Ozaukee County 2016 Art Show - Blue Ribbon Awarded to My Visual Journal

I won a ribbon at the 2016 Ozaukee County Art Show! This is what the judge, Alice Struck wrote about my journal " I am drawn to this type of continued, creative work. Personal meaning, courage and emotional honesty enrich the textured pages of this hand created book. Its tactile presence is extremely appealing, hinting of mysteries, hopes, secrets and very human ups and downs. This book seems to prove that "art makes life special." It is always special to win a ribbon, and a bonus to read the interpretation of one's work, by an artist you admire, Thank you Alice Struck!

What are You Saying "NO" to in 2016 - Self-Doubt

 I am saying "No" to self-doubt in 2016. I started with two leftover pieces of the driftwood image from my "Word of the Year" journal page. http://kimraenugent.blogspot.com/2016/01/word-of-year-perseverance.html I placed the "Journal Starters" image parts on the upper right and lower left corner of the journal spread. I often find I am more creative when I have less to work with. I mixed a blue color to mimic the blue in the water. I extended the design with paint. Then let drips flow through my self-doubt.

I found the bear in the paint and driftwood image and coaxed him out with colored pencils. The bear is a symbol for confidence.

Your Children - Journal Page

I started with magazine images of a shell, three maple syrup bottles, three turtles, and trees. The color of the images and their interesting forms is what attracted me.

I spent a good deal of time intertwining the images with line work using black and white Sakura jelly roll pens and Elmer's Painters.

"Your Children" was written on the tree magazine page and after looking at the images it seemed appropriate. The turtles are to remind me to take my time and enjoy the process. The cruise ship was part of the shell page. While I'm not interested in going on a cruise I found the image fit with the spread and decided to keep it.

I am disappointed that I didn't remember to take process photos. I really like to look back and see how a page developed.

QUIT SMOKING! DON'T START SMOKING!

I like to explore ideas by using images of unknown people to create scenarios. The unknown images often sparks ideas that I would have never thought to journal otherwise.

I wish that I had photographed the spread before I started painting and drawing over for comparison. In my journaling journey I like to revisit where I came from.

The idea of time "dragging" on and how time could be affected by a "drag" on the cigarette is the scenario I am exploring.

I feel powerless and sad when I see people smoking. Making art gives me some sense of control. 

QUIT SMOKING! DON'T START SMOKING!

Collaged Art Journal Page

I was inspired by a torn paper collage journal page spread by Marie Danti.  I started with this quote "When the uncreative tell the creative what to do, it stops being art". Next I ripped out mostly solid sections from a magazine and glued them down without preplanning. Pieces laid prior helped to guide the next paper I glued down. I didn't have a plan for the subject matter except to draw something in marker loosely. Tony Bennett was the source for the quote so I googled an image for him and liked the pose from his All Time Greatest Hits album.

The drawing isn't as loose as I had first intended.  Since it was an actual person I wanted there to be some resemblance. First I sketched the image in pencil. Next I drew over the pencil lines with marker. Then I painted in shadows with watered down acrylic paint.

I think the random collaged paper gives the spread more of a dynamic energy than I could have planned.

Journal page – Good versus Evil

AN INTERNAL DIALOG FOR CLARITY,
PONDERING THE MERITS OF GOOD VERSUS EVIL.
I was working on a figural assemblage today. I cut a circle out with the face from the photograph. Instead of throwing the faceless photograph away I decided to make a collage in my journal. Not sure which direction I wanted to go I decided to flip through a library discard book for another face to replace the missing one. Instead the picture of two men, one wearing white, the other black caught my eye. I immediately though of good vs evil. I originally had them placed behind the head opening so that their heads were representational of eyes. In my excitement to glue the pieces down this idea escaped me until seeing the collage on this blog.
Looking at a photograph of your ART is often a good way to see it with fresh eyes.
I decided my figure needed arms. I found a pair but discarded them in favor of the ones pictured. I found these arms when I was looking for the legs. The arms holding glasses further added to the theme I was developing.
I had not intended to work on a collage today but working in my journal to make something for myself was freeing.
Pondering the merits of good versus evil on this Memorial Day!

