Journey Thoughts

Occasionally I notice a little traffic to this blog, and even more
oftenI feel a tug of my heart to get back to journaling. Oh, I jot
down my thoughts in a plain-jane notebook now and then, but it's
been so long since I embellished a page. Or kept it up as a habit.
So much to do, so little time...

I do post a bit of chit-chat now and then on my other blog,
and I have a list of links there, including some that used to be here.
Links for altered book-related sites and projects and just fun,
interesting stuff...
Maybe I'll see ya there? Or here! I don't know about you, but I'm
all over the place!

Still creating...

I have yet another blog where I'm trying to post occasionally about what I'm working on: TREASUREFIELD ...random plans & projects....
I'll be adding tips there, now and then, and some free photos & ephemera for you to download and print as well.
Thanks for visiting!

New journal, new blog

I decided to start a new journal for the new year and post it to a separate blog called,
Another Journal Journey.
I'm trying a new "canvas" there: a composition notebook with lined paper. I'm missing the text of a regular book, but I know I can let my imagination loose and see what happens!

I think I'll paint.

No altered book covers finished yet... Sometimes I want to start something totally fresh. This is a painting I did on brown paper. I made the frame with chip board. She's for sale in my Etsy Shop. SOLD Thanks!

Full Circle

January 6...
GOOD-BYE... HELLO...
I was thinking about what seems like YESTERDAY --when I decided to start an "art" journal at this time last year. My goal was to keep a record of thoughts/feelings/events for one full year, and also to make a habit of creating something regularly. My journal was the place to do it. What I thought would fit in one book ended up covering three.
Now the year has come full circle and I'm trying to decide where to go from here. Do I keep filling books? spend more time on other creative pursuits? or should I just focus on keeping up with the laundry and yard work??? ;-)
I have plenty of options. Skipping the creativity is not one of them! But in the time it takes me to make a decision, half a year could go by! (That's one of my New Year Resolutions: learn to make decisions! I will say that "forcing" myself to create a journal page has helped with this...)

I made the above page with circles because I was thinking how one year ends and another begins. I wanted to add pictures, but when I found my favorite pen I just began writing (part of the purpose of a journal!) It's good to look back, but the excitement --the Hope-- lies ahead, as Soren Kierkegaard said...
I used green because this is the time of year I start looking forward to Spring. I love how new life springs from the old. I love the way things circle around, but never stay exactly the same. Today, I am NEW!
I hate good-bye's, so I'm happy knowing there's a Hello to follow!
While I decide whether to add to this blog or start a new one, I want the visitors here to know I appreciate your input. I feel like one of the best things to come of this project was the friendships forged, limited though they may be. Because of the comments, emails, and links, I've learned new things and been inspired.
And thank you, Blogger for providing this space!
God bless you all!

Coming soon: the covers of my altered book journals...

The Gift that keeps giving....

December 29...
I know I'm late posting (i.e. finishing) my Christmas spread, and now I wish it weren't all glued down so I could change it. And if only I didn't obsess when I decide I want a certain something on a page. In this case, it was the letter tiles my sister made for me, and they were lost so long I almost gave up. Then I discovered I didn't have P-E-A-C-E to go with L-O-V-E. Oh, well, necessity is the mother of creativity. ;-)
The idea for this spread came from a discussion with my kids about "what makes it feel like Christmas?" I told them how, as a little girl, I didn't feel it was truly Christmas until a lady in our church sang O Holy Night at the evening service. It was as if everything else disappeared except a midnight blue sky full of brilliant stars, this angelic voice, and the Christ child bringing light into a still, cold night.
So... while Christmas is technically over, I still celebrate that most precious of gifts: the One who came as the ultimate sacrifice. With Peace & Love

To Gather Roses in Winter...

December 4....
The focal point of this page was an image of a girl (thank you ART-E-ZINE!) I transferred it to sheet music and, on the opposite page, applied a rose torn from tissue wrap. The rose was so large it became the focal point, but it made a great place to do my journaling. I used a silver gel pen and I love how I can only read it when the page is turned to the light. Frosty glitter on the tag and other spots also catches the light; the scanner just doesn't pick it up. A couple of the buttons are mother-of-pearl and have the same pink, grey & cream tones of the page. These are some of the details that make an altered book page better in real life. Not to mention the texture. So if you haven't created your own altered book journal, let me urge you to do so! When done, you have a real keepsake treasure of your artwork as well as your thoughts.

My Baby Blue

 

My baby turned 11; I can hardly believe it!
The diet book I'm using as my journal had a page of pancake batter recipes -perfect to illustrate our tradition of birthday pancakes for breakfast. (I seem to have different angles of perspective in the stack of pancakes, and a crooked candle, and the colors aren't quite right, but hey, I finished the page! I mixed a gloss varnish with brown acrylic for the syrup, so in person it looks wet and more realistic...)
I wanted to document the day and some of the favorite things of the birthday boy at this time of his life, including the color blue. Baby blue, bright blue, almost any blue makes him happy. And he makes me happy! My sons are two of my greatest, most treasured blessings.

