Enchanted Nature

Landscape

Work in progress. But I feel like it's right at the point where I want to scrap the whole thing.

Colored in

I have been back into sketching. Perhaps it is the attraction of the new sketchbooks waiting for me. Perhaps it is the thought that I will take a picture of it and post it here. In any case, I love the feeling of a sketchbook filling and the pages taking shape.

A half hour investment in sanity

I sat down to finish a sketch I had started last week. It felt good to zone out on color and shape. I can feel the crative juices flowing again.

August break day 2

The studio is nearly ready to let my creative juices flow. The projects that are underway are currently all art journaling ones. Stay tuned for finished pages.

Art Journal or Nature Journal

I don't only sketch in Nature.  I also do some Art journaling.  I sketch things unrelated to Nature like my shoes, I doodle or write about my life.  Generally I don't mind people reading this part of my journal.  If it is negative and about others I leave it out since there is enough that is negative or a challenge in my life without letting more of it out in the open.  I know that for some it can be cathartic to write the negativity out and to discover where it is coming from.  Certainly this is sometimes true for me too but I just do this on loose leaf paper and get rid of it.  I have journals full of cathartic writing like this from my graduate school days and I don't even get what it is about anymore.  It was valuable in the moment, and there is probably some history in there but I don't want to dig through and find it.

This creates a dilemma. A part of me wants to have just one journal.  The journal for everything -lists I don't want to forget, Art journaling, and Nature journaling.  I have tried having 2 different journals and I tend to have the wrong journal with me.  Then I forgo drawing at all which is not a good solution. 

So why not intermingle everything? I am not really opposed to that, but it is hard to tell 60 first, second and third graders that their sketchbook is just for Nature drawing while I have everything in mine.  I believe in leading by example.  The example I wish to set is that I draw all the time, I carry my book with me all the time, and I am ready to witness Nature anytime.  So I love the kids to ask me to see my journal.  It opens conversations about what I have seen, what is interesting, and how I have gotten to be "such a good drawer".  I don't want to discuss why "frustration" was a feeling I listed on an Art journaling page. 

So my solution for now is to use a sleeve with two signatures in it.  One for Nature and one for Art journaling.  Then I will bind these together after I have filled a bunch of signatures.  When the kids ask to see the journal we go right to the Nature journal.  Now I just have to make sure that the requirements I have for them in their journals is reflected in mine. 

Retraining my Muse

Our house is under construction.  Of course in rebuilding, first something must be destroyed.  This feels like the phase we are in.  Destruction.

Meanwhile my days are taken up by moving belongings and furniture, deciding on counter tops and tile, looking for my keys and keeping the girls out from under the workmen.  None of this feels very creative to me.  It certainly does not appeal to my artistic process.  That muse likes to fill in gaps in the composition i a fluid, nonlinear way.  She holds the opn space free in her mind till the perfect thing fills it.  Now I have to build my vision in a a linear way.  First the cabinets, then the floor, finally the counter top.  Make sure to choose a sink that will fit.  Who knew there were so many choices of sinks to put your dirty stuff in?  

My muse does not like having her taste for bright blue or green rejected in favor of conventional tastefulness.  My muse thinks 4 colors in a space is just fine and is quietly rebelling by planning out a midcentury decorative painting job on the walls and finding accessories in matching bright colors.

Meanwhile the liveable spaces int he house are crammed full of stuff.  Stuff that used to be in the garage or the kitchen or the living space.  Stuff rearranged so we can use it.  The contents of the "counter top of doom", the space where everything that is traveling from one space in the house to another gets dumped, has landed everywhere else and clutters every surface.

Little time seems to be left for restoring my Muse, for letting her play int eh way she likes to play with colors and shapes, finding interesting things to draw along my day, filling outlines with paint that has a will of its own.  A quick zentangle now and then, and a steady diet of eye candy from other blogs and magazines, keep her from leaving permanently.  Soon, very soon, I must find myself outside...

Looking for the potential in this humble jumble of stuff.

The holiday break

Today the girls went back to school and the house is very quiet.  But the day started with the hectic school routine of making sure everyone is up, lunches are made and everyone gets out the door with what they need.  Then the quiet descended over the house and Itook some time to reflect over the last two weeks.

I did not feel like sketching much during that time.  We went for a walk in the local park and did some exploring and I did do some sketches then but I never colored them in.  I let my sketchbook sit in my purse and did not pull it out.  Perhaps it was because it is a new book and I have trouble getting started in new books.  Perhaps it was because I did not have time with the holidays.  Perhaps I was just not in the mood.

I think the actual reason is a combination of my mood and the new book.  I did not want to feel like I had to sketch because it is what I do.  I wanted to read Harry Potter and knit my Christmas gifts and create Zentangles.  I wanted to flow with my moods and live in the haze of the school break.  The only problem with this was that I forgot to pay attention to the laundry so I did have a marathon laundry session which resulted in having to fold a large pile of laundry one evening.

I received a zentangle kit for Christmas and I have been enjoying the tiny bits of creativity I can accomplish in a small moment of quiet.  Don't misunderstand me, I do not need quiet for drawing in my sketchbook.  Frequently I can do this while I am busy with the regular day to day things by putting my book on the "countertop of doom" with my paints and I work in bits and pieces.  I involve the girls in my sketching work and they are completely used to the patience they need for me to stop and draw.  They have their own sketchbooks and sometimes they can use a page in mine to draw something if they forgot theirs.  I would say that N prefers to use the time to play in Nature and explore while J will sometimes prefer to draw.

But now I am again ready to get started on the new year.  I feel my creativity has been rejuventated by concentrating on other forms of it for a couple of weeks and not feeling bad or guilty about it.  I was able to spend a few moments thinking of what I want to accomplish this year.  For the month of January I will be focusing on Nature Drawing and working through Cathy Johnsons book "the Sierra Club Guide to Sketching in Nature" so I will be sharing the work I am doing for that here in the coming month.

For now, here is a Zentangle