Embarrassed

                                                                  Daydreaming
                                                                   

Sometimes I feel embarrassed when I look at something I made.
It looks so simple and yet I like it.
I feel as if someone is about to tell me: 'Is that all? You really think that is good enough?'

Art journal every day

Yesterday I created this postcard. It's a size I haven't used for a while. I used left over bits of paper because I really needed to clean out the tray on my desk! Last week I cleaned and reorganized the rest of my desk. It looked wonderful - until I sat down and started working......

I sent the postcard to Jane Davies. She is trying to increase the volume of mail that comes through her little post office in Vermont, now the postal service will review their activity.
Here you can read more: http://janedavies-collagejourneys.blogspot.nl/2013/01/the-post-office.html


The post office in my hometown was closed years ago, I still miss it...

Spotted Photo Theme

I have joined iHanna's spotted photo theme.

This month's theme: A favorite critter friend.

I like the idea of looking through photo's I already have and look for themes. These are some of my favorite garden visitors:

Taken with my little old Canon Powershot.
For more of my pictures see my photo's tab above.

Capi - raw sketches

"CAPI : Create Art Portfolio Ideas - Developing & Documenting - a Multimedia Approach to Exploring Themes in Search of a Personal Artistic Style”

I've mentioned I have joined CAPI in a previous post. It's a year long course by Milliande and I have now finished some of the first assignments.

My favorite assignment was a free form association exercise.

If you want to check it out here are the links:

http://www.milliande.com/capi-raw-sketchbook-assignment-1-free-form-association.html

http://www.milliande.com/capi-raw-sketchbook-assignment-2-form-investigation.html

http://www.milliande.com/capi-raw-sketchbook-assignment-3-form-composition.html

I found it hard to just sketch and doodle without thinking about the end result. I need more practice on playing and exploring shapes and sketches.

I couldn't resist making stamps out of foam sheets using some of my shapes  as you can see here:

I wish I found out about this exercise years ago!

In my art journal this week

A poem:

high time                                                          concerned

restless                                                              feeling

a daughter
of the old woman
waiting

the uncertainty                                                  to control

how foolish                                                       in vain

Free courses

Waiting at the dentist's this week I read an article about Coursera.
They offer high quality courses from top universities, for free to everyone.

From the website: "you will watch lectures taught by world-class professors, learn at your own pace, test your knowledge, and reinforce concepts through interactive exercises. When you join one of our classes, you'll also join a global community of thousands of students learning alongside you."

There is so much choice. So far these I found most interesting:

Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society
Social Psychology
A Brief History of Humankind
Modern European Mysticism and Psychological Thought

But time....
I hope I will be able to just take one course...Probably Social Psychology.

Anyway if you want to check it out here is the link: Coursera

Art Journal

I like using dark backgrounds for art journal pages. It's a quick way to create depth.

 Tormenting questions

I used a dark page from a glossy magazine , put something with texture underneath and rubbed with nail polish remover ( acetone).

My favorite texture? Shoes!
Just look underneath your shoes, boots and flip flops...
I first saw this technique in this video by  Katie Kendrick.

This is the background I finished yesterday:

I don't know what I am going to do with it, but this year I promised myself I don't have to finish pages!