Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Queen's Style - Making it My Own


(A second post for the GPP Street Team Crusade # 31 - Make It YOur Own. Check out all the great stuff going on here !)

I spent some fun time in the studio this weekend. I have be so loving the art journaling process these days. Since I have started meditating regularly, I have come to see that art journaling is a very similar process to meditation for me. It is all about being in the moment, being present and spending time, good quality time with your self, your soul and your inner artist. I am loving going with that arty flow...
I am hooked on the color orange right now and it is appearing a lot in my pages. As I mentioned before, I am loving the fountain pen and the dark black indian ink - it is my current tool of choice for mark making, along by the white Elmers Painter marker.
I decided it was time to make some more tools of my own and got out the bits of rubber and my carving tools as well. I looked to my recent pieces for inspiration as well as to some of my favorite stamp carver artists (seen Ro Bruhn's stuff ? Her painted papers are so awesome and colorfully rich !). I carved a couple of stamps using patterns that keep coming up in my doodles on my pages and the "pod" shape was inspired by Ro's own carved stamps.

As I was carving, I tried out each of the stamps on a blank journal page in orange acrylic paint applied with a make up sponge. Here is the page that came out of that experimenting once I added some other paint, and of course, some fountain pen work ! :

"Go Wandering " - Art Journal Page, May 24, 2009

I added a quote from Rumi too - his poetry is another tool I am really into right now !


The walking girl was a photocopy of a girl I drew for one of my earlier pieces in this journal, one that also had a Rumi quote.


I feel like I am on to something right now in my art - on to finding a style that is all my own. I am influenced by other artists I admire along the way, but these recent pieces kind of have more of my own signature on them. That is a real accomplishment for me as an artist, because I have been flitting from one thing to another for a long time. I am making art for me, not for anyone else. Not to sell, not to get recognition (though the recognition from my blog pals is so very appreciated !!!) but just for the joy of creating. And that is starting to show in what comes out of me too. So very, very, cool !


Here's another page done just this morning. I used my new tools again and another Rumi quote. It kind of sums up how I am feeling today pretty well. My words are in white, and the universe's words are in black.



"Enormous Things" - Art Journal Page, May 26, 2009



(click to enlarge if you need to)


Hope you feel the Great Love inside of you today ! Happy Tuesday !

19 comments:

michelle ward said...

yay! making tools, making pages, making strides, making it your own - all good! feeling like you have uncovered your signature - even better! love the red flowers!! thanks kim, for sharing your work and your honest words with the team. xo

Anne said...

Hi, Kim! Gorgeous journal pages! And you are finding what I love most about art journaling - the freedom to create whatever you want and develop your own motifs, themes, and style! Have fun! :-)

Jennifer said...

Ii was just telling a friend yesterday about you and your India ink :)

Your work definitely feels different lately, though the same soul is there and beautiful as always, the energy is different. It seems like there's more risk there and it makes me want believe in bigger things...that's my gut reaction to what you've been doing lately.

I'm so glad you share :) Have so much fun with this. I am so inspired!

Snap said...

Happy Tuesday to you, too! I love these pages and love that you are carving your own stamps. Gennine had a wonderful stamp carving video last week and I've been thinking on carving, too. I think we all symbols or doodles (whatever you want to call them) that for some reason are OURS. It's finding them and using them that's the adventure! Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.

Commuter's Journal said...

I am so impressed by your journey to find your own artistic "voice," Kim. Being open to NOW is no easy task. Thank you for allowing us to come along.

FAQ said...

Love your stamps....it adds such a unique touch to your journal pages. I also love where you are going with your use of colors and journaling. Feel it girl!

DMG said...

It makes me so happy to come to your blog, Kim. Part of it is because we're kindred spirits and part of it is because I love your art, but I thin the biggest part is because you give me something to think about. I've been thinking a lot lately about why art journaling makes me so happy; in fact, yesterday I did a double page journal spread about that, but today you expressed better what I could not exactly put into words. Journaling IS very like meditation to me, and it frees me artistically like nothing else. I get almost the same burst of of creative power when I am alone running. My heart and mind's eye open and the flow begins. I'm so glad I read your post this morning, and I love the style you're developing.

Hugs,
Alberta

jgr said...

Kim,
These are beautiful! And your tools are great! As Michelle always says - it is so special using your own tools. My fave is the last one. I looked at the close-up with all the line work and yummy detail. Awesome! Thank you for sharing.
-Jane

Chris said...

This is so inspiring, and I love the new stamps. Isn't it funny how you just love a color and you don't know why? It's great to just focus on each one in turn as the mood takes you. These colors are awesome!

Melissa S. said...

Kim, I love the doodle stamps and how you have put 'parts' of things together from other pieces to reflect your own style. I desire to find that 'thing' that is my own, as well...so I know how good you must feel, as you begin to uncover it!!! Great work

Gil Jussara said...

I loved your blog!!!
Your journal pages are great!!
xoxo

Sherry said...

I'm not sure what I am most taken with today .. your art or your words. I think both. I smiled with heart recognition when you said "spending good quality time with yourself, your soul and your inner artist"...how much truth is there in that? How many people can say they really do this?

As for your personal style...you do have one and have for some time..you might like what others are doing and take inspiration from that but on the whole, what you make is who you are...and your new stamps and your creative spirit..that is you and only you baby, all the way!

aliceinparis said...

I love your Go Wandering page. Orange is a colour I have a love hate relationship with. I don't like it alone but with other colours it is great! My daughter bought me a beautiful pen from Venice last year and I have just recently been trying it out with some of that gorgeous India ink.

Anonymous said...

Wahoo! I LOVE orange - so zesty and energising. It's interesting that you draw the comparison between your art journalling and meditation. My sister wants me to meditate like her; I know I get into that state doing my art.

Anonymous said...

This is a fantastic post, Kim.. sorry I am so late getting to it..very inspiring indeed!! Love your new colorful work too...

Melisa said...

Your doodle stamps are wonderful and I love what you are doing with that fountain pen. I've got one somewhere. I could never get the hang of it, but your pages make me want to give it another try.

Kathy McCreedy said...

Oh, Kim... gorgeous work, girlfriend! I really, really love the colors you've chosen, and your lettering is tres chic... fountain pens are the best, aren't they?!? You sound happy, I'm happy for you... love you! K.

Deryn Mentock said...

Your carvings are great! Beautiful, bright colors...

reagan said...

Great journal pages, love the carved stamps a perfect example of making it your own!