Our theme for school this year is Kindness, and a recent Journal 52 prompt was the same. So perfect for a new page in my journal.
I started with some collage, then acrylic paint wash over that. This dried overnight. I drew a little sketch of 2 people hugging to add and then included a fun quote. This was a 2 day page for my daily September Art Challenge.
My new SAL (School for Art Leaders) Leadership Experiment is to work on art for at least 15 minutes per day for the month of September. This goal/experiment is inspired by my friend Keri, who wanted people to make art with her for the month. She is bed-ridden with a broken butt and can’t do her usual large paintings. So she is journal sketching for the month.
I didn’t finish my studio remodel project by the end of summer as planned, but things are done enough that I have a little art desk in the corner of the room. I have been taking some time before and/or after work to work on journal prompts from Journal 52.
I will try to keep updated with the new pages and projects here.
The page here is for the Journal 52 prompt of “plans.” Since it is the beginning of the school year, I am very busy with making plans. While this page is a little less “pretty” than my usual journal pages, it does capture what my life is like right now with all the calendars, lists, forms and other things that make up the start of the year.
All 12 pages from last year’s Beaded Journal Project are started, 9 of them are completely done with the beading. However, I am still struggling with how to display them or back them/finish them. At first I was planning to make them a big book together, then as little shrines with equally beaded doors that closed. I tried a number of different ways to make the pages sturdy enough to stand on their own, but flexible enough to open and close. I tried thick interfacing, felt and quilt batting of different thicknesses, these were great for opening and closing the doors, but didn’t work at all for standing. Then I tried some card stock, cardboard and finally mat board. These were either too thin or too thick. I thought I had it all figured out after Robin’s class, but I can’t seem to make it work with the odd shape. Besides, where am I ever doing to display them where I have 12 podiums that are high enough to be able to examine the details.
My next plan is to try and turn them into a wall hanging, still keeping them in the groups of three that were part of the original plan. But because I have already turned the edges and backed some of them I am not sure how I will attach them. I am thinking perhaps reverse applique. I auditioned some groupings and some backing fabrics. It seems that a simple black will be the best choice, other colors will detract from the work.
This is June’s page, quite a difference from the beginning. June is the end of the school year so it is very hectic, closing up the classroom and getting ready for the summer. I created this fabric from a doodle I did in my paper art journal at my April art retreat. I scanned in the doodle, then mirrored it in photo shop, then printed it out on fabric. I used a lot of new techniques I learned from some beading books that I acquired, and then adapted to my own style.
Here are the remaining ones that need to be beaded.
This one is July. Spending time in my garden is the main thing that I enjoy during the summer months. This one is still very raw and has no bead work yet. But it is still part of the plan.
This one is August. I have been training for a triathlon all summer and August is the heaviest training month. Still need to get beading on this.
I am really pleased with how the beading parts are progressing (although slowly) and I am getting really excited for the next round.
Here are some things I learned from the first round, the reading and research on beading that I have done in the process and my class with Robin.
So a few days from now is the NEW year and a new round of the Beaded Journal Project. Will I pick a smaller size, an easier shape, neutral farbics? I am really leaning towards dolls!
I was afraid that an 8 hours beading class would be WAY to long. and on some level it was. By the end I was making lots of mistakes. But on the other hand the time flew by quickly and we learned a TON. The techniques for beading with Robin had the goal of making a little sampler. we were given a 3″x3″ piece of fabric, basted to (acid-free) paper! this was new to me but a technique she stands by and it did work well. Gave the fabric a little stiffness while working, but not too stiff. Plus as you punch it with a needle over and over, it becomes supple.
There were only 7 people in the class. The lady next to me came from Spokane and is a crazy quilter. Her work is wonderful and she is not a newbie to beading. We did have a couple VERY new beaders but the rest of us were experienced enough. Robin is a strict but patient teacher. “both eyes on me” meant you better be watching and not trying to sneak in a few stitches. 🙂 But her directions are so clear and her drawings make something difficult to understand very easy to create. I love her drawings! There wasn’t much talking among the students. We were very focused. Beading take a lot of concentration. It is not a chatty type craft. You could hear our pins drop.
The conference provided each work station with an Ott light, which I now realize is a necessary item! The room was well lit, but freezing. Which can make it harder to bead!
We started with the basic stitches. seed stitch, then lazy stitch and it’s many vaiations, then a couching stitch and finally back stitch. I have done all of these. out of common sense and just figuring things out on my own. but the variations were mostly all new to me. All of them I have seen in RObin’s work and after we learned each one we were challenged to start identifying them in her work. For each stitch she brought around her work to show examples and variations. It was lovely to see all her work in person! Pictures online are interesting, becasue they can be in such high definition that you see them in more detail than you can in real life. but you can’t really see the texture unless you see them live.
