reading through the essays now is like visiting an old friend, and my understanding of Cameron has changed since reading her autobiography.

Instead of seeing her as this big, untouchable writer, I see her as an older friend I may run into one day. She was born and grew up in a town near here, one I visit frequently and actually worked in for years. When I pass the theater, I remember her talking about going there with friends. The high school she attended is still there (and a few friends of mine went there). She is a girl just like me, who came from where I am, and shows me I can make it, too.

Anyway, last night, one of the exercises told you to grab a sketchbook and track the progress of a project. And I thought – I have an art journal...isn't that the same thing? But since I see my journals as a project sometimes, I thought, what about my blog? I need to stop thinking I have to have something important to say in order to post here and use it to keep track and record my own thoughts.

So here is a painting I'm working on. This is the second stage.

A girl has to go on it – because I want to put one there! – so I sketched a girl in my journal and decided to color her watercolor style. Which was hard, because I only have fluid acrylics. A lot of water was used, but since I didn't gesso the page beforehand, it works!

I'll show you the final page tomorrow, because it has something important on it. ;) More on that tomorrow, though!

{misadventures in soldering}

My God, why did I ever think this was a good idea?

From an email sent mid-soldering. Halfway in, I knew I was out of my depth. First off, I was using plumbing supplies from Menards I picked up two months ago when I decided the actual jewelry soldering kit at my local independent art shop was a bit too expensive (at $60, of course). So I wandered the long, foreign hallways of the hardware store, looking for a soldering gun. Anything that would point to the supplies I needed.

And then, of course, there's all kinds of stuff there. Rolls and rolls of solder with these markings on them, percentages. I was a screenwriting major, for God's sake! Math was left behind at summer classes between my junior and senior year, as I'd failed, yes failed, it the first time.

I knew two things: that I needed this mysterious liquid called Flux, and that my solder shouldn't contain lead.

Okay. Flux, easy to find. Yes, it's a big bottle, and I'll probably never use all of it. It will go in the pile of Things Kira Bought When Something New Caught Her Attention. It will be in good company, out in the garage sale/donation box. And the solder wasn't hard, as I was looking for the words Lead Free.

Anyway, my soldering iron had gone missing months earlier, so all these supplies were bought for when I found it. And that date was unknown, as I wasn't really looking for it. So when a soldering iron showed up in Dad's office, I knew it was my time.

Now, living on the cheap, I had to find things to supplement those shiny professional and probably correct items. My mat was an old plastic one decorated with blue paw prints, previously used under the dogs' drinking bowls. The spongy thing to wipe off the iron was the soft side of a green kitchen sponge. The holder was an old glass ashtray that just was perfect for the iron I'd “borrowed.”

The basics of soldering are easy – brush some flux on the copper tape you've put around the item, hold the solder in one hand, the iron in the other, and drop beads of solder onto the tape. Okay. Easy enough, right?

Not so much. The iron I'd found only heated up on the arm, not the tip, so I was brushing sideways on the broad back of my teardrop pendant. Instead of getting those nice, smooth lines, I had globs. Big globs. Mountains. Distraught, I grabbed Dad and asked for his help.

His solution? A huge-ass electric soldering gun. Yes, a fucking GUN. Irons are so yesterday – get yourself one of these bad boys; you can literally feel the electricity humming through it as you smooth out your nice, thick, lead-free plumbers' solder.

Let me give you a piece of advice. Or, rather, a warning: the glass gets hot. Not hot-I-can-kinda-touch-it but Oh My God My Fingers Are Gone hot. And when your shaky hands let it drop from the pliers you're using to hold the thing, and it falls into your lap, be thankful you're wearing long pajama pants. I swear, I was playing hot potato with the thing until it clinked onto the floor and I could grab it with the pliers again.

But that's okay. It's back now, right?

I have always had very shaky hands; it's a by-product of the Fibromyalgia. In college, I could never be the cameraman when filming projects. A digital camera has to have the flash on or else there's a huge blur (thank God for tripods). I've gotten better at writing by hand, but paintbrushes go in waves, things bob, and soldering guns go all wonky.

So I'm sitting there, holding this huge gun, electricity humming through my hands, trying, desperately, to get the damn A-clamp holding the charm to stay put, watching my solder melt beautifully only to go in wavy lines or little hills.

After four unsuccessful tries at doing some sort of ring – a loop of solder melted all over the blue paw print mat, and a real jump ring just stood there, totally not submitting to my awesome power – I threw the whole thing down and declared it a mild success.

No, it is not smooth. It is a dull grey, lumpy thing with a pretty picture inside. Nothing to write home to Sally Jean about. But hey – I made it, tried it, and damnit, got to use a soldering gun.

{ new discovery: hand-carved stamps }

Ack! I keep getting distracted! The weather was hot and humid today, and work had my brains boiling up inside my skull after the hundredth frappicino. Came home and melted into a chair to relax and read fanfics -- ahh, yes. I rarely bring that up here (as I have a LiveJournal for all that!), but the new Star Trek's eaten my brain, and I can't get enough! So, I'm taking a break from reading and writing to post! *laughs*

I've never really been a rubber stamper. I think I can count with two hands the number of stamps I own, and in the last year, have used only my set of alphabet stamps in any of my artwork.

