AEDM2015, Day 3: The Sea Is in Deep Blue Trouble

AEDM2015, Day 3: The Sea Is in Deep Blue Trouble (with pop-up closed)

Heading off to the Caribbean for a wedding so this image of a beach grabbed my eye. Then I just stared at it...nothing was coming to me and no other images popped out as I flicked through a magazine. Usually at this point my inner critic starts grumbling. The best tactic is to just ignore it and either walk away for a few minutes or just keep searching for the "right" pieces. Something always gives and for this collage things went a little bit wacky. I ended up making the fish into a "pop up" and the woman, well I just liked her facial expression -- she's either appalled at the dismal state of the oceans -- or she's in the process of becoming a mermaid!

AEDM2015, Day 3: The Sea Is in Deep Blue Trouble (with pop-up open)

AEDM 2015 Day 2: A Landscape I Didn't Know Existed

AEDM 2015 Day 2: A Landscape I Didn't Know Existed

How do I come up with the collages I create? I'm really not sure. Often I'll run across images that resonate with me on a deep level. I may not understand why or for what reason I am drawn to an image or a setting (such as this room), but I will add them into my journal and let them "percolate". I may eventually add other images to it and the story will start to unfold. Or I may add a line of text because it also resonates with me in conjunction with the image. Or the image may prompt me to journal. Sometimes I'll just leave the image as is -- just because I like it -- and I've come to see that there is creative payback in doing just that.

"She remembered this room. She remembered sitting on the linen sofa, waiting for someone or something to come through the door. It had been an hour or two of slow minutes and the light was fading. Becoming increasingly drowsy she stood up abruptly and walked around the perimeter of the room. There was a flash of movement behind her and as she turned she saw a shadow move in the mirror...."

November Is Art Every Day Month!

Day 1 AEDM, "Commitment: I Will Participate". 

It's cool that Art Every Day Month has rolled around again -- just at the right time for me.  I will be making a collage spread a day over the next 30 days and will be using one of my small Paperblanks journals. I had an Open Studio to day at the Novato Arts Center, and decided to work on my first spread while I was there. This is really my first piece of completed art in 5 months! I really have had little desire to move past the sorting of collage images and just a general puttering around my studio. 

Nevertheless when I sat down in front of the journal I had selected for this art challenge -- I knew that my desire to create would overcome my inertia as well as those inner critics that bounce around in my head. I was a bit awkward with the color and text and images -- but I pushed past my inner critic and "just kept moving". This is the 3rd time I've done AEDM (plus i did my own personal art challenge (Daily Journal Page Challenge) for 3.5 years) so I know the benefits of setting an intention and sticking with it. 

I must say it felt so-o-o-o-o good to create this spread! It's also serving as a visual statement of my commitment to continuing on with my creative journey.

Drop by Leah Piken Kolidas' website Creative Every Day and sign up for one of her art challenges -- it's not too late!

My Creative Life Got Hijacked By Life...

From my "Portals Syllabus" Altered Book

Sigh....I think I danced away from the creative muse again....

Little energy, desire, or ability to focus. Gray moods and/or impromptu, random tears. Worry and anxiety buzzing like bees around my head. Both studios messy, chaotic and little room to move around -- or breathe. No new art to think of. Signing up for a gazillion inspirational e-courses and only getting past the first email, video, or comment/share. No desire to teach. Just want to sleep.

Does any of this ring a bell in the back of your mind? It seemed too, too familiar to me. And i was fearful that this time I'd move way for good from the creative process...and never come back.

Then I talked to a dear friend (her skill sets include being an artist and a therapist). After listening to my "symptoms" she said "Virginia, you need to give yourself a break - you're still in the grief process from your mother dying. Plus you had a 6-week total kitchen renovation. Plus you are caretaking and worrying about your beloved, but aging, 20-year old kitties". That's a lot of stress and you need to be easy with yourself. You'll return to your flow after you integrate all of these changes...."

And once she said that to me, my behavior made a bit more sense. It also allowed me to take a step back and take a deep breath. When the crying jags come out of the blue, I can stand back a bit and watch them rip, and then go on with what I am doing. It's also OK if I can only do things in bits or small chunks. It's OK if I only want to look through magazines for collage fodder. 

What i am seeing is that I am in process -- I am in the process of life -- and whatever that looks like -- that's OK.

And sooner or later my mojo will return -- it may just look a bit different than it did. And that's OK too.

I Did It! My Very First E-Course!

Journals from my Daily Journal Page Challenge (2009-20012)

This was a BIG step in my creative journey: I finally completed planning, developing, launching, and teaching my very first online art course: "Your Daily Creative Practice: 30 Days of Pocket-Sized Journal Collages to Grow Your Creativity".

I'm kind of in shock now that it is all over! It took such a Herculean effort to get this thing out of my imagination and into reality. It's almost unreal how it all came together. I started thinking about it a year ago in one of the Right Brain Business Plan groups (and I probably set it as a goal even further back than that). I was actually planning on releasing my Intro to Altered Books first when I took the marvelous Kiala Givehand's Design, Develop, Deliver e-course in October and got a bit more fleshed out around that. I learned so much about e-course structure, development and technology in this course.

Then a few more months went by and in the Fall I took one of Jennifer Lee's Product Development Playground e-course and switched my gears to really developing and pulling together an e-course of my 3.5 year Daily Journal Page Challenge (how I really started to really develop my creative eye and sense of myself as an artist). I named my instructional e-course Your Daily Creative Practice.

