My Studio Mess is Legit!

(Aka: My Three Ways of Art Journaling)

My studio table is a hot mess! It’s not just because I have a plethora of wacko supplies–obviously paint, brushes, water — but also Gramma’s antique sewing patterns, string soaking in tea, packing tape and a heavy duty dispenser…

No, my studio mess is mostly because I juggle several journals at once — kind of like how in the business world one might have several clients or projects going on at once. These different journals help keep me fresh while working different skill sets. Totally legit!

I have:

1. (Regular) Art Journals — for creative, exploratory and emotional freedom
2. Way finding Journals –simple; more visual, using things I collect along the way
3.  Gina Rossi Armfield’s No Excuses daily art journal — my daily nudge to do anything

My mom, artist Karel Cline, made this journal for me!

1. My regular Art journals (above) are where I work out; where I get my “Ya-Ya’s” out. I let myself work ugly, pretty, frilly, drippy, dark, detailed, muddy, free. I used to hurry and bang these pages out in 20-30 minutes, now they go on for days!

My latest Wayfinding Journal.

Washi tape, an envelope for secrets, cut-outs from magazines, and postcards in my Wayfinding Journal.

 

2. Wayfinding Journals (above) are my journaling records of how I go along my way… Greeting cards, ticket stubs, quotes, stickers, photographs, magazine cut-outs all go in here. I let them be fun and aesthetically pleasing, kind-of like a funky, creative modern-day scrapbook. I adorn those pages with washi tape, stencils, dots, lines, words.

Way finding Journals are what I teach children (at Makers Mess!) and adults, giving them a safe and super affordable place to play and experiment. (Check out more class info here!) Students use these not only as portable time capsules (i.e., covering the year of 2015 or a special vacation), but also for gifts (birthday, anniversary, graduation, baby).

NO EXCUSES Journal 2016!

 

3. My No Excuses day planner journal (above) helps me remember the who, what, where, and when of the year. Gina Rossi Armfield is genius in her creation of this project! There are no judgements. It doesn’t have to be pretty. It just IS. When I’m really stuck, that’s where I go. Just to get something on the page!

Sometimes all three crash in a hot mess~ sometimes it almost looks civilized. But it is all legit!

What’s Your Word?

Happy 2016!!

I’m setting my intentions for the new year. A couple of years ago, I adopted a word for the year and although sometimes the word morphs half-way through the year, it really seems to work much better for me than writing down resolutions.

Last year’s word ended up being “BRAVE” — it really helped — especially moving cross-country!

This year, it’s all about “SHARE”. Share space, share stories, share light. There is so much happening in the world that hurts my heart — immigration woes, racial, religious, and sexual injustices, ineffectual weapon control, and our country’s serious lack of mental health care. And there are personal aches — witnessing dear friends’ pain and break-ups, hearing about (and knowing my own) financial trials, burrowing new relationship paths and boundaries. Awareness has opened me up — not closed me down — and begged me to listen more, offer more, and share.

In case you need it: (I did.)

(You Have Permission!)

We don’t have to go it alone.

We are all connected.

We all have inherent worth and value.

 

With that in mind, I want to start off the new year by sharing:

• Read: “YOU are a BADASS” by Jen Sincero (huge thanks to Stacy Pickerell DiCristofaro for recommending it!)
• Try: Gina Rossi Armfield’s “No Excuses Art Journaling” year-long journal project!!!!
  

  (My “No Excuses” journal from 2015)

  Really. It is super easy to do. Go at your own pace; it doesn’t take much time. It has helped me just. keep. going. Plus, on her site right now, she’s offering free video classes!

• Listen: to the best creative life permission slip ever: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. I don’t care if you’re an artist, a mother, an accountant. DO IT. (Btw, if you are an accountant, know an accountant, or just wanna hear a great story about the sweetestmostloving accountant ever, listen to Rob Bell’s great podcast with Elizabeth Gilbert — it’s #21 on his site.)
• Take: Art Journaling Class for ‘Tweens and Teens!!
  

  (We’ll make and start to fill these!)

  January 24, 12:00 noon at Maker’s Mess in Silverlake, CA. (NOTE: Date was just changed from January 9 to the 24!)

• Shop: “Pay What You Can” for my prints at arts and crafts fairs. I tried offering PWYC last fall on my Etsy site, but the site didn’t support it, so I offered it in person at shows, and that rocked! Thank you!! I vow to continue sharing that pricing in person for 2016! If you see something you want, let me know and let’s make a deal!
• Grateful: As always, I give thanks for you. Yes, you. Loudly and proudly. Your support — in person and on-line — has been incredible to me. I am deeply, humbly grateful. Thank you.

Happy 2016!!

Getting My Craft Fair On in Hollywood!

Banner by moi!

I am all fired up for tomorrow’s craft fair in HOLLYWOOD! My old stomping grounds! Five years ago I lived & loved there, me, my Mister, and our rambunctious little boy.. We were just starting our family and I was just starting my journey as an artist. I never thought it’d become my reality. But it is! I’m an artist. A thriving, surviving artist!

