The Cry of My Heart



Joy Journal March 2013

 This page evolved over several days. Following the prompts by Amanda Jolley on her Joy Journal Project for March, I started with some quiet time.  Just because it looks like I'm not doing anything, there is usually much going on inside. Purposely quieting myself helped me realize that I distract or mask my chronic physical pain with many distractions.  Music, reading, tv, games on my Kindle Fire, etc.
There is other pain too. We all have it.  I poured out my heart when I came to my journal pages, writing with a red pen.  I tested the ink to see if it would bleed when wet.  It did.  But there is a strong ghost of that written purge lingering under the layers I added.

The writing sat on that page.  Just for my eyes. I followed Amanda's suggestions to add spatters of paint and veils of gesso.  Another day goes by.  I'm not even thinking about the journal and I remember the words of a worship song - "It is the cry of my heart to follow You."  That is what I had poured out.  The cry of my heart.   Another day I came across a Bible verse that put things in perspective and pointing me to the Hope of my heart.    Now I had the heart to continue with the page.  I added glazes of sheer paint and sprayed thinned acrylic ink.  A bleeding heart was drawn with the dropper from a bottle of Liquitex Acrylic Ink.   Scrapbook papers were used for the collage. I glazed layers of paint on a strip, then stamped the words with StazOn Ink.  After tearing the edges, I distressed them with pastel pencils.  The silhouette started as a tracing from an illustration.  I transferred it to scrapbook paper and cut it out.  

Then I added Inka Gold Metallic Rub (a bees wax product). It can be quite sheer but adds a great shine. On the bottom image, the figure looks almost solid in color, but that is the effect of the metallic reflection from that angle.

The page was finished with a few more touches with the pastel pencils, some journaling around the figure using a Pitt Pen, and a bit more sprayed ink.

Comforted in Sorrow

Joy Journal February 2013: The Art of Appreciation

 In my last post I introduced you to my journal page titled "Comfort".  Our Joy Journal assignment was to document a moment from this year for which we were grateful. Something like that can be hard to capture on a page, especially when it is personal.

I'm working on loose smooth bristol pages I prepared to bind once my journal is completed.  I started by writing my thoughts with pencil on the page.

A few swipes of watercolor paint washed over my journaling.

 One of my uncles passed away very suddenly last month. Then I got sick and wasn't able to go to the funeral.  When it really hit me that I wasn't going to be well enough to attend the services, I was so very sad.  My sweet husband was there to comfort me.

Used tea bags applied to page with matte medium.

 I can't tell you how much tea I drank last month.  I started with a basket overflowing with a variety of teas. Now there is a lot of space in the basket. ;-)
The journal challenge asked us to collage on our page for texture and variety.  I like using tea bags because they are translucent and stained.
After the page dried, I added a bit more teal and rusty colored paint using Golden Fluid Acrylics.

Wall paper hearts, a tea bag label and doodled shape collaged on page.

 I have old wall paper books that I got for free at the paint store a few years ago.  They are good for inspiring textures and shapes.  Sometimes I even remember to use them for collage as I did for the hearts on the page.  Hearts go with comfort, right?

You never know when your doodles will come in handy!

 Since I drank so much tea during my illness, I thought a cup of tea would be a good symbol for the page.  (Bigelow Vanilla Chai is delicious with honey and milk.)
While doodling rows of heart chains I started to image the cup shape.  I tore it out to collage on the page.  The string of the tea label is attached under the cup, but the rest of it is loose.

Caran d'Ache crayons used to color the cup and add handle.

 The Caran d'Ache crayons are water soluble.  I blended and sealed them with acrylic matte medium. I also used them to add shadowing around the hearts to help them merge into the background.

Faber Castell Pitt markers were also used for shading and the bit of journaling I added under the cup.
When working on a sealed surface, you can easily blend them by rubbing with your finger.
The white lettering was done with a Sakura Permopaque marker and then outlined with a FC Pitt marker.  The red heart was done with a Sakura Glaze Pen.

The finished page.

I wish I had done more pages that remind me of special moments which can easily pass by and be taken for granted.  Today I was standing at the kitchen sink really enjoying my first cup of water for the day. The sun was sparking like diamonds on the crisp fresh snow.  It occurred to me that I should write about it, so I did.  I grabbed a fresh page for my journal and now that moment is documented. I even started adding color.
But the rest of the story is for another day and another post.

