Brokn Heart Art

Book Of Days-Is This Art?

2012-01-27T11:57:00.000-05:00

I do journal in my Book of Days

after making a page, I

usually just don't

post a pic, due to the

personal nature of my writing.

Here's two pics to prove it:

Some of it I blurred out.

I really had a hard time

finding a pen to write over

all the texture on the

fear flower page. I think I

ended up using a Pitt brush

marker. not quite sure.

I have been in bed now for

8 days with the flu/sinus infection. Before that

I had a twisted ankle and a

cast and a walking boot.

Because of the flu I have

been unable to do the

physical therapy required

for my ankle. I am a total mess.

I really do not like 2012

at all yet.

I go back to work Monday.

I guess I should get out

of bed today and walk

around and get my

endurance up.

I am so very

jealous of people with partners.

Good partners. The kind that

can keep the house going, the

tissues and toilet paper in

the house while you're down.

The second income coming in so

you won't lose the house.

Someone willing to sleep in the

spare room cuz your coughing

keeps them awake.

But checks in on you, before

they go to bed.

I may not have a partner,

but my darling daughter

has made several soup and tissue

runs. And she just texted

me from study hall asking

how I'm feeling.

So The Universe provides.
And I work everyday on
letting go of jealousy and coveting.

So, I've been playing

around with my blog. In bed.

God bless the lap top.

What do you think so far?

I couldn't change it back

if I tried. It took hours

and hours to get to this point.

Opinions?

Moving on to....

Effy's Book of Days.

Our prompt for this spread was

becoming comfortable where

your are in your skill level,

not comparing yourself to others,

embracing the need to just keep

making art, even if it's not

"good" even if it doesn't feel

"right" or "your style".

Just keep doing it. You have to

make a lot of art before your

style reveals itself to you.

This video by Ira Glass tells all:

I began with a partially gesso'd
out spread from my Book of Days,
which is an upcycled 2004
Art Journal Calendar from
Somerset Studios. I could
never throw it away due to the
gorgeous collages within, but
for this project I was able to
gesso through the book, leave some
elements that spoke to me and white out the others. It's been
really interesting how the images
I retained without any prior
knowledge about the upcoming
prompts have been so perfect
for the subjects that come up.
blah blah blah.
Time for pics, no??

I really liked the horoscope
circle thing this page had going
for it. My first thought about this page and combining it with the subject, is that I feel splintered like pieces of a pie,
when it comes to knowing what
my "style" is.
My wheels started turning.
I painted the gesso'd out rectangle with silver dab on paint.I was thinking of a mirror or reflection of my style symbolism....

Brayered on some color,
thought I would lay down a stencil
inside my pie shape...not really
sure where I was going....
I purchased this stencil a while ago. I assume every artist questions whether or not their work is "art".

I don't like how the flower stencil looks. I'm not feeling it or the silver paint.

I'm liking the spread below for the This is Art, This is not Art,
bits, but really nothing else appeals to me.

Since I've been living in bed
for the last four weeks, I have paper everywhere. A little less than two years ago I decided not to use anyone elses art in my art.
So I have lots of copies of my own
work that I use as collage
elements.
Oh, I do use copyright free vintage images, and images of vintage fine art...but I don't buy
collage sheets anymore.

So I see this pile and I think slices. They are all slices of my style as its evolved. I cut them up to make pie shapes and represent all the parts of me.
On the outside ring, I've written names of artists that inspire me,
or I've taken workshops with.

I do use junk mail in my art.
The lady's face was from a
house cleaning brochure.
Her red hair and green eyes match me as does her look of horror.
teehee.

The underlining is white-out
correction tape. I've journaled
about my feelings on style below.
and separated the days of the
week for future journalling
with a question mark stamp.
I am having a really hard time
writing over top all these layers.
So far no pen is "the one".

Here is my finished spread.

Thanks for looking.
And thank you to
The Sisterhood Of The Book
for giving me something to
look forward to.
In Bed.
xoS

Effys Book of Days-Mosaic Spread

2012-01-18T21:41:00.000-05:00

The cover of my Art Journal
is still almost blank.
I'm really surprised 

that the muse has not shown up

yet to tell me whats what.
She is a fickle one...
All in good time...

The next spread in 

Effy's Book of Days

Art Journal project is 

Mosaics!

At the start of this journal,

I spent a lot of time 

gessoing out artwork

I didn't think I would 

use as collage elements.

 I covered most of the

images in white gesso

but used transparent gesso 

for the images I was 

pretty sure I was gonna keep.

