art journalling

November 13, 2012 by Tara 4 Comments

Almost half way through the month and I’m finally getting into my stride with AEDM12. Because the studio is STILL full of boxes, ready for the move that is already two months behind schedule, I’m mostly camped out on the coffee table.

I do sometimes marvel at how after all this time I still am either over or under zealous with the photo editing.

Anyway, pish posh. Things I am loving here are: using matte craft paint for the circles {must get more of this matte gorgeousness}, the circles with the lines inside, lettering, leaving lots of white space. I’m revisiting old sketchbook pages lately; this one was a ‘paint blot’ I did months ago.

The words just came from somewhere in my head. I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to go within and to really know that everything we need is inside us. I’ve started to find a space inside where it’s quiet with a certain timbre that I can’t really put into words; it’s quite elusive but presumably practice will make enlightened!

Filed Under: AEDM, art journalling, sketchbook Tagged With: aedm12, art journal pages, hand lettering, sketchbook

October 27, 2012 by Tara 2 Comments

I had forgotten about haikus. I love poetry ~ writing it, reading it. I like Wendy Cope, Carol Ann Duffy and rather unoriginally, Mary Oliver.

I remember learning about haikus at school. You will know of course that in basic terms they are three line poems of five, then seven, then five syllables. {Technically, there is much more to it than this, but in the interests of simplicity and not pretending to know more than I do, I’m sticking to the basics. You can learn more here.}

I was mooching around on Instagram the other day and found Aimee of Artsyville’s haiku art, and remembered how much I love haikus. I particularly enjoy the humour in Aimee’s, not to mention the colours and gorgeous handwriting.

Naturally I was inspired to try writing some haikus of my own. Like the Small Stones project I took part in earlier this year, haikus capture a moment or a feeling, or at least they are very good for that, I discovered. ~~Hence my possibly-too-cryptic post title; it occurred to me that they are like poetic zip files ~ a shrunk down capsule of the full size.~~ I changed the title, it was ridiculous.

Here are three that I made, influenced rather obviously by Aimee’s style.

I already had a turquoise background made from leftover paint in my sketchbook, so I painted three rectangles of gesso and then doodled some frames for each one, and had fun using different writing styles.

They’re just a bit of fun, and good for a quick creative burst {something I seem to be talking about a lot lately}. Not to mention they get you noticing things in your day to day life, thus helping to keep you present.

Have you written any Haikus? Have you made any into art like Aimee at Artsyville does? Do leave a link if you have ~ I’d love to read them!

Filed Under: art journalling, poetry Tagged With: art journal poetry, artsyville, haiku, haiku art, poetry

October 21, 2012 by Tara 8 Comments

{some doodling on a background made by using up excess paint}

I was just lying in bed this morning, pondering the meaning of things, and the fact that actually nothing has any meaning until we give it one, and I had a little ‘real-eyes-ation’. One of those really obvious ones that suddenly becomes clear.

Take credit cards. Little rectangles of plastic with numbers and letters on. Satisfyingly rounded corners, maybe a picture. What IS that actually? A piece of plastic! It doesn’t MEAN anything. It’s not money. It’s not a ticket to a dream life. It’s not anything. It’s just a piece of plastic. But by a common agreement we all look at a credit card and think of money, and buying things, and maybe there’s some fear about how to pay it back, or whatever else comes up for us individually when we think of them. Crazy!

Some people love credit cards. Some don’t; I personally don’t like them and try to never use them. I am fortunate to be in the position to make that choice but that’s not my point.

The thing is, whether you like or dislike something, whether you call it something, describe it with adjectives, agree with the collective that it is ‘this thing that does this’, it doesn’t matter at all. Because when it comes down to it, none of that means anything. {I just remembered this is actually the first lesson in A Course in Miracles.}

So we can just choose! Anything can be anything! How freeing!

I’m spending today on my own. I’m aware that a part of me could choose to feel a bit sad about that, or start worrying about the week ahead, or wishing things were different. In light of my credit card revelation though, I’ve decided that today I’m choosing Sunday to mean loving myself by doing things I enjoy on my own. I’m choosing wearing cosy clothes, making soup, listening to music, working on my book, eating foods I love. Perhaps I’ll light the fire, watch a movie, read a bit. Nothing earth shattering, just a reminder that I can choose my own perspective according to what feels most comfortable.