Celebrating 300th Post with Animation

Woo HOO! It's my 300th post and just in time, I learned a nifty editing technique from Kim Klassen and a Beyond Layers lesson.  Now I know how to make an animated image. It's a visual party.

The pictures are from my February journal page inspired by Amanda Jolley and her Joy Journal Project. I'll write a separate post with more details on the page techniques.

I think I'll celebrate with a nice hot cup of tea sweeted with honey. Now which tea shall I select?

Revisiting Art Journals and Clipping Layers

Tonight I learned how to make a template with PS Elements which I used to assemble this collage. The template was created with layers and shapes and clipping layers together.  I don't know why it took me so long to get to the point of figuring out how to do this, but I know I will find the technique very useful.  It's really not hard.

The template before adding images.

Well, once I made the template, what was I to put in the blanks?   A quick scan through image files took me to folders with journal shots.  I chose xo and heart themed pages for this collage.  Next I added a subtle texture layer by Kim Klassen called Peony.  Finally, the quote was added.
I might paraphrase this quote to say, "At the touch of love everyone becomes an artist."

Zing Zing Zing

I'm back to blogging and I hope to make this a regular practice again.  This quick post features a digitally altered image of my new journal cover.

I decided to join Amanda Jolley's Joy Journal Project to help me get back to art journaling.  Our prompt was to choose a word for 2013 with further instructions.  In December I was watching episodes of the BBC program "As Time Goes By".  One of the main characters sighed that the ZING had gone out of his life.  I love the sound of that word.  ZING
I had a much more serious word in mind - STEADFAST, but ZING wouldn't let go.

This journal has bristol board pages and recycled cereal box covers.  I will bind them with my Zutter.  I may also include other paper in the journal since I'm keeping the pages loose for now.

Pieces of scrapbooking papers were adhered to cereal box cut to size.  I added smears of gesso, and stamping.  Die cut flowers were added.  I will probably add doodling to the covers as well as time goes by.  The insides of the covers are the plain side of the boxes which have some gesso and glazes of color on them with a finish of matte medium.  I can easily embellish them in a variety of ways as time goes by.

I'm also planning to get back to digital image processing and have signed up for more of Kim Klassen's inspiration with Beyond Beyond.  This was the first processing I've done with PSE for a few months and I can't believe how much I've forgotten.  I have several weeks of lessons to pour though to get caught up.  This image was altered with a bit of texture layering and blending modes along with some added text.

GPP Crusade 61 - Restraining Order

This is a simple journal page for the last GPP Street Team Crusade - Restraining Order.  The challenge was to create a simple journal page that we didn't feel compelled to cover with journaling or other details.   This page started with a bit of gesso stenciled on.  The paint was scrubbed and stenciled on with leftovers from a book project.  I poured out a bit of Golden fluid acrylic for an illustration I painted and I couldn't waste those few precious drops!  That's when I started doodling the paint on the page using a pointed calligraphy nib.

This bit of ephemera happened to be on my art table.  It came from a fortune cookie.  Do something daring.  OK - I'll post this strange for me page from my journal.  And what else can I do?

I scanned the page and converted to black and white.   What if I made a digital brush?  So I did and look what happened next....





I've been all wrapped up in patterns and repetition which is what I think inspired the digital print I created.  Following are a couple Zentangles I drew.  Have you tried it yet?  It's fun and relaxing and very portable.

This is one of my favorites - probably because of the organic lines in it. 

If you have been a follower of the GPP Crusades, you know this is the last for now.  I had my page done several weeks ago, but haven't had an opportunity to post due to busy circumstances with family.  I'll always be grateful to Michelle Ward for all her generous tutorials and challenges from the past years.  You can still go back to see the crusades and do them on your own.  Go ahead.  I dare you!

GPP Crusade No. 60: I Love...

It's been a few months since I participated in a GPP Street Team Crusade.  Besides following Michelle Ward's prompts for the challenge, there is the fun of reading the blogs of the other participants.   I've made some wonderful friends through the comments and emails that have been shared through this group.  But, sometimes life has other priorities and I needed to step back... and I read today that there will be only one more crusade after this.  I'm SO glad that I'm jumping back in right now because it gives me an opportunity to say it loud from here:
 I love you Michelle Ward!