Below you can see

the next pages in the calendar.

Ironically, we've got a 

mosiac theme going!!

Coincidence? 

I think not.

This proves this calendar 

is meant to be the vehicle

for the project.

So I was going through the book

gessoing in advance

of the assignment and prompts.

When I saw this page I thought

ohhhhh, what a perfect

page for my 

1970's porn star inchies!!

Pic below.

Handy tip:

I got 2 boxes of this deli paper

for $20 bucks two years ago.

And I just opened the second box! 

I highly recommend leaving 

the paper in between your pages.

Even if you think they are dry.

They will still stick together.

Prevention is better than

um, fixing it???

Below you can see

I've added some drips

and some acrylic paint I've run

a texture rake through.

The green is my fav

green of all time

Goldens Green Gold.

By the time I lay down the color

I've seen Effy's video.

She journals about

feelings of rejection

and about not taking

it personally.

How people come and go

in our lives and the

importance of learning

to let them come and go

graciously, with love.

Oh, I'm not supposed

to grab his leg

and let him drag me across

the room as he's leaving?

stupid flashbacks.

teehee.

I only did that in my mind.

Thank God I'm on the path

to enlightenment

and I don't own

a hand gun.

Back to Art.....

I was so lucky

to attend

Misty Mawns

two day Portrait workshop

at Art and Soul retreat

in Virginia.

I had never drawn a face let alone

a portrait before,

but A and S

is a growing experience for me.

Hell, driving 7 hours in one day

alone is a lot of growth for me..

And pushing myself to grow

artistically in such

a safe and positive

atmosphere is heaven on earth.

It is unfortunate that the retreats

are no longer in my budget.

Even dogs know that I can't

afford it, thats how

obvious it is that

I can't afford it.

Feel me?

I knew that you could.

ok back on track....

I was so lucky that besides

sharing musical tastes

and getting the thrill of

turning Misty onto

The Wood Brothers,

she is an extremely

generous and patient teacher.

And oh so freakin talented.

If you look up in the corner of

my blog you see this

self portrait I did of myself

40 pounds ago.

teehee.

As I was pondering on what to journal,

I remembered this piece I did.

I love the poetry

of R.D. Laing,

so I incorporated his words into

my self portrait at the retreat.

I am frightened

not frightened

Powerful words, no?

I printed a copy of the original

and journaled on the back.

I wrote about my fear of death.

My fear of aging, getting sick,

and dying.

Of losing my "beauty".

Of becoming invisible.

Of walking next to my teenage

daughter in the mall and

the 50 year old guy

looks at her and not me.

Again, I am grateful I do not have

a hand gun.

teehee.

So I purged it all out,

and cut the print into strips,

then 1 inch blocks to cover

the exsisting inches

in the spread.

I said good by to all that

bad habit energy, and

glued the blocks down with

Goldens Heavy gel medium.

On the facing page

I glued down a flower

I've used billions of times

as a mask and stencil

ala Traci Bautista.

This one is actually

the one I used in her class.

Altho stamped with Fear,

its a symbol of the growth

I experienced at Art and Soul,

and the growth I am experiencing

on my path to Buddhism.

I put a little pic of the

original photo used to

represent wholeness.

and because I look hot.

teehee.

I did some journalling on the page,

and left room to add thoughts

about experiences that occur

that frighten me.

So that's the whole shebang so far.

I have a feeling that I will not feel

the "decoration" for the cover

of this journal until it is complete.

But thats ok.

Effy taught me that!

My next spread will be for a

week of days,

and then Mondays spread!

Which is about

Excepting Where You Are

In Your Artistic Journey!!

Amen, I'll take Acceptance

for 500 Alex!

Until next time!

xoS

BOD's Mindfulness Spread

2012-01-16T18:57:00.000-05:00

This is what 

art in bed looks like.

It's not pretty,

but it's necessary!!!

I tried to walk

without the boot today.

HELL NO!!
So, back to bed.... 

So below you see my supplies 

for Effy's Book of Days.
um, and some other 
supplies, as well.

Below, I am gesso'ing

out the elements in the

2004 Art Calendar

that I don't

"feel" for this journal page.

This spread took quite a while.

The subject here is

all about celebrating what

I am looking forward to

in the upcoming year.

Not resolutions!

too much presha!!

At this point,

I have the

tags journaled

and stamped,

but don't have a feel

for the big picture yet.

Here is where I blogged

about making the tags.

I have both white gesso

to block out images

and clear gesso to

protect and provide

tooth for the images

I do want to keep.

