I need an Oasis

Life is complicated.  That's just the way it is.


Lately I have been contemplating simplicity.  I have no doubt that working on restoring our Vintage trailer 'The Pink Pearl' has been the cause of my waxing nostalgic on many occasions of late.   In fact the other day I did this journal page



because I awoke with this song in my head    

I sang the song all day and remembered what that song meant to me as a kid.  I must have had this song on vinyl because I remember playing it in my room and singing it with all of my heart.  I loved the ideas it expressed  peace, love, honestly I love Coke.  I loved people then.  It was before I learned some very difficult lessons.  It's exhausting feeling hurt, angry and disappointed all the time.  It's not me.  So I have changed that.   I have found that it's never too late to be who you were meant to be.   It's difficult at times getting back there, but it can be done.

re-learning Granny squares

Back to nostalgia.  Maybe it's all the dreams I have been having for the last year and a half of my family of origin;   My sister's constant presence, my Gramsy and her kitchen, my cousins, aunts, uncles, friends I met in elementary school.  Or maybe it's handling the yarn and remembering a much simpler time when my Gramsy taught me how to crochet.

It could be any of so many things I've been up to lately.  And then there's faith.  My family and I have found somewhere we belong and dear friends in an ancient faith.  This too takes me back to my youth, when I learned to pray the rosary, had my first communion, completed catechism.  It's all so familiar.  Orthodoxy is not Catholicism, though there are many similarities being from the same roots.  I feel my life has truly come full circle now.  It has been rounding that bend for the last few years, but now I feel like this circle is complete.  

 

Gramsys button jar

I miss simpler times.  This weekend  is our second 'inaugural' voyage in The Pearl.  For a good laugh, and info on the first voyage click here.  One thing I am looking forward to this time, besides actually camping, is the simplicity of it all.  I wonder will it feel as if time has slowed when there is nothing to do.  No modern distractions?  I hope so.

 I am so looking forward to spending time with my family.  These kids are growing and aging at an amazing pace and I fear life is moving so fast I wont feel as if I really know who they are if I don't take some time to slow down and just be with them.  It's too easy to get caught up in labels, and activities- the college student, new driver, ballerina, derby girl and the twins.  But I know they are oh so much more than that. 

 They need time to get to know the real me as well. The spontaneous, fun, silly me.  The me who loves to sit around a campfire and roast marshmallows, or play a board game with no distractions, who loves to go for a walk and watch the dog explore new and amazing scents.  There is so much more to me than the chauffer, the cook, the homeschool mom, the checkbook.  This camping trip will offer all of us the opportunity to experience that.  No time constraints, no agendas. 

You know there was a a time I thought all things vintage were a silly thing to spend one's time on.  And I thought crocheted items were dated and ugly.  Especially the 'granny square', now I'm crocheting a blanket for The Pearl.   Funny how things change.  Our Oasis Trailer being from the late '50's has changed that.  My quest for vintage items began with her.  My quest for simplicity began with a hectic schedule and a harried life as a mom to 6 very active kids.  Time to slow down and enjoy my roses.  I hope you soon get a chance to enjoy yours too.

Updates aplenty.

These are all duck eggs.  The very large one had two yolks.
Those are my 9 year olds hands holding them for scale.

Seems like a long time since I've updated you all on a few things.  I'll give it a shot here and try to keep this not too long.  So the ducks and the chickens are all laying now.  We have fresh eggs everyday.  More than we can use, so we've been giving some away.  They are delicious and different from store bought because their shells are much thicker and they don't easily crack.  We even had a double yoked duck egg once.

The ducks hate the dog.  I took this video for you to show you how they act when she's around.  It's loud and annoying.  They yell at her the whole time she's out there. Of course they wouldn't cooperate so this video does not accurately depict their relationship.  You can however see the way she stares menacingly at the dog in the beginning.

he installed new tail lights

The Pearl is coming along nicely.   My dear husband has fixed the lights, put a new power cord connector thing in, ripped out some of the paneling and bought new insulation.  We also removed all of the drawers and cabinet doors for some good cleaning and re-structuring in some cases.  If you know me I like clean.  So they were cleaned with bleach first (I know, it's a no-no but I'm a germophobe), then cleaned again with a green cleaner I make with tea tree oil, lemon and some other good stuff.  Then finally de-greaser.  Now they are nice and clean and probably need some more oiling or shellac or something.  We'll eventually get to that.

new shelf paper in the cleaned and reconstructed drawers

removing all cabinet doors and
drawers for cleaning

disgustingly dirty before

Then there is the Princess Stove.  We took it out and have been cleaning it ever since.  This past weekend I talked him into taking the whole thing apart so I could soak all the parts in degreaser.  It worked like a charm and she's nice and clean now.  The only thing left there is new insulation for under her, he already put new wood to hold her up, and a thorough cleaning of the oven.  We had a 70 year birthday party to attend that day, so I didn't get to the oven yet.

completely taken apart

parts of the Princess

 I'm sure there's more we've done.  Oh he re did the bed frame.  I forgot to take a pic.  Check out his posts on repairing yesterdays trailers today.  There is even more exciting news to tell, but it'll have to wait til next time.

