stop acting small

Today was a more focused day of painting and thinking and applying layers....and less photo-taking. Sorry! I'll catch up tomorrow. I can  show you the one I finished today, though! 

I started the day with sketching and writing, though. I'm still trying to get through that block, push past it. And I find I'm a bit uncomfortable with the silence of solitude. I still "check in" on my cell phone all the time, jumping to Instagram or my email whenever solitude squeezes in on me too close...or I don't know what to do next. I think I'm doubting myself these days, rusty on painting or trusting myself, but doubt is necessary to faith, right?  

Don't get the wrong impression from below -- the girl on the right reflects how I felt. But I'm digging deeper and trying to find images to relay my experience of the world, and so, have been thinking about good days and  bad, and what each mean. I know I can be quite bubbly and excited, even when feeling physically ucky, and have a back that hurts after hours in my studio chair. The question is, how to I allow you to experience what I do, and step into my world? 

Here is what I finished. The entire thing is so  pleasing to me, and I just adore it all. I took a picture before and after I stamped the quote...

I had to rush off when I finished to hit the Phoenix stop on Kimberly Wilson's book tour! I love that girl...she had me on her podcast years ago and has been such  a sweet supporter and friend over the years. Who'd've thought the author of a book rec'ed to me over 6 years ago would be hugging me and bragging to people about my art? 

I gave her the little painting as a gift for being awesome. If there's ever anyone to admire for their accomplishments, it's her!  

And that was my day -- a bit of video work in the am, painting all afternoon, and meeting someone dear. I'm off to bed to start reading her new book (which you can grab here!).  

what do i need to howl into life?

After weeks of a migraine and a few more spent working tirelessly to get Gelli Plate Junk Journal content finished on time, I decided I needed a week "off" of computer work. It was time, I felt my Soul tell me, to sit down and paint.  

I have several half-completed pieces, started in the thick of things, born from excitement and passion that were pushed off to the side when other work came through and became more "important." And sure, when other projects where drying, I'd putter around with these...but I knew  an entire week devoted to just painting  would be restorative and inspiring. 

I've felt, lately, that there's one little piece blocking my true  expression of creativity. A blockage I can't seem to get around, past, dissolve, break free of. I knew of this when I went to Florida in September, and felt a little of it loosen up, but with everything that's happened and been going on these past two months, well...it's still there. I felt more shift today, but feel so close  and know  this week is going to truly help me clear it away completely. 

 "we are all birds" 6"x6" mixed media on board. available.

I finished this one today; putting my signature on something really excites me and I feel like I've been uber-productive! You may remember this as the canvas I started at Roben-Marie's house way back in the beginning of September. It sat half-finished and I really didn't know where to go with it....well...here it is! It just came together in a burst of inspiration and intuition, and the words were spoken deep inside me. 

When I took my break, I paged through 14 Artists' Journals by Orly Avineri -- there are some beautiful, soul*full pages in there -- and was so moved to share my own Soul and reach deep inside to make sense of myself, I had to jump up and work in my art journal. I had my smaller Dylusions in my bag, so I pulled it out, slapped down some paint, made marks with Neocolor II watercolor crayons, and added faux stitching with one of my favorite new easy tools before stamping out my thoughts with stamps. I've wanted to do this for so long....why did I wait in the first place?!

acrylic paint, distress stains, Neocolor II, washi tape, scrapbooking paper, rubber stamps

added collage elements from magazines, more paint, stamping, & stickles

I am thrashing and diving and living days full of paint and silence. What are you up to these days? 

The Best Pencil Sharpener in the World

Like many other artists, and even children in school, I've been on the search for a pencil sharpener that works both consistently  and well .

Some start out with promise -- the first few pencils you put in sharpen beautifully, but as you go on using it, things start getting...wonky. Sometimes the pencil doesn't glide through as well, and gouges the wood. Or it sharpens unevenly, with one side showing more lead than the other. 

Now, there are a couple of things you can do to make sure you are using the sharpener right. For example, hold it in your dominant hand and the pencil in your non-dominant. This is probably backwards from the way you do it now, but switching hands keeps the pencil steady as you rotate the sharpener  around it. Keeping the pencil steady will cut down on the tips breaking off your pencils. 

The metal gets hot  after sharpening a couple pencils because of the friction, so if you're sharpening a bunch, do about three, then stop for a bit, do one, and repeat. If you do one after another for awhile, the quality of the sharpening will go down . 