Perspective

November 13...
After finding this little aristocrat in a blue dress, some random thoughts about my week began rattling around in my brain. ...Thoughts about looking at things through the eyes of someone else... So this cute little rich girl has borrowed the eyes of a tsunami victim. Other eyes surround her (us?), available for a different view...
(I used all gold sequins on this page; funny that some of them turned to bright colors when scanned!)
A tiny accordion book holds my thoughts, inserted in the niche, made with a game piece as the cover.

Transformation

October 24...
Another one of my green-y/yellow-y spreads... It's one of those things (like a lot of my other work) that I learn from by looking at the scan. As usual, it's also the kind that just evolves.
I like the subject because it reminds me at once of altered books and of people... altered... changed... transformed... It can be an evolving, unfolding process or it can happen in an instant. But a transformation is different than mere change or being altered. I think the word conveys a deeper experience, something more wonderful. And when we have been transformed, we have a greater desire and better ability to transform things around us.
They say change is good; but transformation is better!

Colorful Fall

October 18...
I was hungry for a little raspberry RED, so I painted this bkgd. and added the viney, leafy things. Decided to finish it up with a pumpkin today, plus the journaling. It's such a colorful time of year with the turning leaves and pumpkins, squash and gourds everywhere.
I found out when I scanned this page that gessoing with a rough brush, and then going over it in the opposite direction with the red paint, made a scritchy-scratchy background which blurred when scanned. In real life, it's nice and texture-y and completely legible.

Tears in the Gulf

October 16...
This spread took me quite some time to get back to, and finish, after all the heartbreaking news of Katrina in August.
I wrote my thoughts on several pages torn between the two shown here.
My husband and I drove to New Orleans around 1987 and much of the route we took was the path of the hurricane's destruction. I couldn't help but wonder what ever happened to the little boy who came out and cleaned our windshield when we first arrived in New Orleans traffic. Or the little boy who spun a bicycle tire in the air for tips in the French Quarter. Were they there? Did they have families? Were they okay? What about the little restaurant called "Mom's" --the only place we could find with good southern grits. Was it flooded? I was glued to TV and radio for days. Still, it took a long time to hear much of the in-depth story. I'm still so sad for all the pain and suffering, loss and devastation... but the stories of triumph I'm hearing today are such a testament to the power of love and compassion!
I hope the people in the Gulf know how much we care!

Inner colors...

August 27...
Just playing around with paint here... And color. :-)
Is it obvious? I love color! Bright colors, soft colors, just COLORS! I think everyone should create something colorful. Very therapeutic.
:-)

Myrtle Beach Days

August 21...
I had a good background going here, inspired by the colors on the last Somerset magazine cover, but I found the little postcard and just had to use it, so this spread didn't turn out elegant like I first intended. (Will have to try the background again some time...) I coated the whole thing with a pearl white metallic paint, and I was surprised how well it took colored pencils.
There was nothing really elegant about the vacation I was documenting either --lots of sweat and frizzy hair, drippy swimsuits and sandy sandals-- but it was relaxing and fun and worth it, even though I was really hard up for art supplies. I always say this, but next time I'll plan ahead a little better!

Listen...

August 5...
I like it when I can make a page that comes together really quickly, like this one. But then... I already had the flowers on the background of gold handmade paper. In fact, I'd had it so long that some of the color from the paper bled into the paper of a flower stem. Of course... the stems and leaves were cut from a magazine, and the background paper is non-acid-free, so I shouldn't be surprised at the discoloration.
I called it "Listen" because I'm learning to listen to that still, quiet Voice that calms my soul.

A date to remember

July 27...
This spread really lost something in the scanning! I used black gesso on the pages, a gel pen to draw the swirls and a stamping of a cherub painting a flower. Then I brushed mica powders over it all, and did my writing, followed by a coat of sealer spray and a (generous) sprinkling of glitter. It's much brighter in person, but I still wish I had those powders shown on Carol Duvall this a.m.!
Even so, the colors are bright enough to make me think of the colorful 26 years I'm celebrating with my husband today! (And yes, I did get married terribly young.)
:-D

Dear Sol

July 24...
How can I journal about anything but the H E A T ??? It seems to consume every ounce of my energy (as if I had any to begin with)! Anything I do or plan must take the heat into consideration. I know I was begging for winter to be over, but this is ridiculous. Not that I'm wishing for the opposite extreme, but couldn't we just have the mild weather?
I cut the sun face from construction paper long ago; loved the pattern! The colors didn't quite match the background, so I doctored it up with paint and crayons.
It wasn't that long ago that I truly disliked those warm colors, but now, even in this heat, I'm crazy about orange. Fickle me! :-)

She'll save seashells from the seashore

July 13...
We only live a couple hours drive from Myrtle Beach, so we used to go often... so often that it feels like home away from home. But in the past few years we've been lucky if we get there once a year. I must have been thinking about our beach plans for next month when I started rummaging through boxes of stuff for this page.
The denim color didn't do much for me. It seemed to want something purple-y. Boy! I seem to be stuck on color themes! And going back through my journal, it's obvious I dream about the ocean quite a lot!