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.

Strange Word of the Year - LUMINARY

Journal 52 Week #1 alternate prompt - "Strange Word of the Year 2016" I was looking for a word that I didn't know the meaning for this prompt. While I was familiar with a luminary as a light I had not heard this definition - One who is an inspiration to others; one who attained success in a chosen field. I hope to be a LUMINARY to others!

I started by cropping a "Journal Starters" image to fit in my journal. I added a vertical piece for design interest. I like write in various spaces following the shape of the photograph. I chose a crow for contrast and as the messenger.

Word of the Year - PERSEVERANCE

I joined a wonderful Facebook group named Journal52, there is also a blog that you can follow Journal52.com

Every week there is a prompt along with an alternate prompt. The prompt for week 1 is to choose your "Word of the Year" and create a journal page to express it. 

I started with a "Journal Starters" page. Since my handmade journal is 10" wide x 7" tall and the "Journal Starters" image was 8" x 11" after I cut it out of the book I had to choose how I was going to use it and the resulting layout is above.

I chose the word PERSEVERANCE for my word of the year 2016. Perseverance - Steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. The letters are cut from one of the "working" covers from the book. The white strip was a good place to journal. I was content with the page as it was...

until I thought of googling "animal totem perseverance" and this catches my eye "If seagull has flown accross your path" from this website http://www.spirit-animals.com/tag/perseverance/ I also covered the white space with blue sky to add a pop of color to the spread.

Journal Starters: Sampler Volume 1 - Is now available!

I am proud to announce that my book Journal Starters: Sampler Volume 1 is now available!

For a signed copy you may pre-order the book here buy clicking on the "Buy Now" button on the sidebar.

For faster service it is available from CreateSpace at https://www.createspace.com/5662268
The title access password is *journal*

For a preview of this book and for more information click on the tab above or http://kimraenugent.blogspot.com/p/journal-starters-sampler-vol-1.html

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!

PEACE - Art Journal Page

I have been trying to prep assorted pages in my journal to help jump start my creative process. I find that this is a good way to be productive when I'm not feeling particularly creative. 


I chose the main magazine image because I was drawn to the close-up of praying hands. 


Feeling compelled to journal yesterday I flipped through my prepped journal pages and I envisioned an image over the page. 

Do you see it?

I saw a dove.

Praying for -
Peace on Earth
Peace of Mind

The striped images were added later to cover lettering I didn't care for.  I think they add more visual interest and help balance the design.

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.

Art Journal – Pushing Back the Darkness

A frustrated person and a ship set to sail is the start of my journal page. I wish that I had remembered to photograph the spread before starting to paint in the background.

I was inspired to use a ship and paint a skeleton over the image because of the art and theme of Juliana Coles book “The Legend of Juana La Loca”. The gray day and my own style took over next. Passion tea bag tag from my cup of tea was the finishing touch.

Fond du Lac Barcamp & Art Journaling

I attended my first barcamp at Sept. 20th, 2014 at Marian University's Stayer Center in Fond du Lac. I facilitated an Art Journaling session. I think next time I will name it Visual Journaling instead. As “art” seems to imply some type of “artistic” talent needed.

It is an experience hard to describe. To start, this is their facebook description “ …a participant-generated idea swap meet for the infocurious. It's an unconference, folks!”
Here is the link to their website - http://www.barcampfdl.org/

This group of people was very diverse and included computer based technology enthusiasts, educators, visual artists, and performing artists.

From Wikipedia “Although the format is loosely structured, there are rules^[19] at BarCamp. All attendees are encouraged to present or facilitate a session or otherwise contribute to the event.^[17]Everyone is also asked to share information and experiences of the event via public web channels, including blogs, photo sharing, social bookmarking, Twitter, wikis, and IRC. This encouragement to share is a deliberate change from the "off-the-record by default" and "no recordings" rules at many invite-only participant driven conferences. It also turns a physical, face-to-face event into a 'hybrid event' which enables remote online engagement with BarCamp participants”.
Thanks to Mel Kolstad for the above picture.


I jotted down some notes while attending the sessions. Unfortunately I didn’t have my current journal and had to resort to working in my “Fragmented” journal instead. It took several tries to print a quality picture on my laser printer. (see first photo). To waste less paper I printed on both sides. To further lessen waste I added bits and pieces to other journal pages.


Three salamanders crossed my path on the way to Barcamp and another one after I arrived home. They, along with a waste copy of the first photo in this post, were the inspiration for this page.


I added some different shades of gray colored pencils to give a little more depth to the salamanders.


A journal page from my Relief Printing session facilitated by my friend Mel Kolstad and Beekeeping session by http://dsbees.com/.

Journal Page – Transformation

 

This is a journal page about transformation. It speaks to me on several levels. The salamander template was the last collage item added. The page was almost finished and the geometric triangles had briefly reminded me of MC Escher’s art piece with the lizards but I didn’t have that in mind when I let it sit for a few days.

Then, when I seen the salamander template from the previous salamander page I knew where it belonged. The journaling and quotes were added last.

Looking at the photograph, I now want to extend the stems of the dandelions to the bottom of the page. The upper right corner looks a bit bare too! Perhaps something will find it’s way later.

Nubian Goat – Ceramic Sculpture

I was dusting today…rather than making art. I have also been thinking about which direction I should go next with my art.

Now that I have this sculpture all cleaned up I decided to share it on my blog. 

This is a sculpture of our first goat Olivia. She was a Nubian goat. They are my favorite breed.

Nubians are very personable, but probably least tolerant of winter weather. Their long ears get cold easily.

A happy goat is either eating or chewing their cud.

The clay was high fired and then I painted it with washes of acrylic paint. The sculpture is about 12” long.

Time to get back to cleaning…