a girl and her journal

my flowerpot baby

my flowerpot baby
Originally uploaded by Journal Girl Kira

insecurities on a summer sunday

I have such a headache.

I've either been afflicted with a nasty cold or allergies, because it's been about two weeks and I still feel God awful. Sleeping all day, sore throat, congested head. But not like sniffling congested, but that pre-congested, can-feel-it-on-the-back-of-your-throat feeling that's got me sneezing and coughing. I've mostly been watching movies and writing little notes here and there for the written portions of the workshop, doing last minute additions here and there when I can concentrate. Which isn't for long.

For the last few days, I've been wondering why I've been feeling this way when there's just so much to do. So much I want to be working on, should be working on. Maybe I'm supposed to take a break? Or something like that. I've learned to listen to my body over the last six months or so and give in when it's a sure bet I'm not going to win. But still....there's all this inside I want to get OUT and can't seem to shake whatever this is!

After a nap today, I decided to grab a big piece of paper and make a poster of a thought I had running through my head. I was laying on my stomach on the driveway coloring when a neighbor asked what I was up to and came over for a better look. For some reason, I was SO apprehensive....I wondered if she'd like what I was dong, or rather, think I was making art over just being silly. Lately, I've been, well, a bit more successful, like on the edge of SOMETHING, and keep looking over my shoulder in case "they" find out I'm just a fake or  they made a mistake or something.

Art and creativity come so much easier to me than they did when I started down this road four years ago, and I'm forever thankful for this experience, this opening up of my life, this chance to see beauty in the little things, like how my puppy shifts in his sleep instead of being annoyed with the disturbed sleep. But who WOULDN'T be afraid of the rug being pulled from under their feet when things are just beginning to look up again?

I'm SO excited for the workshop; I'm throwing myself wholeheartedly into it (even if I DO still have emails to answer!). I've never taught before but it's been a dream of mine since I was a little girl. It makes me so happy and bouncy from the core of my soul to be granted such an amazing opportunity, I'm going to do everything I can to make it the best I can. You've all blessed me beyond my wildest dreams, made me so happy my breath catches in my throat.

Now, if only I could just kick this bug...!

Last Call!

Just a reminder: Sign-ups for the workshop close tomorrow morning around 9am CST! If you've been waiting to sign up, now's the time.

If you can't pay until later or have any questions, please email me.

Hi!!

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A Copic Love Affair

MAN! I am SO FRUSTRATED! I started this post days ago, but didn't post it because I wanted to find my camera to take pictures for it. A few days later and the camera is STILL missing!!! I had to scan everything, and the settings are all messed up so everything came out like CRAP but it's all I've got and I've other stuff to work on (like the 'zine and the workshop) and can't really rescan everything right now...*grumbles* My laptop's running slow and this new interface for TypePad is SLOW....there's a HUGE delay when I type and things take FOREVER to format.

We're up to 58 "students" in the workshop! I thought MAYBE 10 people would sign up -- you all make me so happy and humble and give me great confidence in myself. Which is also why I want to post more!

Here's the post I wrote a few days ago, complete with the bad scans. Forgive me!

Whoah! You ever work with something and just BAM! You want to curl up with it and use it on EVERYTHING? That happened to me this week.

I had an idea for a page, one inspired by a few pages in Lynda Barry's What It Is (an amazing, awesome, TOTALLY COOL book. The only copy Borders had was DAMAGED and I STILL bought it!), and knew I didn't have the supply needed to do what I wanted to do. So, while out to grab some eye candy (a window-shop through Hobby Lobby), I decided to see if they had any single-sale markers in the light, light shade of purple I needed.

While I hoped I could find it as a Prismacolor, I could only get it as a Copic...the price difference is $2! But I sucked it up and got one...as well as a pretty pink in a light shade. I rushed home to create the page in my head before it flew away, and oh my! It was love at first use!

They gave the EXACT shade I wanted....and let me tell you -- writing with the brush end is awesome! I absolutely love writing with a close shade on my entries. Yes, that means less gets on the page, but -- OH! I just thought of this: I could write an entry in my usual pen over the larger brush handwriting! I've gotta go try this!

At $6 each or $60 for a 12 marker set, I had to go a bit cheap and get the Copic Ciao set -- they are thinner and a bit smaller than the Copic Sketch markers, but the colors and brush end are the same. They're recommended for beginner users since they cost less...I just felt the set had all the colors I'd really need! A few years ago, I started collecting the Fabre-Castell artist pens, and now have just about ever color....and now, I realize I don't need every color of the rainbow -- well, except for my watercolor crayons! *laughs*

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Writing with a Pitt Artist Pen (above).

 

Writing with the Copic. See the difference? Isn't it just thick and JUICY?

How to Journal When Sick

1. Be thankful you have pre-painted pages in your journal, for the blank white page can be a bit intimidating.

2. Curl up on couch with puppy dog, cup of tea, and copy of "Ever After" on DVD (so cheap last week at Borders!).

3. Pull out markers, crayons, and scissors.

4. Draw birds and swirls and all sorts of dots. Doodling is best when your face is puffy, nose stuffed, and body all achy.