Adam’s Apple

 

More fruition from the cabin retreat. This collaged journal page is title “Adam’s Apple”. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions…

July Sketchbook Challenge – Circles

 

I know, I know, I didn’t work on this page in my journal until October, and I am not posting it on this blog until November…but I did finish it!  Well almost, if you look closely I don’t have the month written in because I was unplugged from the world at the cabin and couldn’t look it up. I only knew that one of the theme’s was circles. There, I just finished it    J   U   L   Y.

Wow, and now that I look at it here, there is some powerful symbolism tied to the cabin and my Dad that I didn’t consciously place. I often find that if I photograph my work, I see it from a different perspective.

What I was thinking about, while creating this piece, was of course the theme circles and developing a color palette that I like. I consciously thought about adding some straight lines to balance the curved ones and their placement. Incorporating collage was also one of my goals.

For some reason I really like how the one torn edge of the collage paper looks. Perhaps because it is different or maybe because the page itself has torn edges.

I don’t usually work in abstract, but I find working in other styles helps to make my art stronger all around.

Fortune Cookie Inspired Journal Page – Seahorse

My journal page from yesterday 7–1-2012. I just notice that I dated it July 31, hmmm….

A fortune cookie was the inspiration for this journal page.

The fortune cookie reads You will soon be crossing warm waters for a fun vacation. I looked in an old atlas for a place that had "warm waters". The coast of California looked like a "fun" place that I would like to "vacation". I collaged a portion of the coast of California with the claim ticket and fortunes from my take-out meal. The next challenge for me was to decide what to draw. My first thought was a turtle but I couldn't find a picture in my picture file that I liked. Since I wanted to sketch outside I didn't want to use my computer for a reference.

A picture of a seahorse caught my eye. In the description it said that they live in "warm waters". I used colored pencils to draw the Seahorse. I like colored pencils for collage work because you can vary the amount of imagery (In this case a map) that you allow to show through. The armour plates covering the Seahorse’s body was difficult to replicate. Then I painted a wash of raw umber and pthalo blue Golden Fluid Acrylics.

Now that I see the above journal page posted, I feel that I need to go back and add some more journaling and finishing touches.

Finished journal page below!

Collaged Journal Page

 

I made this collaged journal page at the cabin yesterday. It was a near perfect day except for the ticks that I found crawling on me. So I drew them on this character’s face. You can click on the picture to enlarge it and see more of the detail. I really was able to lose myself in the process once I gave up on preconceived expectations.

FrAgMENteD Journal Continued

A continuation of my FrAgMENteD Journal. It's interesting how the drawn parts look larger than the photograph parts. I traced them, so they are the same. I also liked the collage on the left better versus the right. Actually, I am not sure which collage I prefer. Which one do you like best?

For those of you who read my journal pages, my husband Mark is doing fine. It was surgery for carpal tunnel, Lateral epicondylitis, also known as tennis elbow and Medial epicondylitis, also known as golfers elbow.

January Sketchbook Challenge – Doodling

I am a bit behind on my sketchbook challenge posts. January’s challenge was “doodling” and it is already March.

As you can see from the dates on my journal pages I did complete these in January. I used the paint from my prize winnings from the December Sketchbook Challenge. More information from that post here. I am quite happy with the selection of Luminarte Radiant Rain colors that I received.

I admit that I haven’t even started to work on the February theme, but I did put it on my to do list. I’m looking forward to trying the twinkling H20’s shimmering watercolors next.

I like the contrast in the first doodle more than the wash of colors in the second one. It’s my journal, experimentation rather than perfection is the goal.

Art Journal Page

The quote inspired the drawing of the man. Colored pencil over an acrylic wash. I liked the design of the postage stamp and thought it's color and pattern complimented my layout.

"And in that line was a whiskered old man, with a linen cap and a crooked nose, who waited...to share his part in the secret of Heaven; that each affects the other and the other affects the next, and the world is full of stories, but the stories are all one." Mitch Albom
The Five People You Meet in Heaven

December Sketchbook Challenge

The theme for the December Sketchbook Challenge is "Trashed, ruined and decay". Not a real strong tie to the theme for me other than the stamps I saved from being trashed.

Keep Your Eye on the Prize is my title for this art journal page. I worked the design by drawing the image of a trophy over the face of my daughter Brook. I painted around the trophy with gesso trying to maintain a balance between the trophy standing out without covering the image of my daughter entirely. To further support the theme, I inserted a blue ribbon into a slit that I cut in the page. The writing chronicles some of the recent wins showing dogs that my daughter has accomplished.