The bitties art

On the Art Journal front.  I have been keeping up with my art journal daily, but have not taken any pics yet.  I'll get to it.  I know at least two of you are Art Journaling along with me and I think that's great I am proud to be a part of that!  Remember when you were a kid and art was just fun?  You just drew and colored and painted for the love of it.  Here's a few pics to remind  you of that...

working in her art journal

Art journaling

the other bittie art journaling

And remember.....

Art Journaling 101 part 2

Since I wasn't feeling too well last night, and since I didn't want the post to be too long I didn't get to a few notes yesterday.  These things stick with me, and I wake up all night long thinking about all the things I forgot to mention and how disappointed you'll be if something doesn't work out because I didn't warn you- so forgive me- this is the rest, plus some pics stage by stage for an example.

So, as I said first get something, anything on the blank page.  Here I used some blue paint and white gesso  mixed together on the page.  Notice that I did not pre-mix the paint, nor did I overwork it as I liked the streaky mottled effect.  This could also have been achieved with blue and white paint.  I had gesso so I used it.

 Then I took some scraps of paper, a wrapper, whatever I had around and laid them out on the page so I could plan what it would look like.  Although honestly I only did this step for you.  My usual approach is to let things just happen as they will.  Normally I would have just started gluing everything  down randomly and let come what may.  Sometimes it works out- and sometimes it doesn't and that's ok with me.

Next I stuck it all down.  For this step you can use whatever you have on hand.  Mod Podge, tape, masking tape, glue, even duct tape- try not to get hung up on the materials unless you are going for a certain look.  Here I used Gel Medium to stick it all down.  With the exception of the wrapper which I had to use double stick tape to get to stick.  Although honestly I considered masking or duct tape for ease of use.  I had double stick tape on hand though.

As you can see in the end I changed the arrangement of the papers anyway.  It just felt better to me this way.

The final step, and I think the most important is the journaling.  (please excuse the blob at the top of the page, I thought it best to remove any names to protect the innocent.  And as you can see I am no digital artist...)  Here I write whatever sort of sums up my day. Or more specific things if I'm in that kind of mood.  It's really entirely up to you, and how you're feeling.  Speaking of feeling I forgot to mention that I always listen to music while I work.  I think it helps stop all the obsessive, perfectionistic thinking.  Give it a try.

 And finally here are a few close-ups so you can see some detail.  I did end up using a dream stamp you'll notice after I glued it all down, before I journaled.  As I said don't get hung up here on supplies.  The Art Heals was also done with stamps, but I would have used my computer and printer if I hadn't had these...




And that is all there is to it.  You can do it!  I know you can!!

A note about papers:  I like the mixed media sketchbooks because they are made to hold up to watercolors, and paints.  If you are using regular paper, or thinner paper like regular book pages please glue a few pages together beforehand to give it some stability.  Or you can also use gesso to help add strength to the page.  Also this can be translated to all art forms.  I have seen pages with stuff stitched on them (with a machine, or by hand).   Poets and writers can make a base and print out their work if they'd like.  I've even seen a picture of some cute little knit or crocheted things stuck to the page. Crayolas are always available and perfectly suited for this.  I use them  sometimes myself, especially if my inner child wants to color.  It is entirely up to you, that is what I love about it.  And forget being perfect.  I am consistently guilty of 'crimes of imperfection' as one Etsy seller aptly put it.  I like imperfection.  It serves as a visual reminder to me to relax.  Nothing in this world is perfect.  I even kept a mimatched set of rocker and footstool once because it reminded me to relax my perfectionistic ways.

Remember this is not meant to be another exercise in beating up on yourself!  It is meant for your eyes only.  Your deepest, darkest thoughts and longings can be freely recorded in here.  And I hope they will.  We all need a place to just be whoever we are without apology.  So have fun!  Make something beautiful.  Make something ugly.  Just make something from your heart.  Let that child within you play and color.  Let me know how it goes for you!

