Starting Over Studio

Hello! Hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving, with plenty of time dedicated to family, friends, and hopefully, your artistic pursuits!

I just realized it’s been almost a month since my last post. As you might recall, I had very good intentions of posting more regularly, at least on a weekly basis, but again, I’m finding that when life and work interfere, it’s very hard for me to cobble together enough time. I think that posting 2-3 times per month, at least for the time being, is a more modest, realistic expectation for me at this juncture. Hopefully now that the weather here in Wisconsin is finally getting colder and I’m forced to spend more time indoors, I will be able to carve out more time.

Today I’m sharing the last of my journal pages that appear in my friend Kim Rae Nugent’s recently published book, Journal Starters: Nature Backgrounds, Textures, & Collaborations, which is now available for purchase on Amazon.com. Entitled “Blurry Vision,” this page was created earlier this year and sums up much of the confusion I’ve been feeling the past few years when it comes to my life’s work.

I’ve always had a challenging relationship with my current profession. Like many who spend their daily lives serving others, I’ve struggled with burnout, and as an artist, I’ve often felt the calling to create for a living. Almost four years ago, I enrolled in night school in pursuit of an Associate’s degree in graphic design, and finally received my diploma in August 2015. At the time I was strongly considering leaving my job and making the transition into the field of design, and also wanted to continue my schooling in order to earn a Bachelor’s degree; however, financial limitations and pressures made it impossible for me to make the break, and I ended up staying where I was.

While at the moment I feel more fulfillment and satisfaction in my career than I have in a long time, I still feel confused at times about my vocation, and continue to find myself pondering what it is that I’m truly “meant” to do. Sometimes I feel jealous of individuals who are certain that they’re in the right place, simply because I don’t possess that kind of certainty. I guess all I can do is keep listening to my heart, and praying for guidance. I need to keep my eyes open and look for signs that I’m in the right place and that I should keep following my present path–or signs that it’s time to move on. I guess these signs will appear in their own good time, and I just need to be patient.

In the meantime, I will keep creating–if not for my livelihood, for my peace of mind and my heart.

Thanks for listening–and have a great week!

Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone’s having a great week!

Here is another journal page which appears in Kim Rae Nugent’s newest book, Journal Starters: Nature Backgrounds, Textures, & Collaborations, which is now available on Amazon.com. It’s called, “Looking for My Quiet Place.”

The inspiration for this page was a photograph of an old wooden bridge crossing over a meandering stream that was featured in Kim’s book. It reminded me instantly of places I liked to go as a child and still enjoy visiting as an adult–calm, quiet settings in nature where one can be alone and get in touch with their thoughts and feelings. Too often in life I feel as though I’m stuck in crowded, chaotic, and cacophonous places where I can’t even hear the self-dialogue in my head, much less respect what it’s trying to tell me–and it’s these kinds of places that give me the space and silence to do that.

My studio is definitely a quiet place where I can slow down and focus solely on me. Art-making provides me with a method of getting in touch with myself again. In the coming weeks ahead, as I return to work after a really restful and relaxing time away, I know that I will need to be intentional about providing myself with a “quiet place” on a regular basis, as it’s all too easy at times to push it off to the wayside when there are so many things on my daily to-do lists.

This page was created with vintage book pages, Washi tape, stencils, spray inks, stamps, pigment inks, a date tab, text typed on a vintage typewriter, and part of a photograph from the book.

Hope you are all able to find–and enjoy–your “quiet place” today! 🙂

Good morning, everyone!

Today I will be sharing another journal page that is featured in Kim Rae Nugent’s newest book, Journal Starters: Nature Backgrounds, Textures, & Collaborations. It’s called, “How to Succeed,” and is basically a reminder to me of the positive values I must continue to cultivate as I travel along and grow in my journey as an artist. This page is unique, because generally I don’t like to include my own lettering in my journals; instead, I prefer to rely upon stickers, stamps, and stencils. The lettering contained in the flower’s petals is my own, and I think it’s kind of cool, even if it isn’t 100% perfect! 😉

This page was created with collaged vintage book pages, gesso, Washi tape, spray inks, stencils, pigment ink, stamps, rub-ons, pens, a vintage Dymo label maker, and an image of a flower that was trimmed from Kim’s book.

Kim’s book can be purchased now at Amazon.com.

Have a wonderful week!