Art Journaling

It is a busy season for me right now, but I have been faithful to taking a few minutes whenever I can to play in my art journal. These pages are a sampling from the past few weeks.

Contemplation...again

You know how it is; you start to study or read about something and it pops up everywhere. Everything I read now-a-days seems to have a thread about contemplation running through it. But then, I guess that the topics I've been reading about and the authors I've been reading have a bent toward the contemplative ~ solitude and Sabbath-keeping, rhythms of life, prayer, Henri Nouwen, Ruth Haley Barton, practicing being in God's presence, Greg Boyd, Richard Foster, hospitality ~ these all carry similar threads. So they weave together in my mind and in my heart and make their way onto the pages of my art journals.

I lean so much more toward solitude now than when I was younger. Sometimes too much so, and I have to be gently reminded by God that He made me to be in community also. Since learning that the way I have kept my written journals in the past is actually a known practice called "commonplacing", I find I want to put more and more of what I'm reading on the pages of my art journals. (See previous blog post here: Commonplace )

It's been a nice long weekend. I've spent good time in solitude, reading and making art. I've spent time with my husband watching movies. And later today and tomorrow I will enjoy time in community at a birthday party and then an adoption celebration. Overall a very good weekend. And also the perfect calm I need before the storm of crazy busyness over the next three weeks. You can't work in a church and with kids and partner in ministry to a school and not be busy at Christmastime! So, there will be limited art time and limited blog time in the weeks ahead, but I will make bits and pieces of time for solitude and contemplation to keep my heart and soul connected to Him who provides all that we need. :)

From the pages of the books I'm reading:

The books:

Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership by Ruth Haley Barton

Repenting of Religion by Gregory Boyd

Reaching Out by Henri Nouwen

Experiment

"It is only through failure and through experiment that we learn and grow."

~Isaac Stern

I love to experiment with different art  forms and supplies. Nothing gets my creative juices flowing better than "play time". Over the past week in the bits and pieces of time I've managed to scrape up I have played with spray inks, paint, circle stencils and collage. Sometimes, especially when I am busy, and thus tired and brain-dead, this is all I do ~ play with paint, glue down paper, and make background pages in my journals or painted pages to use in collage.

In addition to playing with paint, ink and paper, I have wanted to learn how to use my camera in manual mode. So, the pictures I am posting of my inky, painty play were done in manual mode at a slow film speed (ISO). 

My observations:

• I love circles!
• The ink/paint play created some great background pages.
• The open circle ~ negative side of the stencil ~ happened when I sprayed the stencil with water and then laid paper over it. I love the effect left by the build up of paint and ink on the stencil.
• As far as my photography in manual mode goes ~ I need to work on better focus so that the photos are crisper. But overall I'm pleased with my first attempt.

"With experimentation comes surprise and discovery."

Kim Lee Kho

Last but not least, a recent art journal page:

Painty, inky fingers make me happy. :) 

May you find time to experiment and play with whatever it is that stirs your creative juices. I find it is another way of finding rest. Peace to you from me.

Commonplace

My friend Jean sent me a text message last week suggesting that I google "common place books". So I did. I don't know how I've never run across this term before! Here's one definition of the practice of "commonplacing":

"Commonplacing is the act of selecting important phrases, lines, and/or passages from texts and writing them down; the commonplace book is the notebook in which a reader has collected quotations from works she or he has read. Commonplace books can also include comments and notes from the reader."  (From "Commonplaces: An Introduction" by John Hilgart and Van Hillard

Some other definitions:

• A book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.
• A notebook in which you enter memorabilia.
• The recording of words and ideas in a commonplace.

It turns out that I have been "commonplacing" all of my life. As a teenager I used to write down poems and quotes I liked and kept them in a "diary". As an adult, when I started keeping written journals, alongside my thoughts and prayers I have filled my journals with quotes and passages from books, lyrics from songs, quotes from conferences I've attended, and quotes from pastors Sunday messages. In recent years I've carried this practice into art journaling, combining what I've practiced in my written journals with art.

I'm a note-taker. I take notes during the sermon every Sunday. I take notes at conferences, during meetings, even during conversations at times. I take notes while I read books. There is something about writing something down that cements it into my mind and my heart. It is also a habit I developed through the years to help me stayed focused. I suffer from a wandering mind syndrome. The note taking during sermons and conferences keep me from getting distracted by any form of movement or noise that goes on around me. Note taking during meetings or conversations help me stay present and come back to something I want to say without interrupting (most of the time!). Note taking keeps me engaged.

And now that I art journal, taking this practice and adding color and texture and paper and ink and paint thrills me and fills me to no end!

I like the name "commonplace". I have a box full of my written journals from 20+ years. Occasionally I will re-read them. I especially like to do this at the end of the year and look back over the past year and see growth, or lack of growth, or to remind myself of where I have journeyed over the year. When re-reading my journals I often will come across the quotes I've recorded from books and usually will return to that book and read the passages again. I have a habit (good or bad will be determined by each person's opinion) of reading multiple books at the same time. I have books I'm reading that go along with whatever we're studying for our Creative Team meetings at work. I may have a book I'm reading to help me with a particular problem or interest. Our staff team does a weekly book study, so I have that book I'm reading. I usually have a book that I read along with Scripture and prayer each morning that is a part of my time with God. The downside to this habit is that many times I don't finish all the books when I have started them. But my practice of commonplacing helps me return to them when I have re-read a quote or passage.

So, now, thanks to Jean, I have a name for this practice I've done most of my life in one form or another. It makes me happy - the practice and the name. :)

My most recent "commonplace" art journal pages:

All of these quotes happen to be from the book we are reading for our staff book study; Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry by Ruth Haley Barton. It's a great book and one I highly recommend for anyone who is in ministry vocationally ~ paid or unpaid. I am especially appreciating her chapter on spiritual rhythms and our need to heed God's command on us to rest.

Blogging and sites like Tumbler and Pinterest seem to me to fit into the category of commonplacing in out tech age. My friend Jean uses her Tumbler blog as a commonplace space. http://jyholt.tumblr.com/

Do you have a commonplace type of practice?

An Altered Book Art Journal

Back in February I altered a book into an art journal. It has the perfect title for an art journal: The Examined Life. I first introduced it in this post: http://mewithmyheadintheclouds.blogspot.com/2013/02/making-books.html
That Journal is almost full now.

 This weekend I prepped some of the final pages and then went through the book and began journaling on some of the empty pages.

I don't know which is sweeter, the thrill of completing a project or the excitement and anticipation of starting a new one. Which way do you lean?

I've also been busy adding to my Etsy shop and have even had a few sales over the past few weeks! Just click on the link at the top left to visit my shop.

Butterfly themed vintage paper pack

Vintage yearbook paper pack

Foreign language vintage book pages

Vintage advertisements paper pack