Happy (almost) New Year!!

I hope everyone is safe and brings in 2010 with people around them that they love. My roommate and I are throwing a party, and we have college friends coming into town, so I am VERY excited. It should be a good time. I am not a resolution type of person, but I just want 2010 for me to let go a little. Of my fears, inhibitions. I made a journal entry spread with that in mind.

Happy New Year folks :)

 

Sometimes you just gotta force yourself...

To sit down and put paint to the page. This is what I did tonight. I had everything a girl could want: Awesome music set up, a glass of wine, paint and paper ready to go, a video from Carmen to inspire me, and yet...I did NOT want to do it! I'd rather stare into empty space apparently. I decided that I have had enough of this creative, apathetic slump! I put on Bill Withers-Live at Carnegie Hall (SO GREAT), grabbed my wine and picked out some of my favorite blues and greens. It does feel good to be creative again. I don't know if this will hold, but I am glad I made myself do it. Apparently its just like going to the gym, most of the problems with me is the getting there. Once I'm there, I usually am ok.

I miss the days when I used to come home from work, bursting with energy at all the possibility! Now the possibilities seem overwhelming, so the easiest thing to do is avoid them. This is a trend in my life. Hmm...

Anyway, this is my first spread in the journal I made in Julie Prichard's class a long time ago. I am using this journal just to experiment new things. I hope, anyway.

 

Its almost 2010!

Crazy, eh? I hope everyone has had a joyful and peaceful holiday! I traveled up to NY to visit family. Ate too much food, exercised none and enjoyed the company of my extended family. Not too bad. Santa also treated me very well. Today I slept in, spent all my christmas money (plus some), cleaned/organized my apartment...and rocked out to this bad boy that my dad so awesomely  bought me.

That's right, vinyl is coming back! I have been wanting a record player (and more specifically, THIS record player) for a few years now, but could never pull the trigger. I have had some vinyl my dad gave me (amazing music taste!) and some I had already bought knowing I would someday own one...and on Christmas morning...****HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH** I opened this.

My dad is the best. I spent today listening to such classics as:

 

 

 

 

So glorious. There is nothing better than listening to your favorite music, dancing, and feeling like you are THERE in the studio with them.

I am hoping that this break home, and excitement over music again will help spur my creative slump. I brought with me a travel kit to do art journaling with, and didn't even take it out of my car! Bad me!

I also bought this book by Traci Bautista:

 

that I hope will help inspire me. I LOVEEEEE her bold, colorful work. I could drool at her website for hours if I felt like it. She has tons of wonderful ideas in here that I just need to try. It is just the TRYING that gets me. I just don't feel like sitting down and doing it.

What I think what will really get me moving is Ms. Carmen Torbus. I have been wanting to take her Spill It! workshop since it came out in October, and finally took the plunge. Hurry up, because there are only THREE more days left to sign up!

http://carmentorbus.com

My money has been over-spent, but I can not wait to be inspired by Carmen's work.

Winter Wonderland, Part II

Today's efforts were aimed at un-burying our cars. Thing is, we didn't have a shovel. My roommate fashioned one out of two baking sheets, a broom and duct tape! Very clever, except the broom handle busted about 5 minutes in. The rest was just trying to shovel with a baking sheet. Luckily, some VERY kind neighbors laughed at us, and then shoveled out my roommate's car. My car though has a pile of plowed snow behind it about 5 feet high, and 3 feet wide. I attempted to dig out the snow on my car with the baking sheet, and realized the fruitless effort and gave up. I took pictures instead. My work will be closed tomorrow, so my plan will be to beg, borrow or steal a snow shovel!

More pictures...I hope everyone who got blasted with this storm is safe!

(My car is under there somewhere!)

My car from the right side.

Me attempting to clear snow off my car with a baking sheet. Haha.

Where car ends and snow begins are as one

When I gave up.

Winter Wonderland

I have lived in Charlottesville (Virginia) for a little over 5 years, and have NEVER seen snow like this. It has been so much fun and excitement around here for the past 24 hours. No more words are needed.

I did it!!

**does happy dance**

It was (mostly) a labor of hate...but I F.I.N.A.L.L.Y finished the painting for my mom for christmas. I don't know what it was, but the past few weeks have been horrible. I haven't wanted to pick up a pen, paintbrush, pencil...nothing. I have slowly worked on the painting my mom wants over the past few weeks, and with each added layer (oh, the layers! I feel like I wasted 17 zillion things of EXPENSIVE paint) I hated it more. Maybe earth tones are not my color palette? Maybe I don't like making things FOR people? It feels like "work" in the sense that this is a product other people will see. When I am just playing around, its fun. How do you get over that? I loveeeee doing this stuff, but if I get this huge creative block every time I have to make something for someone, I might as well stop! There really isn't even any pressure. My mom said she would like earth tone colors, and gave me a quote. Thats it. I don't know. Any tips, advice, would be so lovely.

Here is the final product (obviously, she doesn't read this blog)

The amount of color changes and layers this has is ridiculous.

Help me Rhonda

Help Help Me Rhonda.

