Every evening when I return home from work, I’m greeted by the chirping of birds as they congregate in the tree outside my window. While the husband calls it a cacophony, I think of it as a council. What must they be discussing, I wonder?
The state of the weather? The shrinking green cover? The paucity of food? Or maybe they’re discussing the changing weather patterns, or the latest thermal waves they rode. Perhaps they’re trading the gossip of the day, or having a friendly spat?
Waiting. Yearning. Dreaming. Hoping.
A figure in space.
A figurative landscape.
Yellows, blues, a tinge of brown.
Hope, calm, despair and sorrow.
Looking ahead.
Turning back.
Dreams broken.
Hope springs anew.
That’s what it does – abstraction.
One image – multiple viewpoints.
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This is one of my favorite pieces of art from this year. In fact, when I finished it, I knew I wanted to do something similar on canvas, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. I hope to, though, before 2016 is over!
Working on this piece – and art in general – taught me about moving into fear – a lesson on fear and bravery that I had shared earlier this year.
…life is fluid, constantly moving and shaping and stretching and contracting – nothing lasts forever.
“Turn your wounds into wisdom” – Oprah Winfrey
Wisdom, they say, comes from living. All of our experiences, good and bad, teach us various lessons. By mining the lessons from our experiences, we claim them, own them, and make them a part of us. This treasure trove of life lessons can sustain us through the darkest times.
I created this spread with ample room to add in the most important life lessons I’ve learnt so far in my life (not all of them are pictured here). And at the end of the year, I plan to add in all the lessons that 2016 teaches me.
If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ll know that my word for the year is Create.
This is the very first art journal spread I created this year, to remind me of my word whenever I open my journal.
And since the word is create, it’s only fair that I tell you how you can create a similar piece, isn’t it?
It’s quite straightforward, and a lot of fun!
I’m guessing by now you’ve realized that I love painting girls. While most of my girls are whimsical, I’ve been wanting to experiment a bit more with form and abstraction. This is one of my first few attempts.
I’ve deliberately left some of her features undefined, but she’s not yet as abstract as I would like.
It feels like a risk to make her disappear some more…
Yesterday I told you about my struggle to draw a mandala. Today, I want to show you my first ever unicorn and phoenix drawings. Unlike the mandala, which made me cry buckets of tears, these were fairly straightforward. I got them right on my first practice run, and then I just took a deep breath and drew them out on the page.
Sure, the unicorn could use some more work – his mane looks like it’s stuck on to his body! – but for a first try, I’m pretty happy with him! And I’m totally in love with this phoenix! In fact, I recently reimagined her in another piece – you can take a look see on my instagram feed, and while you’re at it, do follow me there too!
I’ve long been drawn to mandalas – to their symmetry, their beauty and, most of all, to the calmness that they evoke. But I’ve always been afraid of trying to draw them. This year, though, I finally took the plunge.
And it was so hard! Whoever said dividing a circle into 12 equal pies is easy, is lying! I wish I could show you how many pieces of paper I crumpled up and threw and how many tears I shed just trying to draw those 12 symmetrical pies. By the end of it, I’d much rather have been eating apple pie, and I’m not even that fond of it! And when I finally did manage to get it divided up, drawing symmetrical shapes in that circle gave me nightmares!
This angel was among the first few paintings that I did this year. Around the 10th of January, I think. As I read the words I chose for this spread, I’m struck by just how prophetic they’ve been!
Tune into your highest, elder self, and allow that being to lead your desires, intentions, and actions.
I’ve been led down new paths, found some completely unexpected teachers and guides, and embarked on an inner journey that I didn’t even know I needed to excavate, examine, and transform. And as I work on that inner journey, I’m realizing that as much as it is healing me, it is also a story that needs to be shared.
I love painting whimsical girls, and I love giving them colorful hair. Don’t you think their bright blue hair looks exciting? I almost I wish I could color my hair robin blue! *laughs*
On this spread, I was experimenting with face structure and with using black. Believe it or not, black used to (and sometimes still does) scare the bajeezus out of me! It can easily overwhelm a page and make it seem dark and depressing. But used like this in small quantities to frame the page, and with pops of color added on, I think it looks quite nice, don’t you?
Like these whimsical sisters? You can buy art and canvas prints, notebooks, laptop skins, and more featuring them in my Cupick store. I’ll be adding more stuff on there regularly, so do follow me there for updates!
If you want to learn how to art journal, sign up for my monthly newsletter, Gypsy Wanderings, and get a free copy of my ebook Art Journal 101. Click for details.