Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 767

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 767: Expresses Dramatic Complexity Beautifully

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 766

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 766: Open Sesame

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 765

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 765: Open Sesame

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 764

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 764

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 763

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 763: The Journey Begins

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 762

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 762: On the Move

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 761

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 761: Moving On

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 760

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 760: Everything Comes to Light

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 759

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 759: Sea Change

Daily Journal page Challenge -- Day 758

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 758: Peep Show

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 757

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 757: Indomitable, Inspiring

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 756

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 756: A World of Seeing

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 755

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 755: Uncommonly Beautiful

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 754

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 754: L'Ame Russe

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 753

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 753: Discovery

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 752

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 752: You Can't Learn from Remembering

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 751

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 751: Free the Heart

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 750

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 750: Forget Expectation

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 749

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 749: My Mane Blows in the Wind

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 748

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 748: The Karma of Loneliness

Surrounded by people in this world, loneliness still exists. If we could feel the connection we have to each other on a cellular, vibrational, or energetic level -- we would never feel lonely again.

Daily Journal page Challenge -- Day 747

Daily Journal page Challenge...Day 747: The Moon Is a Day Past

The Evolution of an Art Studio: My First Open Studio

Randall Creating Her Collage for the Guest Book

Hershey Catching a Few Z's

Randall's Finished Page for the Guest Book

Sunday was my first Open Studio. I had such a great time. A combination of friends and people I didn't know (over30 "guests") wandered into my studio and oohed and awed and asked a multitude of questions. Those who wanted to signed my guest book did, and if they were game I had them create a mini-collage on their page. There was a lot of laughter. It was a beautiful summer's day and the light filled the studio and the trees in the courtyard waved their leafy green leaves. I was proud of what I have accomplished artistically and creatively over the last few years and I have just an overall happiness being in this space. It is not difficult to create here. I still have to work out a routine and finish filling the space with table surfaces and storage bins. But it will happen, it will evolve.

Daily Journal page Challenge -- Day 746

Daily Journal page Challenge -- Day 746: I Woke Up from the Dream

Altered Book Spread: Side Pocket Technique

Altered Book Spread: Look What I Found

Side pocket technique

I love making pockets in altered books -- I can stuff all sorts of things into them -- photos, tickets, pieces of beautiful paper or ribbon , cool text headlines I've cut out from magazines -- the flotsam and jetsam of my life. Although this is hard to tell in this photo -- there are two horizontal pockets here: one directly behind the house image and one that includes the house and the green section glued to the front of it -- you can see some of the headline I stuck in it "Look What I Found"). To make pockets like these: Glue three pages together (color them or add pictures -- here I added some flower garden pictures). Then glue two more pages together, then tear or cut off 1/3 of these pages. In this spread, I cut the pages too short -- but went ahead with what I had done and added double-stick tape to the edges, top and bottom, and stuck them to the first three pages I glued together. Then you take two more pages and glue them together, then t ear these so only 1/3 of the pages remain. To make this section a deeper pocket, I glued the image of a house to the back of it. Probably none of these directions make sense -- but the most important thing is that after you tear your pages, you glue or tape the top and bottom edges of the pages to the preceding pages -- this makes the pocket!

Oriel Pendants: Dragonfly Magic

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 745

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 745: Tipping Point

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 744

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 744: Editor's Note

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 743

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 743: Can You Hear Me Now?

Reception. Perception. Sometimes what was once loud is now a whisper. Sometimes nothing is clear. Sometimes so much information is bombarding me I don't know which way is up, which way is down. I just keep pushing all the judgments, critiques, analyses aside. I check in to that deep, broad, quiet place in myself that doesn't need any data from telephone lines, air waves, computer monitors, television screens, iphones, cell phones. I have a live wire inside of me that gets all the information it needs.

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 742

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 742: Sugar Cane Twist Baby

Just squeeze it, twist it, shatter it, press it, boil it, until the sugar is all that's left, Baby.

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 741

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 74

So here's my page from yesterday. I decided to give my daily journal pages consecutive numbers instead of days of the the year -- so this is Day 741 (2 years plus 11 days of daily journal pages). I like this spread because it shows a circus moving into town and setting up. And there is a pony grazing in the nearby grass (something close to my heart), and a small girl walking around looking at things (also close to my heart). The moving van doors are open and almost clear of its contents. A worker is waving at his handiwork. A giant of a woman is looming over the whole scene. You can't see it but she's wearing riding pants and boots. She's kind of like a sideshow freak or the circus ringmaster minus the red coat. My world has seemed a bit topsy turvy recently -- and I am moving into a whole new place creatively and business wise and I feel kind of wacky, a bit too big for my surroundings. Am I the ringmaster, or am I "Gargantua, Queen of the Big Top"?  I don't know, but I kind of like it!

Rekindling the Flame

 OK! Seems like moving into my new studio has opened me up to restarting my personal Daily Journal Page Challenge. Yesterday, my first day spent in my new studio, I sat at the work table and looked at the 28+ Paperblank journals that I had filled with my daily journal pages over the past two years. I placed them on both walls on grooved horizontal railing conveniently left by the previous tenant. I can show them closed or open, and it's really a revolving gallery -- I have 740+ spreads that I can display. I though to myself that the discipline of doing a page a day, really helped to get to this studio to this moment in my creative evolution  Although I took a break over the summer because of work, in truth I wasn't sure whether I'd start up again. However, as I gazed over them lined up on the wall, I reached for a blank journal and thought what the heck let's give it another go. And like a tip of the hat, a wink, a wave hello -- it was oh-so-easy to sit down at the table and create a page. I also decided what would make this easier for me, more flexible, more spontaneous? So, I will create a page for each day of the year. But I'm giving myself the option of not having to make one each day. I may make a bunch all in one day and then post them catching up when and where I need to. It's my party. We'll see what gets celebrated!

The Evolution of an Art Studio: First Day!!!

Kentucky Girl Designs New Studio

What a day! What a week! They say that moving is the third most stressful event in a person's life (death, divorce I think rank 1st and 2nd, but don't quote me). I have to agree that it is most challenging. First off, my driver almost tore down the front yard fence with the moving van! Second, my other helper didn't show up. Tracking her down by phone, she was hiking over an hour away and had totally forgotten she was suppose to help! Thirdly, my husband was in a totally grumpy mood and not too pleased about the aforementioned circumstances. Oh brother! What can you do except keep moving? Which is what I did. In the long run, the move only took 3 hours. After he surrendered the van's keys, my moving buddy was totally focused and professional. My husband loved the new studio and had some good ideas on arrangement. My girlfriend showed up in the afternoon and helped me sort out the jumble of stuff and furniture -- and she wasn't worn out (like I was) from the packing and hauling. So it's a good thing she showed up late cause she could bull on through the boxes and art supplies. So despite the rough spots, things worked out well. And at the end of the day as I was finishing up my final touches, I looked through the big windows at the back of my studio that look into a leafy green tree and a courtyard. The soft California evening light highlighted the leaves a golden yellow. I looked around at my studio and thought, a new period of creating has begun in my life. I wonder where it will take me?