Lost Coast Post

Too Busy Saying Yes to Hear the No

2012-01-25T09:28:00.000-08:00

My fish sculpture finally complete; approximately 14" long; wire and tissue

Connie over at Dirty Footprints Studio has been posting some wonderful stuff recently about teachers & teaching and it has triggered some thoughts of my own. Here's my story:

It was late December 2000, I was newly diagnosed with bilateral Kienbock's disease, and I had just had the first two of four hand surgeries. I was in college, aiming for a bachelor's in art education so I could teach art at the high school level. My gem of an advisor had just retired and I was meeting with my new advisor who also happened to be the chair of the school's small art education department. (I believe she still is.)

I was explaining my situation, how even though I was dealing with a fairly serious and possibly life path-altering disease, that I was charging ahead anyway because I wasn't going to let anything, especially some dead bones, get in the way of my dream. I talked about how the previous advisor and I had been adjusting the degree requirements so I could avoid difficult and painful coursework like metalsmithing. The advisor got very quiet. Finally she said "I don't think you should pursue teaching because there's so much you won't be able to do. You can't teach ceramics, or sculpture, and you won't be able to break up a fight in the classroom." I remember her words so clearly because I was stunned. It had never occurred to me that I might have a disability or that it was something I couldn't overcome.

Now, legally, the advisor could not make me drop from my degree program and in retrospect, I understand that. I could've defied her, continued forward and eventually, she would've probably been supportive. I don't know how far she would've taken her opposition. But at the time, I was weary. I had already faced so many obstacles. I wasn't interested in wasting precious energy, butting heads with an unsupportive advisor. I just wanted to get my degree. So I switched my major to studio art and let go of the idea of ever teaching in public schools.

Years later, I found myself doing exactly that, teaching art to middle school and high school students at a local charter school. I didn't need a credential for this particular assignment; what I needed was hands-on experience, enthusiasm, and an ease with kids. By the time I found my way to Laurel Tree, I'd already been teaching art to adults for many years. So every Friday (the school devotes an entire weekday to art education), I teach and I love it!

Every other year, I have a group of high school students who need a year-long course in art to satisify graduation requirements. I have free reign in curriculum development (keeping in mind state standards) so as I began creating this year's class, my wheels began turning furiously. The first semester would be devoted to learning and applying design elements and principles, two-dimensional work that would help build the students' confidence and vocabulary. What if (I asked myself tentatively) the second semester was completely devoted to sculpture? It felt like a natural progression. Of course, the advisor's doubtful voice piped up in my head but I decided to plunge ahead.

No, the students are not forging bronze or chipping away at marble. They are, instead, sculpting in wood, paper, wire, air-dry clay, and found objects. They are creating some beautiful, crazy creative things and I am quietly thumbing my nose at the person who tried to tell me no. I'm too busy saying "Yes!"

A Fancy Fishy Comes to Life

2012-01-24T16:44:00.000-08:00

Up to my elbows in brightly colored tissue and 350 feet of wire as I craft a sample for this Friday's lesson in sculpture for my high school art students. After a semester of learning and practicing the elements and principles of design, my students are now launching into a semester-long exploration of sculpture. That fish you see in the middle of my supply-bombed studio table will be completely covered in tissue; I'm about halfway done. You can't really tell by this photo, but the wire "skeleton" is three-dimensional so when finished, the fish looks like a fancy balloon and in fact, I plan on hanging all the students' fish sculptures from the ceiling at school. It should make for a unique, colorful, and lively display.

Wherein a Mysterious Girl Throws Me a Lifeline by Just Showing Up

2012-01-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

Whether it is the dreadful cold and gray of winter, the busy busy busy of distracting daily errands, a touch of depression, seemingly endless migraines, or just a routine fallow period, I've been mired in creative block so thick and deep, it feels like I'm up to my neck in quicksand. I've been able to keep up with my "daily diary"/Full Tilt Boogie journal but other than that, my creative life has generally ground to a halt.

Remember this canvas? I've been tinkering with it for almost a year, blogging about it here and then here. This weekend, I puttered around with it some more and finally felt like the background was "done" and perhaps even on the verge of being overworked. Anyway, I decided that I wanted to paint something on top of it and for about seven hours, I got no farther than that thought.

I shuffled through my collage images. I cleaned my studio table. I glued some paper into a journal and then cleaned my studio table again. I still had no burst of brilliant inspiration. Sometimes I try to engage my muse with some playful art exercises but just as often, I just sit and wait...and wait...and wait.

Finally, around eight o'clock in the evening, I decided to try painting a face. Now I am not very good at painting faces and I am always deeply dissatisfied with the results but I pushed ahead, knowing I would hate the results but happy just to feel like painting.

This is the face that emerged and I thought I'd share a picture here before I gesso over it. The head is oddly tilted and the complexion verges on sickly but this face calls to me a little bit. I see my own melancholy and pensive self looking back at me. And she does look a lot like a story character I've been meditating on for almost a decade. So even though her presence will be ephemeral, this lady served a purpose. Her visage emerged from the end of my brush to remind to keep moving for the shore, no matter how deep the quicksand and how tiring the struggle.

Letting the Marker & Mind Wander

2012-01-16T14:56:00.000-08:00

Marley Bear is closely supervising my continuing efforts at "slow art" and this month's Sketchbook Challenge of "doodling." The cool thing about this doodle work is that the brown paper is backed with adhesive so I intend to leverage this doodle into my journals by cutting it into strips and using it as faux washi tape. Larger pieces can be used as instant borders.

I find that I am resisting the idea of "slow art" just a tad because I like the idea of a finished product at the end of a studio session; that certainly makes for more exciting pictures to show on the blog! However, for me, 2012 is all about embracing the process and using art more as a meditative tool. So I doodled with a white paint marker in one hand while scritching Marley's head with the other and just let it be. There's a time and place for focused, goal-oriented productivity, especially if I want to eat and pay bills from time to time. But there's also a place for accidental discovery and aimless exploration. The latter is something I have seriously neglected, so much so that my efforts at "letting go" artistically feel forced and awkward. That's OK though; I'll just keep giving it a go. I have a feeling that Mr. Bear will be happy to accompany me on my journeys, no matter how long or how far they take me.

Stitch by Stitch, I Shall Persist

2012-01-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

Fabric is definitely one of the mediums on the top of my list of "must work with more" for 2012. However, fabric and I have a funny relationship. While I do have a twin bed-sized quilt under my belt, I really have done little more with fabric than stash it away. I've sewn little things here and there and added a piece every now and again to a journal page or two but beyond that...well, I like to look at it and shop for it and horde it. Oh, and read books about ways to use it.

While I am very comfortable around paper and paint, working with fabric (and patterns and that blasted sewing machine) makes me sweat. It doesn't come easy so although I've placed my fabric stash front and center in my studio, I haven't done anything with it. This is the year, folks!

Every day, I get a little email from Quilting Arts.com. Many times, it is just advertising for new products in their online shop but sometimes, there is a little sewing project and just before Christmas, I received instructions on how to make this very simple fabric bracelet. I've been looking for something really light and pretty to adorn my right wrist. The inevitable comparison of my very prominent zigzag scar to Harry Potter's mark got old about a thousand comments ago so I thought I'd give this little project a whirl.

It took me two days to complete this bracelet. I'm just super slow when it comes to handwork. I enjoy it immensely; I find it to be incredibly meditative. However, having a wrist that doesn't bend makes holding a needle tricky, tiresome business so I have to pace myself. And for some reason, no matter how simple the instructions, my brain's neurons simply don't fire as fast as they do when I'm manipulating paper and glue. Sometimes I have to read the same paragraph four or five times before I understand what I'm supposed to do. Frankly, sewing instructions make me feel stupid.

I'm going to persist because I really do love the feel of fabric and thread in my hands and I love seeing a project come together into a fun, functional object. In fact, I promised my son that I would complete a quilt for him by Christmas. The fabric for his quilt has been sitting in a box in my closet for years. I even had to change out some of the fabric because he had outgrown the previously chosen motif. I think if he even sees progress from stacks of fat quarters to quilt top, he'll be thrilled. Guess I'd better get sewing!

My Steadfast Companion

2012-01-11T14:49:00.000-08:00

There's a lot of changes in the works for my 2012 art life but one steady companion that won't disappear is my art journal. Art journaling is really at the core of my art practice and I worked really hard last year to cement journaling as a daily habit.

There are 214 days total between June and December and in 2011, I managed 145 days of journaling, improving each month until I missed only a single day in November and journaled every single day in December. Practice makes perfect!

As I continue to work in my "daily diary," I am feeling a deep desire to go back to other journaling styles I've done in the past. Sometimes this format feels a bit limiting and some days, I really need some space to stretch my imagination and broaden my impact. I have plenty of unfinished journals to play in so I'm going to revisit those old friends to find fresh inspiration.

Sketchbook Challenge 2012 Begins

2012-01-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

While I did fantastic with last year's Art Journal Every Day challenge, I wasn't nearly as on the ball with The Sketchbook Challenge. I am continuing my participation in these challenges for 2012 and in the spirit of fresh beginnings, today's post features my first project for the January Sketchbook Challenge theme of "doodling" chosen by the wonderful Diana Trout.

Ever since I took that watercolor class at a local college, I've wanted to expand my use of this incredible medium in my work. Beginning in February, I'm teaching a semester-long watercolor class of my own to my middle school students so I've been happily reacquainting myself with my paints.

This piece is a multi-layered watercolor monoprint that I then accented with more painting and doodling. I find that I enjoy watercolor the most when I succumb to the paint's whims, let the colors flow into one another and basically just follow the paint's lead rather than trying to control it.

This is also a perfect example of my new embrace of "slow art" as I have worked on this particular piece for over a week, picking it up when I am otherwise uninspired in the studio or when I need a break from everyday chores. Each time I approach this piece, I see something new that I can add. I wonder what it will morph into after a month or so...

Expanding & Embracing

2012-01-09T15:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all and welcome back to Lost Coast Post!

I took a bit of time to ease into 2012; typically, I hit the ground running, bubbling with enthusiasm and armed with a scroll full of resolutions (I take the whole process very seriously) but this year, I wanted to take things slowly, putting some changes into practice a little at a time.

2011 was a good year, a time full of expansion of my personal & artistic life as I really worked to move beyond the comforting confines of my studio. I made a lot of plans and some I saw to completition and others I didn't. So "expand" is a word I'm going to carry forward into 2012 as I think I'm far from where I want to be.

However, after much thought, I decided to add another word to guide me through the coming months. I knew that I had grown in many ways but still I felt like I was hanging back, not allowing myself to fully realize a plan or accept a circumstance. So I felt that adding "embrace" to my year's vocabulary would help me not only keep moving forward but perhaps more importantly, remind me to celebrate my successes, appreciate all that I accomplish, and treasure where I am in this very moment.

In 2012, I hope to move toward a more fully soulful life. I want to embrace more quiet moments and expand upon them. I want to tackle more projects but conversely, I want to slow things down. I'm revisiting past pursuits and exploring fresh passions, all with an eye towards projects that soothe my frazzled brain and comfort my achy body.

If you come to Lost Coast Post for art journaling, there'll always be that. Promise. But expect to see some new stuff too. This post has a good preview of where I'm headed this year. I'm sure there will ups and downs and stumbles along the way. If you don't mind buckling in and stowing your tray table the whole way then please join me. A wild ride is so much more enjoyable with friends.

In Case Anyone's Still Around...

2012-01-05T19:27:00.000-08:00

Just a fly-by note to say my hiatus from blogging will end Monday, January 9 as I resume Lost Coast posting for the new year...hope to see you all around this space!

First and Always a Journaler

2011-12-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

Look out! This makes three blog posts in a row! Why is it I get more productive the worst I feel?? Well, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say, so I'm just going to roll with it. I think my cold has reached that tipping point where it will either mutate and develop into something really gnarly that requires antibiotic intervention or I'll start getting better. I'm opting for the latter scenario.

I thought that today I'd share a couple spreads in my "daily diary" journal. No matter what else happens in the day, I always make time for this tome - always. After having completed my first Full Tilt Boogie journal, I moved on to the next volume as each journal only holds about three months of entries. I've missed some of the other journal styles I've been working in so I'm trying to 1) revisit those neglected journals and 2) add a bit more of those other styles into my diary. Sometimes I let this journal become a bit too anchored in a grid format as I mark the march of days so I'm trying to remember to emphasis the "visual" in visual journaling. Having pages with images I can alter and/or write around helps inspire me.

Merrily I Doodle On

2011-12-13T14:32:00.000-08:00

Despite contracting a wicked head cold from one of my students, I am working away on illustrations for my Christmas journal so I thought I'd share a couple more shots of my progress. I am working on 140-lb, hot press Arches watercolor paper. I've discovered that I prefer Arches over Fabriano for this purpose as the paper feels thicker and smoother. However, I used Fabriano in the construction of the journal as recommended by Teesha Moore and Fabriano is definitely better than Arches for journal-making since it doesn't crack when folded.

Anyhoo, I am sketching in pencil, outlining with black Micron, painting with watercolors, and then cutting out the little doodles and characters. I'm going to attach an illustration to each page in my journal and you can see in the photo of the cover how the drawing looks once added to the page. It really pops! As a bonus, if I have an "Oops!" moment with a doodle, I can simply make a new one rather than wondering how to cover a mistake that is on the actual page.

I'm having so much fun thinking up characters to bring to life and really falling in love with watercolors & cartooning all over again! This is the perfect remedy for the common cold!

Tis the Season for Doodling

2011-12-12T16:04:00.000-08:00

I am happily working on a bunch of little hand-drawn and watercolored illustrations for my developing Christmas journal. As I sketch and doodle and paint, I realize that I don't do this often enough and I think 2012 needs to include A LOT more illustration work! It brings out the playful side of me and I find it to be a very peaceful process. I also realized today that this spur-of-the-moment Christmas journal idea may take me till the end of winter to complete!

Banishing the Bah Humbugs

2011-12-07T13:25:00.001-08:00

In order to chase away my usual winter blues and slow my pace during this overwhelming season, I decided to create a Christmas journal and as you can see, the project is in its infancy. Right now I'm simply creating frames for the pages using a huge pile of Christmas scrapbook papers I've collected over the years. At this point, I have no real defined vision in mind as I am simply letting the repetitious collaging soothe my harried soul. I'll post more pics as this impromptu project unfolds.

