Creating From the Heart

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Summer camp lessons are being crafted. I'm following my heart and passions, teaching what I'd want to learn. Let's learn to experiment & be our own teachers. Let's prep at home and journal while we're out there in the world this summer. 

I want to mark good days with smiles and paint-covered hands and amazing experiences. I want to be loved for who I am, imperfections glowing along with faith.  

And more than that, I want all this for YOU. 

(I'll write up all the details for you tomorrow; when can you come to camp?) 

 

in the middle layers...

After I wrote my last post, I thought things were on their way back to normal (as I type, that word is up there, in the little text editing bar, white against black and so bold) and I'd be back in the studio painting my days away, working on my next online class or just writing in general. Things would even out and I'd be back to directing my sails. 

Except life isn't like that, when you get down to it. You can hope and pray and keep the faith, but sometimes, it's just a roller coaster of slightly-less-than-terrible things that pile up. I've been doing a lot of Soul Work as of late, attending a new church, and jumping into art-making-with-less-perfection. 

But I'm beginning to think we make our own normal. And learn how to roll with it with less resistance. So here's art and pics and fun stuff!

A couple of weeks ago, I started playing with the panorama feature on my iPhone, wanting to share my art-making experience (and I had to stand on a ladder to get this pic!).

Standing while painting means dancing and swaying and singing along. More room for my art journal and scrap paper and canvases. Reference images and stencils and my big box of often used acrylic paint colors. No paint brushes, though. Just tools and fingers and making marks. 

Here's my most recent favorite (you can see the middle layers in the pic above, with the gold triangles!).

My favorite part is in the lower left hand corner....that thick swirl of white and neon pink paint that looks like marbling. I think I stared at it for awhile before snapping pictures! It's raised and thick and yum! I just love painting in layers and layers of acrylics and making marks. I really wish you guys could see and feel my paintings and journal pages in person (and if you do meet me, feel free to run your hands over anything....I varnish for a reason!). 

I am trying to find a happy medium in my work -- between too much texture making things busy and too little making it flat -- and often work in my journals to play around. 

Also, white space. I've missed it as of late! 

I also posted this teaser image last week about this year's Art Journal Summer Camp! We're gonna make projects and learn techniques and have tons of fun! Last year's camp was a smashing success, so I know this year's will only be better. I'm filming this week (already blocked out some time!) and we should be up and running in July, with a second session in August. This class runs live, so clear some time for fun

drawing with a ballpoint pen

One of the things I remember being stressed when I started keeping a visual journal was the need to use a pen. I started with the works of Danny Gregory and Dan Price, who captured the world around them with bold lines and fun handwriting. 

I've gotten into making sketches with pencil, as of late, and spending hours on them. My Red Storybook is full of half-finished pages because I simply didn't have enough time, or needed to move on. So the other day, I decided to just...doodle. Draw what was in my head. Not make perfect lines. Let things overlap. Be imperfect. 

And hell if I haven't been having fun! 

This weekend was very busy and very exhausting for me, and I was interrupted a lot. So I found my Ink Joy ballpoint pens and decided to work informally, scribbling in whatever moments I could grab. I had my white pen there for the eyes, and grabbed my Tombow markers to color things in at the end (since they are transparent and don't leak through paper). 

I'm excited to keep working this way, and make a whole sketchbook of these girl illustrations. I can't believe I locked myself into a box (do illustrations, color in with gouache) and only now allowed myself to do something different!