Sunday sermon over.

Filed Under: art journalling, drawing, musings, sketchbook Tagged With: a course in miracles, credit cards, hello sunshine, meaning, sketchbook

October 11, 2012 by Tara 6 Comments

Ugh.

That would be a word I’d used to describe today thus far. I would like to put a nice glossy shine on it and use an uplifting word that suggests dancing and delight, possibly with lots of exclamation marks.

But really, ugh.

As much as I don’t applaud the British habit of complaining about the weather, and am cultivating a way to view it that is not based on a judgement of what I think it ought to be doing, it has rained without ceasing the entire day and the sky remains a resolute shade of pale watery grey.

It’s not like my to do list isn’t long and detailed. More a lack of motivation and energy, and quite a lot of irritation and resistance to pretty much anything that comes up.

So I’ve been huddled up on the sofa, listening to episodes of TeachNow {preparing myself for my planned art sessions} and doodling in my art journal:

I feel like neither lamp nor lifeboat nor ladder today, but I know I can be these things. Perhaps it’s time to let go of the resistance to my current mood and allow that to take me forward to the next step. And this page pleases me, so that’s a start.

In fact I am noticing a little formula here. It’s giving me comfort and I feel my mood lifting already, so perhaps it’ll help you too, if you’ve got that whole self-indulgent funk thing going on.

1. Feel gross for whatever reason.

2. Acknowledge that, outside your own head, by either writing it down or telling someone. This helps with accepting it too.

3. Notice that once it’s outside your head it doesn’t look so dark.

4. Choose to allow a space for something new to reveal itself.

5. Maybe do something you enjoy that takes very little effort for a while.

6. Wait.

7. Notice any elevation in mood, or any new ideas or solutions for things that are bothering you.

8. Smile a tiny bit.

I think I just handed myself my own ladder.

Filed Under: art journalling Tagged With: art journal, grumpy, ladder, lamp, lifeboat, mood, quote, raining

October 9, 2012 by Tara 5 Comments

I did this journal page last night while listening to a couple of TED talks. It makes me feel quite vulnerable to show it {I find it impossible to do non-personal journal pages, but perhaps that’s the point}. It seems whenever I sit down to do ‘table art’ lately, as opposed to canvas art, I am compelled to write messages to myself. I think that’s good though; I’m connecting more and more with my Real Self, and these little reminders help me do that.

I’m sure you’re familiar with the TED talks. I find them excellent for educating, inspiring and enjoying myself {more} while painting. Since I’ve listened to quite a few now, I thought I’d share my favourites since you may enjoy them too.

So here are my current top ten:

1. Elizabeth Gilbert on genius {my fave fave fave}

2. Steve Jobs on how to live before you die

3. Brene Brown on vulnerability

4. Gabrielle Bernstein on how to be a miracle worker

5. Ken Robinson on how schools kill creativity

6. Jill Bolte Taylor on her stroke of insight

7. Jane McGonigal on how gaming can make a better world {unlikely title but SO good!}

8. Nicole Daedone on orgasm as the cure for hunger in the Western woman

9. Wayne McGregor on the choreographer’s creative process in real time {fascinating}

10. Louie Schwartzberg on gratitude

Do you have a favourite TED talk? Please do share in the comments so we can all expand our inspiration!

PS. If you are finding the new plugin that emails you whenever a reply is made to a post you commented on annoying, please let me know! I hadn’t quite grasped that it would email EVERY comment! Learning curves all round.

Filed Under: art journalling, creativity, sketchbook, youtube Tagged With: art journal, TED talks, top ten ted talks, vulnerability

April 7, 2011 by Tara 3 Comments

My titles are getting really boring! I will try (oops PRACTICE) sprucing them up.

