CJS - Inspired by Nathalie Kalbach

Here is my page inspired by Natalie's Creative Jump Start Lesson!  Lots of layers and colors!

CJS - Inspired by Dina Wakley

Here is my journal page inspired by Dina Wakley's Creative Jump Start video Hold-On!  Very cool use of collage and acrylic paints.  It's hard to rip your piece into two!

Faux Stone Journal - More Creative Jumpstart Fun!

I had so much fun making this faux stone journal!  It was Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's submission for the 2017 Creative Jumpstart program.  Here are some process shots along with the final journal!

This is a close up of one spot on the journal - love the texture and color!

Now to add some words!!

Creative Jump Start Fun

For the past few years I have participated in Creative Jump Start.  You are able to watch short videos from between 25-30 different artists.  It's helped me try new supplies, techniques, and simply make things during the month of January.  You have access all year, but I'm trying to spend at least 30 minutes a day making something in 2017.

Today my 10 year old daughter and I worked on pieces inspired by Jodi Ohl on whimsical creatures.  It was a lot of fun!

 Here is a shot of my daughter working because she won't let me take a picture of her with her art.  I'm grateful for all the CJS artists who share their ideas with us!  If you are interested in learning more you can visit the website here .

Recovering Slowly

I'm finally feeling like I am back among the living!  Wednesday through Friday were pretty rough days for me recovery wise.  The pain was high and it was difficult to eat.  But, I turned a corner Saturday and have been doing better and better ever since.  I haven't been feeling up to art journaling, but I've been writing down ideas that come to me!

Here is a picture of my companions. 

 Here is a photo of the ice pack I wear pretty much all the time that runs 43 degree cold water through continuously.

 Here is the torture machine.  It bends my leg from 0 degrees to whatever flexion I can manage, right now I have it set at 60 degrees.  I'm supposed to get up to 125 degrees so I have a ways to go still.  PT starts tomorrow - cringe.

Art journaling, mindfulness, and surgery

Close to a month ago, I fell while playing softball and heard something tear in my knee as I went down.  I knew it was bad, but was hoping for the best. I had to have my first MRI and then the doctor told me the bad news.  I'd torn my ACL, which stabilizes the knee. He said it looked like two frayed broom mop heads touching.  It took all my energy to try to process what he was saying, surgery needed, general anesthesia, taking a piece of my tendon from my quadricep to graft to my ACL, drilling holes into my bones to snake the new piece of tendon through and attach to the demolished one and six months of rehab.  I got out to my car after the appointment and started sobbing.  I was so disappointed with myself for getting hurt.  How could I be so arrogant to think I could play softball and not get hurt. Now I was going to be a burden to my family, co-workers, and friends. We had to cancel a vacation that had been planned for 6 months to visit family in the Finger Lake region of NY.   

That evening, I sat down and made this art journal page.  

It felt good to create, work through my fears, and stamp a message that I needed to embrace.  In the weeks that followed before the surgery, I made several more pages.  With each page I felt like I was healing my emotions and speaking to myself with more compassion, as I would speak to a friend.  

The thought of the surgery still kept me up at night and made me queasy, but that's when I relied on my mindfulness training.  I stayed in the present moment and reminded myself that I was not in any danger and that worrying about the future would only rob me of my present time.  The morning of the surgery I pulled this mantra I had printed and looked at it the whole way to the hospital.  Instead of thinking about all the things that could go wrong, I focused on how I would be able to go for hikes with my family, walk to work, and get back to yoga.  The simple things that bring me joy.    

       

The surgery went well, but the general anesthesia did throw me for a loop.  I couldn't keep any crackers, fluids or pain medicines down.  But, that wore off in a few hours and I was able to eat a banana, take some pain medicine, and rest.  I know I have a lot of work ahead of me. However, I am proud of myself for going into the surgery with a positive attitude, which hopefully allowed me to not activate a stress response in my body that produces the flight or fight hormones.  I was able to speak to all the hospital staff from a place of gratitude, instead of fear, and told them that I appreciated their efforts before being knocked out.  It feels like a major win to me and a great lesson learned.      

Iris Folding

I took a class on iris folding at my local library and learned a how to create these pieces.  I used pages from national geographic magazines to create these lovely pieces.  You rip 1 inch strips and fold following a template you can find with a google search.  Pick a simple template to start then move to more complex templates.  They would be great for cards or wall hangings.    