Or, you can find one of these: 

This is a Faber-Castell 9000 double sharpener.

I grabbed this on a whim about four months ago, still searching for a sharpener that would easily sharpen my Prismacolor Premiere pencils without the tips coming off all the time. The last one had failed, and another was misplaced, and this one had a bigger hole for jumbo pencils and crayons. Good, right?

Wonderful !

I have been using this baby faithfully for four months, sharping several pencils a day with it as I sketch and play. I've even sharpened my Neocolor II watercolor crayons with it...and it does a beautiful job . As you can see, mine is much loved, and if I misplace it, watch out . I am climbing over things and looking under the couch and cushions...I have to have it ! None other will work for me anymore! 

The only  thing I'd have bad to say about it is that if you let it get really, really full, it doesn't do as sharp a point. But that's partly my fault for not emptying it when I get into the flow  of creating! 

Kinda silly to write a whole post about a sharpener , but hey -- when we find good things, we should share them with everyone! 

So what about you? What supply have you found that works like a dream & is worth mentioning? Tell us in the comments below! 

Lessons From a Painting Day

​Oops! I definitely thought​ about blogging yesterday, and even did some art, but when the evening came, I ended up turning in early and falling asleep; I read perhaps a paragraph of my book before I was out! 

I'm finally falling into a steady rhythm after the whirlwind that has been April and May. I just wrapped up the last video for my online workshop Digital Adventures and while I'm glad to have that time freed up, I'm eager to fill it with a new project. My time can be so unpredictable; in caring for another, you come dangerously close to losing yourself. It's been hard to build boundaries, and my empathic nature has me rushing in to help all the time, but I'm figuring it out. 

Today was a fantastic day! I spent it painting​. 

When was the last time you painted all day?​

​For me, it's been awhile. I've done a couple of hours here and there, but no day-long adventures with paint and oil pastels and pencils. It truly is amazing and such​ a teaching kind of day. 

Teaching how? This morning, I texted Carissa a photo of a larger piece I'm working on and said, "This painting keeps getting layers as I battle fear. Any suggestions?" ​

She had a few. And one I already knew​ but didn't trust myself to listen. "Move onto another piece and look at that one from afar." She also helped me by just being a cheerleader and good friend, which I adore her for. The funny thing? I was already doing what she suggested when the message came through​. 

It turned out to work. I pulled my cart out into the living room so I could keep painting while keeping an eye on my mother, and started painting. And yes, I'd get interrupted, and I had a couple errands to run, but in the end, after hours of fun and the sun had set, I began to get that punch-drunk feeling that comes with so many hours of concentrated creativity. You know what I'm talking about; when you stop thinking and just have a good time​. ​​​

That is where this journal spread came from. I got out of my own way​. I stopped thinking about color theory or composition or balance and just had a bit of fun in my journal. This is why art journals are so indispensable. Have you been able to let loose lately? What is holding you back?

​Here are a couple of detail shots from the painting I finished today. I'll share the full thing with you soon...

She has sunshine hair.

​I'm still trying to find balance between the new work and what's bursting to be born from me. A lovely follower wrote on a self portrait the other day: 

"Whatever changed you have made in the last 2 months agree with you. :) looking so happy and peaceful lately."

​The answer? Sleep. I'm sleeping through the night, waking with the sun, getting my hands dirty (both on the keyboard & with paint). Now I'm searching for balance, and think using my blog as a daily diary again may help me out. I'm inspired by Kal Barteski's method of blogging, and Sarah Ahern's commitment to do something creative every day in May. 

I was able to get outside to paint this morning, before the hot desert sun encroached on my patio table & I had to pull it all inside.  ​

​I'm going through something new​ with my art, again. I am coming from another point of view, with new tools and ideas. More paint​. Draw and express rather than details and perfection (or the quest for it). 

I painted this girl this morning. She's almost finished, but will have to stay inside where it's cool. ​

TODAY​: Shooting some video for Digital Adventures & finding a cafe to drink something yummy and cool while I sketch. 

Walk In Truth -- speed art journal page video

Yesterday, I received a message from a dear reader who's been around for a bit; you may not think it, but I notice the names as I see likes and comments and notes on the blog, ​consider you friends -- without all you, I'd still be a girl making art for herself, not a woman discovering her deeper self and sharing that with the world. 