This Moment is Enough

2011-11-29T08:25:00.001-08:00

This recent picture of Mister Marley T. Bear describes my current mood perfectly. My journals are ever-present as I try to muster enthusiasm for the most exhausting months of the year. I am easily over-stimulated and whether it is all-caps ads screaming at me on Twitter or crowds of the shopping-obsessed out in the world, I feel both suffocated and inspired, exhausted and energized by the season.

This is also the time of year when I become deeply introspective, thinking on how 2011 measured up to my hopes, goals, and expectations. I ponder the year to come and think about current paths I will continue to explore, which ones I will abandon, and what new paths I might need to investigate.

But really, I just need to be more like Marley who thinks only about how he can best position his sleepy head so he can watch Mama journal and still be comfy. He cares not for the spinning world beyond. He lives in the moment and that is enough.

An Art Fail & Rescue

2011-11-21T14:14:00.001-08:00

BEFORE

As 2011 winds down, I am going to try and get back to this space more often. I've got many, many ideas rocketing around in my head; I just need the time to transcribe them into posts.

From time to time, I think it is important to show something that didn't work and this is a journal page that certainly fits the bill. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I began but I do remember that it was late in the evening and I was super tired and cranky. I was trying to force the art from my brain and in the process, made a critical error.

I began this epic art fail by stenciling with light molding paste. Once the paste was dry, the coral stencil suddenly looked like an old tree and because of the bluish background, I thought a tree in full autumn splendor would make a nice contrast. So I used a palette knife to apply heavy body acrylics to represent the foliage. That would have been a great idea except for the fact that the molding paste created a very dimensional surface and without the addition of a texture medium, the paint simply sank into the crevices around the "tree branches." It looked terrible and I cursed like a sailor at the wet mess I had created. I couldn't tear the page out so I decided to let it dry and attempt a rescue in the morning.

AFTER

The essential problem was that the "leaves" didn't read as being on top of the branches, especially up close. I considered several solutions. I crinkled little pieces of tissue paper and placed them on the tree to represent the leaves - too bulky and quite frankly, too cheesy. I thought about gessoing over the whole mess but that damn molding paste would've shown right through. I could've applied more molding paste but the page would've become impossibly thick. Same problem if I tried to apply more paint to build up the "leaves." Ultimately, I opted to increase the contrast between the background and foliage by applying Payne's gray shadows and pulling the background color up and over the molding paste branches. This serves to lessen the immediate visual impact of the molding paste's dimension. This page doesn't stand up to much close scrutiny but I think I actually like the final result.

Whole Lot of Everything & A Little Bit of Nothing

2011-11-14T15:03:00.001-08:00

Whenever I disappear from the helm of Lost Coast Post, you can be sure it is because I'm busy piloting the ship of my life across wild and crazy seas. I am going in a thousand different directions but going nowhere fast, doing a whole lot of everything and a little bit of nothing. I've been fussing over government paperwork and annual inspections, playing in my journals (always!), creating samples for the art classes I teach (sculpture requires A LOT more time devoted to step outs, lesson plans, demos, and examples), prepping canvases for the next show lined up (January), trying to stay warm (what happened to fall?), experimenting in the kitchen (love baking!) and oh yeah, getting my son through the last few hectic & stressful weeks of his third semester of college. I suspect things will start to slow down in mid-December as schools begin their winter holidays until after the first of 2012. Until then, I expect to be constantly on the go, physically and mentally. Stuff is brewing in my brain for this space but there's not too much time right now to devote to my online presence. So patience, my pretties...it might be a little brief around here for a while.

Even When Grounded, I Make Pigs Fly

2011-10-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

Some days my hands (and my fused right wrist in particular) become very tender and tempermental but because I like to keep moving forward in some way each and every day, I try to find something to do in the studio anyway. Today, that "something" happened to be cartooning and Inktense pencils. This is just a bit of fooling around in one of my sketchbooks while watching Halloween movies. I don't have any specific project in mind, no deadline to meet. Throughout the day, I revisit this one page, making small additions as my hands permit. It makes for a delightfully low key day and I feel like I have rested my hands while still accomplishing something artful.

It is Time to Take the Paths Less Traveled

2011-10-20T18:27:00.000-07:00

My first little clay sculpture in several years...

I've spent my studio time in the last week doing more quiet contemplation than actual artwork. Maybe it is the onset of fall or maybe it is the temporary lull in work for outside projects...whatever the reason, I've been busy pondering instead of painting. Big changes are ahead. Or maybe I should say "additions" because I don't intend to abandon my current mediums, techniques, and topics. However, it is time to experiment in some areas that I've had on my "To Try" list for a very long time. Perhaps, in time, these new fascinations will completely replace my current loves; maybe I'll just play around for a while and decide I've had enough. I'm not really sure but I do know a few very specifc things have been pulling on my subconscious for a while and I feel ready for something new. It is time to step off the well-worn path and explore the waiting wilderness.

Here's 4 ways my focus is going to shift in the coming year:

SOFT - I've been working happily with paper & collage for a long while. It is time to get serious about fabric. I want to make soft things for family, functional and/or fun. I want to dive into my fabric stash and see what develops.
SLOW - I need at least a couple of "slow art" projects, things that I can work on here & there, little by little with no pressure and no rush. I want to slow my roll and use art more meditatively. Luckily, fabric projects are perfect to satisfy this goal.
3-D - When I first started pursuing my art degree, I created a lot of polymer clay jewelry and artist's books. I'm ready to take a break from flat. Small sculptures from fabric (see #1), clay, found objects, a return to handmade books, silly crafts to decorate my home...I feel the need to expand beyond my box.
FICTIONAL - This is really the thread that will run through all of my new pursuits. I've spent years doing "observational" art. Look at something and draw it. (I spent years doing scientific illustration.) Record the events of my day in a journal. Most of what I've done has been anchored in the real world. However, it is time to dive a bit deeper and see what lies in my imagination. There are stories to be told. Characters to birth. For the most part, I've kept the full scope of my imagination under lock and key, afraid that my artistic abilities wouldn't be able to keep up. But I realized that I have to start somewhere and really, truly, things you are fear are often exactly the things you need to pursue.

Wondering What's Next

2011-10-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

So my show had its official "opening" last Friday evening and I've been processing and decompressing ever since. After working so feverishly on one thing for an extended period of time, I typically spend several days regrouping once the object of my focus is complete.

The opening was absolutely lovely and easily one of the best I ever had. Many of the stores participating in this monthly event also host live music and wine tastings. I never know who is going to be playing and I was delighted to discover that an amazing, generous, and talented gentleman named Buddy Reed was providing the evening's soundtrack for my art. His heartfelt blues intertwined beautifully with my work and together they seemed to conjure a bit of magic. There was wine, spontaneous dancing, excellent discussions of art with people from all walks of life. I sold about half of my pieces. I felt like a real, honest-to-goodness artist. I don't always have an easy time in groups but on this night, I felt comfortable, happy, and proud.

The experience had such an impact that I've been laying low since then, trying to savor the memories while pondering where I go from here. I think you might be surprised by the answer but that, my dears, is a topic for another day...tomorrow perhaps.

A Grumpy Owl for a Slightly Grumpy Post

2011-10-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

I'm still hard at work on canvases for my show. The official opening is this Friday evening but the bulk of the work went up last week. Today I'm working on making business cards, finishing up six small pieces, updating the price list, making price tags, and making a sign for the show's title. Once the opening is over, life will hopefully settle down into the regular sort of crazy busy that I'm used to...at least until I need to start on work for a January show.

On a brief but sort of ranting side note, you'll notice that a copyright notice is plastered all over today's image. I've been sort of hit & miss with watermarking my images but a rather annoying session on Pinterest this morning cemented the necessity of watermarks in my head. I love when people stop by this little blog of mine and find something that inspires them but PLEASE! USE A DIRECT LINK TO THIS BLOG AND INCLUDE AN ATTRIBUTION ("Elizabeth Michelle Remy") IN THE DESCRIPTION!!! I found a ton of pins with no mention of my name anywhere; repins are especially problematic. I love the inspiration of Pinterest but I do feel we are all responsible for protecting the rights of the artists we admire and pin. For those of you who do include a direct link and attribution, I thank you from the bottom of my heart! Your support and recognition of my artistic property is deeply appreciated.

Unfortunately, theft is a part of being an artist and there are a select few who will steal even if the copyright is staring them in the face. It happens and it sucks but I am choosing to focus on a positive, proactive approach. I'm going to audit all of my own pins to make sure I have proper acknowledgement on each one or otherwise remove the image that I cannot link to a direct source. Whenever possible, I am going to try to comment on pins of my work if credit is missing. I'm going to watermark all my photos so in the very least, a copyright notice is embedded in work that is pinned improperly. However, I'm not going to spend a bunch of time of this; I've got better things to do...like make more art!

Author's Edit: One last comment/clarification: I believe that 99.999% of people who don't use a direct link and/or attribution to a pin are totally and completely well-meaning in their pinning. We all live busy lives and Pinterest makes it so easy and fast to develop a bangin' digital bulletin board that I think all this attribution business gets overlooked in the joy of the pinning process. It happens. I've done that too. However, every time someone takes that extra minute to give credit to an artist that inspires, that artist's career and passion is validated and protected. And that makes the world a better place. Period. Please keep visiting and keep pinning things you find here that fan the sparks of artistic longings in your own heart. That's why I do this.

Finally She Blogs & the Art is Up

2011-10-10T18:57:00.000-07:00

Oooooo! I'm sneaking this post in here at the end of the day so perhaps for some of you abroad, it is now Tuesday but it's still Monday for the Lost Coast so it's all good! After a super busy day, it finally occured to me in a moment of quiet that I hadn't yet posted. So here ya go!

Shot of one of the walls in the store on which I am displaying my art...

The main part of the oft-talked about show is now up. As you can see, the work is hanging in a furniture store. On the second Friday of every month, local businesses host a city-wide art opening while throwing in some great music, wine tastings, and extended shopping hours for good measure. I love this particular location and have shown here a couple of times before. It is a huge venue; I could easily hang 30 to 40 smallish pieces here if I ever got my artistic act together in time. So far, I've got 16 finished canvases up for the world to see and I'm going to hang some more before this Friday evening's opening.

The walls of this store are a lovely butter yellow which always makes my work look especially yummy. The furniture is what I call "upscale casual": real wood furniture, elegant lighting, quality futons and the like. This atmosphere suits my work very well and I think it helps potential buyers imagine what my art might look like in their own homes.

Birds on a Wire

2011-09-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

The days have been flying by. In between transportation duties associated with my son's schooling, a bad streak of migraines, teaching 36 young artists each Friday, doctors' appointments, and the seemingly endless work on canvases for my show, I try to remember to breathe and enjoy the lovely Indian summer we've been having here in extreme Northern California.

I've been trying for quite a awhile now to get a decent picture of this piece. It is large - 2 feet by 3 feet - and thus awkward to photograph. Plus, the fluid acrylics and matte medium I used give the piece a slight shine which further complicates my photo shoots. I'm not 100% happy with the way this turned out but it is done and goes well with the rest of the work I've completed so I'm letting it go. It turns out that I don't have to hang until sometime between October 5th and the 14th so I am cautiously optimistic that I will reach my goal of 25 pieces. I'm pushing really, really hard and frankly, I'll be happy when they all go up on the wall and I can turn my attention to art strictly for my personal pleasure. It will be a short rest as I have another show booked for January but still, it will be nice to be able to journal without constantly worrying about losing valuable studio time.

First Round of Boogie Completed!

2011-09-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

BEFORE picture - begun June 18, 2011

No matter how busy I get, I always try to make time for my journaling practice (which is something separate from my sketchbook-keeping.) This summer I had the opportunity to take a lovely class from the incomparable Mary Ann Moss of Dispatch from LA. Full Tilt Boogie rocked my journaling world and today, I'm happy to announce that my first journal produced for that class is full and finished, bursting (quite literally!) with hopes, dreams, lists, observations, pictures, collage, and daily musings. In the "after" picture, you can see that when I say it is full, I mean it! No matter what I fasten around its girth, it doesn't close anymore than that!

AFTER picture - completed September 22, 2011

I've always tended to compartmentalize my journaling but this class pushed me to try the "kitchen sink" theory in which everything gets stuffed into one journal. I really love this style of journaling as the very format forced me to loosen up and adapt to each different page size and background. I definitely will continue to keep this type of journal for my "daily diary" practice and happily, I already have new journals waiting on the shelf. However, I want to continue explorations in the other journals I have started as I did miss the focus and boundaries provided by a themed or style-specific journal.

My next big experiment will be to try the FTB-style journal with a fictional focus. I have several creative writing projects floating around my brain that have long been neglected and I think perhaps that it would interesting to develop a set of characters and their stories in this mish-mash, bits & pieces, wandering style.

Bringing Some Truly Awful Creatures to Light

2011-09-21T15:03:00.000-07:00

While I've been up to my elbows in canvas, paint, glue, and paper as I push to finish enough work for my show, I've also been super busy in another arena: teaching art. For those of you just tuning in, I teach art on Fridays at a small charter school in my hometown. I have two groups of middle school students in the mornings and I have a group of high school students for the balance of the day.

The middle school kids are on the younger side this year, ranging from 4th through 7th grade, and for a change, it is comprised of lots of new faces for me. I'm teaching cartooning and since there were so many unfamiliar faces, I gave a little "pre-test" on the first day of class. I asked the kids to draw any character that came to their minds. They could provide an "environment" if they wished but the character needed to be the focus of the art. Otherwise, there were no rules and I just hung out nearby to provide encouragement. I learn a tremendous amount about each student's drawing abilities and attitude with this little exercise. I note who works really hard to get everything just right, who has trouble getting started or staying on task, who draws too dark or too small, who has an unhealthy relationship with the pencil eraser, and who has obviously not had his or her art praised and loved.

I was sort of shocked by the results of this year's pre-test. I have several students (more than I've ever seen in one class) who are highly critical of their drawing talents. Statistically, I shouldn't be surprised as studies have shown that early middle school is often the time when kids lose their natural love of art, either due to bad experiences and/or time constraints created by increased academics and decreased support for art in the school system. Still, this is a group of kids from a school that has placed extra time and money into supporting arts experiences for its students. I saw right away that I wasn't going to be able to launch right into cartooning lessons. I was going to have to do some art esteem-building first.

So last week, we sat and had a frank discussion about inner critics. I told them that most people have them and that while the critics often nag about art, the critic can raise its ugly head about lots of different things in their lives. We talked about why critics arise, what they sound like, what trouble they cause, and how to conquer them when drawing. Then I asked the students to visualize what their personal inner critic might look like. I also asked the kids to name their critic if they could. The drawings you see in this post represent some of the wide variety of inner critics I'll be facing this semester.

