LIFE

My first soul collage card on Gratitude.
I am everyday grateful fo the life I have been given. What a gift.

Charcoal/chalk greytones

grey tone drawings
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Today’s challenge: Use a medium that has the value scale already laid out for you either grey tone pastels or markers that range from white to black.
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Creative Challenge grid collage drawing

Lots to do today ! I used this drawing to watermark my letters. I hope to use it again to make a watercolor. Knowing I can produce a drawing and then manipulate it for collage and cards etc makes it that much more fun.

challenge photograph the sky

It always amazes me, as we drive home from ball games, how beautiful the area we live in is. The sun is usually setting over the fields of corn and soybeans. We usually spot deer and ground hogs. The horses are usually contributing to the landscape. It just feels like home. I took some pictures in the moving truck the sky appeared lavendar, however this photo does not carry the feeling I wanted to express it still transports me to the time we rode home and I appreciated God's goodness towards me.

Sarah and Sarah helped me with glass mosaics for my fall classes. They made candle votives. I used the scraps for a trivet. having kids over to play with materials always helps me decide what I will have the kids do in the fall.

Below is the treasure I unearthed this morning during my search for interesting things on the internet.

"Seize the moment before it's gone,
For another day begins at dawn.
Embrace the night which brings you rest -
Awake and know you did your best.
Fight each fight, and run each race -
It matters not if you win or place.
Seize the moment... you'll be blest,
Then rest assured you passed the test.
For he who tries can never fail,
When God directs the ship we sail.
Seize the moment and hold it clear,
And rise by faith above your fear."
Clay Harrison

I can tangle!

I am finding this kind of fool proof doodling very relaxing. I am amazed at how you can create movement by thickening lines and using bold patterns. Mistakes in line are easily restated. the more I look the more I want to add. I hope to make more and possibly express a more recognizable subject with the same patterns and principles.

pansies

pansies
Originally uploaded by standnngrace.

Cannot seem to finish any florals or nature journal entries so I am going to study some that I admire and try again

salvia

Hard to believe I have not added any artwork for over a month. I really have not done anything I am too impressed with. I did this salvia for one of the creative challenges at the group.

That's Soul by Lisa Fraser

In this land of 24-hour media, we're constantly surrounded by perfection. Some of it's real, most of it isn't. Computer graphics can produce scarily pseudo-authentic beauty, be it in a book, a piece of art, or a TV program. And even when the radiance is real, it often looks like it sprang from the brush, the hands, or the mind of its creator fully formed, like Athena from the head of Zeus. We end up demanding those unrealistic feats of ourselves. We rip out all the practice pages and expect ourselves to declare our genius in the first stroke, the first placement of torn paper, even the first idea. Is it any wonder we shut our art in closets or swallow it in frozen lumps where it sits in our stomachs for years? And we continue on, appreciating beauty, and trying to ignore the vague uneasiness it brings up in us. We need to give ourselves permission to play, to explore, to have the skill level of a two year old, to not get it right from the very first. I think folks who do that are among the bravest there are. They're bucking the whole of popular culture and their own insides in effort to follow their hearts. That's courage. That's soul.
Lisa Fraser sent me this in an email I wanted to include it in my art journey. I am on day 61

Palm sunday

Hosanna ... means He saves. The crowd was a mix that day. some wanted a warrior king that would lead them against their Roman oppressors, some had heard He was a great prophet and healer. some were in love with the compassionate beautiful man of Jesus Christ. the same people 5 days after His triumphant greeting were willing to crucify him. I do not know how I would have been that day. I only know that today i am thrilled that my Savior came and that He lived a perfect life and died that I might live. Today on Palm Sunday the beginning of holy week we sang Holy Holy Holy. I was reminded of this drawing I did 6 years ago.

I am praying over my writing. I desire so badly to have beautiful writing but I am awkward and somehow miss letters and put in wrong letters. I cannot seem to concentrate ... writing makes me a nervous nelly. Even here I see that i was trying to say your and instead I wrote you.... I wonder what the Lord has in store for me an the lessons I will be learning on this path? Artiscape was great. I appreciate some art styles that I have no desire to replicate. I enjoy the altered art and collage and want to grow in experience with more traditional fine arts like watercolors and acrylics. the book making and journal art is facinating to me.

art stool back pack

Here is my new find for my outside art adventures.........

nature atcs

nature atcs
Originally uploaded by standnngrace.