We also learned edge stiches and dangling stitches. ALL of the work that we did is in her book that I already had. BUT it was opportunity to ASK questions while working through the stitches. and clear up some of the things that weren’t working for me as well as try ones I hadn’t been brave enough to explore yet. Learning the edge stitch and seeing her work in person to really examine HOW they were finished was the best part. It is where I have really been stuck with my own work so far. and now I have the solutions! I am excited to finish up my bead journal pieces from this year and move on to some new ones! So I have officially joined up again for Janurary. (Robin did sell us all on joining!)
She also talked about her process which helped me too. At first I used the printed fabric and beaded ON the pattern, following it like a paint by number. I love those pieces but I did move on to more solid colors and became more improvasational. As I gain more confidence I continue to get less literal. She talked about what she does when she gets stuck and how she starts out pieces. All this was very helpful.
It was a long but wonderful class and I am so glad I took it.
I Â had quit on several months of my Beaded Journal Project pieces, leaving them semi-finished. I had not been able to figure out ways to make the backs look good, I had run out of steam and ideas on the beading on some of them and just called them finished. and I still have one month that has been sewn but not beaded yet.
BUT after this class I have been totally re inspired. I learned so many new techniques. and all the variations of them. I have been beading almost non-stop since I got back. After finishing the sampler, I revisited some of my journal pages that I had previously thought was done. I have been working on some wonderful additions to my December page. I feel like I see the fabric in a whole new way. Getting unstuck is just a bugel bead pathway away.
Also seeing her work in person turned on the light bulb for how to finish my own and ways to display them to really show them off. Now I just need to get some book board and foam core to get them done. I was also excited to share my work with Robin (which she seemed to enjoy!)
I got another one of her books (I own 3 now) and I highly recommend them!
So I signed up for another year of the beaded journal project. I plan to take on a smaller size this time! but thinking about going 3-D and making them dolls.
Clock faced Ladies #1
Created back in October 2007 for the ArtSoMoFo Challenge. This little winged princess was chosen as art of the day in a week of wings. She was the first in the series.
In December 2007, I made the goal to: create at least one NEW artwork (in any medium of my choice as is fitting for the theme) per month to enter into EBSQ Shows.
The shows that I planned to enter vs the art that I actually completed:Â
 
 I love looking back to see what I planned and what I accomplished. It does help me see the cycles and patterns to my creative life. Now on to better planning my 2009 show entries.
As I reflect over the past year and make my goals for the next year, I have discovered a few people summing up their year in a single word. This seems like such a great way to focus on my goals, to have one over-arching word of significance to guide my actions. I always include text into my artwork already, but to have a given word to almost become a signature for the year sounds so freeing and exciting.
“A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything.”
Many of my online artist friends have been declaring their words. Dale Anne selected Explore for her word, so I decided to explore more about choosing a word for myself. Christine Kane describes the process in “Resolution Revolution“. In fact, I remember reading this post last year, and I looked into some words, but for whatever reason I didn’t pick a word. (Although I did set some art goals.) Now she has a month of posts about people that selected a word and had a year of success focused on that word. It is exciting to read about people that picked their words from deep emotional places like transition, or ones that pick their word with humor, like chicken. Courageseems to be a popular word, and in this world, it seems we all need a little courage just to get through the day. Another blogger, Ali, not only has a list of word suggestions, she also has a little contest/giveaway for those setting words as a focus.
So far I am looking at the following words:
The words on the longer list included challenge, energy, achieve, active, accomplish, strive, release, discipline, but most of them felt to final or had a negative feeling to me. I know that this year will not be the end of my projects and goals, nor are they the beginning. It is important that my word encompasses my fitness goals as well as my art, relationship and professional goals.
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I am leaning towards Vibrancy… but I am going to let it sit today and see how it looks in the morning. Then I will print out the one I will focus on and put it in my studio and my home gym so I won’t forget!
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what word do you think I should pick?
November 2003 is when I became a dog lover, when I was completely won over by my first BIG dog. So this month’s page will honor Charger and his big stupid grin. This is the fabric quilt prior to beading. I have some scrabble letters to spell out the word “love” and then plan to bead some borders, bones and his hat and scarf. Not sure what other beading I will do, this one will probably be pretty simple.
See my other month’s pages here (plus theflickr album) and more about Charger here (plus HIS flickr album) .
I had contemplated doing something election oriented but decided that at this point, Charger is more of an influence… perhaps January will be about our new President.
I still have more work to do but got a lot done yesterday and will do a little more tonight. The dress and jacket are done, but I want to do the hat and more on the white swirls area.
Already thinking about November’s page. Which will be something about Charger, since we got him in November.
Another digital mandala for ArtSoMoFo.
Do you ever make something that you don’t like, but still post or share it? I have many pieces that I don’t care for, but I always hope that someone else will see something that I don’t. What do you think of this one? What do you notice? Does it grab you or speak to you? I played with it changing it over and over again, but it is still not meeting my vision.
I haven’t been feeling good, a sinus infection has been dragging on for over a month. It is hard to feel the spark and energy to create when health issues add their toll to regular daily life. I had high expectations of making a new mandala every day for the month. I do love to work in a series with a theme, color or other commonalities.