Art Journaling 101

Have you ever wanted to try art journaling?  Or thought about keeping any kind of a journal regularly?  It can be overwhelming to think about sitting down and carving out any amount of time to write.  Especially if you are not fond of writing.  

I began looking into Art Journaling in the beginning of 2010.  At the time I was a wreck, and needed to change. I was seriously depressed and couldn't figure out where to start making so many changes.   It all looked like a lot of work ahead of me.  Hard work.  Emotional work.  Inner Child work.  Therapy.  The only thing I was sure of at that time was that I longed for a creative outlet.  Music, art, childs play, these were what I knew somewhere deep inside that I needed.  

Enter Art Journaling.  I have always been a journaler in the traditional sense, but with the addition of each child into our family my time was growing shorter and shorter;  and honestly at the end of a long day I was too tired to want to write about anything.  But I did long to draw, to paint, to express myself in some way regularly, honestly and beautifully.






When I first discovered art journaling I did what I do- looked to every resource I could think of to figure this out.  What was it?  Could I do it??  How much time was required??  What did I need to get started?  Some of my favorite resources are the internet, especially Youtube, and the library.  I love the public library.  They have a wealth of resources I can borrow, for free and I don't have to find the space for yet another book.  It will be there when I need it again.  I love that!  Less is more you know?

This was done in my collage class while I was
 taking notes

What I discovered was a form of journaling that I could actually fit into my lifestyle, with whatever materials I have on hand, and a little creativity.  So here it is in a nutshell.  I will blog more about this later, and include pictures of pages I'm working on to give you some inspiration.



The pictures included here are from my first art journal, so you can see what I'm talking about.

The first thing needed is some sort of journal.  Depending on what you are going to do in it, this could be just about anything.  I prefer the Canson Mixed Media XL sketchbooks.  They are spiral bound which I like since I like to work on a flat surface.   Another plus is that the pages hold up to any kind of medium and I tend to use a lot of paint, and watercolors.  However I have seen art journals done on everything  from beautiful handmade books to simple composition books, the kind kids use in school.  Some are small, and some are very large. 

When I first started I just grabbed an old sketchbook I had on hand for some time and started there, because it was what I had.  As I went on I discovered that I would like more space on the page, so I switched to a larger book.  

Add caption

Some days were good days

some were not

A blank page can be a little unnerving to most of us, so I recommend beginning by putting down something quickly, without too much thinking about it is usually best.







Try gluing in some pretty paper scraps and making a collage, or a bit of paint or watercolor, a page from an old book, anything can be a jumping off point.  Then the sky is really the limit.





Paint a picture, draw a face, sketch something from your day, create a line drawing, graffiti, anything goes.  Write some poetry across the page and add some bits and pieces of daily life- receipts, pieces of candy wrapper, the handwritten note your child gave you today.  Anything.  It's really that easy.

Some I just recorded concepts or things I was
 thinking about or feeling.

I carry a sketchbook with me wherever I go- but it is my art journal.  Some people choose to use theirs only for art journaling.  Some record their whole lives in them.

sometimes a simple image represented what I
wanted to say

Keep it simple, or make it amazingly intricate, it is completely up to you.  And know that this is yours.  For you and your enjoyment only (unless you want to share what you've done).

There were days I had ideas to begin with

and days I just doodled

these are leaves from a tree I found while walking

Of course this is not all of the pages in that first Art Journal- only the ones I was willing to share.  Some had some of my deepest darkest thoughts recorded on them...

Looking back now I am so glad I started.  There are many memories and lessons learned in there that I probably would have forgotten.

I kept lists

That's what I found appealing at first.  I could paint, draw, and make ugly pages to my hearts content and no one had to know.  My book was for me.  For my enjoyment only. This was what came straight from my heart.

I took notes in class

I even occasionally did assignments in there. 

As you can see there are many, many different ways of doing this.  Check out some of my favorite Youtube teachers for more inspiration.  They are Suzi Blu and The One Minute Muse.  The One Minute Muse has some really simple ideas that can be accomplished quickly, without a lot of prep.  There are also many images on flickr that people have uploaded of their art journals.


I hope this has been helpful and encouragement to start your own Art Journal.  Art heals.  It is good for the soul.  Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
  

Back from Boston

Recently I had the opportunity to take a trip on my own, to Boston for my sister's graduation.   I've been back about a week now, back into "Mom" mode, and out of "me" mode.  It was a very nice time while it lasted.  I had time to draw, time to think, time to sleep.  Time to do anything I wanted.  It's been about 18 years since I've had that.