Bottom left greeny blue painting produced the following photo

But since this blog is about what I’ve been doing creatively, and what I’ve been doing IS ‘more art journalling’….

this one has HEAPS of symbolism for me

Anyhoo. The other thing about art journalling is that it can be really personal. I get torn between wanting to document (and by extension share), and feeling a bit embarrassed that some of it is not really worth documenting or sharing. Case in point: this picture below, which came about because someone recently described me as a rainbow warrior (which I LOVED!) and I wanted to somehow get that DOWN. I really want to doodle all over the face, kind of like a tribal thing, but got The Fear and chickened out. (Not very warrior-ish!) I think I got the ‘rainbow’ bit though.

Filed Under: art journalling, intuitive painting

April 6, 2011 by Tara 8 Comments

I bin paintin. And I’ve learned some new things about my process. So that’s probably good.Still a bit yucksville but I’m up and about doing ‘normal’ things, mainly getting in that stude. I’ve got two classes on the go at the moment – (the self paced) 21 Secrets and Paint Free with Wyanne. Two very different approaches to learning which is good for me as repetition is my nemesis!This is the progress of one of four paintings I did this morning from Connie Hozvicka‘s 21 Secrets Class “Abstract Adventure”. I knew about Connie already but had never really got INto what she does for whatever reason, and now I’m very excited and have signed up to her RSS feed and everything!
Connie’s coming from where I’m coming from – art and soul and spirituality (I really don’t like that word but I haven’t yet found another one which says the same thing) all rolled up together in a yummy colourful enthusiastic happy bundle.
Part of the class was to get your body moving before you start; why I’ve never done this before I do not know, it really helps! It makes total sense to get your whole body involved in the painting process. Connie teaches a process called ‘Painting Fearless’ – check it out if you want to shed some painting inhibitions!
So anyway, these photos aren’t great but I really had a good time with this painting. I didn’t do it IN a journal because with Connie it’s all about painting BIG and I don’t have a big journal so I just taped some big pieces of paper to the wall.

And here is what I learned (more for my own reference than for interest, sorry about that):

1. Approaching painting from an art journalling perspective takes the pressure off; ‘I’m just playing so it’s cool if it doesn’t turn out in a way that I like’. It MAKES me be braver/more reckless.

2. This is a very cool way to discover new ways to do things/hold a paintbrush/make marks/use colour.

3. It can be a shame when you really love what you’ve done but it’s not on canvas and the paper you chose was a bit crappy.

4. Painting intuitively is amazing and the only way I want to paint now. The joy of this is that you can’t cock it up because your intuition is never wrong. Yay!

5. I love circles. (Oh, whoops, no, I already knew that.)

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PS. Hello and hooray lovely clump of new followers! You are very welcome here

Filed Under: acrylic painting, art journalling

April 3, 2011 by Tara 4 Comments

Ok, first; Teux Deux is revolutionising my life (in a small but nonetheless fabulous way). Not only does the name appeal to my love of playing on words, but it’s so easy to use and so USEFUL! I can see my week at a glance, and the joy of crossing things off when I’ve done them is deeply satisfying. Obviously I need to get out more but really, I’d rather stay in and tick things off my teux deux list. (Mind you, shouldn’t it be Toux Doux? Different pronunciation otherwise. Hmm.)

get well tulips with my paintings in the background

Secondly, I just found out about Fontifier. It makes a font out of your own handwriting! I have been wishing for this for ages! It does cost, and I’m not sure how much, but I am going to investigate.

digital macro is just neverendingly satisfying

Thirdly, I’ve been in a few treasuries lately, which is very exciting to an Etsy newbie such as myself and is leading to a LOT of time following links to people’s glorious art and craft work. I’ve even made a special Treasuries page in my tabs! The excitement just never ends round here.

the inside of a get well tulip

I stumbled on this quote after I wrote my self love post:

“If I love myself

I love you.

If I love you

I love myself.”

- Rumi

There, easy! …

In other news, 21 Secrets started this week. Twenty one classes in art journalling by twenty one different teachers! It’s a FEAST of creativity!

