Journal Page 11/16/11

 This page is wider than the others in my Personal & Potent journal thanks to a fold-out. I love mixing up the size of my pages as much as I love mixing up the size of my journals!

The right portion of this page is a fold-out.

This is the fold-out the way it appears when folded down. The other side of the page peeks out enticingly from behind. I haven't journaled that part yet, so this glimpse is all you get to see for now!

Journal Pages 11/15/11

 I was in writing mode on the 15th, as you can see by these pages! I love it when I get in the groove and just keep going.

Journal Pages 11/7/11

 I was finally able to get some journal pages scanned, thanks to my hand healing enough to work with it easily!  These are the three I did on 11/7/11. I am really liking having and entire journal painted and collaged so I can just pick it up and do pen work and journal writing any time I feel like it!

This one is actually in a different journal.  I was upstairs and the skinny journal was down . I like having multiple journals in progress. That way, no matter what room I'm in I have something to work in once the mood hits!

I like how you can see the banana paper on the inside cover peeking out from behind this page. 

I never know what I'm going to write until I start. For whatever reason the watch image on this page made me think of the snobby, society types who expect perfect behavior. Definitely not me at all!

Journal Pages & Musings

  Since the storm Saturday I've had internet access issues. To be honest, it's bugging me for one reason only: My inability to blog easily. Anyone that's been following me for a while will know that consistencey has always been a challenge. Now that I've found a way to blog consistently, something I wanted to do for myself more than anything, not being able to irks me. Isn't it amazing how something we tried so hard to make routine becomes something we don't want to live without? In my case, posting here on certain days has become part of my weekly rituals. Without being able to maintain that ritual throws off my groove! Does this mean I've finally been able to maintain scheduling in one area of life instead of running amok , completely schedule free, as is my norm?

I started making a new journal during the power outage. It's going to be spiral bound so I am painting and collaging all the pages ahead of time.
The banana paper is part of the inside front cover.

A few more pages in the new journal.These are skinny pages, something I find challenging to work on, but like the size because it makes the journal so portable.

I actually have two new journals in progress. The top page here is from the larger of the two. You can see a skinny page below it so you have an idea of the size difference. I like working in all different size journals.
 It keeps me from getting bored!

Journal Pages 10/18/11

  I'm counting the days until my new great-nephew arrives. He's due to make his first appearance in the world on November 10, but babies arriving on a specific date is like herding cats. There are no guarantees they'll do what you expect them to. 

  I'm still in cleansing and purging mode. The back of the truck is getting full of clothes, shoes, household goods and books to donate. Tomorrow I'll probably make the drive to the Salvation Army and drop off. I'll try to resist going in to see what vintage coats need rescuing, but as with babies and herding cats, there are no guarantees!

Done while sitting at Vincent's listening to the music.
Collage, Sparkling H2O's, Gellyroll pen, ink jet transfer

Done at Vincent's.
Collage and Gellyroll pen

Journal Pages

  Today is going to be a babbling day. If you prefer to skip the babbling and go straight to the art, go right ahead. I'll never know....  
    It's been a busy week for me. For whatever reason, late autumn is the time I feel most compelled to clean and clear. For three days now I've been going through closets, drawers and cabinets cleaning them out and amassing piles of things to donate. Clothes and shoes mostly. Or rather boots. The women in my family seem to have a hoarding issue when it comes to boots. Especially black boots. I'm not sure what it is about boots, black boots in particular, that we love so much. This love, and hoarding issue, carries over to coats too. I in particular have a weakness for vintage wool coats that I find at the Salvation Army. Something in me cannot possibly leave a vintage 1950's red wool coat with black cuffs and collar or a 1947 full length black wool pea coat to languish, unappreciated, at the thrift store. So I, of course, buy them, usually for less than $10.00, give them a good cleaning and wear them with pride. And love. Lots and lots of love. But I digress...
    What is it about late autumn that makes me want to get every nook and cranny of the house in order? I believe it's an instinctual knowing from deep inside. I know that the cold, dark days and nights are upon us and my time will focus on indoors. Somewhere inside I know indoors needs to be tidied up, swept free of summer's energy and made cozy for the long months ahead. For me, all this must be done before Samhain, October 31. As a pagan, Samhain is one of my most sacred and important seasonal celebrations. It's the time we say good bye to the harvest, give thanks for the abundance of summer, welcome back our ancestors and focus our hearts, minds and spirits on the darkness ahead. It's really a time of renewal and reflection for me and others who dance the spiral of nature based beliefs. Which completely explains why every year I am compelled to cleanse, purge and release that which is no longer needed.

