Category Archives: Gratitude Journal

Year in Review

01 Tuesday Jan 2019

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It has been quite a year. I have not made as much art as I would have liked and I have had a lot of problems with my blog, but looking at my year in review I feel excited about what I have learned. I also feel a whole lot better after 207 medical appointments/procedures in 2018, including 5 hours in surgery. I hope next year is more productive and healthier, but here are my journal pages from 2018.

These are the pages I have already blogged about. And here is the rest of the year.

Thank you for stopping by. May your new year be full of peace and beauty.

 

Another Art Journaling Class

12 Monday Mar 2018

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I was asked to fill in for an altered book workshop this past Sunday and it was delightful!

One of the women selected a chapter book rather than a picture book and spent a lot of time removing pages and specific words from pages. I love how she made a space for color to peek through. Her book is in the top right of the mosaic.

Nina

One of my students really loved this picture book and took it in some interesting directions. She started by cutting out the elephant and filling the negative space with print from a dictionary page. In the photo above you can see how she worked off of a phrase on the page about hearing and included some ear related images and words. Below is a photo earlier in the process.

Nina1

Another student was an avid art journaler and created two of the two horizontal photos in the mosaic at the top of the page and this one below. I particularly love how this one came out.

Sally1

This class was so energizing and fun. We talked about having a monthly art journaling workshop starting in the fall and I am looking forward to teaching that.

I hope you have a beautiful day.

 

Gratitude Blooms

23 Friday Feb 2018

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dahlia dalliance

I’m working on a painting/collage that I’m calling Dahlia Dalliance and you get some hints of the process on these pages. I am continuing to play with layers to see how they interact and how they sometimes misbehave. Sometimes I discover errant art techniques when I’m playing with the idea in my art journal and other times I learn it on the painting itself. The beauty of working with layers is that it won’t be done until I’m happy with it. I’m not there yet, but stay tuned in the next week. I have been really busy with a lot of medical stuff in preparation for my surgery for endometriosis. Surgery is scheduled for April 11 so my postings and class offerings are going to be very limited for the next few months. I’m looking forward to more Zentangling to help me through.

I hope you find beauty in your day today.

Geographic Gratitude

02 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by in Gratitude Journal, Zentangle Inspired Art

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geography gratitude

A few big ideas are included in this gratitude journal page spread. First, my husband picked up a 2018 calendar for our kitchen wall because our opportunities to get one at an art museum kept being thwarted. I had shopped on-line at the MoMA and Metropolitan Museum of Art’s shopping websites and the calendars were on sale, but the shipping seemed ridiculous. I had almost purchased a Mondrian calendar. When he called to say he was stopping at a store and asked if I wanted anything else, I told him a wall calendar. Guess what calendar he bought! If you have followed my blog for a while you may know that I am fascinated with grids and with Mondrian and he knows that, too. But isn’t it nice to feel known?

I have filled the grid with the ABCs of gratitude for beautiful places I have been. I may do one for places I still want to go. When I have insomnia I sometimes do an ABCs of gratitude in my mind. It can be for the day just past or anything I can come up with at 3 am. I know there are places I have left off of this grid, but I have really been to a lot of beautiful places! How blessed am I?

The right hand page is mandala 55 of 100. It is some variations on the Zentangle® pattern copada by Margaret Bremmer. She is such a talented artist and she has made some wonderful contributions to the world of Zentangle. I think I’m going to do some variations on this variation. I really enjoyed it. I’m so grateful for Zentangle® Inspired Art and all the good things that the world of Zentangle® has brought into my life.

I hope you have a beautiful day.

Imagine, Explore, Play

19 Friday Jan 2018

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2018 beginning

Lots of gratitude has come with the beginning of this year. As a consequence, I’m a little behind in posting what I have been up to. This first page layout of the year started with a comparison of 2 different brands/hues of purple. They each have their good points. Also, the one on the left was heavy body paint and the right was soft body. It was interesting to see how they cover the page differently. If you want a very uniform coverage the soft body seems to work better. Then I played with gold paint and pens. I was inspired by some gold on purple that I saw over the holidays and really wanted to play with this color combination. I think I will do this again!

imagine create explore play

I started the year off teaching an altered book art journaling class that I already posted work from the students. Here was my demonstration page that I continued to embellish over the last weeks. I am having a lot of Zentangle private student classes and I hope to catch up on blogging about photos that I have been taking, too.

I hope you have a beautiful day.

Altered Book Art Journal Class

07 Sunday Jan 2018

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Today I taught a class that I offered as part of the Service Auction fundraiser at the Unitarian Fellowship I attend. I had 2 students in my home studio and we had a great time. They were both interested in a monthly art journaling class so I’m thinking about doing that again. I had forgotten how much fun this is to teach.

alphabet book katherina

good poems book sandra

They chose very different books and had very different styles, but I’m hoping they got started on a practice of art journaling. We also played with deli paper and making collage on the paper. One of the students created layers of collaged paper and paint that was really innovative.

altered book class 1 6 2018

I hope you had a beautiful day.

Solstice: Return of the Light

22 Friday Dec 2017

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Solstice

There is a lot of gratitude captured on this page layout. I had a fun trip to a new art supply store with a friend. I sat on our new couch and watched Saturday morning public television. My husband and I participated in a lot of activities with the Unitarian Fellowship and holiday preparations. And I’m doing a lot of art experimentation. Mostly it hasn’t gone how I envisioned, but yesterday I decided to take a different route. Now I’m excited again to get back to work on it.

Gratitude: Checking it Twice

08 Friday Dec 2017

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making my lists

I’m grateful to be getting back to my art journal more regularly. I created a lot of art this year, but in the last few months I haven’t done as much in my journal and I missed it. I have had a lot to do during this holiday season. I have also had a lot to do with my continuing & increasing health challenges. But not only did I make a To Do list, I got to check a whole lot off of it. It reminded me of Santa checking his list twice. Checking a list as completed and then going back to review my accomplishments and checking them again was very satisfying.

I hope you have a beautiful day and wishing you light in this time of darkness.