Project 9 for - Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed Media Mapmaking

This is one of the projects that I have done from Jill K. Berry's book - Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed Media Mapmaking. I am fortunate to also be a contributing artist for Jill's book. (I won't be posting my art that is included in her book on my blog). The project from her book is called Pop-up Memory Map.

I am interested in totem animals. On May 20 on our way home from the cabin Mark and I seen these animals cross the road in front of us in the order indicated on the map. I looked up the meaning on the internet for each of these animals and included that on my map.

After some time away from the map and looking at it with fresh eyes I realize that these animals represent the stages in my married life:
Rabbit - Ability to procreate, fleetness and movement by leaps. This certainly describes the first years of my marriage. I had three children within four years of my marriage. We went from renting an old farmhouse to an apartment to our starter home ...
Deer - a new innocence and freshness is about to be awakened - Getting to know my husband and children and what I am capable of doing.
Squirrel - Balance within the circle of gathering and giving out - This certainly describes what being mother and raising her children is all about.
Snapping Turtle - Honor the creative source within, longevity, ability to grasp opportunities. Now that my children are all grown up and out of the house this is what I need to work on. And Mark, sorry for snapping! (It's just a phase I'm going through).

What if I had seen the snapping turtle first in my married life?

The process of creating art is like that for me, it heightens my personal awareness. Jill's book is a wonderful way to jump start your creative journey!

Project 11 for - Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed Media Mapmaking

This is one of the projects that I have done from Jill K. Berry's book - Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed Media Mapmaking. I am fortunate to also be a contributing artist for Jill's book. (I won't be posting my art that is included in her book on my blog). The project from her book is called The Right Place at the Right Time. While mapping out our pets, my family and I enjoyed reminiscing about all of the animals that have lived at our place. Creating this map provided a nice trip down memory lane!

I decided to map out the pets that we have had since living in our present house. It was always a dream of mine to live on a hobby farm. The gold colored shed is the first shed that we had. We actually moved it from our previous house which is less than 1 mile away. This shed housed 1 chicken, 2 cats and six goats. With our expanding herd of goats we built the gray pole shed. The increase in shed size led to an even greater increase in goat herd size! The most pets we have had at one time including house pets was 25. This was when my kids were younger and lived at home so was the "right time" to have many pets. Three of the goats were rehomed but I found that I didn't have the heart to break up anymore goat families after that. All of the rest of the pets have lived out their lives here. I think that it is important that if you buy a pet or are responsible for bringing them into the world that you should look out for their welfare until they pass on. This month our last goat passed on. I am sad!

My hobby farm is currently composed of one of the original cats and the original chicken. They are both 16 years old. I'm not sure what my dream is now! The current plan is we are done with outside animals for now. We also have 4 boston terriers who are house dogs. They don't even like to venture outside in the Winter!

Next I want to map the pets I had as a child and the houses we lived in prior to this one.

Thanksgiving Art Journal Entry

My journal entry after getting together with family for Thanksgiving. I drew a robin rather than a turkey. I must be thinking about Spring...

Art Journal Page - Andy Warhol Quote

I found this Andy Warhol Quote:

Don’t think about making art…just get it done…let everybody else say whether its good or not…and while they’re deciding…keep making more art.

I found this quote to be so relevant to my creative journey that I have placed it at the top of my side bar.

My first idea was to find a picture from the Shaker book that I have, illustrating someone making art. These two ladies fit the bill. In serendipitous journaling behavior I found Andy Warhol’s famous Campbell Soup Can art in the American Craft magazine that I have been collaging from. This art was the inspiration for my tomato red color. I don’t use the color red very often so this was leading me out of my comfort zone. I like the combination of red coral and turquois in jewelry and decided to play with these colors together on my journal page. While flipping through the magazine later, looking for more inspiration, I found the tiny Campbell Soup Can image. An "M" with a brush caught my eye because of the color. After tearing the "M" out of the magazine I found it upside down on my table and seen a “W”, for Warhol. I admire the craftmanship of the Shakers but decided to “shake” things up a bit and add some bright colors and quirky designs to their clothes and décor.

Art Journals

 

My art journals that I have gathered together so far. Why am I compelled to record my thoughts, ideas and artistic journey?

FRagMENteD Journal page

 

A continuation of artistic exploration and discovery.