Animated Art Video

Last week, I was in Richmond, VA for the Virginia Art Education Association’s annual conference, where I presented two lectures and a hands-on workshop. I was also able to attend several other talks and workshops, as well as catch up with colleagues and friends.

The session that had my mind buzzing the most was a workshop by Greenwood Elementary art teacher, April Barlett. This simple workshop was all about using stop motion animation with elementary students, and it really had the ideas popping.

More than 20 years ago, I took an animation class as part of my education at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, but back then, it was all done with traditional film cameras. You were never certain how it turned out until the film was developed weeks later. It’s amazing that there are apps now that you can download to you phone, tablet, or computer.

I played around with the app on my iPad during April’s session, and though I no longer teach public school, I couldn’t help thinking of a variety of ways that I could use this with my kids classes at the Round Hill Arts Center. But more excitedly, I couldn’t help think of ways that I could use it in my own studio. So, I made this short film using Strathmore mixed media paper, Prang watercolor, Prismacolor watercolor pencil, and my uni-ball Vision pen.

I can’t wait to try it out with other art.

Journal Friday #79

I’ve filmed another Journal Friday — this time adding to pages from last week using water-soluble pencil.

Journal Friday #78

I wanted to do Journal Friday a bit differently today, so I made a video. It’s just a short video trying to figure some things out. I’m hoping to make longer videos in the future, but I’ve got to start somewhere.

Hope you enjoy seeing some journaling in action.

My Creative Journey is now available!

I can’t believe that my new book My Creative Journey has been published! It seems like I just started working on it, and it was just a week ago that I was announcing that it was finished when I shared a look at the cover. It’s amazing how different self-publishing is to traditional publishing.

When David and I published our first book, The Journal Junkies Workshop, it took about two years to go from acceptance to publication. With My Creative Journey, I mulled over the idea of self publishing for a couple of years, but I’ve only worked on the book for the past two months. In early August, I began photographing and editing pages from my journals figuring out things as I went along. I’m computer savvy, but I am by no means a wiz with Photoshop or InDesign, and there were a lot of challenges. But I plodded along putting in hours and hours of work to get the book together.

I wrapped everything up a week ago, and uploaded it to Kindle Direct Publishing, and ordered a proof. I don’t sound very excited in the video that I recorder this past Monday, but I really was. The book looks gorgeous, and it is truly how I imagined it. The quality is awesome - from the paper to the printing, and I’m even more excited now that I got notification on Tuesday that the book was live on Amazon.com.

I mean, wow! Wow! WOW!

Just like that, the book is out there and people are ordering it. I’ve ordered a bunch to be able to sell in person, and I can’t wait to get them. But it somehow feels a bit surreal, like did I just really do that - put together a book and publish it in two months?

And, YES! Yes I did, and I can’t wait to hear what people think of it! If you get a copy, please let me know what you think, and please leave a review on Amazon.

Oder your copy today! And of course, I appreciate any help in spreading the word! So, please share, post, and give shout outs where you can. As always, Thank you for all of the support!

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.

Journal Friday #77

As I work to put together my book of journal pages, I am struck by a few things. First, I’m struck by the amount of white in the earlier journals. The early journals contain a lot of pages that feel empty and unresolved. Even the more resolved pages have a lot white.

Second, I’m struck by the amount of photos and image transfers in these early journals. I had access to a color laser printer, and I printed a lot of my own photos, especially of myself. I used a lot of these print outs as collage materials for the pages and as image transfers.

Finally, I’m struck by the shallow layers. Though there’s some layering in the pages, they’re not as richly layered as my later pages. It took me quite some time to develop the techniques for layering that are a hallmark of my journals now.

It’s always nice to take a trip down memory lane with these early journals. Here are some pages that probably won’t be in the book.

Journal Friday #76: Artistic Acts and Going Back

I have mentioned before that the visual journal process for me is not a linear process. I don’t complete a page or spread and then move to the next. I add bits and pieces completing little actions that accumulate in the journal and allow pages to develop slowly.

Some pages stall, and I come back to them months later and add to them. Revisiting pages time and time again allows me to reflect on them, mulling over the possibilities. Underdeveloped pages often catch my eye, but I often pass them by until finally an idea strikes and I add to them.

Such was the case this week, as I turned to two simple artistic acts using two of my favorite materials to add layers to pages — some of which were started months ago.

