2024 Art Journal: Days 7-20

You can never go home again.*

Or can you? This week I went home, in a manner of speaking, to my Zentangle creative roots, my artistic family, from which I've ventured out into collage, art journaling, botanical drawing and miscellaneous other stuff. Maybe I've never really left the Zentangle practice, only broadened my interpretation of it. But this week I did an "ensemble" piece in my art journal. (I learned this concept from Zentangle. It may be used in other art forms, too. Feel free to fill me in on those.) I began with my larger sheet of paper, and drew my "string", another Zentangle concept, to randomly divide the space into smaller ones. I splattered some  pigments. Every day, I cut a 1.5 inch strip from the large paper and filled it in with patterns by Debbie New, CZT at 7F5R Studio in Singapore. I always love her patterns, with their botanicals and organic movement. She frequently uses paint splatters, too, so this week was a love letter to Debbie in thanks for all the inspiration she gives me.

But wait! Before we see my love letter to Debbie, I should show you the week of January 7-13. I chose a palette, from a random palette generator and got 5 colors. They became the backgrounds for my daily mixed media strips. My word for this week: Balance. Lots of jumping around. Did I land on my feet? Well, let's just say I didn't get hurt!

This week's tribute--I hope!--to Debbie:

I included this picture to show you the pencil string that guided the composition.

Things you might want to check out:

*The real Thomas Wolfe quote about going home

The random color generator

Debbie New

7F5R Studio in Singapore

 

2024, Here I Come!

Happy 2024! May it be no worse than our previous few years, and lots better!

Now that I make junk journals and junk journal collage elements, I made my own planners. Please note the plural. Not planner, but planners! I already had 2 monthly planners from charities that I liked, and had written some early January appointments in them. But I soon found out that the entries I had made didn't match. By then, I had ordered another planner (more on that later), and started making 2 more. Five planners is not what you want. You can only imagine the confusion it creates!!!! I was plannered up, and ready to go, but totally unorganized!!!!! It gave me a good laugh! I have trimmed my planner inventory by 20% now, and I think this will work for me. 

Huh? 4 planners? The planner I purchased from Happy Planner is for a new art project, inspired by an article from Art Journaling magazine. It will house my daily art practice pieces, and may or may not, have a weekly theme. I intend to share these with you here. (Happy Planner makes beautiful planners that, I believe, are intended for bullet journals. I liked the layout, sturdiness, and disk system that allows for the pages to lie flat and turn easily.) This week's theme: Tea Time, to celebrate the lovely Korean teas from Osulloc. Tea time is when I reset every afternoon. I saved the tea bags, and drew on them the next day.

The laminated cover

2-page weekly view

Tangerine, Camellia Flower, Pear Blossom, Sweet Bouquet Camellia, Canola Flowers, Orchid

Close-up of page 1

Page 2

The tea bags fit perfectly into the 1.5 inch wide columns. The colors and names on the sachets inspired me every day. I'm happy with the results!

As for the other planners? The freebie is on the wall. The other two will live on my work table.  All is well.

How was your first  week of the new year? I hope you feel fired up and ready to go!