what is BRAVE?
The other day, a woman complimented my bright, shiny blue nail polish. "You're so brave to wear that," she said.
"My mother hates it."
"Well," she replied, "she's wrong."
I never considered wearing bright nail polish, or my odd layered fashion, or any of that BRAVE. It begs a re-evaluation of the question What is Brave? And how are we brave?
That same day, a little girl came to get some hot chocolate with her mother. She spoke very little and seemed shy. Her mother said, "She's painfully shy." I tried to be as nice as I could, and told her about how my best friend was shy when we were little, and I'm NOT, and I'd ask for cookies or anything for her. I consider that little girl BRAVE for coming up and ordering for herself.
How are YOU BRAVE?
Deconstruction Reconstruction
Last week, I discovered, to my delight, that my local shop received a shipment of Amy Butler fabrics. *eeee!* Her fabrics and designs are beautiful, and that's saying it lightly; I just HAD to return today to grab some (since I had a 20% off coupon). While it's expensive, I splurged to get 1/3 yard. It's enough to make two journal covers; at the left is one.
Forgive the poor quality; the camera's dead and there isn't good light here on the couch (God bless the built-in iSight on my Mac!). I took the bookboard covers off my current journal, glued on a thinner variation, and covered the whole thing with the pretty, pretty fabric. The band was made yesterday, as I went all demolition on my journal.
You see, of the five signatures sewn in, two were of the thick, nice, expensive Arches hot press watercolor paper. When I began this journal, I did so with the intent of using it everywhere, for everything. Business cards, receipts, photos...the detriments of life on layers of paint. However, the nicer paper intimidated me, and I began making "pretty" pages, worrying about those with doodles, painting over writing.
I ripped out the watercolor paper signatures. I poured all the business cards (my own, as well as those collected) out of my wallet and slapped them on a page covered with cover but not yet gessoed. An empty tea packet. A receipt. A wireless code card I got from a coffee shop (unused!). Slapped in. Stapled. I tore the cover from a mini book of Frida Kahlo paintings (stickers!) and used masking tape to make a pocket.
The pocket is now full of my business cards, random ephemera, some photos, and a flier from a haunted house I visited last weekend, so much so that it warranted a journal belt!
My journal barely resembles what it began as, but I'm committed to using this one until it's full; there are too many orphans in my bottom drawer. I think somewhere along the line, I told myself I could only work in my journal, couldn't use loose pages or whatever because I wanted my journal to be my place of work. I need to remind myself that I can work on whatever, wherever, but this blue, fabric-covered volume is going to record my life -- not pretty painted, artful life, but messy, random, slapped-together life.
I'd love to make another video for you all; what is it you're curious about? Suggest something! I'll post the video Sunday night. I'll respond to all your marvelous, awesome comments tomorrow night.
Now open your journals and do something spontaneous! Do it now! Don't worry -- like life, your journal can be full of mistakes and beautiful imperfections!
time away for the holiday
Labor Day weekend is drawing to a close, and tomorrow, work begins again, only this time, it will be in fall instead of summer (and yes, I know it's still summer, but STILL...).
Last week, while driving around, I stopped in a small art gallery that moved in while I was away at school. It's mostly pottery, with a few photographs, and has pottery supplies in the back near a work area. I don't do pottery, but I did pull artistic gold from those shelves -- squares of meninite (sp?) used for altering the pottery wheel for smaller items that are just perfect for small pieces. I love rounded corners (one reason I'm loving my composition book journal), and these have them. AND, they're $0.85 a piece. Even a poor girl such as myself can afford that!
I've wanted to branch out onto wood, or, in this case, board, for awhile. There's something about the pieces I've seen that are on something other than paper that...hrmm...I can't really describe it. But they're wonderful, and I wanted to try it out. 
Here's what came out when I started working. I really like the black against colorful backgrounds, and had fun messing with colors and such. I haven't done much drawing in connection with my art past doodling, so I planned and sketched and then went for it.
And then I got really ambitious.
I AMAZED myself with this one! I LOVE IT! *G* I'm planning on grabbing some more tiles and working on more pieces this way....isn't that tree CREEPY? Yes, I was thinking of Halloween when I was working on it.
This summer has been so full of growth and creating new friendships -- it's been full and wonderful and I can't wait to see what the fall has to bring for all of us on this crazy art adventure!