I love water-soluble pencil, and Derwent Inktense pencils are some of my favorite. These pencils contain a water-soluble ink that is bright, and most importantly, transparent. I love building layers with them. So I flipped through my pages and found some underdeveloped spots to add color and layers. I simply used water to spread pigment — a technique that I probably use 95% of the time.

Derwent Inktense Pencils

Faber-Castell Polychromos Colored Pencils

I also turned to colored pencil to develop one of my two-page spreads as well. I’ve been using Faber-Castell Polychromos a lot recently in some stand alone works, so I decided to use them on the spread at the top of the post. These pencils are smooth and rich, and they are ideal for working in on top of the Inktense. They allow for a more finished and polished look, and they’re great for fine tuning color and edges. I find that I can get a lot of depth with them.

So, this week has just been about returning to some favorite materials and some simple artistic acts to go back to pages that were begun months ago. I love when these stagnant pages can find new direction and momentum.

Journal Friday #75: Little Actions

I've been keeping myself busy with a number of projects, and I haven't had a lot of time to work extensively in my journal. But I've had some opportunities to add some doodles and embellishments. I'm a big believer in little actions leading to big results, so as artists we don't need copious amounts of uninterrupted time in a studio with access to all of our paints, markers, stencils, and materials. Often all we need is an ink pen and a few minutes.

This week, I was able to embellish some text, add some spirals on the Legacy spread, and add to some ink doodles on other pages. These little actions add a lot of richness and depth to pages. It wasn't a whole lot but, these little actions will add up.

Journal Friday #74

I've worked a little in the Journal this week, but my energies have been focused on other projects. First, I'm working to finish the last installment of my ebook series, The Journal Fodder Junkies Daily Challenge. I'm a couple of months behind with releasing this installment, but I've been working on it, and hope to have it available soon.

Second, I've been working on another project - one that I've been wanting to do for quite some time, and I'm hoping to have it wrapped up in early October. So, I want to officially announce that I am working on a book of Journal Pages. After the release of our two books, The Journal Junkies Workshop and Journal Fodder 365, David and I wanted to publish a book of just journal pages like the Dan Eldon book, The Journey is the Destination. But after approaching a few publishers, including North Light who published our other books, we were turned down.

But now with the easy of self-publishing, I am putting together select pages form my first ten volumes of journals. This will be a solo project, but hopefully we can follow up with a book of David's journals soon. The book will be a similar format as the other books - 8.5x11 inches with around 144 pages, and I'm looking to publish it through Amazon's Createspace.

Since it will be self-published, I have to do all of the work. I've been spending a lot of time photographing, editing, and curating journal pages. I've been looking for two-page spreads that can be used so that when the viewer looks through the pages, they'll get an experience that is more like looking at the actual journals where side-by-side pages aren't cobbled together from different sources.

It's a lot of work, but I'm hoping to have it ready by mid October. Wish me luck!

In the mean time, I thought that I'd share a few pages and spreads that I probably won't be using.

Sad Week: Good Bye Neville and Pop

It has been a very sad week in our house, as we have lost two members of our furry family.

Early in this past week we said goodbye to Neville (pictured above). He was the newest member of the family, and Joanne rescued him on a trip to New Mexico. She had gone to help Soul Dog Rescue with a clinic in Crownpoint, New Mexico, and this poor, paralyzed little kitten was brought in. Joanne fell in love immediately, and brought him home as a "foster" with the goal of trying to get him healthy.

Neville was a very sweet and social little kitten, but he was extremely underweight and had extensive medical issues. At first, things looked up. He gained weight, and he seemed to be getting stronger. Unfortunately, after a little more than two weeks, he took a turn, and we had to say good bye. His life was short, but we were able to offer him love and comfort for two weeks that he wouldn't have had otherwise.

We also said good bye to the matriarch and oldest member of our furry family. Pop (above) was 18, and was born to Joanne's very first foster cat when she lived in Georgia. The litter was named after Rice Krispies, and there was Snap and Crackle along with Pop. Joanne adopted Pop as the others found homes elsewhere, and Poppy lived her entire life in a loving home.

A while back, Pop had developed kidney issues, but had bounced back quite well. She seemed like she was doing well, so we were caught off guard when we took her into Joanne's clinic for her annual check up and had to be put on IV fluids. She went downhill very quickly, and we made the decision to say goodbye.

We are very sad, and the house seems much emptier. But we are very grateful for the doctors and the staff at Leesburg Veterinary Hospital for their compassion and all of their help.

We will miss our little furry family members!