It is interesting to note that some of these critics are fanciful and silly. Some are menacing. But note the last drawing. This student worked really hard on her inner critic portrait to get the details just right. It seems so "normal" in comparison to all the others. I think this is the scariest portrait of all because it does indeed represent a real live person in this girl's life, someone who told her at one point that she wasn't an artist.

The point of this exercise is to make those insidious negative whispers of the critic into something solid, recognizable, and laughable. Now that the critics have been given an identity of their own, I can work on loosening the hold these creatures have on my students. Things that creep about in the shadows of our brains have less power when we shine a light upon them. That's a lesson worth remembering no matter where we are in our artistic journey.

P.S. Someone commented yesterday that she was surprised that I had an inner critic. I have one of the most vicious and sneaky inner critics that you'll ever find and I battle him every day. Some days I am more victorious than others but the point is not the outcome but the battle. I try to keep going, no matter what vile commentary the critic slings my way. I try to take care of myself in other areas so the critic doesn't gain a foothold. It isn't easy. I don't think it is easy for anyone (and those that want you to believe life and art is all roses & chocolate isn't being honest.) Just keep working and one day you'll look up and the darkness of your critic will have faded in the sun.

In the Studio Today

2011-09-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

Surprise! It's another update from the studio that involves my show! (It'll be over soon folks!) On my table this morning: a 2-foot by 3-foot canvas that'll feature five birds perched on a wire, watching the evening sun sink into the horizon.

Sometimes I'm not very confident about a piece, especially in the beginning stages. The pieces for this show (and my self-imposed time challenges) have helped me push past uncertainity and just keep going. I have to keep reminding myself not to judge until all the components of the canvas come together. If I just keep my fingers moving, my inner critic doesn't have as much opportunity to whisper mean comments in my ear. Speaking of which, tune in tomorrow for a post about the inner critic banishments I've been working on with my young students. Fun stuff!

Fly Away Home

2011-09-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

mixed media on canvas; 24" x 24"

Frantic work continues on canvases for my latest show due to hang October 1st. I have about 15 pieces to complete in 12 days so from now, until I have to load the work into the car, I'll have my head down in the studio trying to get things done.

I try not to play favorites with my work but I seriously love how this flying egret turned out. For some reason, I always throw a couple red, black, and white pieces into my mostly rainbow-colored show and they are typically the first to sell. (I'm currently having a love affair with Payne's gray so there's a splash or two of that in this piece.) I'll have a hard time letting go of this one.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2011-09-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

A quickie blog post as the oven buzzer is about to ring and my son needs the computer to write an essay: Specimen number 17B is almost complete and that means I just have 17 more canvases to complete in 17 days. Hmmm...the math isn't in my favor but I'm going to give it my best shot. My days are full to the brim unless, like yesterday, I lose one to a migraine. On a typical day, I check my email, run my son to college, do some chores or attend an appointment, work in my journal, work on pieces for the show, pick up my son, fix dinner, do dishes and evening chores, snuggle the cats, watch a movie, work on some more stuff for my show, prep for Friday's art classes and generally fall into bed exhausted. Until the show hangs in October, this will pretty much be my weekday routine.

A New School Year Leaves Port

2011-09-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

Hello again Lost Coast Posties! I'm back at the helm of this ship and ready to set sail across Internetlandia once again! It has been a very crazy couple of weeks and I'm so glad I took a break from blogging because one more thing on my "To Do" list might have sent me over the edge.

As you can see, I completed another piece for my show but really the last ten days have been completely devoted to preparation for the new school year. This time around, I have 24 middle school students for cartooning. They are a young group, many of whom have just moved up from primary. There are quite a few fragile art souls scattered amongst their ranks but they also seem very willing to try something new, even if it seems a bit scary at first. I will be spending the first few weeks building their art esteem and banishing the Negative Nellies.

I also have 12 high school students this year for a class I developed called "Design Masters: From Sketch to Reality." With only two exceptions, these are kids I have been working with for years so it will be fun to push them a little bit. During the first semester, we'll be studying the elements and principles of design using projects that are strictly non-representational. After the basics are cemented in their brains, we're moving on to sculpture during second semester. We'll also be learning how to assemble a portfolio, how to keep and use a sketchbook, how to critique the art of fellow students, and how to display art for sale. I hope to have these high school students present and run a school-wide art show in May. I have this group for three hours on Friday so there's a ton of cool projects ahead.

Anyhoo, that's what I've been up to in a nutshell. Honestly, the crazy days have only just begun! So hang on everyone! If you'll be joining me for the ride, I suggest you buckle on your life preserver. This blog is all about my artistic life and when 36 youngsters climb aboard, the seas can get a bit wild!

Pushing Pause by Letting Go

2011-09-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

This has been a crazy busy week with my son's college starting up again and it is taking me a bit to adjust the new schedule. My teaching gig starts up next Friday and I'm barreling towards that at warp speed while trying to juggle all my current commitments. This is simply the way it is this time of year and there won't really be a true pause in the action until Thanksgiving.

Amid all this wildness, I've felt a distinct urge to just stop and take a breath: No art for the show, no lesson planning, no payday errands, no paperwork or organizing or driving. That's not really a practical option so I decided to push that "Pause" button by letting go on canvas. You last saw this canvas in this post I wrote on failure and this is where it's at today.

It actually takes a bit of effort to ignore my monkey mind and just focus on the swish of the brush and the random blending of paint but once I get into that space, even just for a moment, the world stops spinning and I am still. It is a lovely tactic and I've been trying to squeeze in a little time with this canvas each day this week.

Caught Up in My Own Personal Hurricane but Still Making Art

2011-08-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

My summer break officially came to an end this morning. My son started back to college today and so begins the endless driving to and from campus. While he will be riding the bus some this semester, I'm still responsible for 4 mornings a week and two afternoons which adds up to about 6 hours a week spent in the car. I'm happy to support my son in his college journey but whew! I get tried of being on the road! And just as that weekly commitment begins, I'm also juggling the following:

* Continuing prep for my show which hangs October 1st (18 canvases to go!)...
* Initial planning for another show that hangs in January...
* Lesson planning for art teaching that begins Sept 9th...
* Work on creating new inventory for my Etsy shop (aka Hand & Soul Studios)
* Development of a companion blog space to Lost Coast Post, focused solely on tutorials (more on that when I'm ready)...
* Continuing physical therapy for my foot...
* Annual paperwork requirements for a variety of agencies...
* A thorough "fall cleaning" of my apartment and workspaces to make some breathing room...
* A return to writing fiction (this has been quietly brewing for some time now)...

And all the while, I am making time to journal! I'm so very close to completing this Full Tilt Boogie journal. I'll post a picture of it once finished because I know you'll get a chuckle at how FAT this book has become!

Enter Rainbow Crane

2011-08-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

It takes me a while sometimes but once I get into the groove of show preparation, everything else drops away (including blogging). That has an upside (the chances that I'll get enough pieces done improve) and a downside (I neglect other things I need to do.) However, I'm in it up to my neck now and it is best to try and ride the intensity in the studio for all it's worth while making a concerted effort to squeeze in all my other obligations.

I've assembled the completed canvases on a wall in the hallway and I have to say that they look pretty good together - just enough consistency in design elements and style to make them look like they belong together and enough differences to make each piece interesting in its own right. Whew! This latest canvas is 15 inches wide by 30 inches high.

Another Birdie Lands

2011-08-24T15:32:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days I've been stuck in that peculiar sort of whirlwind in which I am spinning so fast that I'm actually standing still. There is so very much to do in such a limited amount of time and the overwhelming-ness of it all has me frozen in place. I'm doing a lot of backgrounds and some sporadic journaling but other than that, I'm not getting much done. I wake up with a head full of intent but I've been derailed by a series of appointments as I try to get those out of the way before school starts up. Ah well...it will all settle down in a bit and I'll take a deep breath and wonder what all my fuss was about.

This is the second bird canvas that I finished this past weekend...only now getting around to posting it. This particular bird is on a 12 by 12-inch canvas.

Hello Mr. Peacock

2011-08-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

I completed Mr. Peacock over the weekend along with a smaller piece so I'm actually still on track with the two-canvases-a-week goal of the August "Out of the Journal" challenge. As you can tell, I've decided to stick with birds for this show. There's just something about birds that I love....

Lost Coast Studio Saturday - It's About to Get Insanely Busy

2011-08-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

The fade of summer 2011 into thesoft recesses of my memory means that the time is near to get back into thechaos of a new school year. There's quite a few fresh faces following myexploits here at Lost Coast Post so I'll give a quick and dirty lowdown: I've regularly taught art classes to adults & kids since 2000 but in a sortof unplanned turn of events, I started teaching exclusively to kids from 2008onward. It isn't that I've lost interest in adult classes; in fact, Ischeme about ways to get back to that all the time. However, I developeda particular devotion to a small, local charter school and for the last sixyears, I've taught art there. Unlike so many other schools who have beenforced to cut art (and music and P.E.) classes, Laurel Tree has made acomittment to fund, entirely through fundraising & donations, one day aweek completely devoted to the arts. Every Friday, students get to take awide variety of classes such as cooking, gardening, art, dance, PE, andmusic. I have found that this yearly interaction with young souls infusesmy artistic life with fresh passion and purpose.

Middle school art journals 2010-2011

I primarily teach middle schoolstudents (5th through 9th) and every other year, I teach a class for highstudents needing the liberal arts units to satisfy graduationrequirements. This is a high school art year so in a couple of weeks, mylife is going to get crazy busy. I found out yesterday that I'll have 16to 20 high school students - almost all of them boys - so that will beparticularly challenging. And about eight weeks after the start of theschool year, I'll also have my usual contingent of middle schoolsquirrels. My lesson plans are still in development as I was waiting onthese key pieces of information before moving forward. I get free rein toteach whatever I can dream up while touching upon all the standards and overthe years I've taught cartooning, art journaling, bookmaking, monster-making,and graphic design.

So you'll be hearing lots aboutthis adventure as the school year gets underway. It always proves to be awild ride!

Moving Right Along

2011-08-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

Mr. Peacock is shaping up quite nicely. There are no less than 85 handcut pieces that make up this bird portrait and I actually cut that number twice because I make tracing paper patterns first. This is now sealed and awaiting the next step. This is on a 20 by 20-inch canvas so the picture is a little wonky since I'd tried to capture the entire piece in one shot. I'll get a better picture when it's complete.

Trying to Enjoy the Dwindling Freedom

2011-08-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

I've just started the pattern cutting and paper piecing process on this peacock-esque bird and hopefully, I'll be able to finish him off in the next couple of days. I'm a tad off schedule this week but I'm trying not to stress about it. The summer is winding down and that means a perfect storm is gathering of all the fun things I want to do in the remaining free time versus all the meetings/appointments/errands/planning that needs to take place before I can launch into my fall schedule. I have a big meeting tomorrow to figure out my art teaching schedule for the coming school year: how many kids, what age group, how long, what budget etc and from that I can finally start developing lesson plans and purchase requests. I'm not a fan of limbo so it will be good to finally know what I'll be doing.

I've read on a couple of blogs that some people find cat photos obnoxious but I couldn't resist posting this one of my big ole Marley Bear, who apparently is also exhausted by all the recent invasions of noise and strange routines. This photo makes his 17-pounds look rather rotund but in truth, he's really long so all that mass is evenly distributed. I adore his devotion to really good sleep, no matter the position. When he's like this, we can roll him onto his back and give his belly a nice big snuggle.

And in case you're just dying to zoom in for a close-up, here's what his sweet face looked like from my studio chair. Just love the fangs!

Contentedly Journaling

2011-08-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

I'm so close to being finished with this journal! I have just about 2 and a half signatures left to fill and my first Full Tilt Boogie journal will be complete - wow! I have more handmade journals waiting in the wings and I know I will definitely continue with this style as I feel so comfortable working on these pages!

The structure is highly adaptable to my needs: I can easily add page extensions if I need to accommodate a larger image or more writing. I can also cut down and shape pages, although since I added in so many short-width pages during the binding process, I haven't really felt the urge to trim stuff down.

I also adore working with non-blank backgrounds. The scrapbook and found papers I chose to use provide an instant starting point every time I sit down to journal - no more "staring at the blank page" sessions!

On future pages, I want to add more and more of my own doodlings and creative writing. I love collage but I want it to always be subordinate to my own voice and vision. Right now, I am madly in love with robots and want to draw them all the time! It is quite possible, I will begin a separate journal just for all my robot/sci-fi stuff as I have collected a lot of papers and ephemera centered around this theme.

After the Noise Dies Down, I Take a Deep Breath

2011-08-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been very strange: lots of busyness without accomplishing much and maintenance on my apartment that frightened & confused the cats and overwhelmed my space with displaced stuff. That's all over now and aside from just getting off the phone with 911 to report a assault-in-progress at an apartment across the parking lot, the evening is finally reaching an acceptable level of calm. Overall, I love my apartment, positioned as it is up against a wildlife refuge, but the heat has been driving the neighbors a tad wacko in recent weeks.

Anyhow, I think I'm settling down and ready to move onward and upward. I've somehow managed to keep up on my journaling while the hammering, sawing, and drilling was going around me and you'll see those pages later in the week. I've also completed the backgrounds of several canvases for my show; they sit in the studio, each one waiting for its own collaged bird. Sometimes I get really attached to the preliminary layers and I have to let them sit for awhile before I can cover them up with the next stage of the process.

I Boogie Onward

2011-08-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

Even while I am throwing myself into production mode for my October art show, I am continuing work in my Full Tilt Boogie journal. I'm almost finished filling the first journal I made in this class and I am loving every minute of crazy quilt style of journaling. The pages come together very quickly and the varying page sizes and backgrounds keep me interested.

Some days I write a little something and other days, I stay purely visual. There's really no rhyme or reason to my approach and that is so refreshing! I am sooo over pre-planning pages and it's about damn time!

A Group of Quail is Called a Covey

2011-08-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

This is a tough painting to get a photo over as it is a yard long by 12 inches high. I hope this shot at least conveys the end result of this piece. Today was a hard day (the fun can't last) but I'm on the mend. Tomorrow will be better. Thanks for stopping by!

There Be Birds Here!

2011-08-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

The push forward on show work and the "Out of the Journal" challenge for August continues at a good clip here at my Lost Coast studio. I finished Mr. Rooster (aka "Number 59X") by early yesterday afternoon and once I hit "Publish" on this post, I'm off to work on a trio of quail. Right now I am focusing on bird imagery but that could change if I feel myself getting bored. Since I'm on Day 3 of a no migraine streak, I'm on a roll and the paint is flying! I hope today will be extra productive as I can hear the time ticking away. October is just around the corner!

