Unintended Consequences

When I began my journey of creating 100 pieces centered on women, I chose the ambiguous word "making" to give myself the freedom to use any medium that seemed interesting. I've learned to draw a recognizable female face, both with realism and abstraction in pencil, pen, marker and various types of paint. I've begun to explore highlighting and shadowing to bring dimension. I've grown in confidence as well as skill.

These outcomes I expected.

What I didn't expect was how my day now feels incomplete without creating some kind of lady, how 100 days passes in a heartbeat, how quickly one can assemble a body of work, and how I could easily spend the next year exploring this theme.

But 10 days ago my paintbrush introduced me to my growing tribe of Gaudy Ladies. Who knew I had such joy and delight and color inside me? I can barely wait to get into the studio to see who my brush will create next. What an adventure!

Would I have found them without first doing the 80+ pieces that came before? Who knows. And that no longer matters to me. I'm having the time of my life with these colorful women!

I share all this with you, Precious One, because your own version of my Gaudy Ladies hides inside you wanting to be discovered. Your "ladies" might be songs or dance moves or photographs or poems or stories or flower beds or teachings or massive weights moved or clothes made or closets ordered or books read or any number of skills. You need only choose a task to practice regularly. Your heart is probably giving you hints where to start. Your Creator is faithfully giving you clues on your genre.

I think you may already know where to begin. And what begins as a chore might just develop into incredible joy. Really.

Don't be afraid; dare to follow your heart. Share your task with one other person daily.  Sometimes the accountability of texting an image daily was the only thing that kept me creating!

You truly do have it in you. I believe in the process and I believe in you.

Because I love you. Bunches.

Offerings for the Ninth Week of Making

I met with a friend this past weekend who commented that the ladies created here over the weeks of this challenge have one thing in common. Aside from the wonky proportions of my style, she wondered at their absence of happy expressions. I explained that I'd been working so hard at shape and proportion of facial elements that any expression at all seemed incidental. Truth be told, I've  been pleased if my efforts were recognized as faces at all!

If a person wants to become accomplished at anything, she must be willing to be a beginner every day. And a person must be willing to be bad at something in order to become good at the same thing. How many skills have I chosen NOT to attempt simply because I have been unwilling to expose my ineptitude? More than I'd like to admit, certainly.

I knew a child once who would climb up his new 2-wheeled bicycle and say he knew how to ride it. I believe he thought that he was supposed to know how to do it before ever learning the skill. He'd sit on the bike, kickstand down, and insist he could ride. How many of us approach skills with this same attitude. How many of us are willing to save those ugly, ungainly first attempts? Whether the skill be riding a bike or dancing or shooting a 3-pointer or drawing?
 

 

Micron Pens

Micron pens, Derwent Inktense pencils

 

Derwent Inktense pencils, Sharpie paint pens, Micron pens

Loved this quote found on Pinterest.

Micron pens, Derwent Inktense pencils, Sharpie paint pens.

 

This one is called: SOMETIMES GOD IS SILENT

Micron pens, Derwent Inktense pencils. 

Acrylic paint brayered background, gesso, stencils,

Micron pens, Derwent Inktense pencils, markers.

Princess Be-Right-Back told me about a song by Sara Groves she thought went well with these last two ladies. She was right. You can listen to it here.

So this week's ladies are all works in progress, like we all are. Let's all dare to be beginners this week. And hold our first, tottering attempts at the new skills as precious. Because they are. And so are you.

Love you. Bunches.

Tutorial Thursday: The Decorated Journal Cover

Today's photo-heavy post will explain how to remove and replace the covers of your wire-bound journal after embellishing them. By now your art journals are probably beginning to fill with gorgeous thoughts, images and text. If not, today's tutorial will jump start a brand new journal for you. Let's get to it!

Begin with a wire-bound journal of any size. 

Open it to the inside back cover where the flat ends of the wire binding meet the "arm" ends of the binding. Carefully spread the "arm" ends away from the flat ends. The goal here is to try to keep the "arm" ends spread evenly all the way down the spine.

Remove the wire binding and set aside along with the paper.

Now to the fun part. I applied gesso to my covers with a brush. I then stamped into the gesso while it was still wet to create a bit of texture. (You know how I love texture.)

Next I brushed on a little paint (Liquitex Teal, Golden Permanent Green Light and Zinc White Fluid Acrylics) and laid a piece of drawing paper over each side, burnishing gently with my hand before lifting the paper. I love this technique for creating texture, but it also created the paper that will become the inside front and back covers.

While those were drying, I mixed  a little Golden Cyan Fluid Acrylic paint into a small amount of Golden Molding Paste on my palette. You can use a paper plate or piece of waxed paper as a substitute. You might also try this same technique with joint compound from the home improvement store with good result.

Then using a palette knife I spread the colored Molding Paste through a stencil onto the dried front cover. When the stencil is lifted, you have a lovely raised pattern on your cover. Repeat this process onto the back cover.

Once the covers are embellished the way you'd like, let the whole thing dry. Or if you are impatient as I was, use your heat tool or blow dryer to speed up the process. 

Now get the binding and paper. Insert the binding first through all the paper.  Bring the flat end of the binding snug against the paper so that the "arm" ends are long. 

Next place the front cover onto the binding. Here's the final trick:  place the back cover onto the binding face down on the front cover. This will insure that your embellished side will be on the outside rather than the inside.

And lastly, bend the "arms" back to the flat ends of the binding. I've found this most easily done by keeping the flat part of the binding flat on the paper. This seems to retain the curve of the binding better. Flip over the back cover and you have your beautiful new journal!

Have lots of fun playing in your journal. I'd love to see some of your creations, too. Send me photos! Because, guess what?

I love you. Bunches.

No Time Like the Present

Time passes so quickly, like it or not. But truly, we only have this present moment in which to really experience life. How I live this minute is what counts. What I choose to use this current moment for is what is important. Do I always remember this? Absolutely not! But looking back at the past 2 months,  I am astounded at what using 20 minutes or so daily to create a woman has done for me.

First, I have established a new habit. My day doesn't feel complete if I don't draw. And, believe me, I have never been one to draw. Second, I have created a body of work that I can use for future projects. And third, I have made some improvement with this daily practice.

So here are this week's ladies:

Copied from magazine ad - pencil and pen

Pencil and pen

Pencil and pen

I worked on this one at the studio during Art Walk last Friday night. Collaged purchased paper,  sheet music, iron-on inkjet photo transfer, packing tape transfer of a book page and acrylic paint.

Same as above with the addition of stenciled birds, more acrylic paint and china marker wax pencil.

Ball point pen and roller ball pen.

Time will continue to fly by. That is a given. But by simply snatching 20 minutes or so from your present, you could be making a new habit. Or making a simple change. Or making an improvement in a current habit. Two months from now you could be looking back at a new body of work. There is no time BUT the present. 

And I'll be here cheering for you. Really. Because I love you. Bunches.