Art Journal: Embrace the Flaws

The Zentangle Method focuses on trusting the process. There is rarely any planning, other than giving a random line, or string, to break up our paper into smaller spaces. This freedom helps us be more meditative, more mindful as we fill up space, one stroke at a time. And the mindfulness frees us to follow unexpected leads that pop up.

I want to show you how today's piece evolved. I set out to follow the Zentangle Method, and put down my string in pencil. I laid out a rectangle, a circle and part of an oval. I used a compass and an oval cutter for this part, which we don't encourage in Zentangle classes. As I was trying to make an oval, I accidentally scored/cut the paper and the collaged photo I put down first. Great start. No mistakes. I went ahead and tangled around the photo.

Day 1, tears and all

When I came back to the piece the next day, I considered starting over on a new sheet. No mistakes. I decided to keep working. I added some more paper and tangled the "frame".

Day 2

This morning, I continued to have serious doubts! No mistakes. I tangled in some of the white space with my gray Micron. It looked so cold and ugly! I knew I wanted color, but something more than a colored pen. I picked up my glass dip pen, which I've never tangled with. I mixed up some Lindy's Magicals pigments and started tangling with the dip pen. This was fun. (I know it sounds weird, but I could almost hear the piece encouraging me. I was the baby learning to walk, and it was the parent, arms outstretched, standing just close enough to not let me fall.) I was drawing with glass! I filled in all the spaces, one stroke at a time. I still didn't like it. The Zentangle Method step 6: Shade! The graphite was not making me like it any better. I picked up my trusty dauber, and added some distress ink. Ahh, now it was warmer. (I was warming up to it?) I applied more ink, and even started bringing it onto the tangled lines. UH OH. By rubbing the foam dauber over the paper, I had roughed up the scored/cut part. At this point, I decided to just go for broke. I folded the scored line and inked it. Then I made more folds and inked them. To further highlight the tears, I varnished the oval area with clear nail polish.

Finally, I liked it! But the circle looked empty and needed some text. "Embrace the flaws."

Show your work!

In my former life as a middle school French teacher, I had colleagues in the math department who, to hear the kids talking, tortured their students with the phrase "Show your work!" In my days, we never had this demand. We got credit for giving the right answer, and didn't even have calculators to find it!

"Show your work" comes to mind this week. Making the art is not always the challenge, but sharing it is another matter. Technology doesn't frighten me. I would just rather do something else than sit at the computer or look at my socials. I just wanted to clarify this with you, reader(s). I know I could easily take pictures of the stuff I make and --click!--put it out there. And I undoubtedly should. But I'd rather just make it and then make something else.

All of this to say I'm sorry for being a few days late, and also not knowing any more what I did when. (Another teacher phrase: "Be sure you have your name and the date on your work." Oops.)

Anyway, here's what happened sometime!

Back to Basics. I like this better than anything I've done recently. Getting back to the meditation of Zentangle lines and patterns in black and white was really restful.

More Zentangle patterns. I love working with mixed media, but often try to cram in too much! I enjoyed the simplicity of this one.

Thanks for stopping in. As I try to find my balance between Zentangle art and junk journaling and mixed media and art journaling (and showing my work!), I appreciate your interest and patience. How do you go about sharing your work? Images only? Images with descriptions of your process? Everything that happens? Only finished work that showcases my best? Share my work?

Art Journal: Mixed Media

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Weil Lecture on American Citizenship at UNC-Chapel Hill. This year Judy Woodruff, veteran journalist and news anchor with PBS News Hour, gave the lecture: America at a Crossroads. How do we heal our polarized country? Her speech definitely had an impact on my art journal, which filled up with reds and blues as I used torn pieces of a travel brochure left over from a recent trip to Memphis. (I was not trying to react to her depiction of our red/blue country.) I pulled her headshot out of the program, previously destined for the recycling bin.

It's different!