A Rooster Comes To Life

2011-08-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd post an in-progress shot of the canvas I'm currently working on for my show. I'm moving forward with this concept in spite of some reservations and I have to say that I actually like how this one is shaping up. I'm working on an 18 by 18-inch canvas here and I am realizing that theme questions aside, this technique requires an almost perfect mix of fine and large motor skills. The backgrounds are bright, colorful, abstract, created with big, broad strokes of the brush while the central image brings me in close to the surface, developing pattern pieces, tracing, cutting, collaging, doodling. If I'm having a day where my hands are being uncooperative, I can simply paint canvas and still make progress on the series as a whole. On good hand and head days, I can work on the intricate aspects of the piece a little at a time without losing my place or momentum if I take frequent breaks. In addition, moving back and forth between these two different ways of working keeps me engaged in the project. Happy times!

Moving Onward & Upward No Matter the Challenge

2011-08-08T19:21:00.000-07:00

Detail from July 5th journal page

Today was literally a time of stepping back into the light after an entire day spent in darkness and wrapped in ice packs. I have a lot of issues with my hands and feet but I daresay my chronic migraines constitute the singlemost debilitating condition that I have to face. May and June were really good in terms of headaches but July was one of my worst months ever and so far, August has kind of sucked. Oh well...I can only move forward and work with what I have. Yesterday I did manage a blog entry, two canvas backgrounds and the initial layering on a journal page. I think it can become habit to focus on what you can't do with chronic illness instead of celebrating what you can do. I see that quite often actually on blogs curated by the chronically ill and it gets tiresome to read about so I can only imagine what it is like to live your life always falling back on the negative.

I've been asked privately many times how I get so much done while dealing with this or that health challenge and the simple answer is that I try to function with the mantras "Just Move Forward!" and "Every Little Bit Counts!" Sometimes I work only in five-minute increments but that, repeated throughout the day, adds up. When I feel better, I build on what I accomplished in those little blocks of time. And over the years, I've gradually learned not to put my disabilities first. Instead, I try to focus on what I can do, however small. I'm not perfect and I get frustrated over and over again but as long as I constantly realign my thinking back towards the positive, I keep moving forward and getting stuff done.

And while I'm on this particular soapbox, I have also discovered (and research supports this) that sometimes pushing through what you think or was told you can't do and trying it anyway helps you make strides forward. My long time physical therapist says he sees this phenomenon every day. Patients who actively push the boundaries of their disabilities actually make more progress faster than those patients who come in with "I can't do x, y, or z" as their opening line. People in the latter category arrive and leave defeated. What a terrible way to live!

So if you're reading this and you have a chronic illness, that's my advice: Understand that you will get frustrated and angry and depressed but don't allow yourself to settle for that. Celebrate small victories, practice good self care, make room for bad days but make the most of good days. Life is not a race or a competition. Every step, however small, takes you farther on this journey. Stop trying to assess how far you have or haven't gotten and just do what you can.

Well, enough said...I'm off my sweets to practice what I preach. To all a good night!

Rising to the Surface

2011-08-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

The twin forces of ill health and technological meltdown have conspired against my blogging practice these last few days but I've got my sunglasses on so I can tolerate the computer's glare and it looks like my ISP got their act together (in time to email my bill of course!) so I'm hoping I can get back on track. Thanks for your patience!

I've been quietly and steadily working in my journal and out of it as well. Dina Wakely's "Out of the Journal" challenge for August coincides nicely with my show prep so I am participating in that this month. Do yourself a favor and go gawk at Dina's incredible canvases; she does some stunning work!

For my part, I've latched on to a tiny idea, partly because I'm running out of time (the show's in October) and partly because this particular notion has been hanging around my brain for months now. I think it is important to pay attention to the nagging sparks of inspiration so I am attempting to see it through. I began with a bird and wasn't sure if I wanted to 1) concentrate on birds or 2) stray outward into the animal kingdom. So I played around with an 8x10-inch canvas and this is what swam in this weekend.

I'm not sure that I really like this fish and in fact, a whole boatload of doubt surfaced with him. I have to be careful assessing my work when I'm not feeling well but I'm now less sure about my idea than when I started. Unfortunately, (or perhaps fortunately) I don't really have any time left to haggle about the show's content or technique; I just have to get the work done. I've gesso'd up some more canvases and I'm going to experiment today with something a little larger to see if the technique holds up with magnification. Wish me luck...

Recent Boogie Journaling

2011-08-03T16:55:00.000-07:00

Drive-by post today as I am knee-deep in errands and projects so here's a peek at recent journal pages. The Full Tilt Boogie love continues at a breakneck pace; I love that I am so in love with my journaling practice again. (I also love that it seems easier these days to upload multiple photos in a single post. That makes my blogging practice so much easier.)

In the Dead of Night, A Funny Bird Appears and Is Welcomed

2011-08-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

I've had an art show deadline hanging over my head for well over a year and until last night, I'd made no motions towards figuring out what I was going to do. This will be the 8th show of my work out in the world since 2007 and one would think that I'd have developed some sort of process by now. Sadly, no...There are soo many reasons:

Procrastination - This ever popular delay tactic is one of my worse enemies...
Panic - Even as I book the show in my calendar, my brain goes into full blown "Inner Critic" mode and I panic about everything but most especially, I question over and over again my ability to produce stuff worthy of being seen.
Age-Old Questions - Do I create work that I know will sell or do I create work that will satisfy my soul? Coming up with a theme, technique & style that answers both questions with a resounding "Yes!" is the tricky part...
Time: I am a chronic over-scheduler (many people with chronic health issues do this for some silly reason) and show stuff always gets shoved to the bottom of the to-do list...

However, the biggest reason I have for not getting my act together sooner is that since my wrist fusion surgery in 2008, I have found it really, really difficult to get out of my journal and onto canvas, both physically & mentally. During my two-year physical therapy journey following my surgery, my journal became my ultimate art partner. Fine motor manipulations are permanently awkward with no wrist movement and working in the intimate space of my journal is much easier than leaning over a canvas. And most importantly, the journal makes no judgments about shaky lines or unintended blobs of paint. That sort of stuff doesn't fly when you're adding a price tag.

So last week (on my birthday!) when I read about Dina Wakely's and Samantha Kira's August throwdown to join them for a month of getting "Out of the Journal" and onto at least two canvases a week, I decided that it was time to set the journaling aside just a little bit and allow myself space to tackle the task before me: at least 25 canvases before the end of September. The space I'm showing in could easily hold fifty pieces if they are on the small side but that number makes me a bit queasy so I'm putting it out of my mind.

Last night I ended months of fretting and inactivity, and just simply started. I still didn't really know what I was going to do but the act of hanging my hopes on a glimmer of an idea and seeing where it would take me was all it took. I'm still hammering out a few of the details but I think I at least have a path opening up before me and that's a hell of a lot more than I had a few weeks ago. I apologize for the terrible lighting in this picture; even Photoshop couldn't compensate for a middle-of-the-night photo shoot. I finished up last night with the preparation of four more blank canvases and today I will push on this idea a little bit more in the light of day to see if it holds up. I'll keep you posted...

Giveaway Winners Announced & Marley Belly Admired

2011-08-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

Whew! It seems everyone is recovering from my birthday week. Sweet Marley (aka Marley Bear, Mar Bear, Mar Mar and simply, The Bear) showed off his cutest sleep position in his customary box on my studio table and I couldn't help but snap his picture. He really is one of the sweetest cats I've ever known but also one of the biggest and he is constantly sprawling in one inconvienent spot or another. He loves to have his belly rubbed until he drifts off to sleep and that means, of course, that he needs to stretch out to his full length for maximum belly exposure. In the process, he always manages to take out one or more of the following: coffee cup, water cup, wet palette, scrap papers, the pen I'm using and/or foam brush covered in glue. I love it when he naps in his box because it means his destructive awesomeness is more or less contained and out of the way.

Today, my last official month of freedom begins as September brings with it the start of a new, always chaotic school year. However, August is going to be one crazy studio work day after another as I have an art show scheduled for October and precious little time to pull it together. I also have tons of appointments and busy work to complete before school starts up again; once I go back to teaching and my son settles back into his college classes, my life is not my own.

And finally for today's post, here's the winners of my Wild Birthday Rumpus Giveaway:

Lettering Pamphlet:

Jenn

Andria

Emie58

Karyl

House Canvases:

Kitty

Andria

Handmade Cards:

Donna (aka Doni or Lady D)

Lettering Books:

Lotus

and finally the girl & bird piece goes to:

Sharon (I have your address already)

Please contact me via email at lostcoastpost@suddenlink.net with your snail mail address by August 3. If you live abroad, please make sure to write your address out line by line so I know exactly how to send something to you. If I have not heard from you by August 3, I will select a new winner. Thank you to everyone who stopped in and delivered their sweet comments and birthday wishes!

Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!

2011-07-25T18:06:00.000-07:00

The stars and planets are aligning this week, folks! Not only is this my birthday week but this post right here is my 300th and I say it is time to celebrate! Beginning tomorrow and continuing through Friday, look for a giveaway every day here at Lost Coast Post, the little blog that could.

It has taken me a bit over five years to hit 300 posts (and maybe, just maybe, I'll hit 100 followers this week.) There have been a lot of ups & downs and I still face obstacles to blogging every single day. Yet this small corner of the vast Internet that I claim as my own has grown on me and I am more excited each and every day by the potential of this space.

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to stop in, even when it seems like I've pulled up stakes. Thank you for your sweet support and racuous cheering section; I couldn't have done it without you. I sincerely hope that you all will join me for 300 more!

Now will someone please toss the virtual confetti so we can get this party started!?

Lost Coast Studio Saturday: The Eye of a Brainstorm

2011-07-23T16:09:00.000-07:00

Approximately a decade ago, one of my brothers gifted me with several rolls of scrap sticker stock rescued from the trash of a printing company. It was used to print indexing stickers for rubber stamps. There are many different types of finishes such as shiny silver, aluminum silver, gold, kraft paper, vellum, glossy white and so on. There are yards and yards of this stuff, each roll a little over 12 inches wide. I was delighted to receive it but of course, I just stored it away in a closet as I had no clue what to do with it. Ten years (maybe more), I've held onto these cumbersome rolls of sticker paper and they've been good for nothing more than homes for some seriously creepy spiders.

And then this morning, like a lightning bolt, it hit me: I could make my own decorative tape!!!!! OMG! How awesome would that be!? Some of the rolls have a sort of frosty opacity and when I decorated little pieces and peeled off the paper backing, I was delighted to be able to see the text underneath. Just like washi tape!!

I can't see to move fast enough. I'm in the process of painting and decorating a much larger sample. I cannot wait until it is dry and I can cut it into strips! Voila! Serendipity tape!!! And I now know exactly what I am going to do with my stash of wooden pins and spools...

The Artist's Hand: Lettering Part 5

2011-07-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

The following continues where this post left off as I finish this exploration of lettering for my blog series "The Artist's Hand."

Once you've gotten to the point where you can comfortably and quickly write out the alphabet in your regular handwriting, you have an excellent starting point for developing your own fonts. By beginning with your own handwriting (I call this your "Personal Baseline Alphabet" or "PBA"), you are already starting with structures that you know backwards and forwards. Now it's time to find your inner font.

To create simple line fonts, the things you can do to your PBA fall into a couple of categories: Alterations or Additions.

Alterations include changes to the basic shape of the letterform, spacing, and/or structure of your PBA. These alterations are generally done as you are writing out the letters.

For example, you can make your letters extra straight and tall or conversely, make them short and fat. Or try making your letters extra-rounded. Alternately, try to create an extra-angular alphabet. Another idea is to alter the placement of the letters' midline. The dotted line on these children's lettering pads shows you where the midline normally falls. As an experiment, raise or lower the midline and see how it changes the look of the letters.

Another method of altering letters is to simply change the spacing. Note in my sample how cramming the letters together or spacing them out changes the mood the letters convey. Jumbling up the letters by using different heights and positioning creates a playful, energetic look.

Finally, you can also alter the case: write in all lowercase, all uppercase, or use a bit of both. Again, all these options for altering your PBA generally happen as you are writing out the letters so at first it may feel a bit awkward. If you develop something you like, practice it until it becomes more comfortable.

Additions are the second way of changing your PBA. These are embellishments to your letters that are most often added after you print out the letters.

Serifs are the little flourishes at the ends of letters. Try adding simple dots, stars, hearts, flowers, buttons, loops or dashes. Serifs, depending on how they are used, can make letters more playful or more formal. Another idea for additions is to include simple structures such as stitches, wiggles, dots, shadows, thick or thin lines and so on. Play attention to how each alteration and addition changes the emotion of your alphabet. If you figure out what makes the letters silly, girly, busy, or serious, you will be able to match your titles and small bits of journaling to the mood of your content.

I hope all my readers are exploring their handwriting with a little more confidence and a broader sense of adventure! As an extra little treat (it is my birthday month after all), ~~I'll mail out 4 copies (winners chosen at random) of the little pamphlet I wrote for my follow-up lettering class called "Find Your Inner Fancy Font."~~ * Thank you for your comments; all pamphlets are spoken for. * Once I got students through the creation of simple line lettering, we would move on to block letters. The handout just served to provide a printed supplement to the things I demo'd in class.

Happy lettering!

Hand & Soul Studio News

2011-07-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

My Etsy shop, Hand & Soul Studios, is once again full up with hand carved goodness for art journalists. This now includes a set of weather icons which I created because I love to record the daily weather conditions in my journal but I don't want every entry to feature a repetitive synopsis of what it looks like outside. Now I can stamp the appropriate icon on some aged sticker paper or vintage ledger paper, cut it out, and add it alongside my other (more interesting) thoughts.

And coming soon (probably in a day or so), four different sets of "prompt" stamps: little words to help title and describe particular types of journal entries. They are completely carved but ~~I still need to take pictures and upload all the information to Etsy.~~ Edit: These are now available in the shop! After these, I'll probably take a break from carving partly because my hands need it but also because the carving material I use is out of stock. A big thank you to everyone who has stopped by my shop to take a peek!

I'm slowly expanding the offerings at Hand & Soul Studios. In early August, look for creativity kits filled with my hand painted papers. And I'm contemplating adding background stamps to my stamp line (still in search for the perfect name!) The big news is that I may be leaping back into the world of zine-making. I'm not going to jump until I'm 100% percent sure I'm able to tackle such a project but the idea of a paper companion to Lost Coast Post has been percolating for a while. I'll definitely be adding some original art for sale at the shop but I'll post more on that once the details settle in my consciousness.