HOWEVER --

Last week or so, I was working in my journal, drawing more raindrops (as they're on my mind art-wise lately), and didn't like how un-uniform they were coming out. I don't mean little things here and there, but they just...didn't look right. So I decided to toy with the idea of making a stamp out of a nice, big, white eraser.

A trip to the dollar store later, I drew out my drop and, using my craft knife, cut around the shape, then down into the rubber. It's not the most practical way of doing it, but it's what I knew. I created a large drop, a small drop, and the cute little house there.

With my craft acrylics, I painted on the stamps and, well, stamped away!

A closed shop and an alternate, exploratory route took me to a beautiful new Michael's the day before Mother's Day, where I made a make-and-take and found the Speedball Easy Start Carving Set. It came with a piece of that, well, stamp carvin' material, the handle, and two tips with which to carve. Now, I thought it was going to be hard to do, all this drawing and carving, but let me tell you --

It's really, really easy!!

In fact, it's, well, addictive! After I made a practice star, I made several more fun shapes, carving until the light had faded and I had to turn on the overhead lamp. And then the next day, more shapes again. It's so easy and fun and calming! And then, when you use the right material instead of cheap dollar store erasers, you can even use 'em with regular stamp pads!

I love the look of a hand-carved stamp. It's solid and blocky and, with paint, looks...well...I just love how it looks! I use these wherever I can in my journal and in paintings, and am always on the look-out for new shapes to carve! *G* I'll be teaching a basic stamp-carving class during the summer journal workshop, but am free to answer any questions!

love, kira

P.S. Thank you for all your emails regarding yesterday's post! I'm gettin' to them as soon as I can, that is, when I'm taking reading breaks!

mini-project: self-portait girls mini-journal

Sorry! I've been so busy, any "free" time I have has been going towards painting, drawing, and reading, leaving the internet to be woefully forgotten in forth place. I've created many things I want to share, just haven't sat down to post for awhile! One of the projects done in the last week or so was this cute little mini journal created from a classification folder picked up at a store going out of business. At first, I was just going to create a fun cover and sew in some pages, but after finishing, I realized I'd created a picture of myself...a piece of myself. We all have different "personalities," pieces of ourselves that make up the complete ME. Or you, respectively. Think of them as hats: mother, sister, secretary, barista, reader, dancer, England-enthusiast, etc. By drawing these "girls," I found myself putting on hats I thought I'd taken off years ago, and found that there were pieces of me shouting to get out, at least for awhile. Here are a few guidelines for creating your own mini-journal of personalities:

1. Don't think. When doing the backgrounds or drawing the girls, let the brush do the dancing, not your conscious mind. If it wants big hair, let it do it. Drawing with ink means you can't "erase" mistakes, so let it flow. 2. Finish your drawing before asking questions of it. The meaning will be revealed in due time. 3. Create in a journal so you feel safe. It's just a journal page, right? So no one will see it. No one will judge it. No one will be buying it, etc.

Mine were created with a small round brush and sumi-e ink.

Page 1: Be Free

I really have no clue where she came from, at first. But then I realized her skirt was modeled after one I'd been dreaming of sewing for the last two weeks, and her hair was long, long, just how I'd like mine to be one day (it's only just passed my ears). Her wings come from the desire to fly free of all the drama of home, or to simply move somewhere new. Be free is my favorite expression, so it makes sense that it's there!

Page 2: Sunrise Kimono

Starting my sophomore year of high school, I've been in love with Japan -- the culture, language, landscape, history, and, yes, comics. In the years since graduating college, I've let my Japanese skills go, haven't really read any comics, and rarely listen to my Japanese music. This second portrait really tells me that the part of me once called a "Japan-ophile" is still alive and well and wants to come out more. I chose sakura, or cherry blossoms, for the kimono since I have some tatooed on my neck. And kimono usually correspond to seasons, so I chose sunrise to go with spring.

Page 3: Time to Dance

This one came as a COMPLETE surprise! As a little girl, I danced. A lot. Ballet, tap, modern. All until third grade or so. And after I moved, I danced all through high school. Lately, I've had the urge to take up tap again, and this girl showing up really meant something -- that those urges MEAN something, and that my body, so riddled with pain and arthritis from Fibromyalgia, is ready to get dancing again.

I could cry with joy.

One of the reasons I've been so busy lately is that I'm working more, something that, even six months ago, wouldn't have been possible. I haven't worked 8 hour days since, well, those first years out of high school, right when I'd recovered from my accident (that spured the FMS in the first place) and before I was slammed with the full force of the disease. I pushed myself harder and harder for years, trying to be "normal," only to make myself sicker.

This year, as I wrote in my new year's resolutions, is comitted to being healthy. Not pushing, not standing still. Health through non-action. Going with the flow. And every day, I feel better and better!

A note on videos:

I would LOVE to make you all more vids! Unfortunately, when my hard drive died, I lost most of my programs, including iMovie, which I used to record and edit videos. I do not have a back up copy. If anyone out there has a copy they could send to me, I would be eternally grateful. And would make all the videos I have in my head and am ready to post! I've discovered so many new things, branched out in new directions, and want to share them with you! I love nothing more than teaching and want to do it SO BADLY!

Share YOUR self-portrait mini-journals with me! Post in the comments and I'll come visit!

love, kira