March 2022 - Week 1 Monthly Muse

I'm still here!!! I've been tied up with a few major projects -collaboratiing with hubster and learning to do a podcast. But I have started Finished my page!!
Tangie and Teesha Moore were my very first inspirations years ago. Then I developd my own style, which normally has a lot of layers.

 

I'm really struggling with this one. I think I'm thinking too much about it!

 

Ok, here's mine. I'm still stiff and stuck to design rules...ugh

 

wow ladies, what awesome pages!!! I am working on getting Week 2 ready and just popped in to see how everyone was traveling and wow! I am blown away with the creativity in this thread!!! LOL! I know I SHOULD be getting the post ready but I really want to do some art journaling ........ so much inspiration here!!

 

Thanks for the fun challenge Lisa! I'm looking forward to see the total picture at the end of the month! So many inspiring pages!

 

Thank you for this challenge !

 

Thanks for the challenge, Lisa. I love the collage style of AJ. I was lucky enough to be part of the Ft. Myers/Naples, Florida Art Scene for many years and I partied with Robert Rauschenberg. He lived in an ocean front home on Captiva Island, Florida and we had several parties at his home. At that time, he was America's Greatest Living Artist. I had never been exposed to true Mixed Medium Art until I saw Bob's work. I was enchanted from the beginning. I was fortunate, too, to get to meet Peter Maxx. My "style" has been greatly influenced by them. I've started a Pinterest board for Mixed Media/Pop Art on Pinterest (of course, Andy Warhol is on there): (16) Pinterest

 

So many amazing art journaling pages! I absolutely have to get started on week one.

 

That's me - bring in the men. I just realized that I spelled Peter Maxx wrong - it's Max. SO mundane. Hahaha

 

Meeting Rauschenberg and Max must have been an exciting experience! I've read interviews about their work and their influences... I'd forgotten about Rauschenberg being one of the earliest mixed media artists, as I primarily think of him as a painter. Thanks for sharing your story!

 

I'm not entirely sure I have a particular style. My pages vary from simply to painty and collage; and with or without written journaling. I have noticed that a large number of the pages that contain journaling are done in a diary style using a book element or template. I also tend to use handwriting styled fonts. So ...

 

I would have to say that part of my "stuckness" has to do with making sure I'm doing it "RIGHT". I'm always so worried I'll do it wrong that I look to what others are doing to see if I'm in the ball park. I have a style in my head that I want to see on the page, but I have never achieved it to my satisfaction.

Another part is that I have too much negative space left over on my pages, so they always look "less done" than others.

The last thing I thought of is that my husband is a graphic designer, and he is of the "clean and graphic" style of design. Lots of negative space, clean and readable fonts, nothing too shadowed or layered, and I have an innate need to please his eyes as well. I know I have to get over that.

I found a page over at another gallery that RJMJ did that was absolutely the idea of Art Journaling that I have in my head but have yet to be able to produce. I don't know if I'm allowed to post a link. If it's a problem, I'll delete it right away.

https://oscraps.com/community/media/brave-heart.360519/full

This is the closest I think I've come to my ideas of what I "should" be doing, but it's still "clean" and "scrapbooky"



So, I press on.

 

It was a great experience, Sue! Rauschenberg's MM is unbelievable! I tried to find pictures of his later work, but couldn't. He often used "found objects" like sea shells, bottle caps, you name it - it was on a piece. He used a lot of fabric too - lace painted over is SO beautiful! He had an entourage that were always with him and they'd come "sweeping" into the parties - like "we're here now the party can begin". What wonderful memories. They have a Rauschenberg Museum in Ft. Myers at The Barbara B. Mann Theater District on the Edison State Campus.

 

I love to use lots of paint and gesso. I also love plenty of ephemera. If I can include an art doll all the better. Here's my page for week one.

 

Style? I'm not sure if I really have one, but I must because people have commented that they could tell if a layout was mine. What I do know is that I always scrap in a rectangular format, I don't do square. I've been creating digital art journal pages since 2013 or before, so specifics rather blend together. In most of my AJ pages, I don't include a photo, but I broke the rules here with a threshold image of me. I like my pages to not be messy. I sit and admire people who tilt their photos, use multiple photos, but when I try it, it just seems awkward... I prefer cleaner lines and organization. I love steampunk, fantasy pages, layouts where I create a scene, I prefer bold to C&S. Most of the time, I am not a deep thinker, I just see what inspires me when I begin my page. Only rarely will I have deep emotions pouring into my page, and when I do, they are hidden or intentionally unreadable. I create AJ pages because they are fun for me, they are a release from everyday life, and they most often make me smile. And artists I admire? Does Van Gogh count? For contemporary mixed media artists, I do follow Julie Fei-Fan Balzer.

As an aside, when I do use an art doll or image of me, you will often find flowers and leaves and bows etc. stapled/attached to the head. This dates back to having a mother who was 40 years older than me and had a fascination for dressing up her only daughter with HUGE bows in her hair. I think it has left me traumatized for life...

 

I don't have that much exposure to AJ except here at the Pad. To me AJ is creating beauty out of chaos and almost all of the "stuff" chosen to add to the page has a meaning. The overall page conveys a theme. I tried to do that here with the theme being let go of fear and you'll go places you've never been before!