Sunday, July 11, 2010

Connections...

Ooops ! So some of you saw my earlier published vague and incomplete edition of this post - it has been a bit of a challenging morning for me and Blogger...

anyway...

This morning, as I often do, I woke up with crazy brain.

That isn't unusual but what is was how quickly some great tools and inspiration came into play to get me out of it !

A whole bunch of things worked together to get me out of that icky place and into a place where I want to BE today.

Present and connected to my life and this world.

Here's how it happened ...

The first tool that came to mind was my art journal. It has been neglected for a bit and I knew I had to get back into that magical practice TODAY !

I also wanted to rejoin the Green Pepper Press Street Team Crusades hosted by the incredible Michelle Ward.

I have missed the wonderful connections and community that comes with participating there !

This month's theme is "Strip Ease" where Michelle encourages us to rip up some stuff and add the strips and elements on our journal pages.

That was in mind as I started this process this morning, as was my desire to join Maegan at Madeline Bea who is hosting Sunday Creative, where she gives a one word prompt every Sunday and links up all kinds of artists who are participating. I had such a great time with Maegan's Creativity Boot Camp that I definitely want to keep playing a long with her !

This week's work was "Connect"....how juicy, right ?

So with all this inspiration in my artist mind, I got the old journal out and faced the blank page with stencils, acrylic paints, brushes, make-up sponges all close at hand and went for it...

I created a background with a stencil and some turquoise paint...

I washed some light turquoise over the center of the page...

I found a photocopy of a journal page from my previous journal and tore that up to make my Strip Ease strips.

I then added an image transfer using a ink jet transparency image of a chickadee and some gel medium.

The transfer actually worked clearly which is a rarity for me !!!

This blurry shot shows how the page looked with my transfer, the strips of my old journal page and some black and white flowers I cut out from another photocopy using my flower punch.



Here is where another bit of inspiration came into play. I follow Sarah Whitmire's daily journal prompt tweets on Twitter. I use them periodically when I need a jumping off point in my journal process.

Today's prompt was to use your favorite poem in a page.
I don't really have a favorite poem. Poetry seems to come to me when I need it to emphasize something that is happening in my life.
I felt that my page had the perfect spot to include a poem though so I headed to the computer and decided to Google the perfect poem.
I googled "poems about connection"...
and ended up on this Springfield New Sun page talking about the poetry of Julie L. Moore and how poetry readers would connect to her recent work called "Slipping into Bloom."
And there, on that page...
The perfect poem...


It brought me back full circle to my crazy brain challenge this morning, and how my "gnawing spirit" was "cooing ultimate questions".
But through this whole thing, I found the perfect answer for my spirit today.
The answer is to stop "gnawing" and to BE Present in this very Moment !
Immersing myself in the creative process and getting inspired by so many wonderful sources in this precious life is the BEST way I know of BEING.
Plus you get a pretty cool piece of art work to admire in the end too.
I hope your Sunday is full of Lovely Being, Beautiful Ones.
Big Love !

40 comments:

Kate Robertson said...

Kim, what a wonderful gift to see this post this morning. As always I love seeing the process. Once again you are sharing your beautiful spirit. This is such a beautiful piece and yet simple at the same time. Happy Sunday my Queen

The Bodhi Chicklet said...

It's very cool to see this process. And true, I recognize that gnawing. But ultimately, it's all good.

Olivia said...

Me too Kim, love seeing the process. I agree with Kate. So beautiful, so simple. I also wish you a terrific Sunday. xoO

Cindy said...

Love it Kim! What wonderful work. Love to see the process too.

Hugs XX
Barbara

Suzanne said...

Thank you for sharing your process...it's always so interesting to see how an artist works. The result is beautiful and thoughtful.

arlene said...

Gorgeous page, beautiful poem, wonderful post. Thanks for making my Sunday brighter.

Tammy Lee Bradley said...

Wow. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing the whole process. Love it!

The Bodhi Chicklet said...

Ah so! I did hear "Strip Ease" when I first looked at it, then thought it might just be a case of cosmic connection. Delicious blue too. I could drink something that blue.

jgr said...