 

Spring has sprung in all its pollen-y glory. Rumor has it that we are experiencing the highest pollen counts here in North Carolina in 14 years, due to climate change. I'm allergic to pollen, and to cats. My two cats love to roll in the pollen before they come inside. I now swiffer them. (Is pollen sticky? There's something in the undercoat that is like hairspray! A pollen fixative?) I had to address my pollen anger this week, so here's my new mantra: No pollen, no flowers.

Handmade paper on the bottom with leaves and flowers in it

I wanted to photograph this outside, but, you know...

Happy transition season, wherever you are!

Art Journal: Mixed Media

This week my art journal put on some inches! I wanted to indulge in some mixed media, and realized that it can quickly fatten an art journal. The Happy Planner that I'm using allows me to take out pages, so I'll be experimenting with that.

See for yourself!

 

Inspired my Michael Holt's song, The Couch.

Thursday morning, absolutely zero motivation to do art. I preferred the couch, but

finally followed the adage "Just Start". And I went fast, just picking up whatever was on

my table. I don't remember how the rosette happened, but I found a tutorial on YouTube and went 

for it. It's a little smushed from being in the closed journal, but that's okay.

 

Friday, I stayed with all collage and just used scraps.

Back to Mixed Media on Friday, I added some line work and textile to the collage.

Saturday found me exploring mini-folios and using scraps. 

The butterfly holds this one shut. Inside, a little mixed media.

The finished page:

Sunday, Lar and I went to the theater and saw "Murder on the Orient Express". I used the program and some junk journaling scraps for my collage on Monday and Tuesday.

I'll end this post with some junk journaling techniques that I learned: hidden paper clips and mini notebooks from Pink Monarch Prints tutorials on YouTube. Lots of possibilities!!

Thanks for keeping me company on this rainy Wednesday. I hope you connected with something here. That's what it's all about. (And we thought it was the Hokey Pokey.)

"Perfect Days" in my Art Journal

In last Wednesday's post, I omitted the picture of a piece I had completed for the Certified Zentangle Teacher master class. The class, "Undersea Pearl Garden" by Theresa Marshall, featured a new-to-me pattern, Infinity and lots of layers of shading. The background, a tan Zendala tile, invites us to use every tool in our box to shade, deepen and highlight. (This is true for all "mid tint" papers, be they gray, sage, tan, or any other "in between" color.) 

Thursday night, Lar and I went to see the Wim Wenders film, "Perfect Days". I mention it here because it truly influenced my thoughts and creations for several days. One of the central tenets of the film is komorebi, a Japanese word that, loosely translated, means "the leaking of sunlight through the leaves onto the ground", or "the play of light on the leaves in a forest". I'm sure we've all enjoyed this phenomenon. The use of it in "Perfect Days" brought to mind so many thoughts about impermanence. The shadow play of leaves is unique and fleeting, sort of like snowflakes. My  art journal entries were very basic, with quotes.

And finally, just for fun, a paper doll collage I put together with digitally downloaded elements from an Etsy shop, byJLeeLoo. I embellished it a little.

Happy Spring!

Art Journal

 Springcleaningdetoxwellnesssparetreat

You read that right. But here it is again, with s  p  a  c  i  n  g: Spring cleaning detox wellness spa retreat.That's what I'm calling this week of my time on earth, after feeling the need to prune, let go, shed, cleanse, rest. Think of it as pushing the reset button. So far, it's been working wonders with my soul and sense of freedom and receptivity. And when I feel free to receive, I feel free to create. Whether it's making special pancakes for breakfast, or taking a leisurely stroll to admire nature, or just looking up at the sky, I have a sense of abundance.

And here's what it looks like in my art journal:

Three days, three pieces for my journal

I decided to move to a different format of paper this week. My 1.5 x 2.5 daily strips felt so limiting. (Lar calls them "bookmarks".) This helped me to enjoy the process again. The top piece used a new pattern from Debbie New called eNNDearing. I added the faces. The second, Better Angel, started with some stenciling. I added collage and marks. I created the third with randomly selected patterns. The common thread among the three pieces is their palette. (The first and second came from the same distress ink dyed paper.)

