Goodie! Goodie! My friend
Val of Val Zdero Art has an awesome blog Give-away! Please visit her and enter to win...Someone is going to be very lucky, I hope it's me! LOL!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Accordion Portrait Book Complete!
Monica Zuniga had suggested we try an accordion book for fun, and I just finished mine! It includes my sketches in pencil and paint. I made the imprint with the bleaching and stamping technique, and I just love how it came out! I really want to make more, if I get the time.
The basic directions for this book comes from "Artist Trading Workshop." I've had this book forever, but just now finally had an excuse to dust if off and make one of the projects.
Monica Zuniga had suggested we try an accordion book for fun, and I just finished mine! It includes my sketches in pencil and paint. I made the imprint with the bleaching and stamping technique, and I just love how it came out! I really want to make more, if I get the time.
The basic directions for this book comes from "Artist Trading Workshop." I've had this book forever, but just now finally had an excuse to dust if off and make one of the projects.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Journal Exchange Update!
I've just finished Darlene's journal. Oh! So exciting to make pages for fellow artist friends! It really allows you to open your heart to the posibilities of what you can express when your mind is trained on exchanging a gift. I didn't know what I was going to make until I sat and down and poured it out! I hope you like it Darlene!
I've just finished Darlene's journal. Oh! So exciting to make pages for fellow artist friends! It really allows you to open your heart to the posibilities of what you can express when your mind is trained on exchanging a gift. I didn't know what I was going to make until I sat and down and poured it out! I hope you like it Darlene!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Remembering Venus
I was just a child when I had the privilege of seeing the painting of Venus with my own eyes. It was with delight that I took in the statues and the paintings of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. The city where my father was born. I have often reflected back to those earliest artistic influences I can remember, and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church ranked very high on that list. You don't soon forget those images. Large looming, bold, bursting with strength and sexuality, and emotion. Other works played a more subtle role on my psyche, artworks of the Madonna strikingly spiritual, the expanse of entire ceilings and walls adorned with gold framed paintings and murals highly charged with religious devotion and ethereal angels and guardians. I recall that these images completely enveloped me in a child's wonderment and awe. I saw a world that I dreamed of living in, and maybe, just maybe, this began my attraction to art.
While we search for our artistic identity, I think part of that search involves much reflection and soul searching. Especially when searching for our own unique voice. I know it is the art of Michelangelo, Botticelli, and da Vinci, which held me in a powerful grip of amazement and inspiration. For me, these artists captured something even a child could understand; the human experience. Just by virtue of the fact that we each are born with a human body and spiritual soul, we are subject to all the things we see in art. I knew that, even as a child!
It is a wonderful experience to search for those moments when you knew that you were touched by a calling. It isn't always easy to answer that call, sometimes nobody ever hears your reply, but still, you have to follow your inner voice. Wherever it leads you.
I was just a child when I had the privilege of seeing the painting of Venus with my own eyes. It was with delight that I took in the statues and the paintings of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. The city where my father was born. I have often reflected back to those earliest artistic influences I can remember, and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church ranked very high on that list. You don't soon forget those images. Large looming, bold, bursting with strength and sexuality, and emotion. Other works played a more subtle role on my psyche, artworks of the Madonna strikingly spiritual, the expanse of entire ceilings and walls adorned with gold framed paintings and murals highly charged with religious devotion and ethereal angels and guardians. I recall that these images completely enveloped me in a child's wonderment and awe. I saw a world that I dreamed of living in, and maybe, just maybe, this began my attraction to art.
While we search for our artistic identity, I think part of that search involves much reflection and soul searching. Especially when searching for our own unique voice. I know it is the art of Michelangelo, Botticelli, and da Vinci, which held me in a powerful grip of amazement and inspiration. For me, these artists captured something even a child could understand; the human experience. Just by virtue of the fact that we each are born with a human body and spiritual soul, we are subject to all the things we see in art. I knew that, even as a child!
It is a wonderful experience to search for those moments when you knew that you were touched by a calling. It isn't always easy to answer that call, sometimes nobody ever hears your reply, but still, you have to follow your inner voice. Wherever it leads you.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
My Unfinished Business
I've been working at techniques, and with all the great info I'm learning in my classes I've felt better about continuing on with my journal work and with my art projects. The picture above is in the works. Not finished, but close. This one is for my daughter. The text reads, "the magic mirror tells you true, the fairest in the land is you." It awaits a few more touches, and then the final beeswax coating.
Next one is another work in progress. I'm just feeling like doing whatever comes to mind here. Just an exercise in techniques and fun. There are still many elements I plan to add to it as the mood strikes me to return to this.
This last one is a journal entry. The sun is a very important symbol to me and has been for most of my life. It represents enlightenment, awareness, healing, and energy. I created this sun in my journal so that it appears to be coming out of the darkness, and this is very significant to me in my life right now. I have written personal text on the opposite side of the page, but you can see how powerful personal imagery is, it's something inside of you that begs to come out. It is an inescapable energy, and I think it's important to find a healthy outlet for it. If you have ever shaken a bottle of soda and then tried to open it, you know what I mean. Creative energy is like that. It really needs your permission before it can be released. The journaling process can help you to express where you are in your life, and where you wish to go, and somehow it also opens doors and windows that were closed to you in the past. It can do this because it tends to clear the cobwebs, leaving your mind and soul clear and observant. I love my art journal, and I will do my best to share my pages with you each step of the way. oxoxox
I've been working at techniques, and with all the great info I'm learning in my classes I've felt better about continuing on with my journal work and with my art projects. The picture above is in the works. Not finished, but close. This one is for my daughter. The text reads, "the magic mirror tells you true, the fairest in the land is you." It awaits a few more touches, and then the final beeswax coating.
Next one is another work in progress. I'm just feeling like doing whatever comes to mind here. Just an exercise in techniques and fun. There are still many elements I plan to add to it as the mood strikes me to return to this.
This last one is a journal entry. The sun is a very important symbol to me and has been for most of my life. It represents enlightenment, awareness, healing, and energy. I created this sun in my journal so that it appears to be coming out of the darkness, and this is very significant to me in my life right now. I have written personal text on the opposite side of the page, but you can see how powerful personal imagery is, it's something inside of you that begs to come out. It is an inescapable energy, and I think it's important to find a healthy outlet for it. If you have ever shaken a bottle of soda and then tried to open it, you know what I mean. Creative energy is like that. It really needs your permission before it can be released. The journaling process can help you to express where you are in your life, and where you wish to go, and somehow it also opens doors and windows that were closed to you in the past. It can do this because it tends to clear the cobwebs, leaving your mind and soul clear and observant. I love my art journal, and I will do my best to share my pages with you each step of the way. oxoxox
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)