Fall Fearless and Fly Challenge #7

Fall Fearless and Fly with Joanne Sharpe!

Headline Prompt:  Future Imperfect: What is different about your life now than what you once expected it to be?  How is the way it turned out perfect or imperfect.  If your future turns out differently than you imagined in the first prompt, could it still be perfect?
Color Prompt: Yellow
Quote Prompt: "Existence really is an imperfect tense that never becomes a present."  Friedrich Nietsche

Welcome Joanne Sharpe!   Thank you for sharing  your journal page with us!

Joanne:  This is a perfect theme for me, as my personal creative life mantra is "she is perfectly imperfect".  No words speak to me greater than these.  There was a time in my life when everything I did had to be obsessively without error or imperfection.  I think having 4 children in 3 ½ years dashed all the reality of living in a perfect state. (In March of 1989 I had a 3 year old daughter, an 11 month old son and brought home twin baby boys!)  I learned that life is messy sometimes, in so many ways and at times demands inner strength that we had no idea existed.

My life IS perfect in it’s imperfections.  I am very blessed.  It’s perfect in all the joys, my family, my career, my home as well as the struggles and disappointments.  Life is what it is, and we make our own perfection.  The word “perfect” has a formal definition: it means entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings.  To me, that certainly doesn’t describe my life!  I think we have to define and own our personal perfection.  Sometimes that perfection is messy, as it is in my current art, where I am much more free with my paint and expression. 

I’m a huge believer of “living in intention;" that we make our own luck and happiness.  My future is determined in my thoughts, hard work and faith.  If I put in the work and efforts that need to make my dreams real, my future is determined by what I imagine.  And on the way to my dreams, I have found that more often than not, bigger and better things come along that I could never have imagined! I embrace my perfectly imperfect life and celebrate my blessings with the power and energy of the color yellow used in this journal page.

Color Prompt: Yellow

In this journal page, I chose to make a collage of “yellow” focusing on the quote.  The message supported my favorite mantra perfectly, “she is perfectly imperfect”.  Every journal page that I create has a message, it’s where I grow my love for hand lettering.
 

“Whimsical art maker” Joanne Sharpe is a colorful mixed media artist and enthusiastic teacher with a passion for art journaling, lettering, doodling and illustration. Joanne’s playful art has been featured in the popular publications Cloth Paper Scissors, Studios, Somerset Studio, Somerset Art Journaling and Somerset Apprentice magazines. In addition to teaching nationwide, she has been licensing artwork to the craft, fabric and giftware markets for two decades. Joanne resides in Rochester, New York.

 
Prizes! Everyone who links up their take on challenge 7 by Sunday, January 9th,  will be entered to win a $35 gift certificate to LuminArte!  Their store is DreamingColor.com.  They are the creators of Twinkling H2O's, Silks, Radiant Rain and more! 
 


What will you do in response to the seventh challenge?  Here are the rules:

• You may participate in one or all of the challenges.
• Use one, two or all of the prompts.
• Use any media -- art journal, scrapbook, canvas, watercolor, quilting, you name it!  This is "Anything Goes" as far as your creativity is concerned.
• Link up by Sunday, January 9, to be eligible to win a $35 gift certificate to Luminarte!   Go over to Jessica's blog to comment, and be eligible for a giveaway there too!
• You may link up to 2 times, but please only link up to work prepared for this challenge.  If not, we will remove your link. Please post the url of your blog post or flickr page that's specific to this challenge, rather than a general blog address.  And please tell us how your work relates to the challenge!
• Each time you participate, visit at least 3 other links and leave loving words!
• All challenge participants are welcome to join our private Facebook group as a place to talk about your journey and whatever is coming up for you as you work on the challenges.   As it is private, just request to join and we'll give you access. 

To recap, here is the 7th challenge:

Headline Prompt:  Future Imperfect: What is different about your life now than what you once expected it to be?  How is the way it turned out perfect or imperfect.  If your future turns out differently than you imagined in the first prompt, could it still be perfect?
Color Prompt: Yellow
Quote Prompt: "Existence really is an imperfect tense that never becomes a present."  Friedrich Nietsche

Congratulations to Daire, the lucky winner of our Fall Fearless & Fly challenge #6, chosen by the random generator at Random.org!   You have won  a $25 gift certificate from Blue Moon Scrapbooking!  Please email your address to acolorfuljourney (at) gmail (dot) com for your prize!

And on Monday, January 10, check in for Challenge #8 with the fabulous Nathalie Kalbach-- our very last Fall Fearless & Fly challenge to usher in 2013 -- and the winner of this challenge!

Looking forward to seeing your wonderful work!
Carolyn Dube and Jessica Sporn

Happy New Year!

I wish you all the best for 2013.  For some, it has been a full and creative year with many opportunities to spread their artistic wings.  I know for others this past year has been a difficult one.  As we jump into the new year, I hope you all focus on the people and things that really matter.  I hope you also find time to exercise your creative spirit.