By tooth I mean

getting rid of the slickness

of the calendar page

so I can add layers of paint or ink

or GLITTER!!!!

and those layers will stick.

Below, the gesso has dried
and I'm adding
Adirondak Re-inkers
for color.
This is butterscotch, I think.
I used a paper towel to
lift off some of the ink
and that cool pattern was the result.
That's an Effy thing.
Like shabification.
I have a hard time
with shabification.
I love color.
But, it will happen....

I decided to keep the profile of
the face, the fish eyes
and the owl eyes.
Cuz, well eyes are what
I do for a living.
And seeing is part of
what is required for
wisdom and art.
Very important.
Below you see the full spread.
I used a paint texture tool
for the lines.
Added some Lettuce re-inker.
So my issue was that
some of the ink lifted when
I sealed it with
matte medium.
I suspected it might,
and Effy confirmed.
I let the first layer of medium dry
and added another to seal.
The second time there was
very little movement.
I was all worried about it
and then decided not to
add anymore wet layers.
Ironic, no?
teehee.

Next stop is adding a

flap with tape.

I ended up just folding

over a flap and using

heavy gel medium as a glue.

cuz, I didn't have any

masking tape in my bed!!!

teehee.

I used a little pan pastels

to color up

a stamped heart that is

I kid you not,

about 10 years old.

I don't own that stamp,

I was taking a class

from the creator of that

line of stamps,

sorry can't remember who,

and she was soooo

generous and let us use

tons of them!

I knew someday the perfect

use for that paper would

come up and it did.

I look forward to Art in 2012!

Hey, I cheated and used a color wheel.

Being untrained and what not,

I knew I wanted to add another

color and had no clue what

would work.

Voila, and thank you, color wheel!

Delicious Purple!!

Now the story of the

transparency pockets:

they are the left over from

banners I made for my bff's

bridal shower.

I will blog about that soon.

I punched holes and used brads

to add the pockets.

The transparencies were ran

through my ink-jet printer

and you can see some

sheet music on the edges

which I love.

Who doesn't look forward

to music?

I love that I was able to

"use what I have".

Big goal for me for 2012.

I used a sticker library card thingy

and covered it with paper.

It is actually my freezer

catch all paper that I put under my

paintings. The palette just matched

so I glued it on!

Slipped the tags in

and glued on the

Be Still stamped paper.

I can add more tags

under the pockets

and there is plenty

of room to journal!

I took the opportunity

to add a couple

sentences about

mindfulness and suffering

that are very important to me

on the outside

of the flap.

This piece of paper

is also from my stash,

circa Art and Soul 2007 or 8?

I took an INCREDIBLE class

given by Albie Smith

on paste paper making.

OMG.

It was HEAVEN.

teehee, you're welcome.

There is a pic of me and Albie

on my sidebar.

We are holding the 2 books we

made in class.

I think it was a two day class.

But I don't remember

and am too booted up to check.

I have very few pieces left of

my special paper, but I love the

purple and bronzy colors.

It was meant to be.

So, that's my

second spread in my

Book of Days!

Thanks for looking!

xoS

Effy's Book Of Days: Letters to 2011/2012

2012-01-12T23:16:00.000-05:00

In Effy's Book of Days,

we have a spread that

incorporates a letter we write
to the year 2011.

I think this is such an amazing idea.

We also incorporate a pocket

for a letter to 2012.

We don't touch that until,

um, 2012.

This spread is the very first

in my upcycled journal.

I begin by using my favorite

color, Golden's Cobalt Teal.

I think Heaven is an Urban Outfitters

and the walls are all this color.

oh, and the clothes all fit...

teehee, seriously,

What I really think is that

Heaven is Now.
OM.
Back to Art.

Now my favorite color combo

on the planet

is teal and red.

But I wanted to say

good bye to 2011

and greet 2012

in a less vibrant fashion.

So, I went with teal and pink.

A pretty, gentle, and compassionate

meet and greet.

teehee.


In the pic below I am playing around with the layouts.I have had that PAPAYA! sticker for years! who knew the importance a lotus flower would come to have for me years later. On the side is some vintage wallpaper I was lucky enough to score in a trade with another Art and Soul attendee.Also there are some assorted scrap booking elements left over from those days too. And the pic of the thread spools is from an old Coach catalog, believe it or not. Back in the day I cared about stuff like that. That's ok. I got my first Coach bag when I passed my State Boards, I was 26. Some of Sam's school mates had them in second grade, but I am coming dangerously close to my what is happening to the world we live in diatribe...back to art!!!