Lil Gee had some adventures while we were there.  You can read about them here: Lil Gees Adventures, the blog

So while I was there  I had a chance to re-read Codependent No More by Melody Beattie.  An excellent book I read about 20 years ago, and have since learned that I need to read it again.  These are some pictures of my art journal pages done in Boston.  A lot of the writing is quotes from Codependent No More.  It is a constant struggle for me to put myself on my own list.  That's where my adventures in art have re-surfaced.  As a healing tool.  A learning tool.  A growing tool.  Art is a way of expressing myself, and learning and growing through visually working out what's going on.

I have always been a journaler.  And I believe journaling really helps.  My art journal combines the two.  Some art and a little bit of journaling.  Sometimes I still write poetry and prose, and those are included in my art journal too.

One thing I learned while in Boston.  We all need time of our own.  Time to think.  Time to re-charge.  I know, I know, you hear that all the time now.  It's everywhere I look anyway, I imagine it's the same for you.  All I know is I had some time of my own, and I came back refreshed.  With a whole new attitude, and outlook.  If you havn't tried it I highly recommend it.   Year after year I knew this was one thing I needed, but could never justify taking it.  Now that I have I can see more of this in my future.  It is hard to be all things to all the people and pets in my life at all times.  I learned that sometimes I 've just got to take time to be me.

Monday monday

It's been one of those weekends, you know the kind of weekend you should be cleaning, or at least doing something productive, since you'll have a house full of people next weekend and the 6 kids, pets and farm animals are a lot to keep up after... but instead curled up in a ball and slept the panic off...  sometimes it's all I can do.

oh well...    the Harpie is back...

Don't know who let her out??  I had her silenced for a while...

Just thought I'd give you a little glimpse into my Art Journal of late.  A picture is worth a thousand words, right?? 

 It's all I have to say right now...

You Are Not Alone

Quack, quack, quack, quack!  This is what I hear as I sit here contemplating what to post today.  So much going on in the last week or so.  The ducks have grown into their 'quack' now, which I find a lot more pleasant than the loud peeping they did before.  The chicks are almost chickens now, with the exception of Brownie who is just small still.  I didn't mention this in my last post, but I believe Brownie was younger than the others when we got her, and she is the one who has not grown much yet.  She still needs lots of warmth.   We have taken to putting the chickens out with the ducks every day and as I mentioned they all stick together.  What I didn't tell you is how they all huddle around Brownie when she needs warmth.  They protect her, and watch after her.  They have since the beginning.  It's like they instinctively know she needs warmth, and they surround her.  

This is how they sleep.  Surrounding Brownie.

Last year I started Art Journaling.  I found it very healing to do this daily.  It also served as a proving ground for new techniques.  These last few months I have not had the inclination to art journal either.  So I carried it around with me daily, and hoped the muse would visit once again.  But nothing.  Over the last couple of weeks; possibly because I once again feel in need of comfort and healing; I have started art journaling again daily.  Sometimes more than once a day.  And with all the things going on in my head lately- sometimes even in the middle of the night.  I still write in my traditional journal.  I actually do a lot of writing as I find that a source of healing as well, but when I distill my days, or my thoughts, my state of mind into a picture, a thing of beauty that I can look back on and remember, it is very satisfying.  And honestly beauty, color, and sparkles make me happy.  

It's hard to see the sparkles here, but they are there.
Bad lighting, sorry.

My kids tease me, as I am very much like my Gramsy in that I love anything sparkly or cute.  "Oooh Shiny" they often say as I am distracted from whatever task by something.  It's their way of reminding me to focus.  I struggle with that.  I would much rather be in a dreamland than focus on the facts, which is interesting since I have always thought myself a realist, and I love the truth.  Sometimes I find things just too frightening, or too big to contemplate  in the moment, so I am easily distracted.  Especially by shiny things.  Just like my Gramsy.  My sister and I once cleaned her dresser for her.  There must have been hundreds of teeny little boxes of jewelry and little sparkly things.  Bought and placed neatly in her drawer, or jewelry box, but probably never worn.  

This is where my head has been.   I have come out of solitary, and am finding ways to focus on what I need to  focus on to find some peace.  It is not an easy thing.  The truth sometimes is not.  But I know it's what I need and that it will get easier.  Remembering to create something beautiful everyday, even if it's just beautiful to me, helps.  Words  help.  Another post on that later.  Here are some images from my art journal lately. 

 I have to keep reminding myself that I am not alone.  My many peeps remind me of that visually, and daily.  This is my reminder to you.  You are not alone. 

My peeps