Sigh. I don't have words, but I REALLY hope any inkling of creativity comes back. I miss it.

In a down swing

Sigh. I don't know if its this time of year, just a "down" time creatively, or depression rearing its ugly head--but I have NOT felt like creating for the past week or two. I spent most of this past weekend in bed watching bad Lifetime movies. I didn't pick up a single art supply. Tonight, watching Glee (Who LOVES Sue?!), I decided to decorate one of my half-finished pages in my Experiment journal. Its messy, and filled with angry strokes...because that is how I felt at the moment.

What sucks is that I have to finish this painting for my mom by Christmas. Its been sitting un-finished for a few weeks now. I have another friend who wants me to paint something too! At this rate I will never get it done. Oh well. I hope soon this lack of creating will LEAVE ME ALONE!

A sneak peek of my mom's painting

 

First Snow!!!

The first snow is so beautiful, isn't it? I threw on sweatpants and a sweatshirt, wrapped my camera in a plastic bag and braved the slippery roads. I am glad I did it, even for one gorgeous picture.

I seem to get so stuck on doing actual "paintings" for other people. When I am just playing in my journal, I am not worried about how it turns out nearly as much. I have a painting that has been sitting unfinished for months now for a friend, and a painting (that my cat spilled water all over this morning!) that I need to finish for my mom by Christmas that is also stuck. I don't like what comes out. Is it because I need to have a clear idea of what will the final product be, and I can't see that? I also think I have these color schemes in mind, but they don't mesh. I don't know, but it is frustrating. Ideas? Tips?

I had my work holiday party last night...and I wanted to be "Most Festive", so I put together and incredible ugly christmas outfit. Here are a couple pictures of me decorating purple spandex.

 

But...I can't draw!!!

The one thing that has always made me think that I wasn't creative was the fact that I couldn't draw. I stopped at that, and just believed if I couldn't draw, I wouldn't ever be creative. If I learn nothing else from my foray's into art journaling, I will forever be grateful to find out that I AM creative! I also have wanted to expand my drawing skills from stick people. I found www.drawspace.com. There are a ton of online drawing lessons you can take. Step by step drawings? That takes the intimidation factor out of it. Here are a few of my lessons that I've done. Now, keep in mind--that I can barely draw stick figures!! You can see all my guidelines, but that is what learning is for.

I am QUITE proud of myself! *Pats self on back*

In art journal land, I am addicted to the idea of black backgrounds. I could play with fun colors on black all day. This is just black paint and neocolor crayons on top. And sharpie pen. Love.

Spray Paint Station

What to do on a holiday? If it is warm and sunny, you spray paint, obviously!!! I will be heading to a friend's house for dinner in a little while, but before then I just had to do some spray painting.

 

   By the way, see that beautifully colored masking tape? In my art journal. Colors, Layers, Textures, oH MY! How absolutely wonderful is it to have a by-product be so wonderful?

Have a Happy Thanksgiving for anyone who is celebrating.

Michelle Ward: What's Your Sign?

In Michelle Ward's monthly crusade for November, she challenged us to find our "Sign."
 Something that reminded you of a loved one, your childhood...a symbol you related to. Me? I found nothing. So, here's my sign:

A question mark. Kind of fitting, because my life right now is a giant question mark.

I hope one day to find something more substantial, meaningful...but this will have to do for now.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving...Jack says it too

Yep. He's wearing a green HOODIE with a peppermint on it that says "Sweet." HAHA. I laughed for about 10 minutes when I came home to my roommate going "I bought Jack his Christmas present."

More papers...

I have now gotten to the point where I feel...off if I don't create SOMETHING every day. How awesome is that? I can't believe I've spent so many years thinking I was not creative in any sort of way; except maybe in a childish "I like to color things!" kinda way. I love it. I hope this can take me somewhere, but where I am right now is good enough.

I am also addicted to making paste papers.

And one that is drying....

Making another journal

I finally got around to making a journal that I learned in Julie Prichard's SuperNova class. I wanted to wait until I had enough art journal entries to make a book.

After many tries, I finished it! I am SO not a sewer...and this stitch took me a few tries to figure it out. It was more unwieldy than anything else. I also made some too loose, other too tight...but it works.

The cover was inspired by a picture of Munich in the winter. Gorgeous teals and crimson reds covered in a soft layer of snow. Beautiful.

The stitching on the outside. Messy, but thats ok, it was my first try.

And some inside peeks of the pages...most of which have been posted here anyway.

Hope everyone had a great weekend creating.

Experiment Journal: Pages in Progress (I still have Art ADD)

I am AMAZED that I am STILL feeling creative!!! Its been like two whole weeks! This is amazing for me. *Rock on!!*

Here are a couple of pages I have in progress....

Zentangle-like doodle in my tracing of my hand. I am using Micron pens...boy do I love them.

 

I first tried a spray of acrylic paint + water. It didn't quite have the effect I intended. I was trying to replicate spray inks...but my straw on my spray bottle doesn't reach to the bottom, and I don't want half a bottle filled with one color for just a few sprays! I like the mottled effect, just needs to be tweaked. The papers glued down are some of the paste papers I made.