5. Doodle some more. Because it helps keep your mind off things.

6. Nap. ;)

I'm Finally Doing It~!!!! Workshop Info HERE!

HEY!!! I'm doing it! I'm so excited and SO CAN'T WAIT FOR JUNE because that's when I'll be teaching my VERY FIRST WORKSHOP. Yes, it's online, but that's okay!!

I really think this is going to be a LOT of fun and REALLY get people going! I want to show you all how YOU can craft your own awesome pages and be the ones coming up with the newest techniques, fads, and so on. AND find out a little more about yourselves. Think you're up for it? Check out the information page for more, well, information! *laughs* And mosey on over to flickr to view the supply list/instructions page for yourself.

*giggles* This is why I've been quiet for the last week or so. I'm hard at work on finishing up Page by Page #3 AND pulling together the workshop. Oh, and I have a day job, too! Hehe. Art and passion CAN be energizing!

a quest made by walking

"Walking opens us up. It feeds us. Image by image, it spoons up for us a broth or soup of soul food, which sustains us as we do the work necessary to shape and reshape our lives."
-- Julia Cameron, Vein of Gold

I'm becoming addicted to walking.

What started as a lark, a way to spend an afternoon and try my hand at taking pictures, has turned into a craving, a simple, stubborn need to get out there where the sky is blue, the grass is green and uncut, and walk. I am powerless against it, now bending to its will.

This may all seem nice and normal, but for me, it's been a struggle to get to this place. For the last four years or so, my various physical ailments have largely held me back from living a somewhat normal life. Constantly tired, needing naps in the afternoon, not being able to stay out late -- these things turned day and night into nothing more than a stage play I caught bits of between bouts of sleep. When awake, pains kept me immobile. For awhile, in the darker days, I rarely walked anywhere; I became trapped in my own house.

If you want proof of the healing powers of art, here I am. Art, joy, creativity, personal exploration -- I have been digging for four years, often through tears, to find a solution, a "fix." That magic solution that would heal all my woes. Nothing came easily, but now, for the first time, as I sit here, ready to go for my walk, I feel fantastic. Yes, I still have pain. But it's so small....we've become friends over the years, and I feel that we've reached an understanding.

*laughs* This post is going somewhere different than I planned. These things happen!

This will be my 102nd post on this blog. That's quite an accomplishment! And I need to say this: that having this blog, putting my art and words out there, meeting amazing people -- this has contributed greatly to my newfound health and happiness. Each one of you have given me a precious gift that I won't squander or waste. I am just so thankful. When I started, I had no idea how far I'd go....and look where i am! It shocks and amazes me every day, and sometimes, I feel like pinching myself.

I had dreams, back in college. Not one has come true. Perhaps what they say is true, that you never know what you need, only what you want. I think the biggest thing I've gotten back is FAITH. I'd lost it so long ago....to have it back....WOW!

*G*

I've a huge stack of papers, here, articles and art for the next issue of the 'zine. And the weather's beautiful outside. I believe a walk is in order. I leave you with images from Sunday's walk, all taken with my Polaroid camera.

infinity lies beyond the bend

mish-mosh talky talk

Am I the only one who gets that eeeeeeck nails-on-chalkboard feeling when art journaling is compared to scrapbooking?

I can understand the connection when made by people who don't know about it. But saying they're alike is like putting "White Chicks" and "Citizen Kane" in the same category simply because they're both on film.

I don't know why it is. Just the cute layouts with the die-cuts and brads and papers and such.....it feels so flat. Yes, memories are preserved, but that's it. There's little soul. And of course, this doesn't apply to ALL scrapbook pages -- I've seen some AMAZING stuff out there that DOES speak. But on a whole....

I just read over on Journal Revolution the message from a scrapbooker -- go over and read it. I think that message clearly illustrates the differences between art journalers and scrapbookers. We use EVERYTHING, work from our souls, and aim for self-discovery. They work to preserve memories for many years to come. One is not better than the other, just DIFFERENT.

Half the stuff in my journals is going to yellow and break and such. But that's part of the awesomeness of the journal -- nothing is permanent. 'Tis the nature of life.

When I started art journaling, I had NO IDEA what I was doing. My father's a printer, and has been for over 30 years -- much of my knowledge of all that stuff comes from him. So when I wanted to glue things down flat, without the goopy white glue mess, I got rubber cement. It worked awesomely. Things stayed down. There was no mess. Go outside the edges? Rub it off! Things were flat and pretty and, yes, I do like the smell. I also like the smell of gas. HAHA. Toxic stuff come my way! *laughs*

Imagine my surprise when I read in one of the first books on mixed-media I got that rubber cement looses it's glue power AND yellows over time. I was like, "OMG, I can't use it anymore!" So I stopped. Got gel medium. And double-sided tape (mmmmmmmm I love it!).

Typing that out, maybe I SHOULD go get some more! I loved it! It works so well! Who cares if it's against the rules? HECK. I'm gonna go get some today and use it and if it falls apart in 10 years, oh well!

Are there any rules YOU could break today?