Tomorrow, I’ll be selling some of my new works…

Like “4 Square Stitch” mounted on wood

“be you” on wood

“Green Lotus”, also mounted

I’m also selling some gicleé prints for “PAY WHAT YOU CAN” pricing, my way of connecting more. I was deeply moved and inspired by Amanda Palmer and her book: The Art of Asking. We all have a story to share:

{ I am a thriving artist who wants to share her work! }

What’s your story? In exchange for the pay-what-you-can prices on prints, I ask that you tell me about you. Where or how will you use my art? Is it a gift? Are you an artist yourself? Are you connected to the art journaling world? Share your story with me, and pay what you can.

Masks We Wear

Lady of the Lake

Foster Your Truth

Village Holiday Arts & Crafts Fair: The Village Green, 2700 N. Beachwood Drive, Hollywood, CA, from 10:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. (The flyer says until 6:00 p.m., but as the sun going down, we’ll be heading out.) Beside shopping all the local, independent vendors, there’s fun craft tables and entertainment, too!

Beachwood Canyon Craft Fair

See you there!

How About This for a Great Gift Idea?

It’s only November. I have a friend who is already finished with her Christmas shopping. FINISHED. (Rude.) I just started.

But I started with an “Ah ha!”

I went to a small local craft fair to “do research,” I told my son, for the craft fairs I’m selling at next week. (Really? I just love craft fairs!)

Ceramic owls with air plants, by Happy Los Angeles.

I bribed him with lemonade and a seat in the shade, then I set off in the warm California sunshine. Ceramics, jewelry, and macrame — oh my! Gorgeous, hand-created, sweet items, perfect for my Christmas list. Things people will like, surely, but also things people need: shaving cream, candles, earrings (we all neeeeeeeed pretty things!)

Hand painted henna on stained wood, MKConnections.

As my son and I walked out half an hour later, I felt so good! I had connected with a friend from Craftcation. I’d met up with an entrepreneurial woman who just opened Makers Mess, an art studio — and she needs teachers for teens! (Hello, let me introduce myself!) I met an young Indian woman who painted stunning henna on colored wood and jars. Christmas shopping started!

Cotton and Flax mini-notebooks!

I got to thinkin’… of course, we’re all buying presents for the holidays. My family is fortunate, so we try to gift through others — by donating to Heifer International, Fabretto, local schools and families in need.

But it dawned on me, almost every family I know has been under a lot of financial pressure these past few years, mine included. I quit modeling and acting a few years ago to be a stay-at-home mom and artist. Neither help pay the rent, but I feel good and know I’m doing what is best for our family right now. But if we all buy local* — from craft fairs, flea markets, Etsy shops, holiday church bazaars — we can financially support our neighbors, build stronger communities.

I know *buying local* is not a novel idea, but the good it does runs deep: the “feel good!” we get by going to an arts and crafts fair, the chance to meet old and new friends, find useful, handmade gifts, support our local makers, and to financially boost our friends and larger community. That’s a great gift idea all around!

*Make sure to check out these other great artist’s shops — Dani Paquin’s Agapantha , Tracey Clem’s Etsy shop, Donna Marie’s PeaceLoveNCrossbones, and Jonathan Castro’s Jonathan Castro Designs. (My photos didn’t do their jewelry and ceramics justice!)

*************

To kick off my holiday season, I’ll be here this weekend:

Mosaic Craft Fair, Alhambra

Silverlake Flea Market, Silverlake

And in December:

Silverlake Flea (again)

Beachwood Canyon

They’re Second Prints! (not just rub-offs)

 

This is a second print — okay, really, it’s just what I rubbed off from this fantastic graffiti-like stencil I got this summer from Stencil Girl. I was in Houston at the scrapbooking convention. Not much for scrapbooking, I signed up instead for a full day of classes with Mary Beth from Stencil Girl, Dina Wakly, Julie Balzer, and Natalie Kalbach. We were not only generously given loads of freebies, but also tons of information and techniques!

This is another second print from a flower stencil. I put sprays and textures down before I rubbed through the paint. Love the rainy, washed-out effect.

This piece was finished with another second print from the same Mary Beth stencil (from the first photo). It’s called the “MB Makes Marker Stencil“. See the graffiti-like black marks and lines? That’s not me. That’s just my rubbing-off some of Stencil Girl’s goodness.

I Wish.

“Every time I think of climbing trees 
I think of always looking toward the sky
 and I never even imagine
 the possibility of falling.”

“Who knows?”

Staying the same, getting comfortable, being content freaks the hell outta me.

I wish I could relax more. I wish I could stay in the moment. I wish I could be comfortable.

I wish. I wish. I wish.

 

Reserve your space now! with Nixie Sparrow for this weekend’s “Branching Out” workshop! You’ll stretch out of your comfort zone and allow yourself to grow!

Come Play with Me ~ Branch Out!

Branch Out with me!

I’m teaching at the adorable creative space, Nixie Sparrow, in Beacon, NY, Saturday, May 9; 12:00 noon. It’s going to be a whopping good time — creative, community, and art stuff!