Artistic Alchemy
*blushes* My self-imposed internet/computer break has been dotted with wonderful little emails from Page by Page readers giving me amazing feedback and psyching me up for the next issue (despite me saying I was taking August off!). Reading about how the articles and artwork has inspired others to dive into their journals makes me grin and feel like a glowing teacher watching over busy and excited students. So much so that I'm researching some space near my home in which to hold my own, independent workshop sometime this fall. It'll be hard, not being connected to an established organization, but I remember this one piece of advice from an article in Somerset Studio; "Even if no one shows up to the first workshop, keep going!"
Lia traded me a copy of Teesha Moore's Play; what a fantastic visual treat! This one had a piece on the different types of journals; it felt like a permission slip to carry various notebooks/journals with me instead of limiting myself to just one or another. I've three, now, if my planner counts as one.
My Moleskine's become a valuable tool. When bored or needing something distracting, I clip images from magazines and tape them onto the pages at random. Want to draw something? I sketch. Ideas work their way up from there. Lists. It's become my repository, just as my first visual journal did. Yes, longer entries and pretty things go in my art journal, but this one's more relaxed. I've missed working in a Moleskine!
I've been thinking, lately, that my artistic self is divided in two. On one side is the older me, the one that started drawing what I saw, writing and doodling in a Moleskine, using only a pen as my tool. The other is younger, more colorful and playful, hands grabbing for pretty paints and papers. Last night, I attempted to pull the two together.
The background is a collage of found papers and fabric, atop it is an illustration I sketched out earlier in the week in my Moleskine. The combination didn't work as I imagined, but I'm determined to figure this out through a series of experiments in my art journal. When something doesn't work, I'll move onto another. The journal entry around the girl speaks of all this, of my plans to truly sit with my journal and play, to experiment, to make marks with purpose.
This is a new, welcome surprise in my art. I remember when I started, I wondered how people thought in visual terms -- my brain couldn't do the translation. Now, I feel more comfortable expressing myself through art than words, and the translation comes as second nature. Now, instead of sitting down with my journal and just playing around, I have real ideas. True ideas that need to come out.
It's amazing! By persevering with my art, wow...I can actually see the growth, the expansion. Feel it. I'm loving it!
My two sides. While the paint was drying on the illustration, I played on the left-hand page. When finished, I liked that one more. Maybe if I combined the background technique from the left with some sort of illustration on the right....?
Summertime Musings
I had some centering issues with the 'zine cover, so they'll be sent out Monday; I'm spending the weekend painting, stamping, and collaging the envelopes, as well as addressing them. ;) Hopefully, it won't be as sweltering tomorrow!
I'm slowly returning to the land of the two-armed. It doesn't hurt as much to type, paint, or write, so I've been taking small spaces of time to work on things...small little projects that can be completed in short amounts of time so I feel accomplished. My journal has a few new entries, and a few more pages in-progress, and my book for Michelle's just about finished.
My journal entries have become more personal lately, in that the imagery isn't just there to be pretty, but has meaning. I love how I've progressed as an artist to this point, where I can see an image and apply it to how I'm feeling. My mother asked me to explain my pages, and I actually could. That amazed and thrilled me. It's taken awhile, but I've finally found my voice -- and made it strong.
Lately, I've been itching to make altered art pendants. I'd buy Sally Jeans' "Pretty Little Things" if I weren't so poor right now (being off work for two weeks does that to you, or rather, your bank account!), so I'm kinda going it on my own. There were some in a cute shop I visited a few weeks ago that ended up being $25 each, to which I said, "I could make my own."
Well...I don't have much experience with jewelry. My mother beads, making fantastic belts and headbands with Navajo beads collected in her youth, but me? Not so much. Remember...I'm relatively new to this art thing.
I THINK I got the right materials. And when I got home, I made these two beautiful mirror pendants. Yes, they're tiny mirrors with vintage roses in them. They're delicate, as they're prototypes, but they're so fun and pretty....I have MANY more images to throw in there. And wire and glitter and all sorts of things. I knew I'd gotten it right when I went to take a picture from above with flash and got a huge lens flare.
*grins* I'm planning for my first class in my new mini-binder, going through all the techniques and such I use in order to journal and trying to work them out into teachable chunks.