Mixed media with digital text.

I created a two-sided page on Strathmore Mixed Media Paper.  This paper is great!  It's smooth surface made writing I Corinthians 13 [the Love Chapter] with a Sharpie pen a pleasure.  Next I used a favorite technique gleaned from an earlier crusade - gesso resist.  Using a heart stencil, I applied tinted gesso with a sponge roller.
After the gesso dried, I used a limited color palette of transparent raw sienna, quinacridone magenta and phthalo blue, and transparent mixing white (zinc white).  Since the paint was thick (Liquitex from tubes), I thinned the paint with matte medium and water.  I wanted rich pigments and yet retain tooth to the paper for subsequent layers.  Using the same paints, flowers and hearts were stencilled on the page.  Circles were made using bottle caps for stamps.


Page without the digital journaling.

 Now I let this set for a few days before deciding what to do next.  Using a white Sharpie poster paint marker and Inktense pencils in similar colors to the paint, I brought out some of the shapes and added a bit of doodling.  Love was written with the Sharpie marker and shaded with the Inktense pencils.  A bit of additional doodling was added with a Sharpie pen.  I can go back to this page and add more doodling, but I decided to stop now and scan it so I could add a digital message.  When I read today that Michelle is retiring the crusade after next month, I knew what I had to say.

Here's a wink to you, Michelle!

As I stated earlier, I painted both sides of the paper.  One edge is deckled (paper torn against a deckling ruler).  I folded the page not quite in half to leave space for adding a binding later with my Zutter Bind-It-All.  My Martha Steward scoring board and a ruler helped me get a clean fold on this heavy paper.
This page used the same paints except for the transparent raw sienna.  There was no journaling on the page either.
Last night I found a face (Sharon Tomlinson, thank you) and brought it out subtly with Inktense pencils.
Inktense go on like a regular colored pencil, but when you wet the color, it intensifies and you can move it with a paint brush.  Once it dries, it is set.  I have a small set of 12, but would love more some day.
Please look into the Green Pepper Press Street Team Crusades.  They are still available for viewing and learning and doing!  Michelle has been a generous teacher and a great cheer leader.

GPP Crusade No. 52: Seasonal Wardrobe

Cover art on Strathmore Visual Journal

 This month Michelle Ward challenged Green Pepper Street Team participants to share seasonal "wardrobe" changes in our art.  Do I change my color palette with the change of the seasons? 
How does the changing of the seasons affect my art?

I tend to work with a limited color palette and usually prefer saturated colors.  But looking back at the past winter months I see that I played a lot with softer colors, especially aqua.  Maybe a desire to be at a warm beach during the long cold winter was influencing me.

Lately, I've been experimenting with bright green.  Today's project was to embellish the covers of a Strathmore Visual Journal.  They have a tough, shiny cover that I sanded to give more tooth for the paint.  Then I applied gesso that I distressed with waxed paper.  While the gesso was wet, I lay a piece of waxed paper on the surface and lifted it off.  The gesso dried with an irregular texture.
Next, I painted a thin layer of lime green paint on the surface and dabbed some off with damp cheese cloth.

The special seasonal touch to this cover came from the leaf masks. A short storm left bunches of leaves and twigs on the ground yesterday. I picked up a few and pressed them over night.
I laid the leaves on the covers and sprayed a couple colors of diluted Liquitex Acrylic Ink.

I really like the results of this project so far and have started a similar project on canvas.

This crusade has me thinking about the influence the seasons have on my work and I can use that awareness.
 When I get stuck for inspiration, I can let the unique qualities of the season spark ideas.  The bright green that I'm working in seemed too intense when the ground was covered with snow.  But now the outdoors is bursting with green and it just seems natural to be working with it.

GPP Crusade No. 49 - Journaling Forensic Self Portrait

Journal spread featuring a tea I like.

 Let me start by saying that I am very happy to be getting a post up today.  My lap top died last week. The hard drive is kaput.  The new hard drive that Hubby purchased turned out to be defective.  We are waiting for the replacement to come in the mail.  Now I'm using my computer that is operating on a Linux operating system from a disk!  My husband is a genius!

