A series of pages

These are two recent journal spreads that I wanted to share with you. They are personal and even painful pages for me. The top spread was created after dealing with months of neck pain due to some seemingly unrelated health issues. After feeling better for a little while, I relapsed and the pain began to get worse. After months of feeling physically limited and emotionally worn out from it all, this page was created. It holds my pain and grief, and is a necessary part of my journal work. All of this was present during my Artfest preparations. The next page was created shortly after the first, when the cloud of pain finally started to lift. New supplements got me back on track, I was as ready as I could be to vend at Artfest, and eager to spend time with my artist friends there. Thank you to Chad, my Mom, my Brethren and all those who supported me during a very physically and spiritually taxing time. I'm still working on the root issue and doing my best to become healthier and strong.

Roots and Shoots

I took two fantastic classes with Orly Avineri at Artfest this year. I found her classes to be relaxing and energizing at the same time. Her style of teaching suited my mood so well, the assignment were guided, yet every person created something unique. I enjoyed the element of randomness, lack of control, or even knowing what comes next. I felt freer to just make and disconnect from the outcome. Sure enough, the end result was satisfying as well. My eyes were opened to the direction in which I can take my work. I am always used to seeing my work in journal format, page after page, personal and potent. But there was something about liberating my work from the book form that made me look at it differently. No longer just personal and sometimes private pieces, I could see it more objectively, as art. Where my journals should be my playground, they are actually more precious to me, and on the canvas, my work felt freer and relaxed. I'm looking forward to a whole series of journal inspired mixed media pieces that break out of the book form, allow themselves to be seen and be open to others.

I did it!

I have been back from Artfest for at least a couple or more weeks, but am finally making time to post about it. It was a fantastic experience, spent with great friends from all over the place. I look forward to these times to reunite with Artfest friends and also members of my Pirate Brethren (you know who you are)! It always goes by so fast, and I was still prepping to vend at Artfest for the first time, so I missed out on some activities, and hanging out with people as much as I would have liked. This was my first time selling my wares and it was just fantastic. Thank you all for the support before and during the show, buying my goods, and all the encouraging words. It was great to have people ask if I was teaching, and if they could buy my stuff online. All in due time! Many of you asked if I have an ETSY site, which I do plan on getting up and running, so please check back. It will have the same types of items, handmade artist journals, repurposed books, hand printed goodies, mixed media art, and reproductions of my journal pages. In other good news, I will be vending again at Journalfest this fall, so if you are going, please check out what I have to offer! I have a passion for visual journaling, and a lot of what I do and make reflects that. More to come... eye opening classes that I took at Artfest!

Still Here

I'm still here. Working away on handmade books, hand carved stamps and prints, and new business cards and various postcards. This is a tiny glimpse into what I've been up to. I will be back soon with a preview of the finished goods...

Playing with Paint

These are some paintings I did earlier this year. The top one is a watercolor of my trusty Diana+ camera. I love everything about this camera, down to the color, so of course it made a great subject to practice with watercolor. The bottom piece was painted with acrylic, and she is wanting to be worked on a bit more. I think I may add text to both pieces, surrounding the camera and figure.

Checking In

Hello all! I may have been MIA from this blog, but I have been busy working away. Plenty of journal pages in progress, some sketches, and many, many books have been made. I am getting ready to vend at Artfest in April for the first time, so that's what I have been up to. I am tremendously excited to be able to share my love of handmade and repurposed journals as well as my journal art with others. I'll do my best to get some more pics up soon! For now, enjoy these prelim sketch ideas.

Call em out!

Hello all! I have been missing from my blog lately, but busy in the studio. I have been doing a lot of sketching, painting, and working in my journals. Next on the list is a slew of handmade and repurposed books. I am getting ready to attend and be a vendor at Artfest, so it's busy, busy, busy over here! This is a journal page I did recently about calling out all those who have done me wrong. It's in my Pirate journal, so it is appropriate for me to call em out and fight em till the end. I ended up loving this piece even though it started out so far from here. It was a lot of fun, and really ends up being less about the injustices of my world than the way I deal with it. What I will allow and what I deem unacceptable. It's easy to go for pretty over truth, style over substance, but we all have to decide what and who we want to be. How do we choose to present ourselves to this world? As a shell, fragile and superficial, or something deeper, full of grit and truth. It may not be easy, and we may not always sit fully with ourselves, but it's worth striving for. Dig deeper.