So I'm almost ready for the glue.

For my letters I am repurposing

a thank you note from my sister, Linda.
I'm just going to write my letter
in between her writing.
very cool.
Since she wrote
in orange pen,
I may just write
on top of her letters in black.
So I get to keep a little of her, too.
very, very cool.

I always loved
the henna tattoo/paisleyish
pattern on the notecard

and had grandiose dreams of

tracing it and cutting it

into a rubber stamp.

HAHAHAHA.

I will scan it though.

Just in case...

I have the years stamped

with one of those

office date things.

and some stenciling

through some cool

punchinella,

or sequin waste.

I also used some

PAPAYA! tissue

and twinkling H2O's.

Do Not Hate Me

for getting you hooked.

I am an Art Supply Enabler.

Below is a pic of spread

without the letters in the pockets.

There are some stickers used

and a clear envelope

from when Sam was a baby

and I was scrap booking every fart.

She's almost 18.

Therefore,

my "use what I have" year.

Long Overdue.

Below more

gratuitous closeups.

Cuz I'm a closeup whore.

And there you have it,

my first ever

Art Journal spread.

and it was constructed

mostly in bed

with foot elevated.

So, my word is

Mindfulness.

I hope I can live up to it.

Thanks for looking!

xoS
PS I have no idea why
that column of text is way over to
the side, and I'm way too tired
to fix it. Let's just all pretend
I meant to do it that way.
Thank. You.

Upcycling a 2004 Art Journal

2012-01-11T23:04:00.000-05:00

I've joined an online

Art journal group,

Effy's Book Of Days.

It's completely free and

chockfull of cool techniques

and lots of glitter flinging by the

workshop leader,

Effy Wild from

Wild Precious Life.

There is also a

supportive and generous

face book group

to participate with.

I've met many

very talented women

and am having a great time.

For my Book of Days

I am recycling a

Somerset Studio

Art Journal Calendar from 2004.

Below are pics of the

front and back cover.

Above,

I've taped up the inside pages

to protect them from paint.

I gesso'd the hell out of

both covers.

Added some kind of thin fabricy

stuff that a Christmas present was

wrapped in a few years ago.

Yup. I save everything.

On top of the fabricy stuff

I used gesso with a palette knife

to create texture.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do

with it,
I may try to make it look leathery

or like the surface of an old stone building.

From the cover of the

original calendar

I only kept the word

"TODAY"

which I covered with
Dimensional gel

and now has a cool

raised effect highlighting it.

Part of our practice in this

journal is to pick

a word for the Year.

I've been struggling mightyly

with choosing the right word.

I have been thinking

for months about my

focus for the upcoming year

and I keep coming back to

"use what I have"

and that phrase does not

boil down to one word.

DAMN IT.

So, like all things,

I'm learning that the word

Mindfulness

pretty much covers

everything.

If I am practicing mindfulness

I am using what I have!!

I probably have thousands

of rubber stamps

but I really

don't use them anymore.

I came to a realization a

year or two ago that

I really don't want to use

anyone else's art in my work.

Sooner or later I will start

organizing them and selling

them on etsy or ebay.

These 4 stamps are among

my favorites.

"Be Still" is "still"

one of my favorites.

On these tags I journalled

about the things

I am looking forward to in 2012.

On the back of Be Still

I journalled about learning

more about Buddhism and

practicing Mindfulness.

On the Frida tag

I journaled about looking

forward to making strong friendships

with women who create.

On the dragonfly tag I journaled

about the upcoming Milestones

I am looking forward to this year

taking place in Sam's life.

Prom, choosing a college,

senior trip, and the continuation

of her independence.

And on the Venus tag,

I journaled about

"using what I have".

Pan Pastels

add the color to the tags.

I originally embellished a

baseball pocket page

with alcohol inks intending

to attach the page into the journal

to hold the tags.

You will see that idea

never made it into my

Book of Days.

After I got a start on the book

the feel of the plastic

is not organic enough with

the pages I have so far.

My next post will show

pics of the progress I've made

on the first few spreads.

I deviated somewhat

from the instructions

but Effy encourages

and nurtures our individuality

in a funny, wise,and

completely stress free

environment.

Good times!!

Now tell me,

how have you started

this new year?

Have you picked a word

to support your endeavors

in personal

and creative growth?

Or do you play it by ear?

Spill it, sisters.

xoS

Happy New Year and Bring on the DMARDS

2011-12-31T01:04:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

Sam and I spent Christmas day

at my brother's house.

Isn't it adorable??

