Monday, January 30, 2012

Doodling about.....

Amidst all the confusion
of a computer losing its memory and coming down with the flu,
and company from afar,
and traveling spouse,
I decided I needed a little extra something
to do with my time.
You know, those moments between
cleaning, cooking, knitting and working.
So to fill those empty moments with something besides sleeping..
you know I am an insomniac anyway,
I joined two online projects.

The first is
Do visit their site.
A monthly challenge is given
and participating artists send almost daily emails showing their wonderful sketchbook ideas.
There are prizes and inspirations galore.
A monthly challenge ,
I thought,
I can do.
The first, for the month of January is simply
"doodling"
 I realized most of my real doodles
live in my art journal
as mixed media sorts of doodling.
Like the lady above and this one:

The first is done with reinker inks and white acrylic. The second is done with collage and paintsticks...all on gold gessoed pages
in an old book rescued from a closing library.
I lived, for many years,
not in Middle Earth, but in the Wild Wild West.
Out in the wildness, there were faces of many sorts,
not just white, but more colorful,
more varied arrangements of nose and eyes and lips.
I miss that. I want to honor that Wildness:

So my doodles are wandering strokes of
paint and paper,
wandering thoughts of women
I have known or wanted to know.
Doodles of a different sort.

I ALMOST FORGOT..
the other project I jumped into is this one
This one doesn't start until net month,
so I have plenty of time for more painted doodles.


Sunday, January 22, 2012

Good Morning!
My studio purge has continued
and I finally have space to breathe
a bit.
I have a thousand paintings dancing in my head
and
a thousand tales to tell about each of them.
I have been writing as much as painting.
this art business is a funny thing
that way.
I think it may be one of the reasons I love art journaling so much.
It seems to bring things together
in a way
that combines the best of all worlds.

An amaryllis,
now long gone, still inspires me.
This new journal, designed with a focus
on icons.
Icons are doorways to a
spiritual  place.
Both contemplation and creation
open those doorways.
Usually an icon holds a face or figure.
This one has a flower.
A winter blooming flower,
bright and red,
a promise of more color and life in this
grey, chilly January.
a feather holds even more promise.
this opening page was not what I expected,
but life is seldom that.
It is a reminder that being open
in your heart,
your creative spirit,can lead you to places you hadn't planned on at all.
Those new places can be much better than what we had originally wished for.

I didn't crop this image. You can see the opposite page,the edge of the book,
my easel,
a bit of my studio.This was a bit more of a reveal than my usual.
I am getting braver.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Inspirations 2011

Wisdom speaks in ink
and paper whispers stories.
Hearts can meet in books.

Haiku My Heart is dedicated
this week to three books
that have spoken to my heart,
opened my mind
to possibilities that I had not known
were waiting there.

"Standing at the Water's Edge" by Anne Paris
is dedicated to helping creative folk past their
blocks and heartaches.
Anne is a PhD
and has focused a good part of her life
on learning how to help us open
to the great spirit driven creativity
that lives like a flickering candle flame within us all,
then instructs us how to take that tiny candle flame into a full burning light
that can be found whenever
we need to.
I highly recommend her book.


Next is
"The Artist's Path"
also a PhD
who has created a similar work, but with more
spiritual a focus,
giving us twelve chapters of lectio divinia,
inspirational stories
and spiritual openings for our creative soul.
Christine is part of a Benedictine community,
living out in the world,
and sharing her God given inspirations in
a way that enchants and opens.

Last is "Alla Prima"

who is not a PhD, but is a master painter,
who has taken the time
to share a lifetime of painting wisdom.
Hands on, this book is.
I am inspired not only by his words of wisdom, but by his wonderful
brushwork and simple colors.

These three have been my inspirational
reading for 2011
and are providing a path for me
into 2012. I hope you find them as
wonderful as I do.

for more Haiku My Heart,
Join the equaling inspiring Rebecca
at
Rebecca is also a giver of heart wings
and spirit flights.
don't miss her or the other members of
 Haiku my heart.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Red flowers

January chill has finally arrived
in Middle Earth.
It takes me many moments of contemplation to arrange all of my layers,
top and bottom
to stay warm and toasty.
My holiday rampage of cleaning has led me to take a look
at my recent paintings
and I have decided
I am very RED.
Perhaps I want to warm the studio a bit,
or the red oriental rug
speaks too loudly to be ignored.
My furry studio assistant seems to agree.

Even my wise women seem to enjoy being Red Queens
of some sort or another.



I obviously dream in reds and golds
when winter's chill is present.
I think I'll just stay in these warm cozy colors
until springtime breathes me a new palette.