I hope that this is a place that can challenge you to grow and to help you find other like-minded people.  I would love for you to share any suggestions or ideas you have for Artists in Blogland.  What do you like best about the group?  What new things would you like to see?  Are you interested in more swaps, challenges, interviews or something else entirely?  I am open to new and fresh ideas!

Show and Tell Saturday #32

Show and Tell Saturday #31

Please visit at least 3 other artists and put a link back to Artists in Blogland, so other people can find us. If you are reading from a blog reader, you will have to pop on over to the actual blog post to add your link.  



Thanks for participating! Are you doing anything exciting? Hosting a challenge? Conducting a workshop? Tell me about it and I will write a post to put on Artists in Blogland.

Grab a button for your page:




<a href="http://artistsinblogland.blogspot.com"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbAkavWgIt3j0JGaezCk5nI8yCAo_gHu9ded1SMT2R2dQ7kFY6zpG8wAsbbnoIqJaZykCBSWf9hfCwbKuiNlfpMxFkrsX5lIzwTgFDosb1BX2tm93y6npS-KgB_3jAle6wDotpqSi5PSk/s1600/003_picnik+%2528202x100%2529.jpg" alt="BWS tips button" width="202" height="100" /></a>

Love and Prayers

The Show and Tell Saturday post was a pre-scheduled post.  I drove home from school today listening to the news on the radio about the school shooting in Connecticut.  As a teacher, parent and human my heart is heavy and full of sadness.  My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved, prayers for the country, for peace and love.

Show and Tell Saturday #31

Show and Tell Saturday #31

Please visit at least 3 other artists and put a link back to Artists in Blogland, so other people can find us. If you are reading from a blog reader, you will have to pop on over to the actual blog post to add your link.  



Thanks for participating! Are you doing anything exciting? Hosting a challenge? Conducting a workshop? Tell me about it and I will write a post to put on Artists in Blogland.

Grab a button for your page:




<a href="http://artistsinblogland.blogspot.com"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbAkavWgIt3j0JGaezCk5nI8yCAo_gHu9ded1SMT2R2dQ7kFY6zpG8wAsbbnoIqJaZykCBSWf9hfCwbKuiNlfpMxFkrsX5lIzwTgFDosb1BX2tm93y6npS-KgB_3jAle6wDotpqSi5PSk/s1600/003_picnik+%2528202x100%2529.jpg" alt="BWS tips button" width="202" height="100" /></a>

Fall Fearless & Fly Challenge #6

Fall Fearless and Fly with Dina Wakley!

Headline Prompt:  Divided by God:  What does "God" mean to you?  How do you access"God" or the divine or the sacred in your life?
Color Prompt: Metallics - gold, silver, copper, bronze, or all of them!
Quote Prompt: "This is my simple religion.  There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy.  Our own brain, our own heart, is our temple; the philosophy is kindness."  The Dalai Lama 

Welcome Dina Wakley and thank you for sharing your fabulous art journal page!

Dina: The prompts asks, "What does God mean to you?" I'm a spiritual person. I feel deeply. My feelings about God can be summarized in the simple phrase, "I am a believer."

My page started with inky blots and stencils on the page. I used a new stencil that I am coming out with, "Church Windows." The designs come from various photos of real church windows that I have taken in my travels. I love to visit places of worship: Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, it doesn't matter. I find it inspiring to be in places where people spill out their devotions and honor their beliefs.

I wasn't loving the way the stencils looked, so I gesso'd over the entire page. The images ghosted through the gesso and are a great, textured background. I added some gold paint over the gesso. I drew the woman on the left with a Stabilo Marks All pencil and filled her in slightly with Titanium white paint. Then I stenciled one of the church windows on another piece of paper with Wendy Vecchi's new Embossing Paste. I inked over it, let it dry, and cut it out. I put the window on the right side of the page spread. My journaling spreads across both pages and connects the woman and the window.  

I cut the hearts from a failed gelatin print. I never throw away my "eh" pieces of art. I cut them up and use them as collage papers.

Dina Wakley lives in Glendale, AZ with her husband and three sons. She started scrapping in 1995 when her first son was 6 months old. Her scrapbooking took an artsy turn when she discovered mixed media collage.

Now, she dabbles in mixed media collage, visual journaling, and encaustic art. Dina has kept a journal since she was nine years old, so combining words and photos and art was a natural progression.  Dina has a line of stencils with The Crafter's Workshop, and her own stamp line with Stampington.  She teaches all over the world, and also offers many online classes.  She is the author of the soon to be released book, Art Journal Freedom:  How to Journal Creatively With Color and Composition, available February 2013.

Dina shares more about her work and life on her blog: Ponderings.   Thank You Dina!!

Prizes! Everyone who joins in will be entered to win a Blue Moon Scrapbooking gift certificate! 

Blue Moon Scrapbooking  has generously provided a $25 gift certificate for this week!  They have a wonderful selection of Dina's stencils and her rubber stamps!  