I started with Goddess Leonie’s class about finding the Goddess inside you with a meditation and making a journal page to capture the feeling it gave you so every time you look at the page you remember. Mine was quite personal but here’s a little peek:My art journalling style is absolutely nothing like my painting style. Actually I’m not really sure what my art journalling style IS; here I was trying to get the feeling of giving myself a hug (amongst other things). Goddess Leonie was very clear that this page was more about the feeling than trying to produce something that looks good. I took that fully on board.

It seems to me that art journalling is going to be something I use as a tool for developing ideas, a place where I can make mistakes, learn new techniques, get the icky bits out and generally PLAY in a way I perhaps don’t on the big canvases. Kind of a behind the scenes thing. We shall see.

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I would also just like to say thank you to all of you who took the time to leave comments on my self love post. It’s not the kind of post you can leave a quick comment on and I really appreciated your thoughts and insights. It’s probably one of the most important lessons we can ever learn as so much of what we offer to the world rests on our ability to do it, and I’m so glad it’s the kind of thing we can talk about here.

Filed Under: art journalling, quote

March 14, 2011 by Tara 7 Comments

My friend Tam over at Willowing is such a dude. We met because I did (and loved!) her Awesome Art Journalling class nearly two years ago (LORD) and then I realised we lived in the same town… Tam is very talented (she makes whimsical art) and also very warm and genuine and interesting in her approach to life, and what I love most about what she does is that she combines art and healing. I’m very interested in combining art with healing; I haven’t worked out how I’m going to do it yet but Tam is very inspiring to me.
She featured my work in the Monthly Art Challenge for February! ‘Citing. And I’m about to start advertising on her Ning site if I can just manage to make a button… (I made the possibly slightly insane suggestion to myself to exhibit my work somewhere for every month of this year; got about five months covered so far and advertising may have to be April’s effort!) I also have been doing her Art, Heart and Healing course, which is FREE! I felt called to have a go at Week Four, because it involves an angel and healing, two of my favourite things. Here is my attempt so far.Still got the second video to do though! I can’t tell you how fun it is to do the painting with Tam doing it alongside you, singing and chatting like she’s there in the room with you.

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I’m on a ‘no sugar no dairy no stimulants week’ this week as I’m doing my Reiki Master on Thursday and need to be clean! I’m a sugar FIEND so am prepared to possibly find it challenging! Any suggestions for treats that don’t involve sugar gratefully received!

Filed Under: art, art journalling, mixed media art

March 12, 2011 by Tara 8 Comments

Things are getting out of control over here! Every time I sign up to an online art class I think, ‘now this is the last one for a while’. Then I see another that looks like exactly what I need so all sense flies out the window and I’m off again.

(Having just reread that I am wondering why on earth I need to have any sense here! Life is short; take risks; do what you love, right?! Not to digress too much but lately I’m noticing that I self censor in almost every area of my life. Noticing is the first step to changing it so it’s good for me to point it out, if a little tedious for you. Sorry about that. Or, not sorry. Sheesh….)

After Get Your Paint On I was all set for a break, but then I had to just quickly investigate a couple of classes that caught my eye….

First up was Paint Free with Wyanne.

PAINT+FREE= your own UNIQUE style

It’s about developing your own painting style, so obviously I simply HAD to do that one. (Five weeks, from March 28th – May 9th.) I’m defo getting there, but feel I can easily take it further.

Then there was 21 Secrets, an art journalling class initiated by Connie Hozvicka with 21 teachers! I’ve never quite got to grips with art journalling, despite trying classes and being intrigued by the idea of arting your deepest thoughts. I write a very wordy diary and can’t really see myself combining that with art, but the concept of working stubborn things out through art really appeals to me. Plus you can never learn too many new techniques! Add to that a couple of my fave creative peeps are teaching, like Goddess Leonie (what an extraordinary, true to herself, human being she is), and Tam from Willowing, (such a big heart and beautiful outlook) and the fact that pretty much all those classes sound really interesting, and it’s like the choice was out of my hands!

Naturally they are both on over roughly the same period so I’ll be nothing if not busy! Mind you, you get all 21 Secrets lessons at once, so you can choose when you do them up to the end of August I think.

Filed Under: art class, art journalling, online classes