I have been beguiled by the existence of Art Journals lately. So beguiled, in fact, that I have spend several hours watching tutorials and looking at pages that other people have shared. So beguiled that I went to the big city and bought a bunch of materials, and have begun playing in my own journal.
I’m not sure that I am a “paint” person. It seems like all these folks are painting their pages with great abandon, and paint as a medium frustrates me. But I am experimenting with it anyway. I may stop using it altogether, but for now I think I must fool around with it enough to feel comfortable with it before I reject it out of hand.
Anyway, here are two pages that I made this week. Both of them were intended to be full width spreads incorporating both sides of the journal. This has brought me to the realization that the next journal I buy will not be a spiral bound one as the spiral tends to cramp the flow of imagery for me; a throwback to the days when you were supposed to “stay in the lines” when you were coloring.
So here is the first one I did. It goes with this poem, which I wrote a while ago and which I am not certain I am finished with.
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Dances with Sheets
On a gale-y day
I hang wet sheets to dry under the arms of the spiral galaxy
The wind seduces me with an invitation to the Universal Dance
Lilac permeates the gust that fills the billowing lengths of cotton whipping in the wind
My fingers cling to the fabric, challenged by the power of the atmosphere tugging me East
I watch energies
Trapped in the web
Tear free and ride the west wind streaming shrapnel sparks behind them
illness
a broken dream
four fast weddings rued
sudden death
Wind chimes chatter clatter rattle
Plum trees toss in silent waves in the background
The next sheet blows to life in my hads
Animated by the winds
Another ghost rides the cosmic wind into the dust the permeates the world
We are the comets
We breath their atoms
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When I stepped back from this page (these pages?) I discovered my Gemini nature had asserted myself. A clear dichotomy shows up in this spread even though it was supposed to flow from left to right. Perhaps my left-brain/right-brain war is evident here.
The second image was inspired by the dog walks through the woods at dawn, when the air is laden with hundreds of bird calls. As I walk the path I find myself walking through invisible patches of scent wafting along in the morning breeze, coming from the spring flowers blooming — calling all pollinators.
I like this image better in person. The glitter on the pieces of bird songs does not come across on the computer.
So, I wonder what will occur to me next?
I turn the page. . . it is blank. . . for now. . .
Great pages! I really like both of them.
It helps me if I paint the pages first – no white space to intimidate me.
I need better paper so I can paint my pages. I went to your blog and saw how you dealt with the art journal creation, and I like the individual pages bound together later. I may do that the next time — I’m such a tightwad there is no way I am going to discard this journal. I’m sure dealing with the spiral in the middle will teach me things. . .
Cool…..
you are absolutely right! this would be the best possible form of note-taking in meetings, as i couldn’t possibly be quoted! love the second one – can almost smell ‘wet dog’…
So industrious! I like the feel of the second one.
Me too, especially in person. Glitter loses a lot in photographs.
I much prefer the second one
Me too, the other one did not turn out the way I thought it would. I may try it again.
The second one contains an element that today I realized from my observations is not quite right. I’m going to do it again in another format with different techniques. It’ll be like when Monet painted the Waterloo and Charing Cross bridges or the Houses of Parliament or Rouen Cathedral or Waterlilies in all kinds of lights — a series.
i like the first one more..you’re creative!! happy weekend!
Gorgeous! I particularly like the warm, natural colours and forms of the second one. It is truly full of life.
But yes, if you’re using water-based paints you’ll need paper that won’t cockle. Maybe you could paint on separate sheets (ideally stretched on a board) and then paste them in when they’re dry?
Now, what with this post and David’s recent post about his audition, I’m feeling inspired to start drawing again myself. Thank you!
Well. Draw, draw draw! I can’t tell you how wonderful it has been to actually allow myself to do some art. It is so “opening”
I like the first one best. I know what you mean by “allowing” yourself to do some art. I’m still too scared.
Well, get some crayons and start coloring, then. This is a wonderful way to “do art” and somehow when you are using such a “childish” medium it loses some of the pressure.
With the poem I can see where the first is coming from, but in the second one I am walking with you thru the dawn …
The crystalline shining dawn spangled with bird song