Love your page Kim! Color is one of my faves. ALso love the transfer.

gretchen said...

such sweeeeetness! Love love love this!

michelle ward said...

Yay! Our friend Kim is crusading again!! And juggling! So many prompts swept into one completed page. Fabulous marriage of all of them, plus a trail of thoughts, resulting in a lovely piece. Thanks for sharing your open, honest, beautiful self. xo

beth said...

what a process and your transfer is so perfect !
i'm jealous !

and then you actually write on your pages...i can't bring myself to do that hardly ever !

i'm glad you're present and connecting :)

Gilding Lilies said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog, and leaving a nice comment, it means so much to me. I love your contribution, it's wonderful!

Julie Prichard said...

Pretty pretty! Love the blue with the aged color of your strip tease. So great!

Corinne Cunningham said...

Stunning! The colors just pop, and your page is just gorgeous...

daisy said...

I loved following your creative process, watching your journal page grow from inception. Thank you so much for sharing. The image transfer is so sweet, I luv the border & the doodles you added.

daisy

daisy said...

I loved following your creative process, watching your journal page grow from inception. Thank you so much for sharing. The image transfer is so sweet, I luv the border & the doodles you added.

daisy

daisy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Love the page, especially the gel transfer, and really interesting to hear how you got yourself into a better place for the day. Good on you :-)

rachel awes said...

i LOVE this quote & how you've painted it! LOOOOOOOOOOVE!!
your art coos!!! xoxox

Kari Desi said...

Lovely process! Beautiful blues and I love the image transfer. You tied everything together so wonderfully. I love the poem too. Beautiful!

A Miraculous Meliss said...

That birdie did turn out perfectly! Beautiful page and a very wise message. I like it "stop gnawing". I've been working on breathing lately instead of gnawing.

~magick~
Melissa

Anonymous said...

Lots of intersecting prompts, modem back up and working, finally, love the page! xox corrine

Dawn said...

Love the page and the process. Great way to connect everything!

JoAnne Del said...

I like very much what you did :-) La couleur turquoise est... wow!
Bravo!

Rosie said...

Kim - what a delightful page...! I have always admired your use of colour and bold imagery, but this is brilliant. Good strips and a very cool poem! Serendipitous indeed! =D xoxo

Hyacynth said...

So cool of you to give us a step by step! Those colors are amazing and vibrant and lovely. I feel so inspired to try my own. Stopping by from TSC.

Janet said...

Kim, I love this page! And thanks for sharing how it all came together. Some days it all seems to just fall into place!!

Lorraine said...

great journal page

iHanna said...

Poetry Queen, that IS perfect. So glad you're cruising with us again! Happy days, happy summer!

Maureen Reynolds said...

You and the universe working together..amazing end result from the original 'crazy brain' start. I love that cooing image, and the transfer is just great. I hope to try that technique soon.

Jester said...

Your page is wonderful - I love how you've used the strips.

inge said...

Hello Kim,

nice to see how you combined all the challenges and how they helped you evolve in this piece and add just another thing to complete it.

Your transfer is indeed good : I'm trying this too and love how the image is more blended in the background by doing this.

greetings from belgium
inge

goudenregen said...

Love your page. Thanks for showing how you came to this result. With transfers I never know when it will work or not.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link to the prompts, I am going to look that up, an for also sharing your creative process. It is a beautiful page.

Regina said...

What a great mix!
Serendipity comes to mind when I read your post.

Bethany said...

Wow Kim, you're my hero. This is amazing, love your whole process, your work to get yourself out of that place, your amazing transfer, the colors, the perfect poem!

My therapist said to me the other day, "oh that's just the horribly insane part of you talking" so I know all about crazy brain.

Love you!

Brigitte aka Scrappassie said...

I love your page and your inspiring blogpost. Thank you for sharing !

Parabolic Muse said...

You know, those strips are perfect framing. Transfers are always a challenge for me, and it's so great when they work. Great page!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for showing us the process. I love the finished art.