Art Journal Every Day (only when you can!)

"I have some awesomely good news for you: you don't actually have to art journal every day to be a part of Art Journal Every Day. So if you're up for a little bit of "you" time every day (or every other day, or simply when you can) I hope you'll join us for Art Journal Every Day this year."

The quote above is from a very liberating post by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer I read last January! I'm recommending you all go read the entire post: Why I art journal. Back when I read it, I was finishing up my Sketchbook Project 2012 and starting my Limited Edition Sketchbook -all hosted by the Art House co-op. For her Art Journal Every Day, Julie has a link list on her blog. Once a week on Fridays you can upload a link to any art journaling you've done that week. I used the link list for my Sketchbook Project pages a number of times, but today is the first time this year I am using the list to share pages in a journal I am doing just for me - whoo Hoo! How I started:

and what the page looks like now:

I had been thinking about starting a new art journal, unrelated to the Sketchbook Project. One that I would do and keep -not a journal to enjoy working in and send off. I was having trouble starting though, because I was looking at the whole big picture and it was overwhelming me. But taking the Stamp Carving 101 class with Julie gave me a small hand carved heart in my hand, looking for someplace to be tested! This was just what I needed to get me thinking about just one page. Then, I had a lot of fun on subsequent days, doing more things in my new journal like squeezing, spreading and combing paint . . .

I had also taken several photographs of my mother's beautiful hibiscus flowers and brought the photos into Photoshop. I made extra layers and tweaked the saturation and properties of those layers. I truly do not know a lot about using Photoshop, I only how to do what I describe as "fooling around with layers", but I have signed up for a short workshop locally next month - yay! I hope to learn more about the program. Anyway, I really like this recent series of creative looking flower photos I took and tweaked. You can see one as a new header on my blog! I wanted to put a few of these images in my new journal. I thought about transferring the flower image but decided on printing a couple of these tweaked images onto a clear transparency sheet. Below you'll see one of my hibiscus flowers, printed on a clear transparency sheet and added to my art journal by running it through my xyron adhesive system.

I also wanted to work more with the soft pastels my Creative Breakout instructor Bill Buchman had introduced me to -- and so, I got them out! I really, really like them and need to do more with them. This time I used them simply as flowing lines into my photograph. Click on the photo for more detail - a close up of what the photo printed on a transparency looks like is below:

Most of the writing in this journal comes from a list of "positive affirmations" my friend Joanna Urbani in the UK, so kindly sent to me. She created a set of beautiful affirmation cards which of course led me to ask her about the affirmations. On the page above with the soft pastels it reads, "I only allow that which is good come into my life." Below, I took another affirmation and inserted the text into the photo before printing it out. It reads, "I appreciate all that I am and all that I have."

I hand wrote another affirmation on my painted page and it reads, "I am responsible for the day I create for myself." I had been wrestling with this myself lately -how I spend my time each day- so it really hit home to me. I love that this idea/affirmation is now in a journal that I will keep. 

I cannot quite express how happy I am to be working in my own personal art journal again! Don't get me wrong, I love doing the sketchbook projects . . . it is just very different to be working on something for myself totally again. It was about a year ago - May, 2011- that I found Art Journal Every Day and started playing along. At that time I really did try to do some art journaling EVERY DAY. Now I am content to just make sure I get in there and play every week -and so can you! 

(If you want more . . .  see lots more of my Art Journaling here including earlier journals I did for Art Journal Every day and all my Sketchbook Project journals.)

The only certain thing about the future is that it will surprise even those who have seen furthest into it.  ~ Eric Hobsbawm

stamp carving 101 . . . is fun!

Well, I am loving this class I'm taking on stamp carving with Julie Balzer. Most of the teaching is done by videos that are not too lengthy, through a private class blog. I have not watched them all yet but for what I've seen so far, they each run about 20-25 minutes. That's just about right for someone antsy like me! There's also an outline of skills to practice for each lesson and a flickr group to share your creations on. It is working out well and I have completed lessons 2 and 3 since I last wrote about it.

