I'm Starting a Podcast

Ok! I am SO bad about making announcements and promoting the projects that I am working on, and I tend to wait until the last minute to spring some kind of announcement. And so it goes with my latest project!

I’ve been trying to figure out various ways to connect with people and share my art and my thoughts, and within the last couple of months, I’ve released a new book, created a new online workshop, and tried to up my social media game. I’ve also been working on few more ideas and projects as I explore various formats for sharing and connecting.

So, I’ve decided to start a podcast. I’ve been listening to quite a few lately, and I want to add my two cents to the mix.

I have so many ideas swirling around in my head, and over the past couple of years, I’ve shared many of them at conferences, conventions, and workshops, but I want to reach a larger audience. I think that I have a slightly different take on art and creativity, and I want to get those ideas out to more people. Originally, I thought about writing a series of blog posts or creating a book with my thoughts, but I have so much that I want to say and share. So, I thought that I would just simply say it and share it, and with the internet, social media, and the fact that everyone has the equivalent of a production studio on the way of their computer or phone, I want to give it a go!

That’s how Artistic Accomplices was born — my new podcast! Artistic Accomplices was a term that I heard years ago, and it’s something David and I have used repeatedly. The concept is simple, an artistic accomplice is someone who gives you a creative nudge — someone who helps motivate you and inspire you — someone who pushes you and encourages you to make and create. And that’s how I see this podcast — a creative nudge — a little voice in your ear encouraging you to lead your creative life in whatever way that manifests itself.

There will be times when it’ll be just me rambling about things, and there will be times when I interview and talk with artists, writers, musicians, educators, and others to get insights into art, creativity, and learning. I envision this as a podcast for anyone looking to deepen their creativity and for anyone who needs a little push or a little encouragement.

On January 1st, I’ll be kicking off the New Year with the inaugural episode of Artistic Accomplices, and I’ll follow it up every couple of weeks, at first, with a new episode as I explore and share the things on my mind. I hope that you will join me and give it a listen.

So, stay tuned for more!

New Book!

I am thrilled to say that I am publishing a new book, and this time, it’s a physical book that you can hold in your hands and flip through. Ever since David and I published The Journal Junkies Workshop and Journal Fodder 365 with North Light Books, we’ve been wanting to publish a book of just journal pages. Unfortunately we’ve been turned down by North Light, as well as several other publishers, but I’ve been mulling over the idea of self publishing a book for quite a while now. Well, it’s almost a reality.

I know that I’ve posted on various social media outlets over the past couple of months and written a couple of blogposts, but I wanted to drop an official announcement and release an image of the cover. So, with any luck My Creative Journey: Select Journal Pages, will hit Amazon.com some time within the next two weeks.

I’ve worked for the past two months to photograph and edit pages from the first 10 volumes of journals (I have over 24), and I put together nearly 70 two-page spreads in chronological order in this new book. I ramped up my work this past week and finished photographing, designing, writing, editing, and creating the cover, and last night I uploaded the completed manuscript to Kindle Direct Publishing (Amazon is phasing out their CreateSpace platform). I’m just waiting for a proof copy of the book, and hopefully, it will be ready for publication very soon. Despite the name of Amazon’s new self-publishing platform, an author can publish Kindle and/or print versions.

This is a book of just my journal pages, and hopefully, we can get a volume of David’s pages published in the near future as well. But in the meantime, I wanted this new book to fit in with our other books, so it’ll be the same size - 8.5”x11” with 144 pages. I even designed the cover to be similar to our other books, but inside you’ll find a series of 2-page spreads, no techniques, no writing prompts, just pure journal goodness.

I’m super excited!

I’ll post once the book is available.

Mapping the Journey at 310 ART

I am super excited to be returning to Asheville in May to teach a two-day mixed media workshop at 310 ART. I'm looking forward to heading back! I love Asheville, and 310 ART is an awesome place to teach. Mapping the Journey is all about using life and the idea of making to create layered pieces of art. I can't wait! I hope that you can join me in Asheville.

Journal Friday #58:Travel

This past week was the National Art Education Association's annual convention in Seattle Washington. Though I'm no longer a public school teacher, I stay active in the the association, which means traveling and presenting to art educators from across the country. Whenever and wherever I travel, the journal goes with my, whether I'm traveling for business or pleasure. On this trip I took four separate journals with me to share and to work in.

The NAEA Convention is a huge gathering of art educators, and it's always invigorating to be surrounded by my tribe. Of this tribe, I'm closest to a handful of artistic accomplices, especially David and our friends Sam Peck and Michael Dodson, and we often sit and work on journal in all manner of spaces during the convention. We can often be found working in our journals in our hotel rooms, hotel lobby, and bar, taking notes during sessions, and even passing around journals and sketchbooks before dinner.

