Creative Every Day - Red

Red. The color of love, passion, emotion, high energy, and on a not-so-positive note - anger.

I love the color red . . . the accent wall in our bedroom is red. I want to paint my kitchen a shade of red.

When I saw that Red was the topic for Creative Every Day, I was thrilled! I use red quite often when painting in my journal . . . so I flipped through to see what I might post. Oddly enough, I found two pages where I used red . . . and I recalled the emotions I was feeling when I painted them.

Here's one:

When I was painting this page I was in a grand mood. I had lots of energy that day and remember that I felt as though "I was right where I was supposed to be."

And then . . .there's this page:
Ummmm . . . not in such a happy mood. Something had come up and I had a mix of emotions all at the same time. . . the deeper red signifies anger and frustration, the teal signifies sadness, and the jumbled letters signify confusion.

Even though this page evokes memories of a not so good day, I still love it. And I also recall how much better I felt after I painted it.

I do believe that my visual journal is becoming a perfect place for me to get things off my chest, good or bad . . . and I am enjoying the process more and more.

Thanks for stopping by today! May your day be a good red day!

Holding Back

So, I saw this post on Julie's blog and she asks, "What's holding you back?"

***sigh***

For me, it's words . . . or the ability (confidence?) to actually write words. I have lots of pages painted, but very few have anything written on them.

Julie's next question was, "What are you going to do to break the hold?"

Start writing.

Yes, I did blur the picture on purpose.

Thanks for stopping by today!

It's A New Day

Oh, how the stars have aligned for me. I'm still coming across "things" that I need to see, hear, or read. It makes me all happy inside. Life is good. And everyday is a New Day.

So what changed for me? I just started taking better care of myself. . . little things, really. Morning walks, pilates, a lot of stretching, spending more time in my studio and less time on the computer.

I mentioned a book that I bought a few posts back . . . The Art Journal Workshop by Traci Bunkers. I love this book. I don't know if it's the way it's written, or the way the it's formatted, or a combination of it all. I just love it.

One of my favorite things about this book are the Journaling Exercises in Chapter 4. I've skipped around the exercises because they don't need to be done in order. I kinda picked the one that suited me for that day.

Anywhoooooo . . . one of the exercises is about Urban Affirmation Cards. I really, really wanted to make some, because maybe there is somebody out there who "needs" to receive it. After all, with all the "things" I've been seeing, hearing or reading has really grounded me. My hope is that these little cards end up with someone who needs it. So, here they are:

I'll be leaving them in curious places . . . tucked in a book at a bookstore . . . near the cereal at the grocery store . . . wherever I have the urge to leave one.

Thanks for visiting today . . . it IS a New Day and may yours be fabulous!

This Page . . .

. . . makes me happy. That's all I have to say.Okay, not really. I love the bright colors. I love all the layers. I love the messiness of it. I love that it just came together.

I have two visual journals that I'm working in . . . turns out that the reason I kept ending up with mud is that one must wait for the paint to dry before adding another layer. Imagine that.

Sooooo . . . while I wait for something to dry in one journal, I work on something in the other journal. This particular page is in my Aquabee Super Deluxe Sketchbook. (The other journal is an old encyclopedia.)

I have lots of pages started . . . and work on them little by little . . . I am becoming brave.
Speaking of which. . . . there is an article in the May/Jun issue of Somerset Studio all about Becoming Brave by Erin Kenepp. It is an excellent article and she has a wonderful blog.

Back to the the page . . . the style is very much inspired by Roben-Marie Smith. And I was able to do it by following the Workshop in . . . wanna guess? . . . Somerset Studio.

Really . . . this has been the best issue of Somerset Studio that I have seen in a long time. . .

Thanks for stopping by! May your day be Happy!

Creative Every Day - Blue

I came across this quote by Brian Koslow just when I needed it most. It reads, "If you nurture your mind, body, and spirit, your time will expand. You will gain a new perspective that will allow you to accomplish much more."I've been taking the time to take better care of myself and it has made a huge difference. I'm back on track with taking my walks, and working out, and I've even worked in my journal everyday.
I've just kinda allowed myself (finally!) to try different techniques and not worry too much (i hate my handwriting, but looky there! it's on this page!) about the outcome. I've read over and over again that it's more about the process than about the finished page. I get that now.
This particular "style" was very much inspired by an Inspiration Wednesday video by Donna Downey.
Thanks for stopping by!