Tiny journal pages, 4.5" x 7".
The one on the left was created using Neocolor II crayons on 9/30/11
The one on the right was created with collage and Gellyroll pens on 4/29/11

Another tiny journal page created with collage and Gellyroll pen on 10/9/11

Page created with collage, ink jet transfer, Sparkling H2O's, and Gellyroll pen
on 10/10/11

Journal Pages

  A couple of recent pages from the same journal I've been uploading photos from the past few weeks. This is getting to be one heavy, chunky, memory filled book! 

The mini file folder stapled into the journal adds interesting shaped pages. 

I love how you can see the tops of the other folder tabs peeking over

I'd left this un-journaled for a long time. 

I don't tend to do 2-page spreads, 

but this one just had to be done together.

Tuesday Night Journal & Music Fest

  I'm at my favorite Tuesday night journal spot, at My table, listening to the great acoustic music, soaking up the vibes and enjoying the atmosphere. Thought it would be cool to show a photo of the musicians I mention here so often, so here you go! Both guys are in many different bands and do a wide range of music. I like their originals the best. Missing tonight is Michael Thibodeau.

  Can you see some of the cool photos on the wall? There are tons of them, all from ages past and of local folks. There's a reason I love this place. totally inspiring atmosphere.

This is Scott Riccuti, one of the best songwriters, singers and acoustic guitarists around.
Scott has played with Jim Caroll, Shana Morrison and many others

This is John Donovan. Another great musician.

Journal Pages

  A few recent and not so recent pages. I love making journals that have staggered pages, pockets, fold outs and envelopes for stashing mementos in. This journal has all of those.

  I love this vellum envelope for storing ephemera tidbits. 

Can you see the Bin Laden face? It's from a firecracker we had this summer!

There's also a bit of text from an egg roll package in the envelope. Had to keep it as what it said cracked me up: 

P.S. In case of of emergency defrost 10 minutes and separate into individual pieces.  An egg roll emergency? Goddess forbid!

The journal page beneath the vellum envelope.
You can see one of my skull lino prints peeking though.

I was having a bad pain day and feeling left behind once again.
Best way to get over it is to journal it out!

Journal Pages

A few journal pages I hadn't shown off yet. Even though the pages were journaled individually, when you open the mini folder it creates a cool two page spread. 

I used my Fastenator to staple the mini folder into my journal,
adding a nice, fold out section and some extra pages.

Journal Pages

  A small dose of journal pages for you to enjoy! There's a whole lot more where these came from. Yesterday alone I journaled at least six pages. I was in a writing mood & lucky for me had plenty of painted and collaged pages to work on.

Journal Pages

  In one of my last posts I mentioned how certain themes pop up over and over again in my journal pages. Here are a few pages done on different days, but once you read them you can see they have the same theme. Obviously I have a large personality with no shyness issues or indecision about being a bit eccentric (That's the nice way of saying crazy) and this comes through loud and clear in these pages!

