Traveling Art Journal - Home

When I got home from vacation I had not one, but TWO packages from my Traveling Art Journal group waiting for me. These are the pages I created for the lovely Sarah Cooper's journal. Her theme is "Home", a subject dear to my heart.

The first page features lyrics from the Talking Heads song "This Must Be the Place"


"Home is where I want to be but I guess I'm already there. I come home, she lifted up her wings. Guess that this must be the place. I can't tell one from another. Did I find you or you find me? There was a time, before we were born. If someone asks, this is where I'll be"

If you look closely, you'll see the paint and text is layered over an photo of my house. And if you look more closely, you'll see the front door has a handle and the word "open"

When you open the door, the page looks like this:

Turn the page for this two-page spread:

Of course when I was writing on the back of the door, I forgot that the text would appear upside-down once you flipped the page! Oh well, I kind of like it that way.
I'll show my work in journal #2 in a separate post.

jiggety-jig

Traveling index cards

I've been a food geek for years - taking my Chef's knife and food processor and coffee maker on vacation with me. This year is no exception. Only this year I'm also an art geek. It was all I could do to not pack my entire studio. It was only the size limits of the Prius that forced me to limit my choices. (My packing philosophy is "fill the space you have". If we drove an SUV I'd be bringing furniture on vacation).

Lately, all I want to do is make art and I figured this burning passion would follow me to the Cape. I knew, at the very least, I wanted to continue with my ICAD challenge away from home. I've managed to make an index card every day, but overall, I haven't been that interested in making art this week. It makes me realize how much art is an escape and refuge from the stress of real life. On vacation, surrounded by extended family and non-stop fun, I am already removed from reality and so I haven't been seeking refuge in art. It's not that I haven't enjoyed making my cards, it's that I haven't NEEDED to make them.

Here's what I've created this week:

This was a background I painted at home before I left. I'm such a geek that I brought my printer/scanner/copier with my on vacation!

The owner of our rental house is an artist and many of her works hang on the walls. The above card was inspired by her stuff.

An attempt to do something less messy and to work on my rudimentary drawing skills.

Tape transfer over a painted background with more paint on top

I discovered that I can run a painted index card through my printer.
This is one of my beach pictures printed over a painted background with more paint on top.

I think I might turn this into my new business card

stamping with pine needles and beach grass from the yard

Guest Blogging today

I'm so honored that lovely Julie over at Eggs and Herbs has invited me to be the first guest blogger on her newly revamped website. You can see my post here.

The subject of my post?

decisions, decisions

This week's Index cards

Three more things

When I took my collage class with Corrine at Sparkle Days Studio we talked about "how do you know when you're done?". Her advice? Ask yourself "what are three more things I could do?" I think I was too excited about my paint flinging to let the lesson sink in that day, but I think the point is that if you can't think of 3 more things (or if none of those 3 things sound good) you're done. I took home two big collages that afternoon and wondered if they were done. (I blogged about the class and took pictures of the collages here)

Now, one of my core beliefs about my own art is that everything looks better cut into pieces. I wasted no time taking one collage and chopping it into post-card sizes

and now that they're smaller I can think of way more than 3 things to do to them. Here are some of the postcards I've made and sent out so far:

The other collage hung on my wall for a few weeks. I'd look at it, ponder, and walk away. It clearly needed more, but what?

(This is the picture Corrinne took of me flinging the first layers of paint in her studio. Click the photo to see her original post)

Finally, a few days ago, I started gluing down random pictures and scraps of paper and then smearing paint on top. Better. What else? Another great idea I learned from Corrine was using a squirt bottle to apply paint instead of flinging off the brush. I remembered I had a small bottle leftover from a tye-dying kit. I filled it with orange paint, took it outside and let it fly. I LOVED it. It gave me more control and less mess than brush-flinging, but it was still very loose. And depending on how I squeezed and where I stood I could get lines, big splots, small drips or (toward the end of the bottle) a light spray of droplets. COOL!

After it dried I drew on it with Neocolors, and stamped on more paint with bubble wrap and homemade stamps. I think it's done. It's back on the wall, and so far it's not screaming "more". I'll give it a few more days.