Paintings With Soul

  Sun Moon Ocean is the newest in my series of free creative content hosted on   my YouTube channel . It's been a bit since I last wrote about my new journaling project, a free, self study, streamable series of videos hosted on   my YouTube channel , the most recent of which was published this morning. Each session introduces a series of prompts, ideas or techniques to enhance your journaling practice. So far we have talked about spilling (the writing, not the coffee sort), manifesting intentions, heightened self-care practices and affirmations to carry along our life journey. These classes are starting points - you can mirror my example or adapt to better meet your own leanings. They can be done at your own pace, in your own space, alone or with a group. And because I believe that journaling should be accessible to all regardless of financial circumstances, for the foreseeable future these classes will be entirely free (although there is cost related to produci...

A couple weeks ago I taught   my first zoom workshop , mono printing in our journals, and it was a wonderful experience. Zoom allows me to demonstrate my process, simultaneously share my journal and my palette, and interact with participants in real time. Additionally, the class video becomes available afterwards for direct download for any students wishing to try the lesson on their own time after the fact. If you haven't yet tried journaling, what's holding you back? There's no need for previous arting experience (I promise you that - as complex as my pages may look, they are simple exercises that can be completed by anyone), no specialized art materials or equipment. And no expectation that what you make will hang on a wall or even ever have to be shared. All you need is the desire to make some marks and play with the tools. So please consider joining us - either in a zoom session, or one of the free   #journalthroughit classes. If you are an avid journaler, you w...

If you watched   today's #journalthroughit lesson , you saw me create this page live. While it looks complex, ir's really just a number of layers of marks, all done with simple materials you probably already have around your house. Collage papers and glue, a pen, and colored pencils or crayons. Also, if you are sadly quarantining without a spirograph, I showed a doodle substitution that was equally meditative and visually satisfying. And if you now cannot live another minute without a spirograph,   here's the one   that I used in class.   #journalthroughit continues to go strong, with   Ardith   Goodwin teaching Mondays (her class times can fluctuate), and then I chime in on Thursdays at 11:30 eastern. A   complete listing of the   37 classes to date   is on my website , along with direct links to the video lessons. Yup, you read that right - thirty seven lessons!! And we're still making more. Videos will be up for one year after air dat...

In   today's #journalthroughit class , students made spirit animal totems using mixed media and inspiration from treasures found during a visual scavenger hunt. Don't know about the online experience called #journalthroughit? here's the Cliff Notes version: art journaling lessons, all ages, all levels (from non-artist through to accomplished), no special materials needed, family friendly, and free ( donations welcome ). Content is live streamed via Facebook ( mine   and   Ardith Goodwin's ), will be archived for a week, and is delivered Monday-Friday. We are two weeks in, but you can jump in at any time and do the lessons in whatever order you wish. Additionally, I challenge you to take   the stencil/templates   from today's class and do something totally unexpected and creative with them. Puppets (and a videoed performance), 3D dolls, other layers in your journal - use your noggin and come up with something really, really good. Next session wil...

I have been working - mostly quietly, but most definitely diligently - on a new book. I wanted to take the Sirens, all their nuance that doesn't transfer via screens, and place them in readers' hands. The design had to foster introspection, conversation and personal discovery. As I laid the pages out and refined my vision, this book also became a vehicle for marrying the paintings with my passion for art journaling. I couldn't be prouder to announce the publication of "Reflections, a Personal Melody." This book features over a dozen of my favorite siren paintings; in process imagery, details, and other snippets of the series which pretty much ruled my world this last year. The design is simple, with the idea that readers can soak up the message of a single painting, or embellish the pages with their own words or artwork as they see fit, working in direct response to the paintings. In addition to this publication, which arrives in time for holiday gift gi...

So yesterday was one of those days. I came into the studio and looked at my new work and was convinced they all were crappy and self indulgent. Poorly drawn, meaningless, wastes of paint. We all have days like these, don't we? I think mine happen when I'm exhausted - they tend to show up after a long stretch of crazy inspired painting. Days - sometimes weeks - strung together of manic production and very little reflection. And that's when her voice shows up. You know the one. She tells you that you know nothing, you are wasting your time, that nobody will every truly understand your paintings because they are muddled, ugly and trite. So when She shows up (I call her Betka after an elementary school teacher I had multiple run-ins with), I let her rant. I write down what she says in my studio journal. I acknowledge her questions. And then I paint right overtop of them. Preferably with something glittery and fancy. And then I return to the easel, pick up my brushes, ...

This is detail from an in-process page inside my Gratitude Journal (the entire spread is pictured at the left). Done mostly in acrylic paint, it includes a word ticket given me by a student. At our last grownUPs Journal class, participants were given three word tickets. They labeled objects with their tickets, and I was tagged "Fortunately." One of the best gifts ever - thank you Toni!!   I've been a daily painter since 2006. That's a LOT of paintings to come across my easel. And a LOT of pressure to stay fresh, every day (we're not talking showering, kiddos!).   One of the creative habits I picked up shortly after making my daily painting pledge was that of art journaling. The idea behind art, or creative, journaling is that it is part sketchbook part diary part science lab with art materials. Anything goes!   I thought it would be healthy for me to have a place to work out frustrations or anxieties and be able to make marks without ...

  The welcome postcards for my summer workshop AirMail Journaling will be mailed tomorrow. The cards include a tune-up exercise to get participants primed and ready to go.   What's AirMail Journaling? 5 art journal lessons mailed to your home (or an address of your choosing) - lessons include directions, prompts, ephemera and materials, along with sample images  we start the week of June 25th and will continue through the end of August - the lessons will be mailed every two weeks there's also a private, online classroom where participants can share their images and have a dialogue about processes/ideas So, how much for all this wicked sweet journaling goodness? Only $30.  I kid you not. Only $30 (within the US - additional fees for international addresses apply). Simply paypal funds to journal@turtledovedesigns.com  and I'll get off a materials list and class outline. What will we be doing? I'll give you a glimps...

    It's nearly impossible to schedule any sort of workshop in the summertime that works with everyone's calendar. There's vacations and sunshine and working parents and travel sports teams and watermelon, and frankly, I can't blame anyone for choosing those sorts of things over taking a class (even though my physical class IS in a toy store).   I still wanted to tailor my offering to somehow flex around everyone's schedule. I spent some time on the back porch, just listening to the birdsong and wondering when life got so darned busy. I got all melancholy recalling the long summer days of my childhood - melty popsicles, the smell of hot pavement, the sting of sprinkler water on sunburned skin, the excitement of the mail's arrival (was there anything for ME?) - and BING - AirMail Journaling was born!   I've had the most fabulous time designing five entirely new lesson plans for this summer's journaling adventure. These...