Thinking Pink Art Journal Page

Thinking PINK

 "Almost all words do have color, and nothing is more pleasant than to utter a pink word and see someone's eyes light up and know it is a pink word for him or her too." --Gladys Taber.

Since this blog is a celebration of color, light and life, the idea of a color belonging to a word or words was interesting to me.  It caused me to make a list of pink words. I began with the obvious ones to get rolling; lipstick, bubble gum, cotton candy, blush, roses and lips. Then I branched out a bit, which worked much better.  My top PINK words were; Joy, Lily, Sensing, Intuition, Inspired, Beauty and Lovely.  So share a PINK word with someone you love today and have beautiful, inspired day.  

Thinking Pink Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Poppies Art Journal Page

These pale poppies are so soft looking.  They are another example of a happy accident.  I put three blots of red paint on the page and closed the journal.  The result kind of reminded me of a row of poppies.  So I dropped a green drop of diluted acrylic paint at the base of each splotch and turned my journal upright.  Gravity did the rest.  All that was left was some outlining with a pen.

Poppies Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art Is My Passion

True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.  --Albert Einstein

I loved putting this quote on this page because when I created this background, I was just playing with liquid acrylic paints and inks and nothing was intentional.  The drops of color are actually from drops of rubbing alcohol that bled through from the next page.  I was in a zone, creating as many backgrounds as fast as possible.  I found this image of a girl exercising and painted over her.  I chose her for her PASSION. She seems so intentional and focused. So when the pages dried, I added my focused, intentional, disciplined, passionate girl onto this happy accident of a page.

Art Is My Passion Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Java Mama, Cup of Joe

Here is another page I finished at the art journaling workshop at Misty Oliver Foster's Art Studio in Frisco last weekend.  I loved this old fashioned pair of ladies sipping coffee from their dainty china cups and silver tea service.  They seem so far removed from our current coffee shop culture; where we get to decide between Venti, Grand or Tall sizes of Mocha's, Frappes, Frappuccinos, Macchiato's, Latte's, Iced Coffee's and more.  Not to mention the choices of cream, soy, whip and other flavors.  The image of these two gals chatting over plain black coffee reminds me of a simpler time.  They are the focus of the page and to make them stand out, I painted over their images in grey tones, and used black and white pen to outline them. This contrast from the green page with red accents is what makes these two Java Mama's stand out and be noticed.

Java Mama, Cup of Joe
Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Be, Live, Bloom

Last weekend I went to an art journaling workshop at Misty Oliver Foster's Art Studio in Frisco.  She is a very talented artist as well as an excellent teacher.  I highly recommend taking her workshops if you ever have an opportunity to do so and included a link to her site above.  Check her out.

Below is one example of an art journal page I completed while I was there.  I included a quote I just love from Charles Dickens as well... " Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of it's own."  I loved this because even though there were seasons of my childhood when I DID NOT believe red hair and freckles were beautiful, that all eventually changed.  As I grew, I realized that not only is it beautiful, it's what makes me shine.  That's what made me bloom.

Be, Live, Bloom
Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed of Life Lesson 25

In Lesson 25 in Pam Carrker's book  Creating Art At The Speed of Life, we are challenged to create  tag using the artistic component of LINE.  I love lines, so this was a favorite of mine.  Lines connect objects and give our eye a path to follow as it explores the page.  We were to create a tag using our own signature or initials. If you look closely you can see mine  C H W.  I liked using my lines to also create some figures of people.  You have to look closely to see them, but there are 4 of them.  3 of them have blue and green heads and being connected with the main lines in the composition symbolizing their close relationship with each other.  One of them is purple and red in the lower corner and disconnected from the others and almost turned inside out, alone.  The line simply comes onto the page and travels back off again with out connecting with the others.

CHW
Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Celebrating my blog birthday! Lesson 23 Art At The Speed of Life

Today is my blog's THIRD birthday.  February 11th! Still exploring the art element of form, Lesson 23 is called Make Your Mark.  Pam Carriker's book Creating Art At the Speed of Life gave us a chance to look back on previous art pages for marks, doodles, patterns used frequently.  I used a February Calendar page and set aside 2/11/13 to wish Paint On My Walls a Happy Birthday.  All the other squares are filled with line patterns.  I really enjoyed combining zen tangle patterns with color .  This was a very relaxing page and one of the most enjoyable so far.

Happy Third Birthday Paint On My Walls 2/11/14
Make Your Mark Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed of Life Lesson 22

Lesson 22 from Pam Carriker's book was an exercise in form to create a mask.  I loved creating the greyish pale face on the opposite page representing my somber self.  On my face are cool tones and collage images and dots.  The message on the face reminds me the beginning is always today.  This face is confronting real life.  The mask shows the dreamy, hopeful, life giving self, nurturing my soul with love and hope.  I liked the happy yellow and green color palate and whimsical collage and stamping elements.

Un-Masked
Art Journal page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed of Life Lesson 21

Lesson 21 in Pam Carriker's book was a pop up page and turned out really cute.  I had a lot of fun adding interest to this page with different pen strokes; patterns, cross hatching, dots, lines.  white ink and black.  It added some interest to the page.  The color filling the page is actually water color crayon, one of my favorite mediums on paper.  It is inexpensive, low mess, easy to clean up and allows for layering.  The crayon is activated with water after it is applied, but also can be activated with modge podge or acrylic sealer.

Whimsical House Pop Up Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed Of Life Lesson 20

In Pam Carriker's book Creating Art At The Speed Of Life Lesson 20, the goal was to create a page with cubist style shapes.  I chose to use hands as in her example but to assign each of the three hands to represent people in relationship with me.  Mine is the yellow hand, my mom was the orange hand and my daughter was the green hand.  I loved using washes of water color on already printed papers and then layering diluted paint on top to create the forms on this page.

