a hand made alphabet

Remember me? 

I wanted to leave the gouache post up for a bit, since I've gotten so many questions about it; I also had a busy weekend, which means I was knocked down with a flare up Sunday night (it's cleared up, btw, which means studio time tomorrow!).  

Last week, I decided to tackle carving my own alphabet stamp set. I'm teaching a stamp carving class here in Phoenix later this month, and wanted to have a nice spread of different things you can create. Plus, my skills were a bit...rusty! And of course, this is one of those crafts that you just can't stop once you start up again, so I've been carving up a storm! 

I threw down some watercolor on a spread in my art journal and decided to keep a little record of what I've carved. Some of these need to be cleaned up - I have a feeling I'll clean them up until there's nothing left! - but love the little set. I kinda want to tackle a cursive one, next...

I also had the crazy idea of carving Captain American's shield (I'm a touch consumed at the moment, but am a life-long comics fan). I did those little arrows in the corner as well, so I'm thinking I may make a complete Avenger's set. Not that I can use them in artwork, but a lot of the fun of carving is in carving...cutting away the letters or shapes and creating something from your hands, a cheap cutter, and erasers (the alphabet is from cheap white erasers, the rest from some speedy cut I've had since my last Stamp Making Obsession). 

I use a lot of these in my art, as I don't have to worry about copyright issues...plus, I love having pages and paintings that are ALL MINE...from the stamps to handmade papers to the figures I draw. It's a certain kind of magic, to hold a finished thing in your hands. You took raw materials and made it with hard work and perseverance. 

(Notice I didn't say talent. That's because we can all do it, make stamps or draw or paint...just takes lots of practice, commitment, & enthusiasm!)

showing my work + loving the process

I think seeing the finished product -- whether it's a journal page or painting -- is great and inspiring, I've been obsessed with documenting my process. 

Earlier this week, I picked up Austin Kleon's new book, Show Your Work. To think it took a book to help me figure out how to show my process seems a little silly, but Kleon's a master at distilling complex ideas into simple chapters that become a roadmap to invigorating creativity. 

By doing a little, every single day, your work quickly adds up. I draw and write every day in my Red Storybook, and have already filled an entire sketchbook with my quiet truths and vulnerability laid out on the page. The sketches may be complicated or terrible, but doing one every day has helped me nurture that side of me -- the side that wants to draw illustrations and paint with gouache. 

Anyway, in an effort to not only track my own progress and create a searchable diary as I grow as an artist, but to share the behind-the-scenes workings of an artist, I'll be blogging every day, except Sundays. Less tutorials, and more inspiration, influences, process, and techniques I've discovered or created. I don't want to show you how to copy what I do, rather, I want to inspire you to go out and do art that is true to your own heart. 

You can sign up to get my blog entries via email over on the sidebar. And I'll soon be linking up my Tumblr to use as a digital scrapbook of art and photography and comics and whatnot that I'm finding awesome at the moment (I know a lot of people use Pinterest, but I've found a great community on Tumblr, and cover the intersection of disability & art a bit more there). 

So here it goes! 

I recently stumbled upon the artwork & creations of Kimberly Hodges, aka Goldfish Marmalade. 

I love exploring new color palettes in my art journal as I work, and was captivated by her combinations of yellows, olives, and oranges, along with delicate pink flowers and aqua whales. I'd reblogged these placemats last week, and pulled them up yesterday when I went in to do a little painting. 

Delicious, right? 

I tried to follow her colors, but had to alter them a little bit, since I'm not a huge fan of yellow, in general. The dark green/teal, however, has been a new color to fall in love with, & I've been using it on a lot of journal pages lately. 

First, I had to prep my surfaces. 

I usually just put on some bouncy, upbeat music and start gluing down collage material, stamping with my hand-carved stamps, and randomly making marks with paint markers. 

I did something a little different this time, though. Instead of thinking up poses on my own, I grabbed a fashion magazine and flipped through until I found images I liked. I wanted to show you, also, that you don't have to perfectly copy a reference image....interpret them through YOUR style and allow them to influence shape and form. Are these amazing drawings? No. But they're how I like to draw, lately (with the thought that I'll fill in the facial features at some later point, except find that they're incredibly expressive as is). 