Carving stamps is not entirely new for me. I found out the other day when I located a small notebook that I carved my first stamp in 1995. Wow, do the math and you'll discover that was 17 years ago! (see the bottom of this post for more on that). But I was correct in thinking that a "refresher course" with someone I admire, whose carved stamps I have seen and loved, was a great idea, and a great deal at only $30!

Lesson 2 was about creating two simple interlocking stamps; stamps that you can overlap or rather, overstamp so they compliment each other. I have never done this type of carving before. We started with simple stripes, but I would like to try a more complicated design in the near future.

It may be hard to tell, but these blocks of speedy carve are the same striped design, filled in with black on opposing stripes. I used my linoleum cutting tool to remove all the black on both stamps, creating 2 opposite printing blocks.  

Trying out the printing . . . I need to practice interlocking carving again, 

but it was still fun even if it did not turn out "perfect".

The tags I made are below -I used different colors on a black tag. I am taking this class with my friend Linda Kunsman and we are doing an exchange. We'll make 2 tags for each lesson, keep one and then send one to each other when the class is done! This will make a neat little tag book.

* * * 

Lesson 3 was about carving a larger size stamp. The first few we made were only about an inch or so in size. This time I cut out about a 3" square piece of speedy carve and tried following Julie's chevron design. 

I am definitely enjoying this and look forward to lesson 4!

* * * 

I could not help but scan some of the pages in the tiny notebook where my boys and I stamped our early carved stamps. They were around 11-to-12 and 14-to-15 years old at the time (now 27 and 30!!). You can click on any scan for a larger, more detailed look.

my first carved stamp, 8-11-95

dallas and decklin's first carved stamps

Remember, I told you they were carving Calvin & Hobbes! 

This is just FUN!! Stamp carving material is so much better these days. 

Speedy carve is like butter to carve in comparison to what we used 17 years ago. 

Maybe you'll join us? The class I'm taking is Stamp Carving 101 with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer! 

* * * 

Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.  ~ Ella Fitzgerald

A date! Spanish Point in Osprey, Florida

Steven and I try to spend a day together exploring Florida, once every week or so. It is a way to enjoy doing something different from our usual routine. We spend time together like we are on a "date" and we learn about Florida. On Sunday we left the dogs at home and went to Osprey, which is not too far. You may have heard me talk about the Spanish Moss we have here in Florida . . . well, this photo taken at the Bay Preserve at Osprey so exemplifies the look I see here so often and love. Click for larger, then click again for even larger!!

We spent a bit of time at the preserve, but most of our time was spent at Historic Spanish Point, 30 acres of gardens, jungle walks, views of Little Sarasota bay, plus environmental, archaeological, and historic sites. We had visited once before, but this time saw things we had never seen before. We really had a fun afternoon.  I thought the most interesting thing was the aqueduct and incredible fountain feature in one of Mrs. Palmer's garden which you could still work. The sign instructed me to push the red button and sure enough, water started flowing down the aqueduct. This reminded me of the many levadas I saw in Portugal and Madeira in 2004 which were the main water irrigation system. When the water reached the end of the irrigation channel in this garden, it cascaded over conch shells set into concrete - a fountain! It is so gorgeous!! 

I love the reflection of the shells below.

As we walked along and reached this point, the water started to flow over the shells.

I did not even realize that this was going to happen!!

Notice the lizard? They are everywhere!

As you can see, I was fascinated by this feature of Historic Spanish Point.

I have put together a whole set of photos from Sunday showing among many things, the Spanish Point packing house where they made crates and packed oranges, the boat yard where they shipped them (Steven was delighted), the chapel with it's stained glass windows and cemetery -- taking photos, I felt like I was my dear friend Frieda! We also met a black cat who made friends with us and followed us on many of the garden paths . . . and much more - even lunch on the waterfront. You can see the set here if you like.

I have been working in an art journal that is just for me - wow! I'm finding it so wonderful to art journal again. And, I have also moved through lessons 2 and 3 in Stamp Carving 101 with Julie Balzer. I am enjoying that very much too! So I will be back with more soon. Till then, be well. yours, lenna 

The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.

