Michelle Ward at GPP (Green Pepper Press) Street Team has a new art crusade this month which coincides nicely with my intention to throw myself into art journaling this year.
Crusade #16 is Journal Your Blog which is something that really appeals to me...i always wonder what will happen to the photographs, the art and the words if Typepad, Blogger or Wordpress ever bite the dust. they're a visual chronicle of our lives...the good, the bad and the sometimes notsobeautiful, but real documentation of who we are. as Michelle says, "I want to chronicle and document things I made, thoughts I had, ideas that were born, and all I accomplished. EVIDENCE. Evidence that I existed in 2007. It's very empowering to look back over a whole year and realize everything you've done. It motivates you to keep moving forward in the next year.
so here i am in Mexico, with my journal, my paints, a few pens and some photographs that i printed before i left home, from some of my 2007 blog entries. i'm having to think outside the digital box and come up with tools and "embellishments" that i don't normally need to use and it's challenging but a lot of fun. i look at everything differently...vegetables aren't just for eating and the plastic lid from the milk bottle makes a great circle stamp, etc. it's taking me awhile to get into the swing of non-digital, but these are the first four pages that i've done so far.
on this page i actually printed out the whole post of Endings, Beginnings and Reflections and tucked it into an envelope which i glued to the page. the artwork was a digital piece done for Digital Art Quirks with the theme of Janus the Roman God of Beginnings and Endings. my reflections were on the year ahead and my fears about becoming creatively visible and how blogging was helping me with that. the words flowing out from the envelope say "it can be daunting, disconcerting and just plain scary to bare our souls, but like so much else in life it's really about learning to trust ourselves; knowing that we've spoken our truth, and accepting and trusting that it will be heard by those who are also on their own journey of discovery".
the second blog post was done just after i returned from Guatemala last February, completely enthralled by the beautiful Huipiles that the Mayan women wore there.
i made the sun with a potato stamp and the flowers (the poinsettia's that grow so prolifically everywhere) were stamped with small leaves.
i'm going to leave you with a photograph of such brightness and brilliance that no matter how grey the day is where you're living, it will surely bring some sunshine to it!
Is that yellow or what! stare at this for a few seconds and i guarantee the colour of sunshine will be burned onto your eyeballs for the rest of the day!
Oh thank you for that yellow building!!!
I love what you have done so far in your journal - the sun and flowers are perfect. This past year I have started making more pages in my scrapbook about general life, the little things and also things about us as a family and as individuals. But I really like this idea of creating a journal from blog posts. Hmmm.....
Posted by: Kate | 01/24/2008 at 01:43 PM
Hey Kate! Thanks for joining the team! LOVE these pages - cool to know you are on vacation (I'm assuming) and have had to get clever with embellishing your page. (check out our Crusade No. 6 on Cheap Tricks!) Making real pages is rewarding isn't it? I love having my Blog Journal to show those non-bloggers who give us that "huh?" face. Love that yellow wall AND the terrific architectural roofline! Thanks again for coming to play!
Posted by: Michelle Ward | 01/24/2008 at 02:45 PM
THIS TURNED OUT GREAT.
Posted by: Art Tea Life | 01/24/2008 at 03:08 PM
your journal pages are stunning. i have been playing with visual journaling for the last few weeks. it feels like play and art and journaling all rolled up into one. i am trying to keep it low pressure, but after seeing your beautiful pages done with "what you have on hand" i am quite humbled AND inspired! thank you for sharing!
Posted by: lucy | 01/24/2008 at 06:04 PM
Hey, I can wave to you from the other side of the Pacific Ocean!
The colours there look amazing, that table cloth for example in the post before the brilliant yellow house. If everybody could be creative every day, the world would be a better place.
Posted by: cate | 01/25/2008 at 12:54 AM
Oh I love what you have done with this....the size and the embellishment are so prefect. Wishing the best of fun with this new project.
Posted by: bonnie | 01/25/2008 at 05:16 AM
Kate,
you pages are fabulous, love the potato stamp! and the hand print....That yellow building speaks to me!!!!
Once in Mexico, when I was looking for a color to paint my house, some workers were painting a building the most luscious shade of melon....I asked Greg to go over with an envelope I had with me to put a swatch of paint on it....that's our house color now!!!
x...x
Posted by: stephanie | 01/25/2008 at 07:39 AM
Great work! I love your bold colors. And what a spectacular building!
Posted by: Carrie | 01/25/2008 at 07:50 AM
Thanks for the mega dose of vitamin D....all one can do is smile! I share your reticense regarding making my soul visible through the flow of my art. I have no choice, so I just have angst. It helps me to remember this part of a quote by Jean Bolen, "Anytime we catch a glimpse of the soul, beauty is there." Extraordinary journal pages.
jodi barone
Posted by: jodi barone | 01/25/2008 at 02:10 PM
I think I will try this also and your photos from Mexico area gorgeous.
Posted by: yolanda | 01/25/2008 at 02:22 PM
Awesome photo of the yellow house! I thought perhaps you'd altered/manipulated a photo in Photoshop! That is incredible! (And much needed on a very gray day in SE Michigan!)... thanks for such personal, honest thoughts shared with us... I really like your quotes... SO true! All my best!
Posted by: Kathy | 01/25/2008 at 05:41 PM
What a stunning yellow building, love it. As a fellow digi artist I can so appreciate what you have done here. Wonderful.
Posted by: Helen | 01/25/2008 at 06:30 PM
Kate, your journal pages are artful! I want to start one for my "believe" series and have been timid to begin, as well, I haven't found the perfect journal book yet...I have my eyes open and know it will jump out at me when I see it. You have inspired me. I will be in a larger city tomorrow, perhaps I will go on a journal hunt! Love your words flowing out of the envelope and the message they send to me. Love the yellow building. Makes me think of sunshine and fresh lemons...can't go wrong with that! Looks like you are experiencing "joy"!
Posted by: Ruth | 01/25/2008 at 08:05 PM
Wow! Now that is a cheerful yellow on a cold winter's day, thank you! Hope Mexico is great? I'm jealous... sigh!!! :-)
Posted by: Elizabeth | 01/26/2008 at 01:35 PM
Kate - gorgeous pages! love the prints - and yes I have that yellow after-image as I am typing - so warm...
appreciate that here
xox - eb.
Posted by: eb | 01/27/2008 at 12:20 PM
This is a great idea. I've started printing out all my posts to make a book I can hold. I hadn't thought to add paints and stamps. Hmmm.
Posted by: deirdre | 01/28/2008 at 09:02 PM
I am so glad I found this through the street team. Your work is really awesome! Thanks for sharing it. I'll be back.
Posted by: Chris | 01/29/2008 at 07:02 AM
Your pages are great! They made me miss Puerto Rico, where my parents lived every winter for 30 years but abandoned this year for Florida. How I miss buildings in day-glo colors and water and sky so blue it hurts your eyes. Thanks for taking me back.
Posted by: JeriAnn | 01/30/2008 at 08:54 AM
I really love the colors on the first one!
Posted by: PLO | 01/31/2008 at 02:55 PM
Yowza! I'm again, blown away! Love your layouts, your choice of imagery! Love your color choices!
Posted by: Penny Stuart | 01/31/2008 at 10:08 PM
I adore your 2007 page. The colours blend into one another and tie in with your art piece. And the jounralling is amazing (love how it runs over the envelope).
MB
Posted by: Marble Blue | 02/02/2008 at 02:06 PM