Tomorrow, I'm finishing up my lettering segment for my July post series called "The Artist's Hand" AND next week is my birthday week so I'll be planning and scheming all weekend, trying to cook up a little celebration. Sooo hopeful you'll join me!

The Artist's Hand: Lettering Part 4

2011-07-20T17:17:00.000-07:00

Before we dive into the actual creation of personal fonts from our handwriting on Friday, I wanted to offer up some basic tips to keep in mind when you sit down to either practice or add stuff for real in your journal.

Slow Down!

There's no rush. Set aside time to letter just as you do would journaling.

Relax!

Don't worry about creating perfectly formed, spaced, and straight lettering! It's not natural (excepting professional calligraphers) and sucks all the fun out of it. To this end, be careful about overusing your pencil eraser.

Practice, practice, practice!

This cliché has been drilled into us since elementary school but it still holds true: the more you letter, the better. In my experience, students' two biggest obstacles are lack of self-confidence and lack of practice, NOT a lack of innate skill. Practicing helps ease the inner critic.

Play, play, play!

Create your very own collection of fonts unique to your personality and lettering needs. Have fun! Letter a favorite saying or silly newspaper titles. Pick a holiday randomly and develop a font for it. Make up a holiday for that matter...

Note: When I say "font," I mean a set of letters that has a consistent style and form. Your natural handwriting is your base "font." On Friday, we'll start manipulating that handwriting to develop new permutations of your basic letterforms. These new fonts will be useful for adding quotes, titles, and even short paragraphs in your journals. (For longer passages, I recommend just using your regular handwriting as the words will flow much better if you're not trying to make your letters fancy whilst thinking.)

I Know Not What Direction I Boogie

2011-07-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

Work continues in my Full Tilt Boogie journal, sometimes frantically and sometimes leisurely. This type of journal is very easy to work on in five to ten minute increments and I have only skipped days altogether when my migraine brain is in high gear for the majority of the day. And even on those days, I sit and sift through my scrap box, grabbing things that tickle my fancy and trying them out on various pages.

I've mostly been using this as my "daily diary," squeezing my mundane ramblings in between all the collaged images that inspire me. I've been doing a lot of thinking though about how my journals can function as more than just a container for the everyday. I want my journals to help illuminate my hopes, dreams, personality quirks, and interests. Of course, journals do that indirectly through the visual content I choose and create but I feel as though my writing could get a little deeper.

I've never really been one for using prompts although I love collecting them and certainly use them with my middle school art students. I'm not sure why that is but I've been rethinking the use of prompts to help me focus and generate content that moves beyond weather observations and the daily pain assessment. Recording and unloading, as journaling styles, serve a purpose but so does list-making and daydreaming. I want to do more of the latter.

I'm also feeling twinges of guilt over all the collage in this journal. I am adding a lot of handwriting and hand carved images (find them here!) but not as much original art as I would like. In the past, collage work was agonizing and since this breakthrough of sorts, it goes much pleasantly. I wonder if all this second-guessing is common or if I'm just overanalytical. (Don't everyone chime in at once! lol) I'm deeply happy working in this manner so why all the doubts? It is super helpful to remind myself that art journals are akin to living creatures and they evolve as influenced by their creator. I am free to push and pull in any direction I see fit and there are no missteps or dead ends, only new paths that miraculously appear to take me places I could never imagine or plan.

The Artist's Hand: Lettering Part 3

2011-07-18T16:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! My July blogging series, "The Artist's Hand," continues today with more on lettering. I began with ideas for adapting and altering lettering "products" such as foam stamps & stencil templates and continued with some ideas on how to use rubber stamp fonts. Today we are going to venture into something that can be scarier territory: your own handwriting. The following post is adapted from class materials I developed back in 2002.

"I hate my handwriting:" This is a common refrain in art classes and I've read that phrase over and over again on blogs. It seems that for many, the art of lettering is frighteningly close to the seemingly impossible art of drawing. There are many lettering books on the market that give you lots of ideas for fonts to "draw." This scares off many people right from the beginning. So I decided to develop a way to teach lettering using an individual's own handwriting as the starting point. Thus, each and every one of us has a ready-made font "skeleton" immediately at hand! By making simple changes to your existing handwriting, you can confidently create beautiful lettering for any project.

One of the best things for practicing your handwriting are children's lettering pads. Remember those from way back? They come in different line thicknesses, depending on the grade level they target: little ones just learning to create letter forms use pads with really wide lines and as kids get older, the lines get closer together. All of these pads feature a dotted center line and that's useful when you start transforming your letters into unique fonts.

As far as other tools are concerned, I encourage you to practice in pen because many times a pencil (and its tempting eraser) causes students to spend more time editing and criticizing their creativity than actually lettering. However, as long as you can keep a muzzle on your inner critic, by all means use a pencil.

Begin by writing out the alphabet (upper and lowercase) in your neatest printed handwriting just like you did in grade school. DO NOT make this an exercise in agony. Lettering that takes you ten hours to print out is neither useful nor fun. Get used to smoothly but quickly printing out the alphabet.

This is what I call your "PBA" (Personal Baseline Alphabet) or your personal starting point for developing fonts. With this method, you will always begin with your PBA. Practice just writing the alphabet so you don't stress over your handwriting. You just need the letter forms to play with.

On Wednesday, I'll continue this post with ways you can alter and add to your PBA. For now, make friends with your handwriting; it is a deeply unique and personal part of you that your heirs will treasure.

Note: I always hope this goes without saying but unfortunately, I sometimes discover it is necessary to throw out this reminder: Any written & visual material here at Lost Coast Post AND at my Etsy shop, Hand & Soul Studios, is copyright-protected and is for your personal use only. Links are warmly welcomed but please don't copy my posts to your own blog or take my images and copy them line for line in your own work. Many heartfelt thanks to all who work to respect and protect artists' copyrights...

Lost Coast Studio Saturday: Organizing Part 2

2011-07-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

Today's Lost Coast Studio Saturday continues the organizing theme that I began in this post. Here's some more ideas:

Since space is at a premium, I don't save any magazines. Instead, I tear out the articles I think would be good to hang onto for future reference and then file those articles away in the appropriate binder. I go through these binder periodically to purge stuff that I no longer want and to get fresh inspiration if I'm in a creative rut. Images that I wish to save get stored in one of various morgue files scattered throughout the house. (Remember - the most used stuff gets stored closest to me.)

I love collecting tins and storing supplies in them but as I acquired more and more tins, I found it hard to remember what was in each one. So I used an awl and these metal frames from the scrapbooking department to label each tin. Viola! A pretty way to store things and no more having to take the tin down to find out what is tucked away inside.

I hang my large decorative paper in the hallway leading to the upstairs bathroom. I just stack them and hang by bulldog clips. This allows me to easily rifle htrough my collection to see what I have and the papers get to lie flat.

For the smaller pieces of handmade and decorative paper, I roll them and store in cans hung on the wall. This makes another cool and practical display.

And one last tip...I have a lot of black spiral bound sketchbooks. So that I can see which volume I want at a glance, I hang decorated round tags off the spiral. This might seem like a small detail but it is an amazing time saver.

For a full tour of my upstairs work space, I've added a new set of pictures to my Flickr account. Go here to check them out! Happy organizing!

The Artist's Hand: Lettering Part 2

2011-07-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

I was rummaging through my lettering binder (I'll talk more about my binder organizing system in tomorrow's Lost Coast Studio Saturday) and rediscovered materials from lettering classes I taught back in 2004 (so glad I archive everything!.) The following is a scan of a sampler I helped students create during a class all about using rubber stamp letters. I thought that it fit perfectly with our current discussion of ways to get text onto your journal pages. The scan's a little wonky in the upper right corner due to some thick embellishments but I think you get the idea.

The lettering theme will continue in next week's "The Artist's Hand" post series so stay tuned...

In Blank Canvas Hell

2011-07-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

As productive and enthusiastic as I have been with my journals lately, I have been the exact opposite with the mountain of blank canvases that has been staring me in the face for...dare I say it...um...the last year. Yikes! I am supposed to hang a large show in October and what you see here is the sum total of my progress on this project. And I still don't have a clue what I'm going to do. This canvas is only collaged because I felt compelled to do something and I had hopes that if I just got my fingers moving, my brain would follow. It was a nice theory while it lasted.

Today I decided that I was going to make a concerted effort to carve my show theme and technique in stone. That vow fizzled out somewhere between the third and fourth cup of coffee. I have plenty of notes and research, oodles of supplies...what I am lacking in spades is confidence - confidence in my technical abilities and confidence that I am doing something fresh and interesting that people will want to see and if I'm lucky, buy. I struggle mightily with that age-old artists' dilemna: make what sells or make what my heart desires. Unfortunately, it isn't always the same thing. I want to be adventurous but I don't want to end up with fifty canvases that are only good for cutting off the frame and lining the birdcage. Arrgh! And now, I have the addition of time pressure to freak out my already doubtful brain. So fun...

Long story short, I figure I have until Monday to make a decision and start cranking out work or I have officially crossed into "The Land of Embarrassing Phone Calls to Cancel a Rarely Available Show Slot that I Booked Far Enough in Advance To Have Figured Something Out." I'll let you know how this story ends....

The Artist's Hand: Lettering Part 1

2011-07-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

My July blog series, "The Artist's Hand," continues and today, I'm going to move into the heart of the topic: ways to make your mark on your work for greater interest, authenticity, energy, and originality. One of my favorite methods of doing this is through hand lettering. A lot of people seem afraid to do this or claim they don't like their handwriting. I've got answers for both dilemnas but we'll ease into that. For right now, let's look at ideas for adding text to a page without utilizing your own writing.

The key to making all of the following products "read" as your voice (as opposed to just pre-fab product slapped on a page) is to alter the letters by hand. Don't just stick or stamp or stencil; go a little further, grab a pen and interact!. The results are much more personal.

Doodle around sticker letters. I like to use sticker fonts that are very neutral and simple so that I can make them my own. You can see that I also used a white paint pen to add a tiny hightlight to each letter. You can also doodle around the stickers and then remove them! Presto! Instant hand lettering!

When using stencil templates, don't just trace and call it a day. Fill it in with colored pencil or marker (white looks very cool on a dark background) and attack it it with a loose doodle outline. (Can you tell I'm fond of that technique?)

Stamped letters are also fantastic for adding text. It may seem tedious to "write" this way but it actually gets a little meditative as you concentrate on spelling things right and finding each letter. Again, use a pen to fancy up the stamped letters and make them your own.

Using the "ransom note" technique always seem to read as playful and original. Cutting, choosing and placing all those little words and/or letters requires a lot of hand work. But don't just glue them down. Get busy doodling little frames around the paste-ups to integrate them into your page.

I also love using foam stamp letters! Remember the sets from Making Memories? I rarely leave them alone once I stamp with them but instead, I choose to add doodle and paint accents. Give the letters a shadow. This also serves to integrate the product into your page.

I hope you find some ideas here that inspire you to make things your own. As I've said, this isn't an anti-product rant fest. It's about being brave and bold and creative and finding ways to make sure that your personal voice shines out of your work like a beacon.

More Hand Carved Journaling Stamps in Stock

2011-07-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

I've been a mad stamp carver lately, trying to get my little Etsy shop, Hand & Soul Studios, restocked with some more of my hand carved journaling stamps. These stamps have been a labor of love...a bit of labor and a whole lotta love as I adore how these stamps look in my journal! They are perfectly imperfect. I have tried to make them work together as a cohesive set and I've had a lot of fun doodling in my sketchbook, developing new designs.

This time around, I added a set of alphabet stamps, a fancy marquee frame, and a set of frame stamps that can be used for page titles or small bits of journaling.

I'm trying to come up with a name for this line of stamps and so far I'm striking out...anybody have any ideas? My secret working title was "Vintage Smintage" since these were born following a particularly annoying online session searching for reasonably priced vintage labels to use in my journals. However, I don't really want to slam anybody that collects and uses vintage ephemera in their art. This is just an alternative...if you brainstorm any good names, let me know in the comments...

The Artist's Hand: Critical Shopping

2011-07-11T17:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! Lost Coast Post went on holiday this weekend as I took time to trapse around ancient redwoods, chase my darling nephew, and sit in the sun with my parents. Sweet! I needed a little recharge time and now, I think I'm ready to face a crazy busy week, full of doctors' appointments, errands, show planning, and Etsy shop business....

I'm also ready to leap back into my July post series celebrating "The Artist's Hand." As you can see from this shot of my studio, I am surrounded by supplies (and there's a bunch I wasn't able to capture in this single picture as well as another room downstairs devoted to art stuff.) I keep things super organized and clean but even so, I often feel overwhelmed. About a year ago, I realized that I had reached my "stuff" saturation point. Enough is enough; I was ready to prioritize creating over collecting.

It is tough. The industry is constantly releasing new and tempting goodies. And let's face it: sometimes it's just a lot easy to shop than to actually make art. I still buy things from time to time but in order to stay on track, I've become extremely critical about what I bring into the studio. Here are some questions I ask myself before I make a purchase:

Is it essential? These are supplies that I use up frequently such as adhesives, brushes and most commonly used paint colors. I keep a master list as I run out of something so that in the store, i can focus on what I really need and not what I want on impulse.
Is it a duplicate? I keep a swatch book of the paints, markers, pencils, and inks I own so I don't buy something I already have. And if I already have plenty of a particular supply (i.e. brads), I don't buy any more even if I see it presented in a brand new way. I have learned to make what I have work. (This is sooo important!)
Is it a neutral/universal product or is it pre-determined? Will it support my creativity or stifle it? (See last Friday's post for more on this.)
Is it a one-shot item? I no longer buy project-specific supplies. If I can't use something across a variety of projects, then it doesn't come home with me.
In regards to books, does it provide new information? Books are deliciously tempting but I realized that a lot of the art books out there are repeating the same basic material. I love to shop on Amazon but I browse the books in the bookstore first to see if the book I'm drooling over online is really worth the cover price.

By getting tough and critically evaluating every potential purchase, I've been able to cut my art supply buying habit by about 90 percent. Honestly, I have enough stuff to last me years and years. (What about you?) I want to my family to inherit finished products, NOT box upon box of raw materials. When I pass on, I want my heirs to gather 'round my work and laugh and read and remember; I don't want them to have to gather with strangers at a mega garage sale of all my unused supplies....just something to think about.