What will you do in response to the sixth challenge?  Here are the rules:

• You may participate in one or all of the challenges.
• Use one, two or all of the prompts.
• Use any media -- art journal, scrapbook, canvas, watercolor, quilting, you name it!  This is "Anything Goes" as far as your creativity is concerned.
• Link up by Sunday, December 30, to be eligible to win a $25 gift certificate to Blue Moon Scrapbooking!   Go over to Jessica's blog to comment, and be eligible for a giveaway there too!
• You may link up to 2 times, but please only link up to work prepared for this challenge.  If not, we will remove your link. Please post the url of your blog post or flickr page that's specific to this challenge, rather than a general blog address.  And please tell us how your work relates to the challenge!
• Each time you participate, visit at least 3 other links and leave loving words!
• All challenge participants are welcome to join our private Facebook group as a place to talk about your journey and whatever is coming up for you as you work on the challenges.   As it is private, just request to join and we'll give you access. 

To recap, here is the 6th challenge:

Headline Prompt:  Divided by God:  What does "God" mean to you?  How do you access"God" or the divine or the sacred in your life?
Color Prompt: Metallics - gold, silver, copper, bronze, or all of them!
Quote Prompt: "This is my simple religion.  There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy.  Our own brain, our own heart, is our temple; the philosophy is kindness."  The Dalai Lama

Congratulations to Carly at True Color, the lucky winner of our Fall Fearless & Fly challenge #5, chosen by the random generator at Random.org!   You have won a packet of fabulous paper ephemera from Marcia, and a $25 gift certificate from Blue Moon Scrapbooking!  Please email your address to acolorfuljourney (at) gmail (dot) com for your prize!

And on Monday, December 31, check in for Challenge #7 with the fabulous Joanne Sharpe, and the winner of this challenge!

Looking forward to seeing your wonderful work!
Carolyn Dube and Jessica Sporn

Creatively Featured: Patsy Paterno

Patsy's art has HEART!  She is inspired by her faith in God and her artwork is joyful.  Thanks, Patsy, for sharing your artwork with us!

http://patsypat.blogspot.com

http://papemelroti.blogspot.com

http://papemelroti.com- our family business

https://www.facebook.com/patricia.paterno

Tell us about blogging and how it's worked for you.  

I started blogging in 2006 (one post!) and really did not know what I was doing. It was a hodgepodge of stuff and I forgot about it most of the time. Before my blog, I had a website in Geocities which I had been serious about and then Geocities shut down, so I tried blogging.  I think like most people, if you keep posting, you develop your own unique voice after some trial and error. Now I post three times a week and get encouraged by the many positive comments I get. Blogging has made me more serious about my art and more consistent as well. I love the art community, so generous and encouraging. It makes me want to also share, to teach and to encourage as well. 

 

 

What inspires or influences you artistically?

In 2006, I decided to illustrate and embellish my faith journal. Previous to that it was all words, words, words. And because I did collage or drew on my journal every single day since then, I found out that I had a gift for art. I knew that this gift was from God, and that He would and could bless me and others through it. I get inspired by the Word of God and by His many promises. I want to embed His Words in my heart and mind, and that is why I paint in my journal every single day. My art is all about God! Not about me!

 

Which aspect of your art do you enjoy most? 

I enjoy most the “evolving”. I look though my journals and the canvases I have made and I see how my art has been changing and growing. And because of this I am excited about what the future will bring! There are so many discoveries to be made in art and all of it is like a song in my heart that has to come out and burst into a riot of colors! I also enjoy sharing with others who want to make art and have no idea how to start or feel they don’t have it in them. My sister Peggy and I have these workshops for friends where we teach them and help them find their inner artist. It is sooo true that making art is like having a vacation without leaving home!

 

Have you exhibited work or taught classes?

Yes, I have exhibited my work together with my siblings in the Ayala Museum here in the Philippines. It was in relation to the art work we do for our business, papemelroti. I have given several workshops about faith journaling, Artist Trading Cards, Scrapbooking, but what I like most is teaching about Creativity.

Can you tell us a little about your methods and techniques?

I use wall putty or gesso to create some texture in the background. Then I use acrylic paints, sponges, handcarved stamps, bottle caps, etc to make interesting backgrounds. I think if you have a wonderful background, then the art is more vibrant. Then I draw on the background and paint over it. I like the background to show through my faces, it makes it more complex.

What are your artistic highlights?

Every time someone wants to buy a painting I get thrilled! I’ve been commissioned several times too! A Congresswoman commissioned 3 paintings! That was a thrill because she had the paintings printed and gave it to other Congressmen.  I also came out on TV – I was painting a page on my journal! 

 

What artistic plans do you have for the coming year? 

I’m writing a book! It’s rather slow going though. It’s about the Gift of Creativity. I’ve written the main part and now I am developing the exercises. I also want to develop more workshops to share my joy in the creative process. My sister Peggy and I give workshops to friends now but eventually we will give workshops to others who are interested as well. Our friends are like our guinea pigs!!! :^)