A Rose is a Rose...

The picture does not do justice to how well this came out! One of my favorite journal pages from Orly Avineri's Art Journaling Lab. It was one of those classes that was a long process and I loved every single step. I knew from the start it was going to be a magical page. I love the vintage timeworn look it has. Yes, it is wrinkly, I have wrinkles too... I earned them. After we were finished I was sooo nervous about doing lettering and harming how beautifully it came out. The quote from Dale Carnagie says "One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden instead of enjoying the roses outside our window today."

As always click on any image for a larger view.

Left side.

I had a landscaping business for several years. I love climbing roses. I tend to love things that climb and cover, clambor over things. I love how after only a few years they look as if they have been there for ever. My wisteria & clematis are just about to bloom in my back yard. I love plants that are tucked in and you have to walk around and really look at. They are my little treasures. I will take a few pictures and post of my back yard soon. I love my backyard, it is completely enclosed and is like my own secret garden and sanctuary. I love my yard so.

Right side.

How does your garden grow?

Orly's House of Blues & Art Journaling:Shelf Life

Today at Orly's Art Journaling Lab we hand played some blues music and doodled and drew some still lifes. Who knew listening to the blues could be inspiration for art journaling? I was very inspired and had a lot of fun. Have a great weekend! I am going back to my art journal to continue doodling and drawing... click on any image for a larger view.

Close-up of the left side.

Close-up right side.

How Many Hats Do You Wear?

How many hats have do you wear? This spread for Orly Avineri's Art Journaling Lab about exploring the hats many we wear. Click on any image for a larger view.

Here is a close-up of the left side, my Public Social Interactive Hat.

This side is about two other hats I wear:

Top:My Natural Hat - the gardener, artist.

Bottom: The Warriror Hat - sometimes I feel like a warrior.

How many hats do you wear?

Comments

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My Roots...

My pages for Orly Avineri's Art Journaling Lab, she's changed the name of her weekly art journaling group because it really is more like a lab than a class. I love the new name. This last weeks class was about "Roots". I would have used more photos of family pictures but my printer ran out of ink and I did not have time before class to head out to Staples. At any rate I digress. This has me thinking about different kinds of roots. The roots of behaviors, behaviors we can change, and those that run deep. the roots of life. The roots of fun. The roots of creativity. The roots of excess. The roots of style or taste.

I showed my art journal to my friend Stormy this past week and she said I "defiantly have a style" and my "art tends to be a bit dark." I thought it was amusing and interesting. I've never really thought much about my art journal having a style. What are your "roots"?

Click on any photo for a larger view.

The right side with my ink "roots" of my tree of life. The "trunk" of my tree is made from vintage papers, collage papers, and scrapbook papers, found vintage photos this page courtesy of Orly.

Right hand side. The photo with the pumpkins is yes of me...

My Page for the Create & Pass Journal Group

My Page for the Create & Pass Journal Group
Originally uploaded by bkasstle

This is my journal page for the Create & Pass Journal Project, Journal #2, on Gary Reef's Art from the Heart on NING.com. I feel really honored to be a part of this project. This journal is very special it started in Europe, was lost for a while and is now back in circulation. Eventually all the journals will be published. Have a great weekend!

Just a Glimps...

of one of my pages for The Traveling Corpse Project...

The reveal soon...

Seeing Things in Black & White

A black & white page spread for Orly Avineri’s Art Journaling class in my XL Moleskine journal. Using vintage images, vintage fonts, vintage advertising, decorative tape, white gel pens, Sharpie poster paint pens, acrylic paint. This spread took on a life of it’s own and was very difficult to know when to stop. With Orly’s help I flushed out the face on the left hand side. I liked that the peice was very collaborative and there was a lot of talking over it as it evolved. It also started out with a smaller picture of the man with the beard or I call him M.W.B. The spread contains a secret page can you guess where? The answer is farther down in this post. Blogger is not working to view a larger size. Click on the images on the left hand side under Flickr to view my pages in Flickr and you can see larger sizes there.

It was really fun to work only in black and white and shades of grey. I am not really a black or white thinker… I’ve always been about the shades of grey. How about you?

The left side of my black and white spread for Orly Avineri's Art Journaling group in my XL Moleskine Journal do you see a face?

The right side of my black and white spread. I love the M.W.B. I brought a couple of sizes to the group, Orly liked the larger size and used in her spread for the evening and I used a smaller one, you can see part of Orly's spread here. Can you guess where the secret page is?

Tada, the secret page...

A close-up of M.W.B. This page folds out to reveal more and a secret mini journaling page tucked in. The photo courtesy of ookami_dou on flickr.

My secret journaling page. Enjoy!

Rain, rain, go away...

"Mercy for Haiti"

"Mercy for Haiti" started out very Teesha Moore"ish" and I added the photo of Haiti photo on the right side, from the Los Angles Times newpaper Sunday. The image of our lady of guadalupe is a packing tape image transfer(image from Flickr). Click on any photo for a

close-up.

"Frame of Perspective"

"Frame of Perspective" was done in Orly Avineri's Art Journaling Class this week. We did an interesting crackle finish for the background. I will definatly be doing it again.

Close-up right "Frame of Perspective"

Close-up left "Frame of Perspective"

These are close-ups of the images I chose for our frame of perspective.

January 2010 Calendar

The January 2010 Calendar is for part of a calendar challenge on "the kathryne wheel" blog. I am not sure if I will be continuing the calendar for the rest of the year but it was a lot of fun to do. I used some favorite papers and some hand-made paper we did in a class with Orly Avineri's Art Journal group.

It is currently pouring down rain in Southern California. I born and raised in Montana, and they certainly have some severe weather up there. I have been in southern California since 1984 and am very climatized to the warm weather we enjoy here. I sort of chuckle every time it rains in southern California we have "Storm Watch (fill in year)" on EVERY news channel. We are currently getting a lot of rain here. There is actually flooding in areas of Long Beach, the ground cannot absorb the moisture fast enough. We are actually getting flooding in our area here. I will be home on "Storm Watch" tonight.

The Traveling Corpse Project...

This is a photo of the front side of my page for "The Traveling Corpse Project"

Now I couldn't possibly show you the actual photo now could I? What would be the fun in that?

Check out the The Traveling Corpse Blog for future posts... What do you think it is???

What?

What?
Originally uploaded by bkasstle

What... a prompt from "A Year in the Life of an Art Journal"

What keeps you from creating art or journaling?

A Model Sanitarium...

A Model Sanitarium

"Sometimes I think I need to have my head examined"

"Hands down"

Here are some photos of my explorations in my XL Moleskine journal. No prompts, just what comes to mind when I am left to my own devices and just let go...

Enjoy... please click on any pic for a larger view. Have a creative weekend & get out and make some art. I spent a couple hours enjoying some 74 degree weather here in Long Beach, CA.

49... Human Interaction...

49... Human Interaction...
Originally uploaded by bkasstle

This my musings on aging. Being in the "happiest place on earth" and feeling isolated and lonely, this one does not feel finished to me I may change it or add more...click on any photo for a larger view. Have a great day.

Let Us Love Winter...

Let Us Love Winter...
Originally uploaded by bkasstle

Journaling for the Quote "Let Us Love Winter...For it is Spring of Genius" from Orly Avineri's Art Journaling Class, the last class of 2009. Click on any photo for a larger view.

Growth...

Growth...
Originally uploaded by bkasstle

From Orly Avineri's Art Journaling Class, regarding personal growth within the last year of 2009.