Tracking the moon + a look into my new moon art journal

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tracking moon phases, cyclical time, moon baby

I’ve been tracking moon phases since a few years now – new moon to full moon to new again. Initially, it was simply a way to make sure I got at least one art journal spread completed every month, especially in the hot, often humid summer months. Then I started adding in moon lore – looking at the astrological sign where the moon is and what its energetics are.

Slowly, I started looking at the moon phases as cycles of time, which gave rise to a fascinating question:

What if time was not a linear progression, as we've been led to believe? What if it is cyclical, which means we can always circle back to something over and over again? Click To TweetContinue reading→

On my Art Table: Being Open to the Mystery of the Universe

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What does it mean to be open to the mystery of the universe?

This is a question I’ve been contemplating since a while. And as usual, when I have a question that requires deep contemplation, I take it to my art table. Through writing, throwing down layers of paint, playing with stencils and different mediums without any end goal in mind, I work through the question in my mind.

On my art table - being open to the mysteries of the universe

My answer comes through the marks I make on the page.Continue reading→

On my art table: What are you growing today?

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Thoughts become things

I believe that what we focus on, grows. Where we focus our time and energy determines what shows up in our lives. The more we think about a particular thing, the more laser focused our energy and time and effort is on a particular endeavor, the higher the chances that it will manifest in our lives.Continue reading→

Three keys to creative living #WriteBravely

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For today’s Write Tribe Festival of Words #6, I invited a very special young lady to share her thoughts about what it takes to live a creative life. Enjoy!

three keys to creative living

I was really excited when Shinjini asked me to write about living creativity. It’s something that’s really close to my heart. And though it is a wide and broad topic, there are three key things that I want to focus on today.Continue reading→

On my art table: 2-minute art journal page

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You’re busy, you have NO time, and you have NO space. You have NO art skills and NO supplies.

{Don’t you think there are too many NOs here?}

Anyhow…. I am here you to tell you that YOU CAN STILL CREATE ART!

I painted this piece in a tiny 3.5×5″art journal using only watercolor pencils and some white paint and yellow acrylic ink in the last step to bring it all together. And I love how lose and abstract it looks.

I created it as part of a 7-day speed art Instagram challenge hosted by Eli Trier. Her original idea was to have challenge participants do each prompt on a different sheet of paper, as an exercise in learning how to loosen up and get over the fear of a blank page. I decided to combine all the daily prompts on one page {without even knowing what each day’s prompt would be}, and it turned into the perfect summer art project {you can see it evolve, step-by-step, on my Instagram account}.Continue reading→

Whimsical art: Let your imagination run riot

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Alice par John Tenniel 30Rainbow colored animals, bright happy colors, make believe world, fairies and mermaids, gnomes and elves, monsters and angels – that in a nutshell is whimsical art. Most whimsical artists produce light, airy, happy pieces of art that are meant to fill the viewer up with joy.

But it isn’t all glitter and fairy dust in whimsical land. There are also dark, brooding monsters and sinister characters – like the Corpse Bride and Tim Burton’s more gothic whimsical style.

Whimsical artists play firmly in the field of imagination – flowers with a human face, unicorns, phoenix girls, centaurs – it’s all about the quirky. Continue reading→

Understanding layers: why I hide collage below layers of paint

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For a long time, I simply did not understand the importance of building up layers in art journals. I looked at mixed media artists with astonishment. Why would they do that, I’d wonder, as they put down beautiful scrapbook paper on the page, only to hide it under gesso and layers of paint. Or I’d watch in utter fascination as they laid down beautiful doodles and stamps and stencils, and then again hid it under layers and layers of paint.

But why? Those looked like complete paintings too!Continue reading→

Take 10: How to create stunning art journal pages in 10 minutes a day

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I hear ya – you’re busy, what with work, home, socializing, blogging…all the other roles, responsibilities, and activities that make up your day. Where and how will you find the time to make art, you wonder?

What if I told you to take out just 10 minutes a day? You know you can do it – after all, we spend a lot more than that mindlessly scrolling through our Twitter and Facebook timelines!

But can you really create an art journal page in 10 minutes a day?Continue reading→

Release your fear: create art with wild abandon

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release fear comparison create wild abandon

Fear of paint, of art, of creativity is something I’ve come across over and over again. People constantly say they can’t paint, or they can’t draw. But I say that everyone can paint. Yes, everyone.

Think back to your childhood – chances are that painting and drawing were your favorite pastimes. But as you grew older, you suddenly started thinking that you cannot paint.

Why?Continue reading→