I heart a finished project!

This is not a "real" project. It's a little Valentine made from scraps of paper fabric. The scraps are from a real project. The one I had to start FOUR times before it would cooperate. I don't like to think that my work has a mind and a will of its own, but it seems that sometimes things won't be done until they are good and ready.

JR made these hearts when he left for work this morning. It wasn't a project. It was an accident.

True Colors, OPB and Band Aids

All this, everything that I do and think about doing and am not doing right now because I am writing this, really started in 2002. It started then, but it exploded in 2003 when I had that big fat Lilly grant to study book arts. In early fall of that year, I bought a book called True Colors. Are you familiar with it? It was and remains the definitive book on mixed media art journaling. True Colors introduced me to the work of Teesha Moore, Lynne Perella, Michelle Ward and a small army of other artists. I have continued to follow these ladies over the last 5 years by reading their blogs (OPB - Other People's Blogs)

I was reading Teesha's blog the other day and saw these cool little journals:

http://teeshascircus.blogspot.com/2009/01/having-fun.html

Teesha is the Queen of art journaling. I cannot art journal AT ALL. I try. I determine to do it. I might do a few pages, but then I get caught up in that dreaded J word - JOURNAL - private thoughts and prying eyes - and then I quit. The

little journals on Teesha's blog were too tempting. I made one:

I used an assortment of old boxes, machine stitched together for the cover and a brown paper sack for the pages. I gessoed them before binding to speed up the process. I bound the journal with a simple pamphlet stitch. I started by painting the pages with a coat of acrylic.

It only has 16 pages and it's made out of trash. No pressure. I WILL fill this book.

Maybe.

While I was making the book, I sliced my left index finger with my xacto. My finger slid off the ruler while I was cutting down the pages. I bled on my book.

Ick.

Happy New Year - a little late

This is my first official blog post of 2009. The first bit of this year has been a bit rocky and I am having a hard time shaking off the gloom. I can't seem to get in any kind of art-making groove. I wonder if I am avoiding being still and quiet.

Perhaps.

My thoughts are in a continual whirl. I cannot settle down. I have started the same stinkin' project three times. It's so bad, I did the unthinkable. I asked my husband for advice. He said not to force anything. Just to let it come naturally.

Gotta get the girls from basketball and then take Courtney to run indoor track at IU. I will finish this nailbiter when I get home.

It's now 9:53 - Home from track club. That's the best hunnerd bucks I've spent in a while. Court gets to run on the University's indoor track, get some good preseason coaching and knock off the rust before outdoor season starts in April AND I can walk or jog for an hour and a half four times a week. Pretty good when it's four whole degrees outside without wind chill. It's about 15 below with the wind right now. Hate it.

That's the little nugget at the heart of my art troubles. Whenever I think a negative thought like:
I hate the cold
or
I'm too tired
or
(when assessing my artwork) That looks awful
I get completely hung up on all the people we've lost in the last few months and I think that I'm lucky to even feel the cold or be around to chase my kids to and from all kinds of sports or to make art and then I feel completely guilty
and stuck.

sigh