Next up, the empty cigar boxes in the garage. I can't wait to get my hands on them and transform them into pretty purses or storage boxes. Being as I can't do much, I've spent waaay too much time online looking at photos...I found fantastic ones of interiors and now want to re-do my entire room with lace and afghans and wallpaper scraps. There are already pieces of art all over the place....now I need to do something pretty with the empty space! Or paint!
And last weekend, my sister-in-law commissioned a HUGE painting for her bedroom! She saw this piece of mine sitting in the foyer and loved it; she said she'd love to have something like it in her bedroom, then said she'd like it about 22"x32". I'm going to have to get some new paint; perhaps I can find the colors I need at Home Depot, in the oops! paint. They sell those for $1 a quart -- that'd be more than enough! I can just imagine standing outside, bare feet brushing a drop cloth as I swish paint across a canvas in the sunlight.
Hey -- a girl can dream, right? And if recent events have proven anything, it's that they can come true.
Born from Necessity...and happy happenings!
I think there comes a time in every creative's life when they must go with the flow and acclimate or simply stop.
The first time I came to one of these forks in the road was back at the beginning of high school, when I was first diagnosed with FMS and had stomach problems so severe, I was popping prescription-strength anti-nausea pills three times a day (and always worried, being as I like to follow the rules, that they'd discover I was carrying prescription medication in my bag). Several changes had to take place in my life, and I could either make them and life around my problems, or refuse and stop living.
Perhaps my current injury isn't as bad as back then (as things came on as result of an injury; I sprained my entire leg and was in a immobilizer and walking with crutches for weeks), but I wasn't painting and collaging and such. I'm right handed and enjoy writing by hand, painting, cutting things out, those sorts of things. Constructing these blog entries takes awhile as I need to rest every so often.
A quick non sequitur to say thank you, oh so much, for all your kind well-wishes! I cherish all the positive energy! I went to see the doctor again; she's put me on another batch of steroids. She thinks there's an pinched nerve in my shoulder caused by inflammation, and if this new batch doesn't relieve the pain, I have to get an MRI and see an orthopedic surgeon. Yipes! MRI's are nothing -- I've had 'em before -- but I might have to get surgery and THAT'S scary. At least insurance is paying for it. And did you know they don't sell slings at Walgreen's anymore?
Ahem. Anyway, because of all this, I can't really paint with a brush. I've begun cutting things out (of my new issue of Martha Stewart Weddings, cause I LOVE the beautiful dresses and flowers!) and have some double-sided tape so I don't have to brush on any sort of glue -- I've forgotten how much I LOVE double-sided tape. And some colored pencils.
And painting with my left hand! I drip acrylics on the page and smear them around with my left hand until they "dry." I'm LOVING this new discovery, this new method -- I love how it looks and the messy backgrounds I can create over collaged pages or just atop my tinted gesso pages. I mix a little of color with gesso and spread it all over my pages....it makes it easy to work on and takes away that White Page Fright.
Yesterday, I was looking through the cards in my mom's copy of The Art Box and came upon Frida Kahlo's. Her painting spoke to me; I first became interested in Frida's work after reading the card on her in Randi's "Wide Open." I was intrigued by the art she did based on Frida's and always wanted to seek out more.
The card mentioned at the bottom that Frida suffered from spinal problems later in life and was bedridden. But she continued to paint despite extreme pain. I stopped and reflected, inspired. Frida's didn't let pain stop her, so why was I? Yes, my mother had been hounding me to take it easy, but weren't there other ways I could use to create? Wasn't a little shoulder burning okay as long as I paced myself?
I hope to explore more themes around Frida and her art, as well as my new methods born from necessity.
And now for some exciting news!
Look! That's me, after getting out of the pool, holding up the master copy of Page by Page! It's SO AMAZING to hold it in my hands after the last month! I learned InDesign by fire; I had to teach myself as I created the spreads and can't BELIEVE I did it! I am so proud of this publication, I'm giddy! Here are some sample spreads.
There are still 3 pre-order slots left over at my etsy shop.
Remember when I talked about creating Inspiration Packs? Page by Page started as a little hand-out to go with the packs of collage materials and kinda grew...but I wasn't going to abandon the Inspiration Packs! Here's a photo of the Large Size's contents:
There's fabric, papers, graffiti paper, transparent vellum, ephemera, foreign papers, punchella, random bits, doodle labels, and more! It all comes in a pretty, spray-painted plastic envelope. I currently have 4 available for $14 plus shipping. Let me know if you're interested!