I remember my mom's hands and the things they made.  She painted with watercolor.  She sewed doll clothes.  She quilted.  She made curtains.  She created the most amazing birthday parties for us growing up.  She used her hands well...  A gift I want to pass on to my daughter and those I love.  I create with my hands and it impacts the world around me.  With my hands, I leave my mark.

I Remember My Mom's Hands
Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed Of Life Lesson 19

From Pam Carriker's book Creating Art At The Speed Of Life Lesson 19

The goal in this exercise was to bury and then unearth words through layers of collage.  I chose text from an add about paint colors.  All the words were describing vivid colors and the emotions they evoke.  Then, using layers of diluted acrylic paint, and pencil and ink, I created forms from the scraps of text.  The gray color palate reminded me of depression and the way it buried the colors that were originally there.  It was like a slow painful death of emotion, color, light and life.  I titled this journal page, "Searching".  There were a few color words that still showed clearly through the layers of mist and I highlighted them.  When I look at this page, it makes me thankful that I have gone through depression, because on the other side of that experience all the colors are even more vivid and alive than before.

Searching
Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed of Life Lesson 16

Positively Negative was the title of Lesson 16 in Creating Art At The Speed of Life by Pam Carriker.  I created an original drawing of a face on two colors of paper I painted myself and cut them out.  Using positive and negative space added so much interest to the design and takes your eyes on a dance around the page.

Positively Negative Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed of Life Lesson 13

Open Windows symbolize an openness in relationships to me.  This is a strong theme in all of my art and very important.  The shutters on the window actually open all the way up to show the art on the page behind it. Come back tomorrow and you shall see what it is.

Open Up Window
Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Mixed Media

Art At The Speed of Life Lesson 12

Lesson 12 from Pam Carriker's book Creating Art At The Speed of Life introduced me to an interesting new word.  Ephemera - written or printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved, junk mail, receipts, brochures, etc.  I found an article about the world of color and pages from my old passport to create this page.   I liked how monochromatic and cloudy this page turned out.  The key to this one was lots of layers of diluted washes of gesso diluted with gel medium.

Passport To A World of Color
Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White

The quote on the bottom left page is from Renoir.  It says, " An Artist must have confidence in himself, and listen only to his real master; Nature."

Art At The Speed of Life Lesson 9

In Lesson 9 of Pam Carriker's book Creating Art At the Speed of Life, we were to use the end of a pencil to create dots of color on the page with acrylic paint.  In this chapter she included a quote from Claude Monet which I love and have to repeat it here...

  People discuss my art and pretend to understand as if it were necessary to understand, when it's simply necessary to love. ”
- Claude Monet
If that is the test, then I guess this attempt was a success, because I LOVE this pretty impressionistic girl.  She is lovely.  I mixed my own colors and was very happy with how they worked together.  I also really liked how slowly the image came to life, one dot at a time.  It was the most fun I've ever had with the eraser of a pencil.  I will try more like this on canvas later.

First Impressionism
Art Journal Page
by Cheryl Harris White
Acrylic

Psalm 139 Art Journal Page

Art Journal Page

Mixed Media

by Cheryl Harris White

Inspired by Psalms 139:16-18

13 “For You formed my inward parts;

You wove me in my mother’s womb.

14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Wonderful are Your works,

And my soul knows it very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;

16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;

And in Your book were all written

The days that were ordained for me,

When as yet there was not one of them.”

Art Journal and 1000 gifts 921 - 940

In March, I'll be posting some of my favorite art journal pages.  To do these, I use pretty much anything on hand...watercolor, oil pastels, collage, stickers, stencils, stamping, marker, colored pencils.  For me, a journal page is inspired by something I am learning or studying, usually from the Bible, but sometimes just a poem or even a quote or thought that is meaningful to me.  It is a creative outlet combining journaling with a visual image or reminder of what is impacting to me, what I am praying about, or struggling with.  There are lots of blogs and websites devoted strictly to art journals and I found most of them inspiring.  I think anyone can benefit from keeping some form of a journal,  I just prefer to do mine visually.  So, just for March, I'll be sharing some photos of a few of my recent art journal efforts.

Art Journal Page

Mixed Media

by Cheryl Harris White

The background is a combination of water color crayon and blue and brown paper.  I dipped my foot in red paint and stepped on the page and accidentally splattered a bit.  Then I decided I liked the red spatters and did more on purpose.  I really liked adding the road at the bottom.  It was a sticker I found in my old scrapbooking supplies.  The center is a picture of Vincent Van Gogh's Japanese Bridge in the Rain 1887.  This page encouraged me to start something big, even though at first it seemed overwhelming.

My list of 1000 Gifts continued...

Friday, March 2nd, 2011  

921) Duke back after his long trip away

922) Last lunch with my Dad before he drove back home

923) High five with an 86 year old hand and mine

924) Art journaling with my daughter

925) Shivering through the first scrimmage of the baseball season 

926) The look on my baseball son's face after playing
927) Surprise visits

928) Sharing my art with others

929) A job so close to my home

930) The smell of spring starting in my backyard

931) Helping my dad tape up his car window

932) Getting to eat chocolate without a migraine

933) The absence of constant pain

934) A sky full of red

935) Sitting outside on a bench in the middle of a beautiful day watching Titus

936) Bulbs

937) Birds singing

938) Just enough being more than enough

939) Decent report cards

940) Seeing life as a journey