This Muse of Mine: 4/1/14

As the title suggests, I don't enjoy the March basketball tournament. It did give me extra time to do some art, but I found myself being really "stuck" several times, as I tried to complete certain art journal pages. I don't know if I was stuck, because I was preoccupied with "life" events, and maybe I was suffering from some worry, or if it was just a busy month for me, and I couldn't fully wrap my head around the art I was trying to create, or if it was something totally different that I don't fully understand, but all I know, was that I struggled this past month to create.
Here are the next four weeks of pages in my Journal 52 art journal year long project. I hope you enjoy seeing them, and my thoughts behind creating them.

Week 9- Color Swatch

This week I had taken the Abstract class from Claudia Rossi, on Udemy. It was so fun! I loved her technique, and by just tweaking a few things, you can achieve some really different results. Because the prompt for this week was color swatch, I really wanted to stick with the same color family, so I used 3 different purple paints, and then blended with white, and outlined in black. The photos I took of my finished page, don't show all the movement and streaks that are in each segment. I tried rephotographing, and I still could not get a good picture of the details, so you just have to trust me that it is way more fabulous in person!

I apologize for the clips on the upper corners- I was trying to get a good picture and the breeze was blowing my pages shut.

Week 10 - Art For A Cause

Oh, I struggled with this prompt!!!!! I really wanted to create something that people who don't know anyone, or have never experienced mental illness, would be able to "feel" what it is like for someone with these illnesses, who deals with this on a regular basis.

PLEASE NOTE: I do suffer from these illnesses, but I am doing well right now, so please don't call the authorities and tell them to watch me, because I am OK!

I started this page with a collage paper background, then I added several kinds of washi tape, and created a bit of a grunge look to the page, then heavily distressed the page with inks. The girl is quickly sketched on a piece of old dictionary text, and I very faintly added a bit of color to her features, but I tried really hard to keep everything translucent, because I wanted her to have the feeling of invisibility. lastly I cut the words from dictionary pages, and pasted the phrase onto the page. I used a charcoal pencil to add shadowing around each word, and then the page was sealed with Mod Podge.

The words read: Please God, It's easier on everybody if I stay invisible.

My causes: Anxiety, BiPolar, Depression

Again, please know that I am well regulated, and am sharing this as a way to bring awareness to those that may not fully understand.

Week 11 - Stars

I wanted to do this with a bit of a two-meaning page. I wanted to use actual stars in my page, but also wanted to include a "star" or celebrity, who I quoted with a saying that had some meaning to me. When I started my research on quotes, I had no idea who I would be featuring on my page, but found this great quote by Marilyn Monroe- "We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle".

It was a great quote, because we all have worth, and we all deserve to shine in our own way!

I started my page by heat embossing 3 different size star stamps that I have from Art Impressions, I have had them for years, and really enjoy that sketchy look. I used an antique gold glitter embossing powder. I then did a wash with my Bienfang Watercolor Brush Pens, in these colors: primary yellow, new gamboge, orange, vermilion and cadmium red hue. I used a bit of paper towel to take some of the wet and stark colors off, and achieve that blended look from one color to another. The image is an altered photo I found on Google images, and printed out on presentation paper, then I cut her out, outlined in black poster paint- adhered down with gel medium, then when dry, I added the hazy shadow with charcoal pencil, Added the quote with poster paint marker and then sealed with a final layer of gel medium.

Week 12 - A Day in the Life

Can I hate this page any more than I already do? I am letting go- that is the nature of art journaling- sometimes you get good ones and sometimes you don't! I started out with a tissue paper collage background- it was bright and fun and cheerful- so I doodled a bit with a black pen, to give it another layer of interest. I didn't hate it at this point, but then I got the grand idea to add a bunch of paper flowers. I was kind of going with the Donna Downey inspiration Wednesday where she added flowers all over the background, and then painted over them, creating a very chunky "mess". Well, it worked for her, but no- not for me. I didn't want to paint over my fun bright background, but adding all those bright flowers on top, just makes it look a little crazy- psychedelic even, and that is not what I had in mind. I then just took some tags and adhered them between the smaller flowers, and wrote down some of the things I do during the day.

Here is the page. I don't like it at all anymore, but I am leaving it alone, because it was an experience, and that is OK with me.

Thanks for coming along with me on my recap of March journal pages. I am giving myself a pat on the back for sticking with this so long already. I am 12 weeks into this project, and it is only the beginning of April! I feel I have gotten to a milestone, because I have done year long projects before, but only a once a month requirement, and as of this week, I will have done a typical whole year project already and we are just starting on the month of April. Yeah! Hope to see you back here next month with my April offerings.

I welcome comments and suggestions, so if you can think of any great ideas to do something with this week 12 page, I am open to ideas!