Journal Pages

   When I work in my journal, which is every single day, I don't necessarily work in order. I jump around from front to back, to middle to front and even from journal to journal. Whichever journal is handy when I feel like working is the one I grab. I also vary what type of journal work I'm doing on any particular day. Some days it's painting pages, others collage and then there are the days I just sit and journal page after page after page.  It may not sound like a method, but it's my method and it works for me.
  If you look through my journals you'll see there is no chronological order in them date wise. But you can pick out themes. Certain things show up in them over and over again.  Today's post showcases three pages that have a theme to them, whether it was intentional or not. Usually it's not. Whatever happens to fall out of my head while I am writing is what ends up on the page.  But by looking at the pages you can clearly see certain things are on my mind a lot.
  In the case of these pages what's on my mind is poverty. Every day I try to remember that 1.4 billion people live below the poverty level of $1.25 per day.  Which makes me ask myself, do I really need that cool, binding system I saw in a magazine? Or to go out to eat instead of cooking tonight? The answer is always no. How can I justify spending money when so many have so little? This keeps me humble, and thrifty and driven to do more. I may not have much money wise or even material wise compared to some. But Icertainly have a whole lot more than the 1.4 billion who have nothing. Think about that the next time you shell out $4 for a cup of coffee (which I refuse to do, ever!). Maybe you'll decide that $4 can be put to better use.

  

Skull Block Print

I've been doing quite a bit of block printing recently. As usual, skulls end up being the main subject. On the left is my carved lino & on the right is one of the prints, done using multiple colors.  This is only the third lino block I've ever carved and I'm actually pretty thrilled with the results.  My all time favorite Art Mag, Cloth, Paper, Scissors is having a block print challenge right now. I think I'll send in one of these prints and see if it ends up gracing the pages of the magazine. Wish me luck!

A shout out to Raine  (aka: Glinda!) for the GREAT wicked Witch card she sent me last week.  Love you!!!  We MUST have an art play date soon!!!

Sugar Skull Completed

Finally finished the papier mache Sugar Skull I was working on. I love the Mexican folk art look of the piece! One of these days I'll make it to Oxana, Mexico for the Dia de los Muertos celebration. Until then I'll keep on making my own sugar skulls and skeletons. Actually, even after I go to Oxana I'll make my own. Somehow I just know making skulls and skeletons won't be something I'll ever give up!

This is a photo of it before being painted: unpainted

Skeleton Painting

Yet another skull has appeared in my art work. My hubby has taken to calling our home The Skull Factory because skulls & skeletons are absolutely everywhere!

Skeleton Bride & Groom

One of my latest creations here at The Skull Factory! Created by lopping off the heads of a cake topper & substituting skull heads, caulk, paint & webbing spray.  I'm creating a little shrine to house them and am also working on an entire mariachi band of skeletons.  In my world you can never have too many skulls and happy skeletons about...

Sugar Skull In Progress

 I've been  indulging my love for skulls and skeletons lately by putting them in almost every piece of art I create. This is a papier mache sugar skull in progress. Based on the sugar skulls made for the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Mexico and on the papier mache often used to create Mexican folk art, this skull will be brightly painted once completely dry. It's my first attempt at a papier mache skull so am hoping I've done it right!

On a side note, my digital camera experienced an untimely death while in Niagara Falls with the boys.  Until I can get a new one I've resorted to using my phone camera for blog photos. I admit the quality isn't the best, but decided posting even mediocre photos was better than not blogging at all!

Sugar Skull Painting

Finished this small painting today. I love Mexican sugar skulls and day of the dead art. This is a mixed-media painting of a sugar skull.

Filled Journal

I"ve filled another journal. Will be trying to get photos of all pages posted within the next few days. The photo with the skull in it is my journal cover. The cover was made from an old (and largely crappy) painting I had done on canvas paper. The outside of the cover is the backside of the canvas paper and the inside is the actual painting. But cutting it apart from the rest of the painting totally changed the look of it and made it far less crappy! I love being able to take something I made and wasn't thrilled with and re-purposing it into something I actually like.

Another Filled Journal

My most recent completed journal. This is the one I'd bring with me to my favorite Tuesday night journal spot so it took longer to fill than most!