My brother is the Santa in overalls.

My nephew in red shirt, my dad is the guy in khakis, and my nephews in law on the right.

A great group of men!

As you can tell Christmas is a

HILARIOUS day full of one upping

in the humor and drinking department.

LOL.

My brother and his wife cook up amazing

turkey in a loving atmosphere.

It is the best place to be for Christmas.

Here is Sam on Christmas at our house:

The first pic is the

MOM.

Are you going to take a pic

EVERY time

I open something?

Sam knows my humor!!

This may be next years card.

I didn't make any this year.

You'll see why later.

And no.

It's not because

I won the lottery

or met the man o my dreams...

disclaimer: I actually did.

Meet the man of my dreams.

Buddha.

Sam has an obsession with Biggie Smalls.

It borders on me planning an intervention.

She also NEVER swears.

Which I find IRONIC.

Wait.

One time when she was 3

I heard her say

Shit.

She was in her room

and was angry about something.

I heard her through the wall.

It was shocking.

Yet, hilarious.

My facebook post explains it:

I am GRATEFUL to The Universe that I have an amazing daughter who will be my legs, and an incredible podiatrist and rhuematologist who look after me. I have been in serious denial about my RA. Today I saw the facts in an x-ray. Maybe if I had been following an RA regimen: meds, anti-inflamms, stretching, gentle walking, and an anti inflammation diet, a twisted ankle on a stairway in the dark wouldn't be so serious. Instead I've been getting stiffer, older and weightier, and may start the new year with surgery to repair possible torn ligaments. Can you see where I'm going?? Getting a grip on this RA shizz is my New Years rez.

its not all bad.

Luckily I signed up for

suzi blu's workshop

and printed all the pdfs.

So yea.

I'm properly entertained.

Just not properly washed.

but that's another story

with a TMI ending.

Oh. And. This is big.

My beloved friend Teri

washed my hair for me.

and cut it all off.

YUP

I am not worrying about

what is sexy anymore.

I'm too mature to be

hot rollering.

So that pic above of me and Sam

on Christmas is my

swan song to long locks.

I'm not posting a pic yet.

Not until I am more mobile,

washed, and moisturized.

I'm not focusing on catching a

man's attention anymore

but I want to be proud

of the pic I share.

Feel me?

New Years Eve Elevation:

My sis came over with lasagna

and champagne.

My beloved godson

and his charming girl

joined us.

We watched Johnny Depp

and Angelina Jolie

in The Tourist.

Which a few minutes into,

I realized I had seen the original

foreign film, "Anthony Zimmer".

They are wonderful movies, both.

The Venice scenery and Jolie's wardrobe

are tre magnifi!!!

So there you have it.

I wish all my

inspirational, talented and generous

art friends

THe Happiest and Healthiest

of New Years.

Thanks for visiting.

Thanks for listening.

Thanks for commenting.

Thanks for sharing

your amazing talent.

xoS

On the First day of Christmas my Muse gave to me: ZOMBIES

2011-12-13T17:14:00.000-05:00

It started out so innocently.

I was simply practicing sketching.

I couldn't get the eyes right.

Par for the course for me.

So I kept erasing them.

I showed my daughter

what I had done so far.

She said "I love it,

don't change a thing, it's done".

First I thought she was nuts.

Then I thought, yeah, I like this.

Creepy. Different.

So many variations to be had.

My muse brought me Zombie Katie Holmes.

IMO she is a talentless Zombie.

Feel free to disprove my thinking.

Ok, that's not very compassionate of me.

I get a bad karma pass cuz

I'm a beginner Buddhist.

Not sure how long I can milk that one.

teehee.

Xanax Zombie

Robot Zombie

Shit, I hope my inspiration for

the Zombie above

isn't autobiographical.....

oh who the hell am I fooling...

Self realizations are good.

I'm in a very good place now.

Alone and Single can be good.

Along with Kathy Lung and

Thich Nhat Hanh,

(both whom I LOVE dearly

and credit with my

ongoing transformation

of a life containing

wisdom and happiness,

yeah, it's a big deal)

I'm working on

recognizing my "habit energy"

and stopping it

before it turns me into a:

Zombie for Obsessive Love

or a

Zombie for an Unworthy Schmuck's Attention

or a

Zombie for Chocolate

or a

Bride's Maid Zombie...

hehehe

That last one was for my

BFF, Grace who is getting

married very soon.

Thank you so much for visiting

and commenting.

Tell me what makes you a Zombie.

And how do you counteract it?

Besides Art of course.

xoS