And now, I'm off to read my copy of Artful Blogging, pet my own 'zine, and watch me some "Monk" and "Psych."
Have a fantastic, creative weekend!!!
<3 Kira
New, new, new! I like NEW DISCOVERIES!
Oh! Have you ever been working on so much, your brain just boils over? AIEEE! I received an email today from someone who requested a file from me WEEKS ago wondering where I went -- I have been so overrun by projects and such, I completely forgot! And here I thought my email filtering system was good enough to keep stuff like that from happening!
*waves* to all my new visitors! Feel free to look around and pester me with all sorts of questions -- I'm now checking my email & flickr comments more carefully and promise to not miss much! *laughs*
A bit of business. Tomorrow is the LAST DAY FOR PRE-ORDERS. The 'zine's off to the printer next week, and honestly, I don't know how I'll ever decorate this many envelopes for all the pre-orders -- I suspect a weekend spent outside on a drop cloth with spay paint and my new stencils. ;) I cannot WAIT to get all of them pretty and stamped and ready to go!
And yes, the 'zine is accepting submissions for our fall issue. If you've anything art-journal related, email me!
Uggg! I went to get my x-rays done (yes, still with this shoulder/neck thing from LAST MONTH), and THIS time, they wanted me to wait because my registration from Monday expired. It wasn't my fault they wouldn't let me get them then! They wanted me to wait 40 MINUTES!! ARG! I'm SO going in before work tomorrow to GET THEM DONE because I WANT this shoulder to get better because I can't paint for long! *laughs* Of course, I could use this as a time to experiment with doing art with my non-dominant hand. You know, I was ambidextrous when I was little?
Look what my dad found in the print shop today!
Isn't it COOL? They're lead letters from an old press (his print shop is closing). There are at LEAST three fonts in there -- I found an & that is TOTALLY FUN! He found some rubber-based ink, too, and this weekend, I am having tons of fun stamping them. I was also thinking about drilling through the lead and making charms out of them. Wouldn't they be CUTE? Now I just need to get my own press. OMG I would DIE if I got a letterpress. That stuff is AWESOME.
Nancy's cracker-box tutorial yesterday reminded me that I've ALWAYS wanted to bind a journal that way, so I got out some book board and FANTASTIC paper I found -- OMG, let me tell you! It's 90lb. card stock that's SMOOTH and everything writes on it perfectly and my Sharpies -- I cannot LIVE without my Sharpies! -- DON'T LEAK THROUGH THE PAPER! Do you know how RARE that is?!
So, I totally had to make my own. I covered the board with wallpaper and then played with some stencils I got at Michael's this afternoon. Half my colors are missing, though, and my purple wouldn't work! I really have to get NEW paint because some of mine have been out there for YEARS. I really want to get rose and a pretty green....I figured out how to make two-colored stuff...it is SO fun! *G* I need to get an apron, though, because last time I got spray paint on me, it didn't wash off for a WEEK!
Here is the journal I made! I added pretty reddish end papers to it. I don't like how far apart the signatures are, but it seems like the journal will grow into it's cover.
Here's a tip for working with bookboard: you ALWAYS want to cut WITH the grain. How do you figure that out? Try "bending" it. Whichever way bends easier, that's what you want to cut AGAINST. If you've made a journal and the covers bow out all funny, that's why -- keep this in mind. It was news to me when I first learned bookbinding.
I totally had to SPILL yesterday. My brain's FRIED from all the tiny details I've had to go back and fix -- Dawn, how do you design books without going insane?! -- so I took a break and just went all CRAZY on the page. My desk ALWAYS suffers after this, though, because I can't SPILL without making a MESS. Then again, I LOVE that kind of CHAOS! I want to keep my work area messy for a bit longer so I can SPILL in my new journal with it's pretty paper.
This week, I got an idea to make my OWN PLANNER. Like, design the pages and get it bound and such. I am TOO CRAZY sometimes -- just when things are slightly slowing, I think up something new!
And next week, I have an interview to be an assistant producer for an educational series. WHEE! I'm SO STOKED! Wish me luck!
*waves* Love you ALL!
<3 Kira