I have followed the instructions to replicate some one else's birds. I am learning what I do not like and what I think is working. I hope to do some birds "on my own" I cannot see a bird as it flies away and then draw it. but I am hoping to sit down with a book and make a robin today.

collage girl

collage girl
Originally uploaded by standnngrace.

I am enjoying doing the collage thing. Terry is right people add life to the collage. I have trouble with cutting people up but am getting better at using them.

material for nature journal

I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.
George Washington Carver

Creation comforts

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
Audrey Hepburn
A friend sent this quote to me today. When I did this collage ironically I was thinking about being broken and weary...tired and abused and finding rest and acceptance....
I was sorting through some junk in the basement and found this. I don't remember what year I made it but I remember the kids loved the day and papers were flying....
"From the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper,from a passing shape, from a spider's web. . . we must pick out what is good for us where we can find it."~Pablo Picasso
I read this quote in Alisa's blog which is a great inspiration to me. I want that kind of excellence in my art journals....... we will see (:

If you fight the computer long enough you will win

Atc done fin....eee...
this has me excited to do a larger nature collage. Joined another art group today. Learning what a sketch crawl is..........

wild Columbine watercolor

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.~Pablo Picasso~
St. Theresa's Prayer:
May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.... May you be content knowing you are a child of God.... Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.
I put this prayer in a circle journal and my prayer journal under the section friends. I believe we have infinite possibilities. I pray today I live and love in a way that others will also.

New Day............................New Way.................
Judith lead me step by step through this painting. She is an excellent teacher. I cannot wait to work with her again. She has become a very important part of my art making journey.
Notes from Making Art like a true Artist:

The artistic journey begins with a simple desire to create. …this seed grow into a Philosophy of art making. I am driven by some philosophy of art making whether I am are able to articulate it or not.
He goes on to write his philosophy of art and I agree with him through out the article.

Living a life in response to God.... cultivating my talent resposibly and praying to the Holy Spirit to fill me with the skill, ability and knowledge that I need on the way.
I wish to be surrounded by many wonderfully gifted and artistic people.
I am blessed with Sherry she is willing to paint and be patient with me as I tie myself in knots over this art journal altered composition book.

Laying it down

I rush my work expecting something wonderful to just happen....I fret over my work trying to make something happen.... How do I bring excellence to my craft? I want to live in response to the desire to be creative that God has given me. I want to cultivate my talent responsibly... Is my desire to create self contrived ...Do I have talent? Holy spirit of God, help me, please lift the frustration and fill me with skill, ability and knowledge. I desire excellence in my craft. I offer my work to you Lord for Your glory..May I imitate Christ, the prime artist, for by Him all things were created. Today help me to actively put to rest the strife in my soul. may I peacefully serve You in my craft and in every aspect of who I am ............ thank you Lord for situations that humble me and bring me to You. You are a good Father.

SLOW DOWN

This painting reminds me that I hurry through... What a waste of time and materials to rush through.
Imaginative space where faith and artistic vision meet... Is there such a place? If this is a journey then that is my destination.
Lord help me to within myself reconnect beauty to goodness and truth and Lord help me to express it visually,
Valerie

This is the outside of my prayer journal. After seeing all the wonderful art journals on line... I am excited, overwhelmed, and a bit afraid that I will embark on this journey and never arrive. My goal is to start a 2006 art journal soon......

My still life watercolor

Okay I am going for it!!! I am realizing that I am wired in a way that I have to redo everything... I write and then rewrite... so I want to incorporate this into art. The problem I have is after executing one piece I am bored with the subject matter and medium and want to move on to something else. When I do make second attempts and third attempts sometimes they are worse than the first. Very frustrating. Frustraion is usually not a good motivator for me ... Go figure. It is going to take discipline on my part but today I am going to crown myself the redo queen.... I am going to take time to plan.... practice... and work in series of threes to learn from my mistakes... Trilogies of redos.
Okay now to live the life....

trying to figure this out

This really is a journey. Observing every step of the way . Constantly searching for beautiful things to incorporate into my creative attempts.
What I am learning.... sometimes less is more..LOL reminds me of Garry's dancing (: Layers work.
Still trying to "find my colors". I do not have a "style" I am looking for things that visually appeal to me... Some of my "art" is just an attempt to capture something someone else has already done...... there is nothing new under the sun and I do not mind being a student who looks to the masters... and more experienced artists. But when will I know and be confident in my own ....artist's way?