I took two classes offered in the Certified Zentangle Teacher Artifex Eruditio Masterclass (CZT AE). The first, "FIFE: Fragments of Life, by Midori Furuhashi", used two 3Z (triangular) tiles. This was totally relaxing, and reminded me of what I enjoy most about Zentangle, ie the repetitive strokes, patterns and metapatterns. 

The second class, "Undersea Pearl Garden, by Theresa Marshall" taught me a new-to-me pattern, Infinity. There was lots of shading, and coloring with chalk pastels. When using a mid-tint surface, like tan or sage green or gray, the shading/highlighting process allows us to create layer upon layer of dimension and depth. (I forgot to take a before picture with only the line work. Oops! I think since shading is my favorite  part, I get excited and forget!)

Be back soon for more!

Thank you for your patience

If anyone is still clicking on this, thank you for your patience! I see that my last post was over a month ago. That may be a personal record, and not a personal best! What happened? Lots of art, followed by 2 weeks of nothing much while we went to visit family for a week. In fact, at one point before that, I was so busy creating things that I didn't want to take creative time to blog. But, I know that this place is one of inspiration and motivation for me. It's good to be back. This post will definitely be a messy one, but you have to make a mess to put things in order, don't you? I will spare you the messiness and incompletion of my work, and hope to give you something of interest.

February Art Journal

February 4-10, 2024

My theme was "Portraits and Collage". I used some Zentangle patterns on the first 2 days and then decided to stop. I love the spread, and how I felt making it. They images told me a story as the characters in the Portraits came to life. My favorite project so far this year.

February 12-17. 2024

My theme was a distress ink background with 3D ink on top, in the Trencadis pattern. By Friday, I left off  the 3D ink tangling and just played with stamping and stenciling. Not thrilled with any of it, I'm happy that I finished the week!

February 18-20, 2024

I ordered some rice paper to use for Collage and junk journaling, and decided to try painting and drawing on it. (Because of its bumpy texture, you really have to slow down. Relaxing.) I do want to do more. 

I used a white glaze pen on white rice paper in my junk journal as an overlay page. I like it, but you can't really see it in my photographs, so I'll leave it to your imagination! Or better yet, have a go at it yourself!

Since junk journal has taken up some time lately, I'll close with a picture of the cover of my February junk journal. There's a small photograph with rice paper decoupaged on top.

Thank you for your patience.

 

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!
 

 

Oracle Deck: 30/30 Days

On December 16, I finished my 30-day project: an oracle deck with 30 cards, one a day for a month. I had the idea after seeing an oracle deck by Mosca in a back issue of Art Journaling. Her deck featured self-portraits on every card with a significant word from her journey. I love making art that reminds me of where I'm headed, what I want with a word or phrase. (See "Notes to Self" and the 100-Day Project for examples.) I found so much joy in making these every day. I prepped the cards a week at a time and used a different medium every week. Every day, I began by appreciating the background, rounding the corners and putting on the vermillion edge that unifies the whole deck. Something about those first three steps felt so special and reminded me of the first three steps of the Zentangle Method: Gratitude and appreciation, corner dots, and border.

Here are close-ups of days 21-30.

"Season"

Tissue paper background that made these lovely leaves.

Our cousins met up at Frances' house for a joyful reunion.

Wrinkles make things more interesting, right?

"Systolic"

"Simplicity"

"Create new memories"

"Release"

"Finding fulfillment"

30: Symbolizes on the right path;

connected to the Divine;

continue creative endeavors;

balance, equilibrium;

growth.

(Wow! I looked this up after finishing the deck.)

Here is a group shot of the whole deck and the box they fit in:

Wishing you bright, comforting, and joyful holidays!