Improvisation Station-21 Secrets

This page was inspired by Natasha Reilly in her workshop "Improvisation Station" in the 21 Secrets playground, and it was so much fun that I actually started and finished it in a little while. This is a class in improvisation and intuition. I love these processes of intuitive art! I learned a lot about myself in the process, the most important being that I am much more than I think I am, and that's a biggie!

Since I have my work room dismantled and piled up and I can't get to my brushes and stuff, I used what I COULD reach and my fingers. I hate for anything to be on my hands, so this was a biggie for me to apply gel medium and fluid acrylics with my fingers. :)

The large background piece is and 8 1/2 x 11 1/2" sheet of cardstock that I wrote a stream of consciousness prayer on with pencil. I filled the whole sheet. Then I took another sheet and wrote who I am, and who I really am on it.

I glued half the sheet to the middle of the large sheet, over the writing. I swirled paint (what I could reach) in 3-4 colors on over the whole thing, and I must admit that playing in the paint with my fingers felt awesome...until it dryed. :/

The page looked kind of stormy to me, and I thought of the story about the little bird singing in the midst of the storm. My two randomly drawn theme words were "exceptional" and "smile", and for some reason, the words seemed to fit, and because my mind just works like that. :o I took my pencil and sketched what was supposed to be a wren, because they are my favorite little birds, so tiny and, yet, so brave and fiesty. I also sketched in an umbrella and some rocks, then filled in the drawn shapes with torn papers and gel medium. Again, using my fingers I applied fluid acrylics over them. Details were added with shish-ka-bob wooden stick point, gelly roll pens, and inktense water color pencils. The words were written in white gelly roll pen.

I almost forgot! I did use my new favorite tool; my new pointed waterbrush pen, which holds its own water, or ink, etc. I don't know why I hadn't tried this pen way before now. It's awesome with watercolor and inktense pencils. I'm anxious to try it with ink. I also want a flat brush one. I LOVE it!

The wren was going to look like a wren, but it insisted on being white, so it turned out to be an albino wren, but that's okay. He's beautiful, at least I think so. I meant to let more writing show through, but it didn't turn out that way, and the umbrella is a little wonky with too blue shadows and uneven polka dots, but that's okay too. I like wonky, and I learned some valuable lessons from Natasha. That's the important thing!

I also have a self portrait workshop and a 3 little words workshop in progress, which are almost finished. I only have 4 workshops left that I have not started projects in, and I have not taken one yet that I didn't enjoy tremendously and that didn't teach me new things about myself and my art!

If you're interested in learning what she and twenty other amazing teachers have to offer, the 21 Secrets playground has been extended to the end of the year, and many of the teachers are going to be adding new techniques and video how-tos to their classrooms as we go along. Just click on the button on my sidebar for details.

On top of that, and this has nothing to do with 21 Secrets, I learned about making prayer cloths yesterday from Jane Lafazio on her blog  "Janeville." She is taking part in a bigger project and is making one a day for so many days. Hers are just gorgeous, and I can't wait to try one!

Now I know why I spent so much time when I was growing up learning sewing, embroidery, crochet, crepe paper flowers, coloring and trying to draw and write, among many other hobbies I learned from Mama, Daddy, my grannies, and my aunts. They have all come together now in my Senior years to combine and be useful in mixed media projects!  I am so thankful to have had such a rich heritage from so many wonderful influences in my life. They loved doing these things and took the time and patience to pass them on to a little girl wanting to learn, and when I do them I lovingly think of the ones who taught me how.

Beautiful You, Radiant You-21 Secrets

Okay, this is a combo mandala dream board page in my Moleskine watercolor book (the big one). I learned how to make it, after I did the inner work, and was inspired by Ingrid Murray in her workshop Beautiful You, Radiant You. I learned about all sorts of techniques from her, then just let myself play. To start with, I wrote down things I wanted in pencil around the center. That, over the background, painted with acrylic inks, is as far as I got for several days. I just couldn't figure out how I wanted to proceed and with what, so I kept it in mind while I worked on another project.

Then the other day we got a Real Simple magazine in the mail, and there they were! All these wonderful images and words that seemed to jump out to me, just begging to be in my journal. So I happily started tearing, cutting, and gluing. All of the images are from this months issue, except the watch and the words "find your essence," which came out of an old Marie Claire magazine.

I know we're not supposed to use the magazine images just like they are, because of copyright issues, but I just couldn't bear to change or cover them. I'm not going to sell the page or anything. It's for a class project and my own personal use, so maybe it will be ok.

I am now a Senior Citizen, so the young girl boldly striding across the page carrying grapes represents a huge reminder about health, exercise, and eating right. The terrarium and birds represent my love of nature, and I can not imagine my life without animals in it. The two older ladies and the music signify that I want more art, music, and dancing in my life. The cross drawn on the watch top is my faith, and the watch is a reminder that my time on this earth is swiftly running out, and I need to make the most of every moment I have left. Friends and family are included in the writing.

I forgot a place to hide secrets, and I know I could have meshed the images together better, but I like it so much, just the way it is, that I can't bear to cover anything up. I like the openess, yet the connectiveness of the images, so I'm leaving it as is. Following my heart on this one! I will probably add some writing among the images later on, but for now it is what it is, and I hope I don't get into trouble for sharing the images with you.

I have left spaces on all the pages I've shared to go back and write personal things later. For now, I'm learning and enjoying the process of creating the pages. I eventually want to start printing off my own photos and using them in my journals instead of borrowing magazine images, or maybe combine the two?

Keep creating!