• Art - Blog - Creativity

    Joyful journal

    December 27, 2017 - By 

    I was battling the cold whilst creating this page. Usually when it’s cold in my basement art space, I tend to go for warm colors. This was not the case. I was embracing the cold with lovely cool tone colors and texture like snow.

    joyful journal page

    I felt the colors around the edge resembled a cold winter night with the moonlight reflecting off the snow.  I’ve always wished I was a landscape painter…which I am certainly not…but I do give it a whirl from time to time.

    I left a light space in the middle and pictured a grove of evergreen trees at the edge of a lake. The boughs heavy with new snow.

    joyful journal page

    My vision didn’t quite come to fruition but it’s not as bad as it could have gone. (glass half full) 

    The words weren’t what had originally thought I’d use. I had words of silence and peace…the sweet silence of freshly fallen snow. If you’ve ever experienced it, you know what I’m talking about.

    joyful journal page

    This thought made me feel joyful! It’s always good to celebrate even the most simple things in life. Fresh snow, a creative muse, birds in the trees, bunny tracks through the snow…

    Linking up today with Art Journal Journey for Let’s Celebrate

    Art Journal Journey
  • Blog

    T Tuesday: Tuesday people edition

    November 20, 2017 - By 

    Well T stands for Tuesday friends…here’s a page dedicated to all of you.

    I am totally loving this page…basically because the words fell into my lap as I was looking at my teapot and cup rubber stamps.

    I didn’t use a filter on the photo and couldn’t figure out why my photos were turning out so soft. Then I got the bright idea…hey…how about I wipe down the lens on my phone camera. It might have a bit of smutz on it. Evidently finger prints, dust and other junk make a nice filter if you want that soft sort of look.

    Linking up with AJJ for 101 ways to keep warm theme as well.

    Art Journal Journey

    See….all clean…and truth be told…different lighting. I’m finding that taking photos in natural light when you get at or after dark is difficult. Hmmm…will have to work on that conundrum.

    This is where I’d typically share my photo a day collage. Unfortunately, I’m quite behind. The cold, I’d been fighting, won. I ended up staying home from work on Friday. Totally lost my voice for 3 days, much to the amusement of my family. I am on antibiotics, starting to sound less like a pubescent boy and was able to return to work for my very short week (two days) due to the Thanksgiving Holiday.

    I had posted this photo on Instagram at the beginning of the month…totally unrelated to the photo a day….saying “run turkeys run” since they’d be on the menu soon.What I think is so funny is that this was taken in an industrial complex adjacent to Paisley Park. Although, I must admit, that there is still a lot of preserved land around the area. Thank goodness.

    This week is filled with family time, food and fun.

    T stands for Tuesday
    What are you doing today? (or this week)
  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    Tea Tag quote journal pages

    October 22, 2017 - By 

    I had Thursday and Friday off work for MEA (Minnesota Educational Conference). Since I wasn’t attending any of the conference I was able to get a bit caught up on things around home. The kids and I did yardwork while the weather was gorgeous. So many leaves!!!!!

    Yesterday brought rain…no yardwork to be done. That left time for indoor pursuits.

    When I sat down to create I didn’t realize that I’d finish one page much less two. I was on a roll. It felt amazing to get my hands dirty with crafty goodness. 

    This tea tag quote spoke volumes. Bliss…that’s what being creative again felt like.

    The dimensional line of purple circles are actually tiny shells that have been dyed. I have no idea where I got them, I just happened to notice that they matched the punched flower and felt it would add some balance to the page.

    This page came together from two parts that didn’t feel as if they belonged at first. The lavender is a napkin from Patty from some long ago gift she sent. Thank you Patty! Anyway…I had adhered the napkin over book text on a piece of cereal box and there it sat…for years. Yesterday it found a home.

    Along with a few bits of this and that that spoke to me. The bit of lace helped mute the loud orange color down to a soft complement.

    As I prepared to take photos for this post I realized that I made two pages that would work beautifully side by side in the journal. I didn’t even plan that. Obviously I had a palette in mind without thinking about it.

    The pages flow. I love it when things work out like that!!

    Linking up with Art Journal Journey for LANDSCAPES OF THE SOUL. 

    Art Journal Journey