For this conference, I was fortunate to spend an entire day working in my journals, as David and Sam presented a pre-conference, full-day workshop. It was great to spread out and journal. I was able to add to a lot in all of my journals. One thing that I used a lot was some punchanella - also know as sequin waste. These narrow ribbons of circles make great stencils for painting and drawing.

Of course, since the convention is a massive professional development, there are all kinds of presentations and workshops, and the journal is a prime space for taking notes, but these aren't the notes from your school days. These are visual and colorful, and often include imagery and collage elements. I'll go back in the future and embellish the notes and include more color and imagery.

I am always amazed at how much journaling gets done while traveling.

Library Fun

Last week was a rather busy week, and leading two workshops at local libraries as part of Teen Read Week added to the busyness, but also provided a lot of fun.

On Tuesday night, I worked with a few participants in a visual journal workshop at Rust Library in Leesburg, VA. I shared my journals and how I use them, and then I led the participants through some techniques and ideas that I use in my journals. Everyone worked on a couple of pieces of mixed media paper and created pieces that incorporated watercolor paint, collage, watercolor pencil, and writing. It's always fun to get messy and creative.

On Wednesday night, I worked with a slightly larger group in a mural painting workshop at Cascades Library in Potomac Falls, VA. Working on a primed piece of canvas, we began by painting in shapes and lines of color, and then added in some collage from newspaper and magazines. The participants were then asked to think about some of their favorite activities and some adjectives to describe themselves. We then incorporated some of the ideas and words to finish up the mural. Eventually the canvas will be hung in the library. Again, it was messy, creative, and fun.

Check out the finished mural at the top of the post!

Although both workshops had a small number of participants, I always love connecting with people through art, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I'm hoping to do more in the future!

The Journal Fodder Junkies Daily Challenge Part 2 Releases This Friday.

The Journal Fodder Junkies Daily Challenge Part 2 is coming! It will be released this Friday, September 1 in the shop. This new part contains 30 new daily challenges to get you through September, and it contains three pages of journal page galleries. Each gallery page contains two two-page journal spreads. I can't wait to share it with you, but I'll have to wait until Friday.

The Journal Fodder Junkies Daily Challenge Part 2 Coming Soon.

Thank you to all who purchased Part One of the Journal Fodder Junkies Daily Challenges. If you haven't, head over to the Shop to get your downloadable PDF now.

I am currently working on Part 2, and it will have 30 brand new daily challenges, and maybe a small surprise! It will be released in just a week and a half on Friday, September 1, 2017. I can't wait to share it with you.

Until then, Fodder On!

Catching Up

With teaching, launching a revamped website, finishing the first in my ebook series, and just simple day-to-day things. I've gotten a few weeks behind on the daily challenges. Over the past few days, I've been trying to catch up, and I'm slowly getting back on track. If everything goes well, I'll be able to post two or three Journal Fridays this Friday. Stay tuned!

The Journal Fodder Junkies Daily Challenge Now On Sale

I am pleased to announce that my latest endeavor is ready for release, and it is officially on sale now in the shop. I've been working on The Journal Fodder Junkies Daily Challenge since October of last year, and my original plan was to self publish it as single book through Amazon's Createspace. Writing took much longer than expected, so I decided to publish it as a series of ebooks. I really wanted to have something ready for all of the teachers as they go back to school.

I'll be releasing a new part of the series each month over the next year with 30 or 31 challenges. Each ebook will be only $5! One of the big advantages of the ebooks, is that each challenge can have it's own page. I envision people printing the book with 2 or 4 pages per sheet and making their very own set of challenge cards that they can use themselves or with their students.

The goal of the series is give artists and visual journalists a daily creative nudge, but it can be used at anytime when you and your art needs a spark.

Part 1 is now ready! I am looking forward to sharing the first 31 challenges to get you through August. To purchase or for more info, check out the shop!

New Website and New Ebook

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of busyness. So busy, that I haven't been able to keep up with my daily visual journal challenges, and unfortunately, I'm a couple weeks behind posting my weekly Journal Friday posts. I'm working on catching up though, and hopefully I'll be posting new Journal Fridays soon.

At least it has been a good busy, and I've been busy teaching and making art. I taught a two-week summer art program for high school students, and then it was right into teaching a summer camp for little kids. During all that, I was making art in preparation for Arts in the Alley this past weekend in Leesburg, VA. This apparently wasn't enough to do, and in the midst of all of that I revamped the JFJ website and finished up a new ebook. Hopefully you noticed the new website since the blog is now hosted on it. I am excited that everything is in one place.

As for the ebook, it's the first installment of my series based on my daily journal challenges, and it will go on sale in the shop tomorrow. It contains the first 31 challenges, and I can't wait to share it. I just have to look it over one last time so that it's ready to meet the world tomorrow.

I am glad to finally be getting a chance to catch up.