Inspiration by a master painter

I recently started exploring the work of Jean Michel Basquiat.  Here is one of his paintings.

I opened my art journal and took a stab at trying to create a similar look. It was really fun!!

This is a quote by the artist. It reads "it's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not."

Journal and Mixed Media Book Review

I requested a variety of journaling and mixed media books from my library to explore.  I'm fortunate because while my local library doesn't have these books, I can order them from libraries around the state.  I want to recommend a few for you to look into.  The first two books I recommend are:

Art Journal Freedom and Art Journal Courage by Dina Wakley.   If you want to understand the principles of composition these are the books for you! Clear explanations and sample step by step projects to figure out things like the rule of 1/3rd, using white space, and repetition.

Here are some art journal pages I created based upon Dina's books.  Enjoy!

Awesome video - Mandalas for Beginners!

I have been having a lot of fun drawing mandalas lately and took the 100 Mandalas challenge.  The challenge is to draw 100 mandalas in 100 days, but I'm on the slower track of just drawing 100 mandalas sometime in the next year or two.  

This is a great video that shows you how to draw and color a mandala in about 10 minutes.  Check it out here.  

Enjoy!

Free Hamsa Coloring Book

I'm honored to have one of my pieces selected to be included in this free downloadable coloring book!  Check it out Free Hamsa Coloring Book!
 

Worth a listen

If you have ever feared creating something.
If you have ever felt too vulnerable to start drawing.
If you have ever needed a big hug and a booster shot of encouragement.
Listen to this.

I have read all of Brene Brown's work and her wisdom has helped me live a more joyful and authentic life.  I value courage. I want to hear your story.  If you haven't listened to Brene's TED talks you can find them here and here.  

ZIA Ball

Another fun tangle and fold project! Tangle strips of cardstock and then fold into a cool ball!  Find the instructions here!

My painting featured in the 100 Mandalas 2016 Calendar!

I'm so delighted to have my hand drawn mandala painting featured in the Month of March!  You can go here to see the calendar!  Happy Happy Day!

Origami Tangled Trees!

Super cute and fun trees you can tangle and fold for the holidays.  I used a white gel pen on the green paper.  You can find the YouTube instructions here.  Enjoy!

Tic Tac Toe

This is a very simple, yet completely fun way to use your tangling sills!  Create a Tic Tac Toe board out of card stock. This is a 6 inch square of paper with a grid drawn to fit the size circle punch I had.  I tangled around the border and then punched out some circles from contrasting color cardstock and tangled away. I used the patterns nipa and florz to tangle on my "X's and O's" punch outs.

Fun Folding!

These super fun origami butterflies were so easy to make!! You can find YouTube instructions  here
or  here. Be sure to put a small binder clip at the connection where you add glue so it holds!

Recycled Water Bottle Bangles

Go grab some clear plastic liter sized water bottles from your recycling bin and make some bangles!!  Great project for kids! Find the You Tube instructions here!  I photocopied some of my completed tiles on an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper and then sliced them down to fit the bangle!  Voila!

Confessions of a bad blogger

Even though I started blogging in 2005 I have not been as consistent as I would like.  I guess 'life happens' and I fall off the wagon.  Now, it's time to get back on the horse!  Last year we moved from Philadelphia to Ohio and I started a new position as an Assistant Professor of Gerontology at Miami University.  It's a wonderful position and we are glad to be back in the mid-west.  However, the move impacted my Zentangle teaching so I have been learning some new painting techniques and thought I would share those for some 'eye candy'.  I hope to build my business back up and offer art journaling classes in addition to zentangle.  I just wanted to say hi and let you all know I'm still here, taking one stroke at a time:).  

Completed Sketchbook Project

The Sketchbook Project is a global, crowd-sourced art project and interactive, traveling exhibition of handmade books. Their mission is to allow anyone to be able to participate in art and to create a collection of work that represents the current state of artists worldwide.

The title of my book was First Aid for the Soul and here is a sneak peak at my book that will be cataloged, digitized, and go on tour later this year.  I combined zentangle, gelatin monoprints, and the quotes that get me through the day.  It was such a rewarding experience that I encourage all of you to consider participating.  You can order your sketchbook now and it will be due 1/15/15.  I'm ready to do another one!!