2nd week in 30 in my journal

2nd week of 30 in my journal

Second Week working in my art journal

To say that I am loving this experience does not begin to describe how much I am enjoying this class.  First of all I love to watch Julie Balzer's videos, I love to hear her talk while she is doing her art, the way she will express different things, her Ta-Da moments.  To me she is one of the most laid back people I have ever seen, I would love to meet her one day.  She gets the point across that there are no wrong ways to do this, if you get paint on or off, it does not matter, it will just flow.
The first two page spread I did not have any problems, enjoyed each entry, even found myself wishing we were spending more time "together".  Then when we started the next two page spread that is when I hit the wall.  OMG, I did not create mud I created something that I called brain matter, all ugly gray.  I wanted to cry, I was using a water proof ink pad but for some reason it was bleeding into my spray.  I would dry the page and add more spray but that did not help at all.  So I gesso the page all over again and started again, the black still would come thru, so my two page spread is like murky water.  I had to get up and walk out of the room I was so upset.  Talking to myself, I kept saying there is no right or wrong, make it work.  So after taking a break and talking, I went back to the journal and took a hard look at what I had to work with and decided to make it an underwater page!  Works for me.  You be the judge.

30 Days In Your Journal

So today is day two and so far so good, I can and will do this.  I have kept a journal for years now I am just going to add color.

30 Days in Your Art Journal

I have signed up for an on line class "30 Days in Your Art Journal" taught by Julie Balzer and I am so excited about the whole thing!  I have been playing around in a journal now for about a month and I love everything about this type of art/journaling.
It is no secret that I have wanted to be an artist for as long as I can remember.  But it just never worked out for me, I don't have that God given talent that so many people have.  I love to work with color so my outlet has always been making quilt tops, then I started scrap-booking several years ago and I love to play with the paper, I get into the flow and the day melts away.
I now have an assortment of different types of paint for water-coloring, water color crayons, oil crayons, acrylic paints, pan pastels, the list goes on and on.  I have watched videos and then I run to my room and try the same technique, just to see if I can get some what close to what I have seen.  I keep telling myself that you can not fail at this type of art, there are NO mistakes!  I do tend to over think the whole process so I am having to learn more than how to apply paint to a piece of paper.
With art journaling, you add layer on top of layer to get the effect that you find right, I start out and the first layer, I'm like I like this, I don't want to cover it up, so I have to make myself add more.  That is why I am so excited about this class, I am in hopes to learn more, and worry less, to have fun and I hope to gain some confidence in the whole process.  I love Julie Balzer's videos and her whole attitude about this type of art.  She is just the coolest!
I am going to try and keep a record of my attempts in this class, wish me luck!!!

she is.............................

Flow

Have you ever gotten so involved into something that you loose track of time and space?  You are so into what you are doing that nothing seems to be more important than what is in front of you?  That is what is called "flow" and that is how I am with scrap booking, I loose track of time, the day just seems to melt away.  When I read a book or work on a quilt top the day just seems to have fewer hours.  I love to get into what ever I'm doing that way.  I know that when I look up and the clock has moved forward hours when it seems like it should only be minutes that I have been in this zone where I am doing some thing that I love.

Growing up I dreamed of being an artist, then when I took art in school I realized that I did not have the talent necessary to be able to draw or paint, and I feel that you either have it or you don't, I don't feel that you can "learn" how to draw a face or paint a landscape. My son is an artist, not your typical artist, he has this knack of creating layers on top of layers of color and shapes that are just magic to me.  In some of his work you can see something new in them just about every time you look at one.  Most of the time he will have fish and birds in them, but they may not be so clear to see at first.

Then there is my niece Amy who is so talented in every medium, the year that she gave me two pieces of her art work of my children, well they are two of the most treasured gifts I have ever received.  She had use photos of Summer and Jason and did one in water colors and the other in pastels.  A few years later she gave me one of my son Joseph, it is called "Blue Bubba" and it is done with either oil or acrylic and it is amazing! 

Johnny's niece Page is also an artist, I am lucky enough to have one of her originals of a street in Spain that she did while living there.  She teaches different methods of art in N. C. and has her work in several galleries.

While not able to do my art work with a paint brush, pen or pencil, I wanted to work with color and I  found that making quilt tops gave me that outlet.  I do quilt but my first love is the design and colors of the top.  I prefer the Amish quilts, like to use black as a main color which make the other colors pop.  I attended a quilt show of Amish quilts and they work is amazing!

Then I found scrap booking and I love to spend my time creating a layout, writing about a memory, thinking that one day when I'm no longer here, my children and grand children will look at them and enjoy my take on life.

Everyone needs an outlet to find their flow, my daughter's is in running, she lives to get out there and run.  I'm sure it makes her feel just like I do when I'm scrappin.  If you don't have that special thing I hope that you find it.  It will take you away from everything but that one thing and it's a break from all of the worldly things that we have to deal with on a day to day basis.  Find your flow..........................

Jason

Jason, a photo by Kat Layton on Flickr.

Jason @ 10 during one of our trips to Kingsport over the 4th of July. You were such a wonderful young man and a great big brother. Full of wonder and all of the possibilities that life had to offer.