In this 2-3 hour workshop, we’ll use art materials to explore how we are “Branching Out” in our lives — whether we are budding out in spring fever, nesting with little ones, or pruning off what no longer serves us.

First, I’ll guide you through simple journal prompts. Then, you’ll create abstract backgrounds,  layering on paint and paper, images, colors, marks, and descriptive words.

No experience necessary! Mistakes are encouraged!

You’ll love creating your pages, learn basic elements of collage, and find easy, take-home techniques!

DATE: SATURDAY, May 9, 2015

TIME: 12:00 PM (approx. 2-3 hours)

LOCATION: Nixie Sparrow, 291 Main Street, Beacon, NY 12508; phone: (845) 202-7011

COST: $45 per person

RSVP recommended:

phone: (845) 202-7011

email: nixiesparrow@gmail.com

*Please call in advance to be sure class is not full if walking in
*Must cancel within 48 hours of class in order to receive refund

$5 BEER / $ 6 WINE / $6 MIMOSAS / $3 DRINK MORE GOOD SODAS available

(Must be 21+ to consume alcohol)

INCLUDES:

All materials — beside journal — provided. You will leave this fun afternoon with at least 2 expressive art journal pages (i.e. at least one double page spread), plus several easy-to-remember art journaling techniques you can take home to explore!

ATTENDEES – PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING : Sketchbook, art journal, notebook, or old book to repurpose. Any photographs, photocopies, magazine images, text, or ephemera they want (not necessary, but it can be fun to include personal items).

It’s a Big Deal

I like a good challenge. I really do. It keeps me feeling awake and alive. Last week, the insanely talented Marianne Morris challenged me to share my art journaling on Facebook for 5 days, I thought “No Big Deal! I share all the time.” But I decided to really step up and challenge myself: no picking and choosing my prettiest or coolest pieces. Just share what’s happening right now. No Big Deal.

So I shared my daily art journaling. For four days, I showed my day-to-day boringness and my works in progress that probably won’t ever get past some pretty awkward stages.

Then I got hung up on something. Emotionally. And I knew I had to journal about it. And then I had to share it. It came from this little blurb I read in TheSkimm January 29:

“Sexual assaults on college campuses. Again. Yesterday, a former Stanford University student and swimmer was charged with raping an unconscious woman. The attack allegedly occurred outside and on campus grounds earlier this month. Two bikers riding by reportedly saw what was happening, stopped the student – a 19-year-old male – and restrained him until police arrived. Meanwhile, in other news you wish didn’t exist, earlier this week two former Vanderbilt University football players were convicted of raping an unconscious woman in 2013. Even though the victim has no memory of the attack, Cory Batey and Brandon Vandenburg were convicted thanks to photos and video Vandenburg had on his phone. Two other suspects, also former football players at the school, are facing similar charges.”

I just kept thinking, “That’s not okay. That’s not okay.”

The horrific violation of sexually assaulting someone is NOT OKAY.

I’m not a great writer or researcher. I’m not well versed in the statistics that tell appalling numbers. But I will say, I have my own stories, my own horrible experiences. I wish they didn’t happen. But they did. And it wasn’t okay.

I won’t share the gory details here. No names. I will simply say, bad things happened to me. And to the thousands and thousands of people who have their own terrible memories of being sexually assaulted and/or raped, I am so sorry. If you want to have a conversation, we can; I will. Because secrets steal power and make nightmares and fester disease, depression, and horrible self-hatred. Talking empowers and heals.

It’s a Big Deal.

This is the left half.

This is the right half.

I can share my art journaling. I can stand up to the challenge. I can have the conversation. It’s a Big Deal.

I’ve Been Away from Myself

I’ve been away from myself. Tending to others. Felt good to be needed. But I needed myself too.

Sometimes when I come back, I’m flying. It’s like all these colors and shapes have been crashing around inside me and they come tumbling out.

And then, once they’re out, I can breathe again.

 

We All Need a Night Out!

Wayfinding Journals x 3

Not everyone loves art journaling as much as I do — I get it! But we all love and need a night out:  we all need to vent, hang, laugh with others.

October marked our first Ladies Night!{Ladies only} monthly art class at the Plaster Palace, 2005 Palmer Avenue, Larchmont.

So come play! {Ladies only} Art Class every month at Plaster Palace Pottery, 2005 Palmer Avenue, Larchmont.

A Wayfinding Journals’ beginning.

We’ll create our own Wayfinding Journals — journals that help us mark our lives as we go along the way. They’re super simple booklets that hold photos (that we actually print out!), movie stubs, greeting cards, pictures from magazines, even some kids’ art. Each month we’ll go a little further, making pages more personal, more meaningful.

Remembering to breathe

The next one is Thursday, November 6, from 7:00-9:00 p.m. Just $10 at the door includes art supplies and M&M’s. Spread the word! Bring your friends, your tea, or a bottle of wine.

But remember to reserve your space with me ‘cuz space is limited — and I know you need that night out!