The Artist's Hand: Go Neutral!

2011-07-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

My personal strategies for bringing my personal artistic voice to bear, front and center, in my work are still evolving but there's one thing I've been doing for years: carefully considering the type of imagery I shop for.

I avoid images and supplies that are overly pre-determined. By this I mean that I don't buy stuff that already has a strong narrative or style that tells its own story. For example, I try not to purchase rubber stamps that are connected with a specific artist's name. I'd rather not have someone look at my art and squeal "Oooh! I just love that Tim Holtz stamp!" If you think I'm going to slam Mr. Holtz and the supply empire he's built, you'd be wrong. There's a ton of stuff in the Holtz line-up that I adore. Do I own some of his stamps? You bet. Some of his older clear stamp sets are awesome for journaling. But I use those images super sparingly and I don't make them the focal point. Generally speaking, I stick with neutral, universal imagery like non-descript text, basic shapes, things that can blend into my work and help tell my story. And by sticking with a narrow range of imagery, I increase the odds that my work will feel like a cohesive whole. (Remember: Repetition is one of your best friends.)

The picture above shows the rubber stamps I keep in my immediate studio space and I think you can see this principle in practice. (And you can see that I keep those overly determined images tucked away out of sight.) I use this same strategy when considering stencil and paper designs. I also consider the depth of use I'd get out of a particular supply. I no longer purchase anything that has a project-specific purpose.

Of the best way to have tools and images that serve your narrative needs is to make your own: cut your own stencils, carve your own stamps, draw (or digitally create) your own images...the less you can rely on commercial imagery, the more your art shines with your personal voice. However, it isn't always practical or possible to make it yourself and let's face it, there's some cool stuff out there! But by choosing carefully, you can save some money and build a stash that doesn't simply sit around and dominate your mental and physical space.

Caution! Mini Rant Ahead!

2011-07-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

Although my day started with another migraine at 3am, I was able to get ahead of it very early and knock it out before it got a real foothold. Love it when it works out like that! Until now, I haven't really had a chance to sit down at the computer and so I sit here without a plan for this post, no picture and a bunch of random thoughts. Look out!

I think a lot about product and how it helps or hurts me as an artist. There is so much I love (and have collected) and yet so much frustration as I see what the industry thinks I need now. And what really blows my mind (or maybe just saddens me) is that the "latest and greatest" in "you too can be an artist" stuff is on a three month back order at the local scrapbook store because of its wild popularity. Sigh. If, for whatever reason you can't or don't make your own journals, no problem: Go to Etsy and browse through the hundreds available there. You're sure to find one that suits your needs (hell, there are people who make custom journals exactly to your specifications!) AND you will be supporting a fellow artist - someone's mother, daughter, sister, wife (or, of course, father, son, brother, husband) - who is trying to make their way in this lousy economy with his or her head held high. When do the corporate pockets fill up? When do they say "Wow! I think we made enough off of people's insecurities and ignorance." Now someone is sure to say "This is America! Go capitalism!" Blah blah blah...I'm tired of hearing that. Making a quick buck is making a quick buck: let's just call it what it is and move forward and really dig deep, not into our pocketbooks, but into our souls and the huge stashes we already have. I think when we get there, we'll find we're capable of much more that the industry thinks.

For me, the bottom line is this: art-making is very similiar to eating well. The farther I get from the Source (in the case of art - my hands, head, and heart), the less genuine the experience. In the supermarket, the real food is on the outside aisles and the deeper you go into the store, the more fake the food. Can you have treats once in a while? Sure. But indulge in a steady diet of heavily processed foods (or heavily processed, pre-fabricated art supplies) and you are likely to lose yourself.

If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you'll know I'm not prone to rants. I keep stuff like religion & politics very close to the vest; it's deeply personal and not what this blog is about. But today, my soapbox is showing. Ooops! I am not condemning the scrapbook industry; there just has to be balance in all things. There have to be people who stand up and say "That stuff does look cool but you know what? You, little old you, who's afraid of art unless it comes pre-packaged with pretty logos and pre-planned systems, you are capable of creating things SO MUCH MORE beautiful if you would just trust yourself and your own two hands." There. I said it. Now would you all please just give yourself a chance to see how brilliant you are without using every frickin' product the industry can cram down your throats?

I'm stepping down now and going off to soothe my hot-headed self with a cup of cocoa. Tomorrow, Lost Coast Post gets back to focusing on positive ways to help yourself shine. Be well, be happy, and please, oh please, be you! 'Night!

The Artist's Hand: Begin Here

2011-07-06T19:15:00.000-07:00

Every Monday, Wednesday & Friday, all throughout July, I'm going to be celebrating "The Artist's Hand," the most important tool you have at your disposal for creating work that is energetic, full of personality, and genuine. The art and craft industry is right in your face every day, bursting with new and exciting product that they and their peddlers say is "must have." Some of that product can amplify self-expression (and we'll celebrate that this month as well) but there's A LOT of "stuff" that at best, muffles your personal voice, and at worst, sucks your soul (and your wallet) dry. Ahem...I'll do my best to keep my soapbox tucked away out of sight; my passion for this issue has only intensified over the years.

Like so many artists, I've spent a lot of time wondering and worrying about whether or not I had a unique style. Am I whispering in my work or does it scream my name when someone looks at it? For a while, I thought maybe, I was never going to be able to answer that question with certainity. And then I realized that my fear of being heard was increasing in direct proportion with the amount of stuff I was accumulating. Hmmm...So I brought the impulse buying to a halt and and I began to focus on skills, tools, and techniques that yielded more personal results.

So what does "the artist's hand" encompass? Here's what it means to me:

Doodling, drawing, painting, lettering...
Stencilling & Stamping with an emphasis on handmade tools or neutral, universal imagery...
Techniques/Tools with heavy hand/artist involvement: for example, ink jet transfers, sewing/stitching (either by hand or machine), photography, bookbinding, creative writing, altering and so on...

And here's the really exciting (and scary) part: All of the above, things that make your work unmistakably yours, have one thing in common: imperfection!! If you want to make authentic work, you have to embrace imperfection. All the wobbly lines, stray paint splatters, bad rhymes, the out-of-focus, the off-balance or out of proportion - learn to love it all!

On Friday, July 8, I'll talk about neutral/universal versus the pre-determined and on Monday, July 11, I'll write about my strategies for supply shopping that honor your voice (and your budget.) And by the middle of next week, we'll start putting our hands all over our work with a short primer on lettering! Hope to see you here!

Holding My Head but Still Dancing in My Journal

2011-07-05T16:26:00.000-07:00

Spread from July 2 and 3

July 4 spread

I had a bad run of migraines last week (four in a row!) and consequently, most of my art-making gave way to pain management. I discovered though that this style of journaling is actually very welcoming in times of ill health. It doesn't take a bunch of mental effort to dig through my bulging scrap box, choose something that pleases me and then glue it down. If I was really suffering (migraines have a way of shutting down daily life if they get out of control), I saved my journaling and decisions about focal images until I had a bit more energy and tolerance of light.

I'm really having a grand time in this journal and as a result, I'm now behind in Mary Ann's class; she just posted the instructions for our third & fourth binding style and I haven't even attempted the journal from week 2. However, the journaling is just pouring out of me right now and I feel I need to give that energy the proper attention. I want to make sure I capture every bit of my renewed enthusiasm while it is flowing so freely.

If you want to see more from my Boogie journal, check out this set at Flickr. Every page is shown there in order as it occurs in the journal...

PS...My hand carved stamps for journaling are back in stock at my Etsy shop...thank you to everyone who popped in to take a peek!

Taking a Teeny Tiny Break

2011-07-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

After yesterday's monster of a migraine, I've decided to take the smallest of blogging breaks to catch my breath, recoup my energy, take care of Etsy shop business (my stamps blew out the door in a whirlwind - thank you!) and enjoy the holiday weekend. It doesn't make much sense to push until I break so instead, I'm going to bend a little.

Lost Coast Post will resume regular posting on July 5th. Hope you'll join me then for my month-long celebration of "The Artist's Hand!"

A Celebration is Brewing!

2011-07-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

It is almost unbelievable that it is now July and even more amazing, I blogged 28 days in June!!! If you've followed this blog for any length of time or even if you've just arrived and skimmed through old posts, you'll notice that I've often been an inconsistent blogger. However, I'm working to change that and the grand experiment will continue through July (with the shortest of holidays for Independence Day festivities).

I'll admit that some days, I have a hard time deciding what to write about but after much thought, I realized that there is one particular subject that I've always been passionate about and here at Lost Coast Post, all this month, that topic is going to become the center of attention. It's going to be all about...

The key to creating unique, authentic art is retention of the mark of the artist in the work. The marketplace is brimming (no, overflowing) with pre-fabricated supplies. Turn right this minute and look at your own stash. Yep. There it all is. And there's nothing wrong with using any of it as long as you don't sacrifice your own voice in the process. So in July, we're going to shake off our fears and play! I'm developing this as I go along but there's a few things I know for sure: We'll work on developing our lettering skills and we'll celebrate supplies and techniques that amplify our voice rather than muffle it. And there will be giveaways since July also happens to be my birthday month! What a co-inkydink!

I hope you'll join me here, beginning July 5th, for this mini blog event! (On that day, I'll have more specifics about content and the posting schedule for "Artist's Hand" topics.) Tell your friends! It would be great to have a bunch of people play along!

Hand Carved Journal Tools

2011-06-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

My alter ego, Hand & Soul Studios has quietly reopened for business. Originally, my plan was to build up a huge inventory and have a grand, stuffed-to-the-brim reopening but I'm really more of a little-bit-at-a-time gal. The latter approach fits my life much better.

Anyhoo, new in the shop is some hand-carved goodness, perfect for visual journaling. In fact, I developed this little line of images a couple months back after much online searching for vintage stationery items to use in my journals. I was frustrated by runaway auction prices and limited availability and finally declared "Vintage Smintage! I'm going to make my own!" And that's precisely what I did.

I love using these stamps in my journal. I can print them in traditional Dennison red or coordinate the label color however my wee heart desires. I typically stamp on sticky paper that's been aged with a little golden-colored ink. And if I mess up while writing or printing on the label? Not a problem! I just make another! And I happen to think these "labels" feel a little bit more personal than pre-fab ephemera.

Once I did labels, I decided I needed hand-carved numbers and that led to experimenting with other label ideas. And once I made myself a set, I began to wonder if other people might be interested in such a thing. So I carved and carved and today, I published the listings at my Etsy shop to test the waters. I invite you to pop in over there and check things out.

Changing How I Document My Days

2011-06-29T15:52:00.000-07:00

Work inside my first Boogie journal continues: Shown from top to bottom are three days' worth of spreads from June 27 through the 29th. I've been having a lot of fun pushing the boundaries of what I typically do with my visual journals.

I've never really been the type for a "catch all" journal. In fact, I suppose some would say I obsessively compartmentalize - one journal for daily diary stuff, another for character creation & storytelling, yet another for "affirmational" work and dozens of plain spiral-bound books for sketches, creative writing, and project planning. As I work through this new style of journal, I realize that my illustration work has to stay separated in my faithful black sketchbooks. For that, I need a simple, consistent format.

However, these Boogie journals are inspiring me to add a little bit of everything alongside my daily musings and observations: a little poetry, some illustrations, hand lettering, altering, collage...basically whatever tickles my fancy in the moment. All that random stuff may seem disjointed and unconnected but I am working under some self-imposed supply limitations to keep that feeling to a minimum.

And most importantly, I'm just playing! I'm also not known for my spontaneity but I am working hard at listening to my gut and just moving forward with my first impulse. It is good for the soul and honestly, I have plenty of other journals and projects where I can plan things down to the last, itty bitty detail.

Quietude

2011-06-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

Quiet day here on the Lost Coast as a summer storm has settled in over the area, alternately drizzling and seriously raining. After a few days of warm weather, the moisture is welcome. The rhythmic rap-tap-tapping on the roof both comforts and energizes me so I spent the morning writing poetry and then progressed to painting. From time to time, I stepped around the sleepy cats and slipped out onto my balcony to watch the emerald and copper tree frogs enjoy the summer showers. Season 2 of True Blood just arrived in the mail courtesy of Netflix so I'll be finishing up my day with vampires and werewolves. As they say, that's really all the news that's fit to print...

More Boogie Journal Tips

2011-06-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

Photo is hinged...Shown closed...and next pic, shown open...

WhooHoo! Can you tell I have been dancing the days away in my Full Tilt Boogie journal!? Although it may seem like more as I bombard the blog with pictures, in reality, I'm doing just a single spread a day. It is an intriguing experience as I play with a variety of surfaces and try out new things while trying to stay true to who I am as a journaler. Here's some more things I've observed as I have progressed:

* Listen to your gut. If you are digging through your scrap pile and something seems pleasing at first glance, use it! Mary Ann calls it "listening to voices." I find that the "voices" aren't always so specific with me as sometimes I pick something up and while it is cool, it doesn't always work for the page I'm currently constructing. I've learned to shuffle through my pages and try out my scrap on other pages. I almost always find a home for my treasure in that manner.

* Don't be afraid to change your mind midstream; that's what adhesives are for...

* Don't get locked in to the structure you set up during journal construction. Just because you added in a short/tall/wide/narrow page at the outset, doesn't mean you can't alter it later. Hack stuff off. Add stuff on. This seems like an obvious observation but I discovered that I had to fight the feeling that I had to commit to the pages as they occurred.

* If you get stuck on a page, move on and embellish the next spread. A solution will occur to you when you're not thinking so hard.

* Don't get fatigued. I am finding that working "process first" is actually more tiring than starting with a concrete idea and proceeding to an end product. I think it is because I'm so much more excited; I burn through my energy reserves faster. Force yourself to take (non-art) breaks so you can ration the adrenalin.

* Separate work and gathering time. If you need to look for something or want to refresh your scrap pile, do it before you sit down to journal.

I hope these tips are helpful regardless of the type of journal you use. If you have any specific questions about my Boogie journals (or my other journals for that matter,) please feel free to send me an email (address in the sidebar) or add a comment to this post.

Happy journaling!

The Robots & I Rampage: ICAD 17 and 18

2011-06-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

Admittedly, I am behind on the Index Card Challenge because I have been swept away by Full Tilt Boogie fever. I have lots more little doodles haunting my brain however so I'll be continuing ICAD, catching up as I go along.

