Jan - Grey Pages

Another year of No More Excuses! This year Gina Armfield has created a whole theme around color. It's really rejuvinated my commitment to my NME journal. This is such a fun, daily diary/daily sketchbook process for me. I just love it!

Inside cover was painted with acrylic and the quote is rubber stamped. The journals tabs were hand painted and punched using a tab punch.

Using my monthly grid page as a color sampler, to do list, and place for my word/quote of the year.

More "grey" pages and a little Game of Thrones love.

No Excuses Journaling - The Book!

As you know, I am a huge fan of Gina Armfield's No Excuses Art Journaling method. This process really turned art making into a daily process for me, all the while capturing those fleeting moments and memories. I am honored to be a guest artist in this book, because it's so much more than eye candy! It really works and is so much fun. Take a look for yourself!

No More Excuses - A Giveaway!

As some of you know, I am a big fan of Gina Armfield's No More Excuses method and I am happy to announce my participation in her upcoming book, No Excuses Art Journaling, due out in December 2013! This method has literally changed my creativity and productivity into a daily practice. Gina helps you create a daily practice of working in a calendar as a journal, with prompts and inspiration to keep the creativity flowing. NME gives you the structure, and then you get to make it your own! My calendar journals have become home to memories and tidbits, lettering samples, quotes, watercolor, illustration and photography. Bit by bit, I watch my journal grow and by the end of the year I have a potent, creative record of the journey.

If you haven't started your NME journal yet, now is the time! Gina is releasing 2 DVDs to accompany her book, demonstrating just how to incorporate drawing & watercolor as well as mixed-media collage into your work! And I am giving away Gina's Mixed-Media Collage DVD to get you started! Just post a comment stating what you love or are looking forward to about the No Excuses Approach and I will randomly select a winner at the end of the week!

Please take a closer look at the No Excuses Art Journaling site, where you can catch Gina's interview, clips of her DVD's, ordering info, as well as updates on her workshops and book release. For a deeper glimpse into Gina's artwork take a look here!

Be sure to check out the rest of the Blog Release Party for more giveaways and inspiration:

May 20 - Dion Dior
May 22 - Serena Barton
May 23 - Chris Kalina
May 24 - Kelly Kilmer
May 28 - Pam Garrison
May 29 - Jennifer Joanou
May 30 - Tracie Huskamp
May 31 - Leslie Riley

NME Catch Up - Part 2

More pages from my 2013 NME journal.

NME Catch Up - Part 1

Here are some Feb/March pages from my 2013 NME journal. 

My desk

This is what my desk looks like lately, a little of this, a little of that. Working in my NME journal a bit, on Downton Abbey sketches a lot, and some good ole pirate journaling as well! There is a nice post featuring more of my NME pages here. 

This is a collaborative piece in a journal that gets passed among like minded pirate friends. 

I recently took a class called Personal Geographies by Jill Berry at my local mecca, Two Hands Paperie. These pieces aren't finished yet, but it's quite a start for a 2 1/2 hour class! Im looking forward to adding more mapping into my visual and travel journals.

Fall NME

Here's a little of where I've been and what I've been up to. I swear, if it weren't for my NME journal I would forget all that I have done and accomplished. It's blank pages, staring at me daily hold me accountable, and my completed pages remind me that I am not frittering my days away, but rather that something is getting done. I SWEAR by this process created by Gina Armfield, it had added so much to my daily life in the form of life record as well as creative testing ground. If you haven't listened to me yet, NOW is a great time to start. The BEST time. Gina's 2013 program is ready to download and there is plenty  of time to get your book set up. Which is such a fun process!

Chad and I recently celebrated our 10 year wedding nniversary. So lucky and so proud!

Halloween. We went as Suzy Bishop and Sam Shakusky from Moonrise Kingdom of course!

It's Been a Wes Anderson Sort of Summer

It's Been a Wes Anderson sort of Summer. Here are some recent pages from my NME journal. The top spread I did after I saw Moonrise Kingdom and had the inexplicable urge to draw each of the characters. Now I have the same desire to illustrate all the characters from each of his films. I attribute this to Scott C. Campbell who draws brilliant showdowns of movie heroes and villains. I am waiting for his rendition from the movie, which SURELY will come. I am deeply in love with Scott's book Amazing Anything, and I'm chompin' at the bit for his next release, The Great Showdowns.

 The bottom spread is a sort of tribute to The Royal Tenenbaums and Moonrise Kingdom. In typical Wes fashion I slammed the title over the images in Futura. There are general tidbits and things that remind me of MK and TRT. The lighthouse card on the left is by artist Becca Stadtlander and found a comfy spot on the page. For more info on the NME process, take a look here, and there is a cool video of it here as well.

NME November pages

Trying to play around with more drawing, painting, and lettering.

NME October pages

More pages from my NME journal. This was a crazy, full month!

NME August/Sept pages

These are some pages from Aug/Sept of my No More Excuses Journal. This is an online class offered by Gina Armfield, and if you are thinking about it, wondering about it, just take it. Gina creates a great program to get you working daily, in little ways. Then the calendar becomes the journal for it, which is a fantastic way to keep you on track. The structure is built in. Before you know it you are doing your own thing, creating your own assignments and projects for yourself. I heard a great metaphor the other day that is so applicable to this project. A bead is small and tiny, but when you string one next to another and another something magical happens. The next thing you know, you have created a necklace. I never feel like what I have done in a day is very much, but over time, the book becomes rich and potent with your details, emotions, and memories.