Art Adventures #6

Art Journaling in Wanderlust

I’ve done limited art journaling this past couple weeks.  For week 9 of Wanderlust I completed two lessons, actually, though one of them wasn’t art journaling.  It did involve making something fun!

The actual art journaling lesson was completed in two sittings that took place about a week apart.  Life got busy and you know the rest.

If you can’t tell yet, words are a very big part of my art journaling.  Quotes, text, prose, lyrics, scripture… when I want to convey a specific feeling or emotion, I will used words.  Abstract art is my love and passion because the viewer determines what the painting conveys.  Sometimes, especially when I’m journaling, there’s something specific I want to say. 

Soldering

The second project I’m sharing today from Wanderlust is a soldering project.  This was my first time ever soldering and I enjoyed it tremendously.  I can see how it will come in very handy for mixed media projects.  Lucky for me, I have a great friend to personally teach me how to do it and walk me through step by step.  Jamie Avery did a fantastic job explaining it all in the Wanderlust class, but there’s something about having a live breathing person to guide you through a new task.  I am so grateful for both of their help. 

My soldering skills aren’t quite stellar but for a greenie, I think I did okay.

Art Journaling for me

Last Friday I had a wonderful afternoon with some time to art journal just for the fun of it.  I’ve been doing lots of self-reflection lately and digging into some of the dusty parts of myself I’ve let fall to the wayside.  “Fearless” is my theme this year so I’ve been trying to really honor that in tangible ways.  Being fearless in art has been a big thing for me this year and, honestly, the practice has resulted in feelings and changes I didn’t expect.  More peace, more joy, more confidence.  Less hating myself.  The funny thing about courage is that when you find the courage in one thing, it makes it easier to find courage for other things.  I really like that.  So this is where my heart has been lately and I think it pours out in my art journal and on canvas.

This page contains the lyrics from a Tori Amos song called “Crucify.”  I’ve listened to this song a million times but I’d never paid any attention to this line before.  While I was working in my journal the song came on and for the first time ever my ears caught the words, “You’re just an empty cage, girl, if you kill the bird.”  Woah.  They kinda stopped me in my tracks. What a powerful statement.  From there, the rest of the page practically painted itself. 

I love all the texture on this page.  You can feel the grit of the sand and I think it fits perfectly with the theme.

This next page was experimental play with some india inks, Dr. PH Martin’s.  I added the quote because it was something I want to remind myself often. It says, “With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble.  Courage is the foundation of integrity.”

And the final page I have to share from my art journal is another song lyrics page.  Music plays a big role in my life so expect to see lots of lyrics in my journal.  This is a song I’ve only recently learned by the band, Joseph.  The second I heard it, it clicked with me and it’s now one of my favorites.  Kind of an anthem sort of song.  I love it.  It’s called “White Flag” and you can find it on Youtube  right here.  So go listen to it but make sure you come back here.  =)

You can see the theme of my journaling that day.  It was loads of fun and a very good afternoon. 

Hello Soul, Hello Mantras

I’ve been taking Kelly Rae Roberts’ class called Hello Soul, Hello Mantras.  She had a big sale and something in me said, “jump.”  I’m trying to listen to myself more and not be so apprehensive.  So I took the class and last weekend I started about 4 canvases to work on.  No big plan.  Just get some layers on the canvases and enjoy the journey.  Stay unattached.  No conscious choices.  Just go with whatever brings me joy and don’t question it.  Lots of great off-the-canvas work in there too.  Learning to trust myself.  Listen to myself… So here’s the progression over the last week.

Then a little self-talk…

More layers.  And Tali decided she would like to paint to so she took one of my starters and worked on it.  Hers is the one with the owl.

Next layer….

My little artist…

Another layer of paint

An #ussie after a fun afternoon of painting

Another collage layer…

Canvas #1

At this point, I continued on with my canvases while my little artist took a break.  Layers were starting to come together and some of the paintings started to show themselves, so to speak.  This one in particular seemed ready to be finished so I kept working at it and started to reel it in.

It wasn’t long before it was all done and I’m pretty happy with the end result.

It says, “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”  This world is filled with rules and “norms” (whatever that means) and supposed to’s… it’s easy to lose your sense of self, joy, and peace trying to live up to the standards of society.  Without even realizing it, we adopt the guiding light of the world as our own and forge ahead with the masses, losing our focus of becoming what we really are meant to be.  Every person has a purpose.  Rarely do people seem to find it.  I’m so thankful to Kelly Rae for all I’ve learned in her class.  It was more of a soul-searching experience than anything and I don’t think I could’ve gotten here without her.  Finding my purpose is a very important thing to me and I think I’m well on my way now. 

Canvas #2

Again, the canvas just sort of called to me and said, “this is what I want to be.”  Making conscious choices quickly(TRUSTing myself), I worked on this canvas and the pieces seemed to fall into place.  In no time at all it was over and done as quickly as it started. 

Y’all, I can’t even tell you how applicable to my life this is right now.  So much of life seems to be a big mess.  I mean, it’s good and productive but, Lord, what a mess!  Like pulling everything out of your closet so you can clean and purge and put things in order. (which I did literally this week too!)  This is life in our home right now.  My poor husband is probably going crazy, to tell the truth.  He is a very orderly human being.  I don’t think he had a clue what he was doing when he married me.  But I love him fiercely and I know this is a season and I know when we make it past all this mess (figurative and literal!) things will be awesome.  So until we have a sense of order in our house, I will be repeating the mantra, “be joyful in the mess!”

So there you have it.  Lots of art going on here.  Lots of soul-searching.  Lots of mess-making.  =)

Hope you are having a good week.