I am spending this lovely Lost Coast day in the studio, rampaging and reorganizing my files as I went looking for something I know I have and the frustration of not being able to locate said item is driving me wild. It has been a long while since I've redone my filing system for ephemera and collage material so it's all good. Beginning in July, I have about some major projects taking center stage in my artistic life and having my stuff easily sortable will be key. And in the process, I am discovering more (forgotten) stuff that I want to include in my journal.

Speaking of journaling, I'll be back tomorrow with more tips for working in mixed paper journals. I've been taking lots of notes as I journal and I'm happy to pass them along in case my little epiphanies are helpful to other visual journalers out there.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Lost Coast Studio Saturday: Organizing Part 1

2011-06-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

A little while back, I solicited comments regarding topics you, dear readers, would like to see me address here at Lost Coast Post. Jackie wrote in and asked about how I organize my studio. So I wandered my studio space and took a few pictures. For me, there are some basic rules:

First and foremost, 1) Arrange items from most used to least used in a spiral moving outward from my studio table. I am right-handed so directly to my right is a bookcase that holds the things I use every day: adhesives, scissors, baby wipes, scratch paper, paints (in my dominate color palette) and so on. I never have to leave my chair to grab the essentials. The shelf above this holds all my spiral-bound sketchbooks which I use every day.

My focus in the studio does change from time to time so if I notice a trend towards not needing a particular supply close at hand for an extended period of time, I rotate in what I have been using and move that little used product out of my immediate space.

2) Out of sight means out of mind, so whenever possible, label everything & store in a visible manner such as clear boxes, open files, decorative yet useful displays. Also immediately to my right, is an old wooden cassette tape holder (screwed into the wall) that now holds all the inks I use the most. As you can see, I also label my ink pads on the outside so I can know in a glance what pad to grab. Lesser used inks are on a display directly behind me.

Here's another example of storing stuff out in the open. In this case, it's my Prismacolor pencils, organized by color in teapcups and mugs on a lazy susan. I've also included commonly needed pencils & pens on this display. I haven't been using colored pencils very often lately (I keep the most used colors in a cup right at hand) so this is a couple of steps away from my chair. I can easily move it onto my table when doing pencil work.

Long ago, I let go of the notion of a magazine-ready studio...no pristine oak cabinets or vintage storage here. And I also let go of worry that guests would see all my supplies. If it works for me, I do it and although that means my home won't rate a Martha Stewart spread, it does mean my studio is as comfortable and functional as possible. Case in point, hanging on the wall that transitions into my kitchen, this old shoe holder that now is home to all my most used hand carved and foam stamps. Again, I can see instantly what I need and where it is.

We'll explore my studio some more in Part Two of this topic so stay tuned! Thank you Jackie for the great question!

How to Boogie Journal

2011-06-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

I am sooo happy with my latest journaling experiment! Full Tilt Boogie journals feature mixed paper signatures so when I sit down to work, I have to constantly switch up my approach: sometimes I have old book pages to work on, sometimes scrapbook paper, watercolor paper, ledger paper, the backs of posters...it keeps things challenging. Along the way, I'm learning some things:

Use a select pile of scraps, NOT everything you have. The scraps left over from journal construction are especially important because with such varied surfaces it is essential to:
REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT! By repeating materials throughout the journal, a consistent, unified look can be achieved. This can mean you repeat a set of tapes, lettering styles, stamps, papers, colors and so on.
Sometimes you add space in a spread; sometimes you cover up.
Not every page needs journaling. I am especially in love with some of the posters I've included in this journal so on those pages, I don't add a lot more.
Gather your pile of goodies before you sit down to work. You get better results and enjoy the process a bunch more if you're not stopping every five minutes to get something. And I know from long experience that those "brief" gathering breaks can lead to lots of wasted time as other stuff is rediscovered.
Keep the hand of the artist present. You went through all this trouble to create a journal from scratch, why not do the same on the inside? Use hand carved stamps, your own handwriting, random painting & doodles, tear rather than cut - these journals beg you to interact with them so do it!

Hanging Out & Hanging On

2011-06-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

Marley T. Bear has draped himself over the back of my office chair while I nurse a sore head (migraine) and sore foot (remaining stitches came out today). In case you're curious, the "T" stands for "Tiberius" (Trekkie geek alert!) or "Trouble," depending on the moment. He is a sensitive kitty and gets very attentive when I'm not feeling good: meowing, nuzzling, pawing at me, and generally making a fuss. He goes absolutely bonkers when my son has an asthma attack and will come running from anywhere in the house if he hears wheezing. I think he takes his title of "rescue kitty" literally. Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow with more Boogie journaling...

Boogie Update: 2nd Journal Complete!

2011-06-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

My second journal (featuring the first binding style we've learned in Full Tilt Boogie) is complete. The covers are from a vintage ledger that I then stamped with a hand carved stamp and gold gesso. Originally, I left the covers plain when I finished the binding last night but after tossing and turning, I awoke this morning knowing I needed to "glitz" it up a bit as there was too much contrast between the fancy, colorful binding and the plain Jane covers. Here's a shot of the binding.

Let's zoom in for a detail shot of the binding which includes some uber fancy brads I've been hording for years. (Stop collecting and start using, people!)

And finally, a shot of one of the interior spreads. For the signatures. I used some scrapbook papers, advertisements and old book pages but mostly manila folders and watercolor paper so I have lots of space to doodle and paint.

Some things I've learned while making these journals:

Tighten each line of binding stitches before moving on to the next row.
Double check each row of stitches for loops that didn't get pulled all the way through before moving on to the next row.
Try to do the stitching all in one sitting. The building momentum as you progress through the signatures keeps you clear-headed.
Try and stitch with one length of thread, even if that means it feels awkward when you start. My old bookbinding instructor, Shereen LaPlantz, recommended this formula for determining how much thread you need: height of book times number of signatures plus a little extra for comfort room. Works like a charm!
Try to pull/push the needle straight through the holes as pulling/tightening to the side increases the chances of tearing through the signatures.
When assembling pages for the signatures, thumb through them as if they were bound so you can see how they relate before you punch holes and stitch them up.
Slow down! Enjoy the process!

A Journaling Revolution

2011-06-21T17:50:00.000-07:00

I've been in the zone all day, constructing another Full Tilt Boogie journal. When I finally peeked over the sewing machine, I realized it was getting late and I didn't want to miss a day of blogging. I'm still not sure if I'll actually make it through 90 days of continuous posting but I already feel much more comfortable with my blog and getting to the keyboard each day is becoming easier with each passing post.

I have to say that this new art journal class with Mary Ann Moss of Dispatch from L.A. has revolutionized how I journal. Here's how I typically approach journaling: Get an idea, like say "Today I'll write about going to the farmer's market" or "I'm going to use this particular collage image" or "I need to get some things about my health off my chest" and THEN I proceed to develop a page.

The amazing Ms. Moss works in the opposite manner. She just starts working and discovers the content that needs to bubble to the surface. The process, rather than the product, is the driving force of page creation. This is not a new concept but its one I've never really grasped or embraced. I am such a control freak that it is super hard for me to not have my plan all laid out in advance. The problem is that my way of doing things squishes all spontaneity like a bug. And the most profound and important stuff is often in the subconscious. If I only give voice to whatever's on the tip of my tongue, the shy thoughts and observations never get to see the light of day. So I am practicing working without a map or compass. I just start wandering and after a while, I stop and look at how far I've gotten. It is definitely scary but also rather wonderous.

The Gnomes Exit Stage Left: ICAD 15 and 16

2011-06-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

Inktense, Microns

Whether it is due to health challenges or simply the way my brain functions, I tend to work in brief, frantic bursts and it seems I'm in the middle of one of those times. I'm busy making journals (and then journaling in that new format), photographing, editing, scanning, uploading and writing for my Etsy shop relaunch (what a boatload of work!) AND I'm still cranking out the index card illustrations.

The gnome inspiration fizzled after these two characters and I unabashedly went back to robot construction 'cause I can! Cards #17 and 18 are waiting to be inked so I'll post those when they're ready. My new prompt (for June 22 through the 27th) is "Lost Coast Postage" but that, of course, is subject to overthrow by all the naughty and nice robots lurking in my imagination.

In Need of Blog Topics

2011-06-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

Here we are, Day 19 of my 90 Days of Blogging here at Lost Coast Post. Since my idea pool is feeling a little dried up, I thought it would be good to hear from readers (a small but loyal contingent!): What do you want to read about? Tutorials? Techniques? Those always seem popular but there's a lot of stuff out there so I need some direction: Any technique in particular related to what I do? (I know I'm all over the map but if you've read LCP for any length of time or looked at my galleries, you have a good general idea of what I do.) A little feedback would be very helpful. I'll leave today's post at that. As always and ever, thanks for your readership and warm support!

Let the Real Boogie Woogie Begin

2011-06-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

I was up before the sun this morning, full of enthusiasm for journaling for the first time in a long time. My newly-completed Full Tilt Boogie journal was waiting patiently for me in my crazy messy studio.

I've spent a lot of time in recent weeks, trying to discern where to go next with my journaling practice. This new journal feels comfortable and flexible enough to contain all my interests. That's what I was looking for: the right container for all the bits and bobs floating around in my head and heart. I needed a playground that was safe and yet challenging. I think maybe, just maybe, I'm home.

Boogie Update: 1st Journal Complete

2011-06-17T18:32:00.000-07:00

Whew! The whirlwind has finally died down and my first Full Tilt Boogie journal is complete!

The first picture shows the cover. I'm not using a Victorian photo album simply because I don't have one and wanted to try and make do with what I have. This fabric collage is sewn to paper and then mounted on the front cover of an old book. I used the same technique for the back cover. This makes the journal's covers soft and touchable but also rigid for strength and durability. You can see a shot of the exposed binding in my previous post.

This is a shot of the interior of the journal. I included pages from old books, scrapbook paper, and cool posters I have "appropriated" from bulletin boards around town. I cannot wait to begin journaling in this!

Doing the Full Tilt Boogie!

2011-06-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

I have been in journal binding bliss all day thanks to yet another fabulous online class from the incomparable Mary Ann Moss of Dispatch from L.A. It is called "Full Tilt Boogie" and it has thrown me into a whirlwind of art-making. This is the best time I've had in my studio in months!

I've had the privilege of taking every single one of Mary Ann's classes and I can't say enough good things about Ms. Moss as a teacher. Her content, technical presentation, and student support are unmatched.

The first of four different journals debuted this morning and I was delighted to discover that it is a binding technique that I already know. So I began immediately, turning my studio upside-down in the process. As my son squeezed past the stacks of paper ringing the studio table, he remarked "Wow! Your work space is pathetic!" Oh yeah! I must be doing something right! (It is a well-known axiom of art that your actual work area shrinks in proportion to the level of your enthusiam for a project.)

In this particular class, Mary Ann is teaching us how to repurpose vintage photo albums, ledgers, old books and the like. I didn't have any spare resources to acquire any special supplies (including the Victorian albums featured) so I am drinking in Ms. Moss's instruction and spinning off in my own direction. Adaptation and innovation is highly encouraged as is using what you already own. I love that! I daresay I have enough stuff in my studio to make many, many journals.

Edit: I've completed the sewn part of my first Full Tilt Boogie journal. Here's a picture of the signatures, now bound together, waiting patiently to be attached to the covers. I have a wild idea for the covers but it will have to wait until this evening as my son has this silly notion that he should eat dinner! So I'm going to tear myself away from this project and manage some sort of meal...

Here Be Gnomes! ICAD 13 and 14

2011-06-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Pan Pastels, Inktense, Microns

I'm humming right along with the Index Card-a-Day Challenge and these two cards begin my exploration of the theme "The Fair Folk." The colors got a bit washed out in the scanning process but I used Pan Pastels to create soft, unobtrusive backgrounds for my illustrations. The muted environment contrasts nicely with the boldness of the Inktense pencils.

I've realized that these little drawings may work perfectly as studies for larger works (although I'm not sure if there's a market for gnome or robot paintings.) I have a big show coming up in October and I am still themeless but doing these small pieces is creating all sorts of new connections in my brain. I feel like I am exercising a muscle long neglected but, like the proverbial bike riding abilities, my cartooning skills are slowly reawakening. I've never been super adept at illustration but I've also never pursued it seriously. I do adore it and for now, the play is enough.

On a side note, I get my stitches out today and I am completely unhappy about that prospect. It is probably the thing I hate the most about post-surgery care. Ick! I never fail to cry like a baby and it is embarrassing. But I'll manage to get through and move on to physical therapy. I'm lucky to have had the same PT group for seven of my surgeries and they play a big part in my recovery. Whenever I begin PT following a surgery, I know I've turned the corner.

Come One, Come All!

2011-06-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Tammy over at Daisy Yellow has thrown down a little twist on the fabulous "Index Card-a-Day Challenge": Mondays will feature an additional challenge to do something with a completed index card. This Monday, ICAD participants were called upon to take a picture of an index card out in the world. I couldn't help involving dear sweet Marley T. Bear so here's my ringmaster introducing the star attraction in the big cats' arena...

Journaling Crossroads

2011-06-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

As I try to rest and recover from surgery, I've been doing a lot of aimless sitting at my studio table. I suppose this could be blamed on post-surgical fatigue or painkillers (although my intake of that is minimal by now.) In truth, when it comes to art journaling, I was staring blankly at my journals long before my latest trip under the knife. My journals, so long my best friends, have become strangers or in the very least, acquaintances I wish I knew better.

I've felt for a while now that I'm at a crossroads with journaling. Don't get me wrong: I love it but I do feel like my journals aren't working for me. Instead of collaging and painting, confessing, chronicling and/or affirming, I'm busy having an affair with my sketchbooks...no fancy pages or deep, dark thoughts...just musings in pencil or pen. I have dozens of sketchbooks and for the past several weeks, I've worked in one or more of them every day.

I see my sketchbook work as separate and unrelated to my art journaling. My journals feel like a collection of mini art projects while my sketchbooks are the foundation of my art life. In my journals, I worry about the end product; in contrast, I pour my brain and heart into my sketchbooks without a care in the world. My journals are work and my sketchbooks are play. That division is frustrating to me and I am trying to develop some sort of format that combines the best of both worlds.

I don't want to give up my more "arty" journals but my time and energy are limited. I don't feel like I can do both but I do feel like both ways of recording my life are important. It is a conundrum and I've been stewing over this problem for a while. In fact, I actually feel a little anxious now when working in some of my journals. When I open them to the next blank page, I often hesitate, unsure of how to proceed. Instead of letting go, I shut down.