I also roughed in their hair with some Distress Stains. I've found that, with the backgrounds being random and the colors I add being SO fragmented, that the shapes of the girls can get lost. So I figured this may help them remain strong silhouettes. 

Of course, I work at the same time on canvases. The journal pages are supposed to catch extra paint, but end up being focused on just as much as the paintings! 

And there is before and after! A LOT of stuff gets covered up as I work. Sometimes, I let background elements show through, and sometimes, I keep adding layers until I fall in love with the canvas. I adore this little 8"x8" painting (which is available as part of my garden series!). 

And here's how the journal pages turned out! If you could see me, you'd see me swooning! I just...I can't believe how much I love what I'm painting lately....I've never been this in love & excited before!

...but not everything works out. I kept layering on this canvas and just couldn't get into the right flow. The colors weren't working, the shapes weren't helping, and I started getting frustrated. And that's okay! I know that I can come back later and start painting and still create something wonderful. Just scrape off any wet paint and leave it for another day....

Here's my worktop with drying paintings & a couple of finished ones. And of course, my giant journal catching leftover paint!

I don't do this much every day -- maybe twice or three times a week if I'm lucky, but it fuels everything else I do. This picture makes me happy....I finally am falling into my own style and colors and it's so effortless and hard to do at the same time. 

This post got a little long, but I hope it showed you something inspiring! It'll take me a couple of weeks of showing my work to get the hang of it...and I hope you stick with me!

On Searching Within for What to Paint

Here is a piece of advice I’ve read in two books lately: 

Create what you know.

I’m sure you’ve heard the advice given to writers. Write what you know. But have you applied that to your own art and journals? 

I haven’t. Heck, I haven’t even taken an inventory. What subjects/people/things do I know the most about? What have I studied? What lights up my imagination? What was I drawn to before art became my obsession/passion? 

(And don’t worry about that word obsession. Having a healthy obsession with your work, with your journal, is a good thing.) 

So I sat down to figure it out. 

(This list remains a work in progress.) 

And thus, when asked what I would paint on the little ceramic piece I’d created a background on, I said, 

“A unicorn. I love unicorns, so why the heck aren’t I painting them?” 

And I did. 

What do you love? What are you an authority on? Why aren’t you painting/writing that? 

I am considering making more of these. How cute, right? I want to paint more of the things I loved in childhood, that fly through my dreams, that are full of magic. What are our unicorns these days? What is YOUR unicorn? 

Let your journal wear it for you...

I've had a terrible flare up of my fibromyalgia all day, so decided to take it "off," allow myself to lay in bed and watch Netflix.

I also caught my good friend Dina Wakely's lesson over on Life Book and it seemed simple yet powerful, just what I needed today!

Remember: self-care is the best healing tool no matter what may ail you, and giving yourself permission to do just that is so freeing. If you need it, I give you permission to take it easy and care for yourself!

Journal It! Book Love <3

I was lucky enough to get a copy of this new art journaling book, Journal It! by Jenny Doh and I really like it! 

If you've chatted with me, you know I'm very picky when it comes to art books. I have such a great time discovering things myself, and have been doing this for so long, that many art journaling books are simply too basic or don't really catch my interest. I can count on one hand how many I've purchased in the past few years! 

But Jenny has done a fantastic job of bringing together a myrad of different styles and approaches; that was the first pleasant surprise of this book. The other is the variety of short tutorials spread throughout! You really get to think differently about jouraling and what you include when presented with all these new ideas. There are artists I've known for years and others I've never heard of, all of them journaling for different reasons, with different materials, and creating beauty in all its shades. 

A few of my friends are in here, and I couldn't be more proud to see their progression. I've known Debra and Roben-Marie for years, and Kathrin and I used to run in the same Moleskine circles way back when I was getting started. 

I tried a few tutorials and ideas already! I can't wait to sink deeper into this book and try out all sorts of fun stuff....like the tree rubbings and custom journals? How cool is that?! And watercolor progressions....it seems so calming!

I really love this book, and wholeheartedly recommend it if you're looking to grow your journal practice! Check out this little book trailer for more! 

Run Wild & Free - You Are Lovely ~~ New Prints in the Shop!

