A Shared Project

My friend and I are each working in our own journal and sharing the results at our weekly lunch therapy (where we eat at the same restaurant and take up way too much time at the table but they know us so it’s okay.)

That’s one of the four pages I did – it’s filler – on a page that would have otherwise been orphaned. I didn’t want to write “This page intentionally left blank” on it because that doesn’t say much about my abilities. It’s a theme I visit often – ribbons.

The Black Box

You all know from the last post how determined I was to have a box to hold my supplies. So I made one. Now, I’m starting to decorate it and have painted the outside flat black.

I was standing in my work room with a bottle of gesso in one hand and a bottle of black paint in the other wondering what the box needed. The gesso would have been a more sensible choice for durability but the black won for depth and mystery.

Passage

The theme for this week is “passage.” It’s a word that carries many shades of meaning as I found out when I started working with it. It can also mean “entrance” as in the way into something but I read it as “en-trance” as in to delight or captivate.

My first attempt was a collage that was wholly unsatisfying. So, I did another page with the exact same information and was much happier. The difference was the white of the paper was an element in the version that pleased me. So, I’ve learned something about making my own art that I suspected but hadn’t yet confirmed.

Opposites Attract?

It didn’t elude me that I wanted the box to have a black ground and the pages to have a white ground. It should be interesting to see what comes of that!

Are You Coming Along?

If you’re art journaling along, leave a comment and let us in on it! The next theme is perception.

Administrivia!

If you’re reading this in an email, thank you! As I’ve been sorting through my creative selves, it’s become obvious that my art and pattern design needs its own separate home here at MonetteSattefield.com. If you’re subscribed to receive email notices of posts about art and the creative life, that’s exactly what you’ll get on the same semi infrequent basis as always.

For those of you who signed up for business writing, that’s now over at Shiny Designs.com (with an all new eye-popping design with a pink rabbit) so please head on over there and sign up. I hope you’ll stay with me here too because it all comes from the same creative well.

Create for Yourself

How long has it been since you made art just for yourself? For some of us, the answer is too long. My friend from Wholly Piecemeal mentioned this book: Raw Art Journaling.

I haven’t seen it yet but she proposed we each start a Raw Art Journal. The basic idea is that we’ll each work in our own journal and share the results at our weekly lunch therapy. (We meet once a week and talk about all kinds of things but mostly laugh.)

You Know What you Should Do

For a while now I’ve been telling my friend how much she needs a box to corral her supplies. Well, beware of folks telling you what you need or should do – it probably has more to do with what they want!

From Trash to Treasure

Turns out, I’m the one who needed the box. Before I started the journal, I ran across this old shoebox in my craft closet  and before I even knew what hit me, crafting 101 (you know, glue, tape foam board, paper and scissors) was in full swing and I had made this art box including the tray.

The inside is unfinished and I’ll eventually cover the outside with something more decorative but I like the idea of letting it evolve with the journal.

It holds my supplies and has plenty of room for stuff I don’t know I need yet.

Ready and Waiting

That’s the empty journal – it’s a Strathmore mixed media journal; just like this one:

Our first theme/idea to journal in any way we choose is Beginning or Threshold. To keep in the spirit of art just for yourself, I don’t plan on posting the actual pages but will post on the process. Oh, and let’s not forget the evolution of the box!

Come Join Us

Why don’t you come along? Start by leaving a comment and tell us about your journal and your art.

This is the first sketch of an idea and it turned out the best. That seems to happen a lot for me. The sketch, even if it’s very rough, is often more interesting than a more refined version.

It’s a pencil drawing with three colors of Prismacolor colored pencils laid in for the value and color mapping. I used an ellipse template for the labels and hand lettered them. You can see where the colored pencils don’t quite line up with the graphite. Oh well, I like this one, so here it is.

In this little vignette, the magic stuff is in the smallest container because it’s magic and doesn’t have to be large to be powerful. The silly stuff is in the largest bottle because silly things are overblown and too big for their britches. The shiny stuff is in the middle because it’s just right. Also, it’s the one closest to the front and I wanted it to be the most important. Because we all know shiny stuff is the most important stuff, right?

I’ll be dipping into these jars and sharing what I find with you in all the different sections of the new Shiny Designs. Why don’t you come along for the magic?

If you don’t want to miss a shiny moment, go ahead and sign up to get updates and extras by email. I promise not to overwhelm you with posts (because I don’t post that often) or too much other stuff and I pinkie swear not to do anything ugly with your email address.