I don't want a bunch of unfinished journals lying around. And some of my journals still feel relevant; ironically, those are the ones that I've neglected the longest. I keep thinking the answer will suddenly become clear or that I'll realize it isn't really about journaling versus sketching but rather more about a sneaky and stubborn case of creative block. I think the best thing to do is to stop worrying about it, stop overanalyzing, stop problem-solving and just get on with the art, no matter what form that takes. Easier said than done but I'm going to give it a whirl. Hang on tight...this ride may get a little wild....

The Circus Closes: ICAD 11 and 12

2011-06-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

With these two circus characters, I have finished my second set of doodles for the Index Card-a-Day Challenge (ICAD.) While I am admittedly only 12 days into this event (I typically tire of daily challenges around Day 30), I am loving working on these 3 by 5-inch "canvases."

My main trick for staying current? I sketch out (and sometimes even outline) the next day's card once I finish the coloring and shading of the day's illustration. That way, if I wake up feeling poorly, all the "thinking" work is already done and I can just relax. People who are collaging their cards could gather up a few bits for the next day's card or color the background in advance. I suppose it is cheating a bit but let's face it: we're not on the ball every day and life has a nasty habit of getting in the way. If you already have a small jumpstart on the day's card, you're more likely to be able to finish it up once you tackle the suddenly sick family member, the self-replicating laundry pile or the "Oops! There It Is!" appointment that appears on your calendar.

Another important thing to remember is that if you fall behind...DON'T GIVE UP! Take a day off (in addition to the one(s) you missed) and then if you still feel drawn to the challenge after a breather, pick it back up again the following day. Adjust the parameters of the challenge to make it work for you. Maybe you can only manage 5 cards a week. Maybe drawing every day is too draining if you are more comfortable with collage (or vice versa.) Daily art doesn't have to equal a specific number of pieces at the end of the specified time frame.

Anyhoo, here's the next prompt I'm using (beginning June 15 and running through the 20th): "The Fair Folk." I think there's some gnome love on the horizon...

Ritz Completed

2011-06-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

This isn't the most fantastic picture but the deed is done: I completely revamped my cane with bits of the Sunday funnies. Now if I could just get out and use it. I'm dealing with an annoying catch 22 - going stir crazy in the house but going out and walking for any distance is exhausting and painful. The stitches don't come out until next Thursday so I still have a bit of resting to do. I've never been very good at this part of post-surgery days. On the bright side, things look like they are healing slowly but surely...one step at a time.

Under the Big Top: ICAD 7 Through 10

2011-06-11T06:32:00.000-07:00

Microns, Inktense pencils, Sakura Gelly Rolls

Despite a surgical intermission, I'm proceeding right along with the "Index Card-a-Day" Challenge while incorporating my own spin (a focus on illustration on watercolor paper.) Before the beginning of June, I sat down and developed a series of prompts that will cover 90 days worth of doodling, giving me a new focus every seven days (six days of drawing, one day of rest.)

The first of those prompts was "Mr. Roboto" which you can see here and here. I loved every minute of creating mechanized men but I wasn't sure how far I would get on a single topic so I continued to follow my pre-destined prompts. That brings us to "Under the Big Top."

These aren't bad but I don't feel the same fondness for these characters as I did the robots. I think I've decided to explore the robot/space theme a bit more in some other way. However, I will also continue to follow the index card ideas I've already set up for myself. I think a regular refreshing of topic will keep me engaged better over the long term. In addition, I think discomfort can be a good sign as it probably means I'm pushing out of my comfort zone.

Putting on the Ritz

2011-06-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

I expect that my cane is going to become my best friend over the next couple of months in the wake of Monday's left foot surgery and I know it will be necessary after surgery on my right foot (which is a much more complicated affair.) However, its sterile, medical appliance look doesn't inspire me to hobble along with it so today's project is to revamp my cane with some decoupaged comic strips. Once I get it completely covered, I'll top it off with a waterproof varnish. The fact that this tedious project takes my mind off my throbbing foot is a bonus.

Recovering

2011-06-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

Gold star for anyone who can identify what movie I'm watching here!

Well, following foot surgery on Monday morning, I've been trying to confine myself to the couch, foot elevated and old science fiction movies on TV. It is a tougher gig than it looks. I've discovered that I'm quite the wiggly worm when told to stay put.

So I've been walking on it way more than I should but crutches are barely helpful (too many hand surgeries and too little upper body strength.) The bottom of my foot is completely black & blue so I can only put weight on it if I turn it to the side.

I've been doing a little doodling here and there for the Index Card-a-Day challenge but other than that, it has been quiet in the studio. I'm hoping my recovery will pick up steam over the next week. Anyway, just wanted to pop in and let all my well wishers know that I'm doing OK and that I deeply appreciate your supportive comments!

The Robot Fleet Advances: ICAD 3 through 6

2011-06-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

Pitt pens, Microns, Crayola markers

Here's "cards" 3 through 6 for the Index Card-a-Day Challenge. (For any and all questions about this summer challenge, head on over to Daisy Yellow.)

As a quick reminder, I have adapted this idea to fit my own needs. I really wanted to focus on the "daily habit" aspect of this challenge; however, I just knew, given past experiences with "Do Something Every Day" experiments, that if the form is too limiting (i.e. inchies!), I tend to give up. Index cards are ideal if you need to break through the notion of always having to make precious/perfect work and actually, index cards are sturdy enough to work for almost anything. I do prefer to work on watercolor paper though so I cut up a bunch of large sheets, sticking with the standard index card size of 3 by 5 inches.

I also wanted to focus in on a few specific skills like illustration, shading work, and watercolor. I loved creating all these little 'bots and if I thought I had 90 robots blueprints in me, I'd keep going but to avoid burnout, I'm going to switch topics every seven days. In case you want to play along, next up for me (June 8-13): "Under the Big Top."

This post will go live about the same time I'm off to dreamland in the operating room so I've got to recover from surgery a bit. I'm taking a brief blog break until June 9th if all goes as planned. Hopefully after the first day or so, I'll feel well enough to sit and doodle. See you all back here on the flip side...

As Ready As I'll Ever Be

2011-06-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I've cooked and cleaned...and cleaned some more. Surgery is tomorrow morning and I'm more prepared for this procedure than any of the other eight. I've been practicing with crutches (oy! my poor armpits!) and other than a flight of stairs to tackle when my mom brings me home, I think everything will go smoothly. Once I'm upstairs, it is couch life for me for about a week. I've got a bunch of old sci-fi movies to watch and art supplies, puzzles and good books to keep me busy. I'm trying to think of it as a little "stay-cation" only with stitches and painkillers.

Lost Coast Post will be back in full swing on June 9th if everything goes as planned...

Lost Coast Studio Saturday: Artist Date at the Zoo

2011-06-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

Note: Digital Polaroid frame used here created by Andrea Rascaglia

Welcome to the Neighborhood

2011-06-03T15:38:00.000-07:00

I thought that I'd gotten my house obsession out of my system quite a while back with a collage series I called "Facades" but hmmm...no...not even close. In recent weeks, I've been bit by the construction bug all over again but this time, the neighborhood is coming to life via hand-carved stamps. So much fun! In fact, I've fallen back in love with carving in general; I'm afraid to admit how many stamps I've carved in the last couple of weeks. Let's just say that when my Etsy shop reopens, expect to find an entire corner of the store devoted to hand-carved stamps!

Index Card Challenge (ICAD) Begins with Robots

2011-06-02T17:07:00.000-07:00

{DAYS 1 & 2}

I'm still sorting and resizing my zoo pictures so I thought now was as good as time as any to begin posting my doodles for Daisy Yellow's Index Card-A-Day challenge. Tammy is going to be posting some great daily prompts in case you're at a loss for something to do with or on your humble index card so do hop on over and check out her ideas!

I decided to alter the challenge for myself in a couple of ways:

I'm going to try and stick with cartooning practice while participating in this...keep in mind that as per Daisy Yellow "rules" any media and method is fair game. I felt that if I gave myself too much latitude, I'd get overwhelmed with possibilities.
I'm working on 140-lb cold press watercolor paper (at least for now) that I chopped down to index card size (3 by 5 inches).
I've developed a set of 15 doodle prompts to cover 90 days worth of the Index Card Challenge (ICAD). That's a new prompt every 6 days with a break from the action on the 7th.

My self-imposed prompt for June 1st through June 6th is "Mr. Roboto" so hence the fanciful artificial intelligence you see here. Robots are one of my favorite things to doodle since I'm a huge science fiction fan...

Beginning My Summer

2011-06-01T18:51:00.000-07:00

Journal page from April 24, 2011

Whew! What an eventful day! I'm sliding my blog entry in here towards early evening Lost Coast time as I finally have a minute to breathe and collect my thoughts.

Yet another doctor's appointment began this Wednesday and then my son and I spent the rest of the morning and into mid-afternoon at our local zoo. It is just a little bitty thing and really, nothing compares once you've been to the incredible San Diego Zoo but it is our zoo and it made for an incredibly pleasant adventure. The weather was miraculous: raining before we got there, clearing as we did our initial walkabout, pouring while we ate lunch on a covered patio and bursting into sunshine just as we began our second go-round... lovely. Tomorrow I'll post some pictures but let me say right now: I am in love - head over heels crazy in love - with red pandas! I could've watched them all day doing nothing but climbing trees and munching grass.

The balance of the afternoon was spent battling the payday hordes at the grocery store and then recovering from our outing. I have packed these days leading up to my surgery with errands, cooking, housecleaning, and general life business so when I'm forced to stay in one spot for one to two weeks, I won't go bonkers. O.K...I'll probably go a little bonkers anyway but at least I won't have to cook or clean with a bum foot. Embracing a bit of chaos now might guarantee some inner calm in the future...that's the theory.

Gearing Up for an Index Card a Day

2011-05-31T11:04:00.000-07:00

I'll be honest: I suck at "Do a (fill in the blank) a Day" challenges. However, I persist in attempting them because I think a daily art habit is essential to being an artist that continues to evolve over time, an artist who isn't afraid of beginnings because in truth, he/she never really stops.

Over at the wonderful blog Daisy Yellow, Tammy is looking for participants to take up her "Index-Card-A-Day" challenge. I'll let you wander over there for all the details (you'll find lots of other lovely goodness at Daisy Yellow if you do some browsing) but it is super simple: art up an index card a day for June, July and August.

I love index cards for list-making and note-taking but I just knew that the paper would drive me crazy in the long term so I cut down some cold press watercolor paper into "index cards." And then I remembered that I had a tiny journal project from way back, just sitting in a dusty card file so I dug those out too. I'm going to give this challenge a whirl, especially since it is a great adjunct to my 90 days of blogging goal. If I have nothing else to ramble on about, I'll at least have an index card worth of art to share. Wish me luck...

Join Me for 90 Days of a Lost Coast Summer!

2011-05-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

"In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer."
Albert Camus

With the passing of Memorial Day, I feel like it is finally here: the summer of 2011! I have decided to pack the next three months with memories: big and small, one-of-a-kind and mundane, artsy and ordinary. And you, dear readers, are invited to join me for...

90 Days

Lost Coast

Summer Adventures!!!

You see, I have this grand notion: blog for 90 days...in a row! I can see the heads shaking and the eyebrows raising already. In fact, my sweet son is giving me that exact reaction right now. I realize that this is a long shot; Lost Coast Post certainly isn't known for its consistency. I'm very good at dropping off the map. But I want to change that and it is never too late to try. Never ever!

So here and now, I am declaring my mission: I will document every day here on the Lost Coast, beginning June 1st and continuing through to September 1st. Some posts may be long and detailed; other entries may consist of simply a snapshot and caption. Some posts will be devoted to the grand re-opening of Hand & Soul Studios; others will be tutorials, reviews and whatnot. I suspect a giveaway or two will pop up. Whatever form and theme it takes, in 90 days, I will build a set of bright, inspirational summer memories that will buoy me up during the long, gray days of winter. Maybe along the way, you too will find something to carry with you into the future.

It is important to say that I am not planning anything out of the ordinary - no expensive trips or once-in-a-lifetime events. This will be me celebrating the ordinary, the cheap, the simple. I hope to sharpen my observation skills and practice finding joy in the everyday. I have several ongoing art challenges to inspire me, including this one, so between Lost Coast life and my artist life, I should have plenty of material to fuel 90 days worth of posts. That said, I have no delusions that this will be easy; cheerleading will be gladly accepted!

Note: There will be one slight deviation from this plan. June 1st to September 1st actually equals 93 days. Although I may opt to schedule posts, I am planning to briefly pause my blog mission June 6th through June 8th to allow for foot surgery and doctor-mandated down time (foot elevated & no weight-bearing). Unseen complications from this procedure are the only possible sure-fire roadblock to my 90 day blog plan but I never go into a surgery planning for the worst so until those problems crop up, I'm moving forward with my summer!

Checking In

2011-05-20T06:26:00.000-07:00

Just a drive-by post to let Lost Coast Posties know that today is my last day of teaching art journaling to 50 middle school monkeys. I fully intend to breathe deeply, kick back, and post furiously once this milestone has passed. I am crazy ready for summer vacation!! See you on the flip side!

Spiraling Outward into the Light

2011-05-05T03:00:00.000-07:00

This snapshot describes recent weeks in the studio perfectly: lots and lots of time spent at the sewing machine. I am crazy in love with free motion quilting! I especially enjoy quilting in circles and so since the muse seems particularly drawn to circles right now...round and round I go.

This also perfectly summarizes my focus as of late: after a long (and I mean really long) hiatus, Hand & Soul Studios will reopen in late May. After my wrist fusion in February 2008, I essentially shut down the career side of my art life. I've had a couple small art shows in the intervening years but otherwise, I've been completely focused on nurturing my health: mental, physical, emotional and so on. Ironically, in turning inward so intently, I realized a deep-seated desire to be more "outward" in my life. It is something I have to work pretty hard at because my comfort zone is in reclusion. But working at it I am and manifesting a career is part of moving out into the light.

Today's Project

2011-05-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

Despite the silence here at my long-suffering blog, my studio has actually been humming with fairly consistent activity.

On deck today: construction of a new journal. In January, I started up a new "daily diary" in a purchased watercolor sketchbook but very early on, I realized that I was completely unhappy with the format. It just felt...impersonal... and that nagging feeling persisted every time I tried to work in it. So I tore out all the pages I had painted (you can see the stack there under the book cover) and today I'm going to make a more inviting (and personal) journal.

More and more, it is becoming extremely important to me to follow and honor my creative impulses. I haven't always been very good at that. However, even through all bouncing from project to project and the crazy flood of ideas that just won't recede, a certain calm is settling into my bones. It has been a long time in coming.