This post features a couple journal spreads I created earlier this month.  They are my entries for this month's Green Pepper Press Street Team Crusade.  Follow the link to learn more.

The above journal spread was built on pages that were prepped with leftover paint during a painting session.  I roughed in the face at the same time.  I decided to use this spread for the challenge when I opened a bag of Awake Tea and the color coordinated with my spread.  I've been drinking a lot of tea lately and enjoy a good black tea.
The page was embellished with tea bag ephemera, rubber stamping (clocks), chalk pencils and stenciled ink.

Layers of paint, ink and ephemera on one half.  The right side started with scrapbook paper.

 I've been following Strathmore's art journal free online workshops.  In a prompt to journal about favorite sounds, I remembered the sound that the rows of flags make snapping in the breeze on Memorial Day.  I created this spread to remind myself of that sound and to show my patriotic side.

The completed spread.

Many layers of paint and ink went on the left half.  A patriotic themed scrapbook paper was adhered to the right side.  Distress inks helped to unify the color of the two pages.  Stenciling with a doily gave the pages a common texture.  I collected canceled stamps for the borders.  The photos were taken at my home town Memorial Day observance.  I put the top left photo on a flap so I could journal more personal thoughts under it.

GPP Crusade No. 48 - More Evidence Journaling

Evidence page featuring a symphony concert we attended.

 The February prompt for the GPP Street Team is to create another evidence page in our art journals.  The theme is to come from an event attended last year, so Michelle Ward cleverly named the crusade: "Been There, Done That."  Read more at the GPP blog.

I've just completed half of my spread that you can see above.  Hubby and I attended a very special concert where the Central Iowa Symphony and Fort Dodge Symphony joined together.  Mahler's 1st Symphony was performed during the second half of the concert.  Near the conclusion of the performance, the French horn section is featured.  At the conclusion, the French horn players all stand as their fanfare fills the air.  It was a moving experience that I won't forget.  And it was so meaningful...



Beginning stages of the journal spread.

 A dear friend who had been a French horn player lost her battle with cancer the day before.  Her daughter, who is also a superb musician, was playing the French horn in the first chair position in the concert.

My friend was also an artist. We became good friends at the pool where we both did our workouts.  We quickly learned that we had so much in common.  Working out was more fun when we discussed the latest "Watercolor Artists Magazine" or the projects we were working on.

For this journal spread, I chose aqua and gold acrylic paint and gesso to prep the pages.  Aqua is for the pool and gold for the French horn.  The spiral stamp reminded me of the shape of the horn.

I adhered ephemera from the concert on my page with soft matte gel.  Chalk and oil pastel were added for more color.  I also spritzed the page with walnut ink and wiped off the excess.  Journaling was added with a Sharpie marker.
As for the right hand page, I plan to put a memorial to my friend on it.

January Art Journaling - GPP Crusade 47 & Strathmore Workshop

Detail view of new art journal page.

Here's a fun winter project you should try.  Strathmore is offering free on-line workshops.  The first was introduced earlier this month and is taught by Pam Carriker.  Check out this link for more information.


Early in the journaling process.

 Pam guides us through a project that invites you to re-use previously created art.  Start by making copies of your art.  I used copies of monoprints that I created for the GPP Crusade No. 39.I cut out the plain butterflies and some border pieces.  Using scraps of the same paper, I punched out flowers and leaves and hearts.  They were adhered to a Strathmore Watercolor Paper Visual Journal. This paper stands up well to all the layers that went into creating this page.  I used a charcoal pencil to draw some details and outline some elements.


Layers of gesso and oil pastel have been added.

 I tried to cut loose and not judge too much.  But I have to admit that I was feeling discouraged at this point.  Seemed like I had an ugly duckling in my hands... but we know how that story turned out.


The completed page.

 Maybe it's not a beautiful swan, but I'm happy with the results.  I was stretched and learned some techniques that I know I can use in future art.  The following page used some of the same techniques.

GPP challenge using some newly learned techniques.

 The Green Pepper Press Street Team Crusade No. 47 - It's A Wrap challenges us to create an evidence page using gift wrap from Christmas and to journal about gifts given, received, etc.  We use very little gift wrap these days.  I love reusable gift bags and tissue paper.

