Metamorphosis... personal growth and development through art

I have always been an artist. I am inspired by everything in life, music, nature, color. When I started the DLP journal. I was just throwing down things onto a page. Each week the challenges seemed interesting...in the beginning. Once a couple months passed. I realized I was limiting myself to the prompt of strangers. I had to step back and take a good look and ask the question..when in my life have I ever followed what others said or told me to do? Even in directives, I put my own spin on everything. I am not a copy of anyone else, nor should my art be.  

Journaling comes naturally to me. The writing part that is. I can sit and write and what is in my head magically flows onto the page. I have no loss of words or ideas, in fact I may have too many. In all mixed media and forms of art that I have created the short list goes like this: scrapbooking, card making, Stampin' up, drawing, oil paintings, photography, playing piano, writing music (nothing special) just by ear, creating sculptures, clay and pottery work, ceramics, attempts although hugely failed at sewing, paper mache, pastels, color pencils... Really if it's a new product I've gotten the interested and bought the product.  With the Mixed media journaling... I have jumped outside of my wide comfort zone. 

Once upon a time I was a procrastinator yet a perfectionist. Everything had to match and follow order. Lines had to be clean, corners were cut to exact measurements and if it wasn't right I threw it away. Only perfection in my eyes was acceptable in my art. In this journaling project the writing often looses out to the smearing of paint and stencils on a page. It is so much fun to smear color and just experience the paint that in itself is enough for me. I began to use the scraps mix the colors that didn't "match" use "oops" and odds and ends that I would have once upon a time..throw away. I was a perfectionist princess. While it did create great art..It did not develop me. 

Jumping into the mixed media journal tied back into my scrapbooking roots which I would print ever single picture I'd ever taken...orders of 500+ pictures at a time. I have over 25 12x12 scrapbooks stuffed to the seams of my family and son...Then I realized I didn't need every picture. 

Once are becomes tedious and not fun I have to stop and walk away. I walked away for a long time until I found this journaling project and it has evolved in a few short months to things I could not even have imagined.  The top picture is a very basic idea of what I wanted from a page..something about ME. I had seen that others chose a word of the year so..sure why not. It seemed like a good idea at the time and then it was forgotten for awhile.  I only used smears of paint that were left thick and blobby, black pens to write and outline, some cut out circles and eventually added the gold paint pen..Still a pretty basic page really. 

Last night (July 24th) I opened my journal and gave up the prompt princess mode to create whatever came about.  The pages in the 2nd picture were stark white. I started with gesso..just to get a thick cover.  I smeared a little pink, then stenciled a Tim Holtz harlequin diamond pattern with a dark maroon red. Those stencils always bleed. I added more oranges and pinks and the brightness of the page just could not stop. I added more pinks and dots and finally some light pink gesso over a honeycomb stencil.. LOVE. Every piece of paper was something I had already made. I store them in a box with each piece folded over so I can see the colors like a swatch of fabric. I selected random pieces and just cut away. Stamped images I 3-D'd with "sticky upems" (nontechnical name developed years ago for the 3-D dots).  I used my newly developed script I've created with chalkboard paint. I love this black because it is flat and I can write on it easily. Anyways..the point of the story..Metamorphosis. 

I have grown with this art so much I can't even explain what it is.  I used colors not -typical to me. I created the whole thing organically just as it took shape. From white to finished a Metamorphosis. An organic creation from a perfectionist of rule..Metamorphosis. Realizing I have changed in an open minded way to accept whatever my art will be..Metamorphosis. 

It is such a free feeling and I can't wait to see where it goes from here. 

I love my word. 

Metamorphosis.