Darling Rita has cancer, and is beating out her doctor's estimates. She wrote the longest, sweetest message, about her memory in the future (and I must take more time to process and think and dream), and one of the things she mentioned was that she missed me on YouTube. ​

I make a LOT of videos you don't see if you're not enrolled in classes. And I do work for clients, now, doing CHA releases and demo videos and e-classes for others, so YouTube has fallen behind, yes. But Rita's message is the same as others -- and yes, my last test was shaky (sorry!) and this one may be a little unstable (I created a new rigging for my camera; I test with YouTube and perfect for classes/clients!), but I hope to do more little things, tips and peeks and maybe one of these longer videos whenever I can. ​

But! A lot of this spread is stuff I haven't shared. Stuff I have only just figured out -- my colors and style and what goes where and how it goes.....to the point I want to go DEEPER with all this....I'm not just trying to find what works but HOW. ​

Feel free to ask questions in the comments and I will try my best to answer them! ​

Pages in Progress...

Ever since I started playing in my journals daily (for long periods of time!), I've been full of inspiration and bouncing around! I spent most of this week getting my body all back to normal after that medication fiasco, as well as working on a beautiful new painting I'll be introducing you to tomorrow! Here are some of my pages-in-progress, like a mini brain dump. Some will change a lot, and others, not very much....but I want to show you all more in-progress work so you can see the evolution of things. Finished pages are great, but they don't help you figure out how they were made much, do they? 

​These are pages in my Moleskine. Most work done in this journal is "dry," that is, without acrylic paint, and focuses on collage, color, and thoughts. I work in here at the beginning of my day, right after I've woken up and my dreams are beginning to fade. 

My new favorite colors -- teal, fluorescent pink, and black.​

​This isn't a journal page, per se, but it was​ a mandala I doodled over a gelli print! I spent the better part of a day carving this monster from a block, and just love the thing! I may have to make more! 

Now I need your​ help! I am not a huge fan of spreads (I haven't done one this size for years!), but was so inspired by Tam's Free Falling journal page video that I jumped in and started one....except now I don't know what to do with the right-hand side of the spread! So, what ideas do you​ have? What should I do? I was thinking of drawing another face, like Tam does in the video, but there are things over there I like! So help me out -- give me some ideas so I can a. try something new, and b. finish this spread! 

Hi There! (and a bunch of art journal pages)

Oh, it feels so good to dive into my journal again! While working in my digital art journal is fantastic and fun, I still adore the feel of an art journal in my hands, my fingers running over the textures, the way media can be unpredictable when mixed. I really wanted to play with my new Pan Pastels, but found myself grabbing more and more favorites as I sat down to create. Working on pages with a paper background and one made with my Gelli Arts gel plate, I got into the groove of simple creation -- of not over-thinking, just letting my instincts and mind guide my hand. 

One thing I am committing to this year is to take better pictures, and more in-progress shots. I set up a little photography station in my studio space to test out lighting, and took a bunch of practice shots -- and they came out great, so you can see a little of my progress from yesterday! These journal pages are still unfinished, but getting close to completion. The girl above was drawn from blots of paint that formed her wild hair, and I focused on emotion and shape rather than technical skill or drawing out arms, shoulders, etc. One thing I've learned from working digitally is to loosen up, to engage my imagination, and trade detail for emotion. 

Materials used: Stabilo Pencil, Pan Pastels, Journal Girl Stamps, Hand Carved Stamps, Washi Tape, Molotow White Paint Pen, Versa Mark stamp pad, Gelli Arts Gel Plate, Pam Carriker Stamp, Black Gelly Roll pen, Crafter's Workshop harlequin stencil

I also worked on this. Going to CHA (which I will recap tomorrow for you....as I'm still getting my thoughts together!) really exposed me to a lot of awesome mixed-media ideas I probably would have scoffed at a couple years ago as being too "scrapbooky." But I'm really loving some of the new products out there, and want to adapt them for use in my journals. I rarely take self-portraits or let people take pictures of me, something that was pointed out while I was in California, so I decided to make a little page just for me. 

It's time to Live My Adventure. Oh, so much has come from my trip, and this is just the beginning. 

Materials used: Amy Tangerine Thickers, Washi Tape, silver embroidery floss, tag, new colored Scotch Tape (thanks, 3M!), Gimmie Glam i-Rock tool (thanks, too!), Teresa Collins paper, Miss Caroline paper, gold Color Box ink pad, Crafter's Workshop stencil, and a nice complicated art journal background!