Studio Notes

Some things are worth doing twice, and the presence of a second generation website for sending journals out into the world (and hopefully back home again) is worth celebrating. 1001Journals.com Right now I have Journal #1059 – Green in my studio, and my Journal #1194 – Sacred Space: Altars, Shrines and Sanctuaries, is en route to Israel.

I’m thinking about the Green Journal and the challenges that it poses. The binding is album style, which means cradling the rigid spine on the desk while working, or it means working on loose pages that are pasted in when done. Loose pages will be safer, because I am heavy-handed with paint and water, and this book doesn’t have the loose, anything goes, organic feel of a process-driven journal. Everything that has gone before me is so composed and controlled that I’m rather out of my comfort zone. I’m going to be true to myself and create from the heart.

What is green? Verdant forests, mossy banks, environmental activism, romantic idealism, prosperity magic, malachite and aventurine.  Innocence and springtime.  Jack-in-the-Green or the Green Man. 

Back in January, I made a serious effort to journal every day. By mid-March, stressed beyond belief, I called a halt. Art journalling isn’t a marathon, and it’s not about quantity. Some pages are finished in minutes, and others linger on my studio table for weeks, as I keep layering and playing with the idea.

Thus, I found myself finishing my seventh art journal volume in early October. All in a rush, again.  Three pages in one evening. But, I was at a co-creativity concert by Jon Fargo, and the music was running through my fingers onto the page.

A few things have changed since March.  I don’t collage as much as I once did.  I’m starting to draw again. I’m painting with watercolors in addition to watercolor crayons.

Letter forms are interesting me once again, not as formal calligraphy with an edged pen, but something looser and less disciplined, drawn with a marker. I am in love with the lowercase letter g.