04 Thursday Jan 2018
Posted in Gratitude Journal
Collaged into the background of these pages are the notes I made for a letter to my husband about the joys of 2017. It was a very difficult year and this really helped me end it feeling more positive about it and hopeful for 2018.
I wish you a happy and healthy new year!
18 Saturday Nov 2017
Posted in Gratitude Journal
Tags
Art, Art Journal, Art Journal Every Day, Art therapy, collage, Gratitude, Gratitude Journal, Journal, oil pastels
These gratitude journal pages cover most of November. In creating all the art for my current exhibit I fell behind in my gratitude journal. The recent election results give me hope for the future. I just hope that immigrants, people with health problems, those who face economic challenges and all of us who hope to believe in democracy can hold on until the 2018 election. The layers of red text on the left hand page were created with inspiration from Claudia McGill’s handwriting explorations. The right hand page is lots of influence from the collage class I have been taking.
I want to come back to the red text. It was made from an image I created with my therapist. She is an art therapist and I make very different things in there than I do at home. Here is a recent one. This is how I feel about doctors in general and being diagnosed with endometriosis at the age of 50. I don’t generally enjoy working with oil pastels, but in this context they are perfect.
They also work as an interesting transfer. I then flipped this over and wrote in 2 directions on the back to do some journaling about my recent health exploits in my gratitude journal. That is what appears so subtly on the left hand page. I think I’m going to have to explore this combination of techniques some more. This was very therapeutic.
01 Sunday Oct 2017
Posted in Art, Art on Exhibit
Tags
100 Mandalas, Art, Civil rights, collage, Dunya, justice, Mandala, Torus Mandala
Mandala 52 of 100. This mandala is for the Dunya exhibit at Alhamra Art Center in Bernardsville, NJ, October 14, 2017- November 15, 2017.
20 Wednesday Sep 2017
Posted in Art, Art on Exhibit, Zentangle Inspired Art
Tags
100 Mandalas, Art, collage, green, Mandala, purple, Torus Mandala, Zentangle, ZIA
This may look familiar. It is part of a diptych I made for my living room. I’m greatly enjoying having them both up until the show at Alhamra Art Center in Bernardsville, NJ in October and November. Here they are together. They are mandalas 47 and 49 of 100!
Here are some process pictures of the second one.
I hope you have a beautiful day!
14 Thursday Sep 2017
Posted in Gratitude Journal, Zentangle Method Class
Tags
Art, Art Journal, Art Journal Every Day, collage, flowers, Gratitude, Journal, napkins, paper
I’m taking a wonderful collage class about painting with paper and I’m loving it! I have already discovered some new toys and new interpretations of old ones. One of my old favorites is using parts of napkins to capture gratitude. Sometimes they are from specific events – such as these 2 funny ones from my Religious Education teacher training last weekend. I’m really looking forward to getting to know the 5th & 6th grade children and families from my Unitarian Fellowship.
I’m going to be doing more in my gratitude journal to experiment with ideas from this class. Yesterday I went to Michael’s to get my Eclipse Mandala framed for my October show and I bought a few fun things inspired by the class. None of them are in this art journal page layout because this is from the last week. Mandala 49 is almost done and this layout includes some experiments for that.
I’m also working on some art and a brochure for a class I will be offering in October. It is designed to get you started on a Zentangle® journal practice and will include the Pre-Strung Zentangle® journal. I should have an update in the next few days on this.
What is beautiful in your life today?
25 Friday Aug 2017
Posted in Art, Art on Exhibit, Zentangle Inspired Art
Tags
100 Mandalas, acrylic paint, Art, Certified Zentangle Teacher, collage, Mandala, Zentangle, Zentangle Inspired Art, ZIA
This is the large (for me 30″x30″) mandala that I have been working on all summer. There are a lot of layers and I took some pictures of the process. I really became fascinated with layers of acrylic glazes and am making a partner piece to this one that is more focused on that technique.
I started with collaged dictionary and other book pages onto the gessoboard. I also included some stamps. Then I did about a week’s worth of journaling on the board and stenciled a quote from a song that we sang at the Unitarian Fellowship I attend. This song has really resonated with me and really captures some of what I feel about my mandalas.
I already shared this layer with you earlier in the summer.
At this point what I was envisioning for the mandala started to change. There were a number of intermediate layers that didn’t really work for me. So I got started on the mandala pieces. I’m still learning about layers in collage and what kinds of paint play well together. I used some gouache paint and that left wrinkles in some of the pieces, but I decided to incorporate some Wabi Sabi into the finished piece. I may add some more gold accents, but I think it is done.
I played with a lot of different papers including navigation maps, dictionary pages, pages from a Chinese Poetry textbook and tissue. I continue to love how tissue paper works in collage. I used an old Vogue pattern for one of the pieces and decorated it with a Zentangle® pattern. Each of the pieces had some Zentangle® patterns.
I really toyed with leaving the layers show through in this point in the mandala but it was too much of a contrast from the other parts.
Here is the fully assembled piece, but it needed some more Wabi Sabi so I added gold paint in a few of the joints. You can see it in these close up pictures of the details.
The finished piece will be on exhibit at the Alhamra Art Center in September and October and is available for purchase through the Center. This is mandala 47 of 100. To join the 100 Mandala challenge check out Kathryn Costa’s website.
01 Tuesday Aug 2017
Posted in Art
Tags
100 Mandalas, acrylic glazes, acrylic paint, Art, collage, Mandala, Zentangle, Zentangle Inspired Art, ZIA
This summer I have been working on a large (30″ x 30″) mandala collage. You have already seen the background layers of the gessoboard. Here is a sample of the Zentangle patterned mandala pieces that I have been working on all summer. By the end of this week I hope to unveil the whole thing in a blog post of my process and the product. This is mandala 47 of 100.
12 Monday Jun 2017
Posted in Art, Zentangle Method Class
I made up a batch of Artist Trading Cards to share during my workshop at the Morristown and Morris Township Library tomorrow. I made a whole cereal box of collaged cardboard, cut them to size, and did some Zentangle® magic on them. Come see me there from 7-9 this Tuesday, June 13th!
24 Wednesday May 2017
Posted in Gratitude Journal
Tags
Art Journal, Art Journal Every Day, collage, flower, Gratitude, orange, Patterns, pink, red, Zentangle, Zentangle Inspired Art, ZIA
I have been keeping a gratitude journal for years. About 4 years ago I started doing it in art journal format using altered books. My first blog started as a record of that journal and has blossomed into so much more. I will continue to maintain both blogs for as long as possible.
This is my first time using a mixed media sketchbook as my gratitude journal and I’m really enjoying it. I have been exploring acrylic paints and that exploration is reflected in my journal. I also us it to experiment with different media. For example, the flowers in the upper left page were experiments for my Mandala 41 with Rhododendron painting. I didn’t like how they looked with the mandala but I really enjoy them in my art journal and I’m going to use my “plaid” paper in a large mandala I’m currently working on, I think. Stay tuned…
I’m continuing to explore the Zentangle® Method. The tangled squares use a pattern called Paradox that I’m really enjoying. The text and images document what has happened with whom in the last few days and weeks. I had a really long conversation with a dear friend who is fighting cancer. I used a new to me pen to start her drawing and it didn’t work quite how I wanted, but I’m so grateful to include her in my journal.
This week I have been making lots of cards for various people. One of my sons has a birthday coming up and I have a few other friends who are also fighting cancer. All of my cards have had something that uses Zentangle® tiles or inspired art.
Peace.
Jeanette Clawson Art 