I'm so happy I can finally share these with you! They were created a few months ago as I experimented with a new style ~~ creating inspiring cards for others to give or hang on their walls! I really, really love these two and decided why not update my Etsy shop with some pretty little prints! 

Click on the piece YOU love above to grab it before they're gone! 

What do you think? *grin* 

A Happy Day Teaching!

Sunday was a fun-day, for sure!  

Due to a mess-up at the store, our class was small but it meant we could sit and chat as we worked! One was a returning student, the other a member of Journaling Deep! In-between lessons and me drawing on the white board (I felt like a real teacher with demonstrations, supplies lined up to match the steps in the project, and things to draw on that board!), we talked about art, life, health, and jumping outside our comfort zones. 

It is so rewarding, as a teacher, to be able to have an idea in your head & heart, one that you know will help people dive deeper into their creative life, and see that sparkle in their eyes when they get it. I am thankful for the small and understanding class that allowed me to find my footing, and pray that good ideas really do spread, and I'll be teaching larger classes in the near future (and certainly checking in with the store more often to avoid snaffus like what happened this week for SURE; I'm still miffed about the whole situation!). 

This was the first time I taught Paint, Play, Discover, but I can already tell this is going to grow and blossom in my own journaling practice and hopefully that of my little class!

Thanks to Marlene and Lisa for coming out and being so patient with me and my fibro-fog! 

(Because we were chatting, we ran out of time! Oops!)

(And here's a bit from my page that I've been working on here and there!)

And don't forget -- I'll be teaching Journal-Making Sunday, June 24th @1pm. We'll tour the store and learn about all the different types of papers, and make our own hard-cover journals/sketchbooks. Click here for more information!

The Liberating Joy of Paint Play

I filmed a video today, but had such fun creating these pages last night, I just had to post. 

 

While I’ve sat down to create backgrounds and paintings, I’ve never simply sat down to play with paint. Instead of being bright and blending things together, I decided to draw shapes, lines, swirls, scallops, and add a little collage. 

It was so liberating! 

I used to mix all my colors with titan buff or beige paint, muting them to vintage-like shades. I was the queen of pale pink and blue and green, of harmonious tones that looked like they’d been filtered by Earlybird on Instagram (a vintage, gold-layer filter). I slowly grew out of this, my colors brightening as my style morphed and changed. 

But for some reason, I was suddenly inspired last night to lay down several colors on one page, then another, then another, allowing myself to express thoughts and ideas in a new way. At least one new to me. 

I knew I was channeling a few artists as I worked, and maybe that’s where the initial spark came from; I’ve been ruminating on Austin Kleon’s new book, How to Steal Like an Artist. He recently posted a collection of twenty quotes that didn’t make it into the book, and one stuck out to me as something many of us practice but no one admits to. So I will. 

“If you think a man draws the type of hands you want to draw, steal them. Take those hands.” - Jack Kirby

Just visit a journaling group on Flickr or Pinterest or browse blogs, and you’ll see this. And this is how we learn. After three pages and a few hours of play, I realized that’s exactly what I was doing — picking and choosing the bits I liked created by other artists in the interest of Paint Play — so I moved on an flinched a few bits from one of my favorite artists, Carissa Paige (I even tagged her on Instagram to let her know that’s exactly what I was doing!). 

Do I care that I wasn’t being 100% original? Not really. I had such a great time. I love the pages I’ve started, the new things I’ve learned about myself, new ways I’ve figured to move my brush. I’ve re-kindled my love of muted colors, and hope to integrate them with my bright, lovely colors. I don’t know if they can peacefully co-exist on the same journal page, but I’m ready to try. 

Journaling is allowing yourself the freedom to take a chance and possibly fail. 

But you just might succeed. 

So your task this week is to say, screw it, open your journal, and do something you’ve always wanted to try but never thought would work. Or you would be looked down on for attempting. Or feel bad for copying. I give you permission. Good artists imitate. Great artists steal and make it their own. 

I’m sure these pages, while using a different color palette — one I haven’t used for awhile — will look entirely my own when I finish with layers of collage, drawing, and writing, and I can’t wait to see how they turn out. 

Excitement and discovery like this is exactly why I love keeping an art journal.