  ~ Emily Dickinson

stamp carving 101

I am taking an online course with Julie Balzer, Stamp Carving 101. I have hand carved my own stamps before, but not for a really long time. So this class really interested me because I especially wanted Julie's 'take' on the how-to's and any hints and tips. The first lesson was basic as it should be and a very needed refresher for me on how to hold the tools, etc. the best part? I carved my first stamp with Julie, a heart!

we used speedy carve, which I think is great! 

Her lessons include very good videos 

and details online in a blog format.

There is my little heart, stamped plain on the card (right)

and embossed in the journal. 

I started my new art journal which I have been

majorly procrastinating about!

I also did some tags . . . 

one for me and one for Linda Kunsman, whom I am taking the course with!

I added black paint just to see, what it would look like.

and here is my journal entry with my carved heart . . . 

I am looking forward to doing lesson 2!

The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.  ~ Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

(This is pretty funny that the Bill Watterson quote came up randomly . . . my 2 sons used to carve stamps with me and what would they carve? Calvin & Hobbes!)

guest post on Art Journal Every Day with Julie Balzer!

I am so thrilled that Julie Balzer asked me to write about the Sketchbook Project for Art Journal Every Day! My guest post was published today (May 18) and you can read it here. This has been quite the week for me, that's for sure. I am also a guest artist on the ARTchix Studio blog, whoo hoo! The Sketchbook Project, Art Journal Every Day and ARTchix studio are all favorites of mine, so I feel quite blessed. If you are new to my blog because of these posts, welcome! I'll be back soon. enjoy your day, lenna

Nothing happens unless first a dream.  - Carl Sandburg

A day.org photos

I found out about this photo project through blipfoto where I keep an almost dailly photo journal. A day.org presented a challenge put out by the non-profit Expressions of Humankind organization to capture daily life by uploading up to 10 photos taken on May 15th, 2012 to the aday.org site.

"All images will be displayed online for you and everyone to explore. Some of them will be selected for a book, A Day In the World, to be published in October 2012, others shown in exhibitions, either printed or digital. Every single one will be saved for future research and inspiration."

The photos I took and chose to upload for this project are here on my profile on the site, but I thought I would share them on my blog, for my own record; a glimpse at my daily life in 2012.

A typical activity in the morning for me, commenting on another artist's blog.
Carolyn Dube asked her readers "why do you make art?"
It was really fun to answer her! 

I finally was motivated to clean the windows of our home
when my husband Steven said he would help me!
He offered to do the outside windows, if I did the inside - A deal!

This was my "blip" for May 15th. While watering the gardens
I came across a lizard running back and forth on the window ledge of our home.
These creatures are so amazing. We have many, many lizards in out yard
and sometimes they even get inside the house!

This is our home. We moved to Florida from Connecticut in 2009 

when my father was ill with cancer. He passed away in 2011 but Steven and I 

are still here, living very near my mother. We have come to love Florida!

After working outside in the yard I needed a big, cool drink of water!

My friend Frieda and I met online and connect via the computer a lot. But we also enjoy handwriting letters to each other. Here you see her letter to me on top and the letter I am writing to her, below.
We both love receiving the slow, hand written cards we send. It brings me closer to her.
She lives in Scotland and this is the way we know each other.
One day, I will go to Scotland . . . . or she will visit me in Florida! 

This is a mail art envelope I created for my friend Frieda in Scotland. 

I love to do mail Art!

I love this time of day. Steven is home from Lucas Boatworks and we sit, have a drink and talk. Share about our day. Sometimes we sit in my studio, other times we sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. I always look forward to reconnecting with him. He is my treasure. 

I was in the middle of working on this challenge piece when my husband started taking photos!
My art is my treasure. Creating makes me feel whole.

One of my favorite parts of the day is when Steven and I sit down and have the dinner we've cooked. It is "home" to me. We recently (January 2012) started eating a mostly plant-based vegan diet for health reasons. There is cancer in my family and heart disease in Steven's. It has turned out to be very yummy and we love it! This is Butternut squash ravioli and steamed green beans with whole grain bread and wine, of course! More info on a plant-based diet is here. 

So  there you have it, a glimpse into my day.

Thank you, a day.org!

Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.

  ~ Swedish proverb