Happy Ending: 37 people signed up for Your Daily Creative Practice, and over 25 of them participated in the secret Facebook group that I set up so people could share their journal collages and get inspiration from each other. I learned so much and had a terrific time creating this course and it was an amazing gift to teach and interact with so many gifted people!
 

AEDM Day 6: "More Red"

Art Every Day Month Day 6: "More Red"

Decided to see how many small pieces I could fit onto a spread (I have several boxes filled with ATC-sized images). Red, again, seemed to be the color I was drawn to!

AEDM Day 4: "Will Take Flight"

Art Every Day Month Day 4: "Will Take Flight"

AEDM Day 2: "Spiritual Activist"

Art Every Day Month Day 2: "Spiritual Activist"

I wondered how it would be today, it being Day 2 of the AEDM Challenge. I had an Open Studio today so worked on my journal page on and off when people weren't visiting. I created a whole other page but it wasn't falling together. I couldn't find the right images in the moment. So I stopped and started again. I've done enough of this type of work to know that if something isn't clicking then wait and take it up again another time. I don't sweat it, just leave it until another day. I like the page that came after, this one. It fell together pretty easily and I like how it's "me" all over the page -- my spiritual self -- the one that journeys the path, the nature lover, the beast that calls to me and is part of me. This is what I love most about intuitive or soul collage -- it speaks to you in the moment and for ever.

AEDM Day 1: "Just Be"

"Just Be"

This is the first day of Leah Piken Kolidas Art Every Day Challenge for the month of November! I participated in this wonderful challenge a number of years back and highly encourage any one who is struggling with their creative side to join in or consider joining her Creative Every Day Challenge for the year.

Back in 2008/09 I had been seen her challenges and other artists' challenges on the web and being unsure of myself creatively (and shy to show my art work) I thought heck I'll just do one for myself. Which I did same time as I was doing my own personal, year long Journal Page a Day Challenge (you can scroll back through the old posts of my blog and see all of the artwork starting here if you wish.) Without a doubt doing challenges help build creative habits and provide all sorts of wonderful psychological perks!

What I especially love about Leah's challenges is that they are community driven -- you get feedback, positive reinforcement, and a TON of creative inspiration by viewing what all the other participants are sharing

So it's great fun to participate again. This year I am again doing a page a day in my little journal books...I look forward to seeing what emerges this time from my daily commitment -- and visiting all the other creatives' blogs!

Back in the Saddle Again

All Her Pretty Horses (Altered Book): "You Have to Open the Door to Let the Horse Out of the Barn"

It's been a long time since I felt the desire to write in this blog. Looking at my last post I see my last entry was dated October 26th, 2012. My personal, creative, and business side has been busy and full so I've been utilizing my Facebook Fan Page -- Kentucky Girl Designs  -- just to keep interested friends updated with my creative output. But for longer posts? I just haven't had the energy. 

I started this blog four years ago to see if I could determine whether or not I really was an artist -- or at the very least a creative person. I had an agonizing need to claim this for myself, but the fears, self-judgement, and self-criticism was so great that I couldn't find my way down the path. I couldn't get out of the barn. I would start something then drop it. I would look externally for validation and if I didn't get it I'd quit. Heck, I would quit anyway. I really didn't need a reason. But somehow I got the gumption to do something about this split. I saw all over the internet art challenges. And I got to thinking, why don't I challenge myself? Let's see if I have what it takes to create something -- anything on a consistent basis. Let's see if I can keep myself pinned down when I get bored, anxious, nauseated, distracted. Let's see if I can create ugly and beautiful. Let's see.

So I started my blog in Jan 25, 2009 to record the exploration of my creative process. And to throw the gauntlet down for myself, I started a personal art challenge of creating one journal page a day. Collage would be my medium. Then I'd scan my pages and post them here. And my goal was to stick with it for one whole year, 365 days. I figured at the end of it I'd know whether I had what it takes to be an artist, a crafts person, a creative.

The good news is that four years later I can say "Yes!" to all of the above. And even though I've stopped doing my everyday pages (I stopped at page 1061) -- or haven't come here to talk about my creative process or struggles -- I am now creating every single day. Yes, my mane still blows in the wind, and I'm loving the freedom I found to express this essential part of myself.

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 1048

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 1048: Trust

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 1047

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 1047: Shadows Are Fallin'

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 1045

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 1045: She Sells Seashells

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 1044

Daily Journal Page Challenge..Day 1044: Punta Mita Beach Bird

Lying on the canopied beach beds at Punta Mita -- these little mynah-type blackbirds would be flitting around looking for food and reveling in the beach air. This photo is a silhouette of one caught by my camera through the muslin.

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day1043

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day1043: Breaking Away 

Separating yourself from a person, place, or situation is never easy. Part of you is always looking back over your shoulder -- until the place you desire to be begins to feel like home, begins to feel a part of you. Then you wonder how did I ever live in that other world? Why couldn't I see? How could I have been so mislead? How could I have been so dense? Then the next step is to be compassionate with that self that lived there -- in that past, in that situation -- to not judge it, to not judge yourself. I think perhaps that's the evolution of consciousness -- that's Truth revealed.

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day1042

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day1042: Let's Go RVing!

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- Day 1040

Daily Journal Page Challenge...Day 1040: (Teetering) On the Edge

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- 1039

Daily Journal Page Challenge...1039: A Horrible Blessing

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- 1038

Daily Journal Page Challenge...1038: Time for a Change

Believe me, it doesn't have to be like this...we have a myriad of choices!

Daily Journal Page Challenge -- 1037

Daily Journal Page Challenge...1037: Building a Mystery