This page started in the same Strathmore journal.  I wrinkled a piece of tissue paper that had red and green circles, then applied it to the page with matte medium.  I purposefully did not completely flatten the paper which left wrinkles and distorted the circle pattern.  I cut out the poinsettia from a scrap of paper that managed to come home with us from the in-laws.  (They are great about recycling regular gift wrap.)
The poinsettia was also applied with matte medium.

I knocked down the white background and neutralized the colors a bit with some walnut ink and a thin glaze of green oxide paint.  Charcoal pencils, gesso and oil pastels add more character to the page.  But the real star of this page is my new Sharpie poster paint markers.  They were on my Christmas wish list along with Sharpie pens.  I got Sharpies in spades.  In addition to my requests, I also received a large assortment of regular Sharpie markers with fine points.  I have NO excuse for not journaling.
I very loosely wrote over the top of the images.  I'm trying to not make the pictures so precious. Using a wet, juicy marker helped accomplish that goal.

So there you go.  That's my art out-put for the month.  I hope to spend some time at my easel very soon.

GPP Crusade No. 43: Text Messaging

The latest challenge by Michelle Ward for the GPP Crusade gave me the opportunity to use ephemera I saved from the office.
As in the last crusade, I started with a page previously monoprinted from an earlier crusade. I softened the color with a wash of gesso. I tore strips from security envelopes that had been washed with acrylic ink.

When I decided some stenciled lettering would be nice, the stencil I grabbed had bumps on the back. It was designed for tracing. So I just flipped it and stenciled with a dry brush as usual. This reversed the letters, but I was just going for the color and pattern. I think having the letters reversed worked to adantage in this case.


We get a regular stream of URGENT NOTICE junk mail at the office.
This page gave me an opportunity to vent a bit with my journaling. People are very brazen with this phrase to use scare tactics to urge you to buy goods and services you don't need.

GPP Crusade No. 41 - More Grid Work

I had extra room in my journal after mounting previously posted grids. I decided to make a grid directly on the painted page of my journal. First I divided the page using Michelle Ward's excellent instructions found on the GPP Crusade post. I painted over the lines with acrylic ink.
This time I grabbed a map from my ephemera stash and punched circles featuring places in Iowa that are significant to me (where I was born, lived, schooled, art shows). After adhering the circles to the grid, I added a bit of journaling.

This was created on cardstock and I used squares left over from my first grid project. I decided to keep the grid minimal and set it up as an abstract art piece. Then I mounted the artwork in my journal.
Making grids could become addictive!

GPP Crusade No. 37: Love Letters (part2)

Could it be any plainer?

This is a love affair with X's & O's!

Have you visited the Green Pepper Street Team yet? Take this link to the site where you can link to other artists who are participating in the challenge. Their names are on the left side column.

As you can tell by the post title, this is my second entry. I worked this journal spread during the same sessions as the previous post. It's good to have simultaneous projects going. It helps me stop long enough for a layer of paint to dry before going on to another and causing a muddy mess.

I used the same magenta and phthalo turquoise as the previous spread, but the look is very different because I omitted the gold. As a result, I didn't get the range of secondary colors.

I'm not sure if I will do any journaling on these spreads. Thinking about it. I did a bit of research on the origin of X & O which was interesting. Just google the phrase with your question. It's amazing how much info is on the web! I think I should scan these pages before I write anything. Maybe I could write on the print out because these pages have lots of texture from the gesso spattering and writing could be a challenge.

XOXOX

GPP Crusade No. 37: Love Letters (part 1)

X & O

A great motif for creative play...

Michelle Ward, leader extraordinaire of the Green Pepper Street Team has challenged us once again.
After you're done reading this post, why don't you go here and play along?
Let it be a Valentine to yourself!

Just a reminder, click on images to enlarge, then hit your browser's back button to return to the post.

I'm a big fan of the X & O, and have a small collection of stamps to prove it.
But the nature of the challenge is to go beyond the familiar and try something new.
What happens if I use resist ink on watercolor paper and paint an acrylic wash over it?

What happens if I make my own tools or use my fingers as stamps?

A simple triad palette inspired by Mary Todd Beam's Celebrate Your Creative Self.
Could I make an XO mask by folding paper according style?

What will happen if I use a spatter brush over my masks?

Are you going to come play with the team?