an art journal of an expressionistic spirit
it's me, it's you in creative fun
My earliest memory is finger painting and making a mess! I’ve loved art every day of my life.
I still like to make a mess!
Here I am stamping with an eraser. It’s Corita Kent, James Victore, EttaVee, Shantell Martin…who opened my spirit to an art that has me understanding, this has always be me. I am an artist!
I’ve been going through all of my art and penciling in projects. Beginning next week I will start using these prompts to share my roses project. Is it next week?
Siempre,
Mireya
I was working on this post yesterday and accidentally hit publish before I was done. Now that I’ve cleared that up let’s get into the last thoughts of 2022.
Oh right, I’ve been sketching floral arrangements!
I went through all of my art files and read all of my book projects. It was nice to be inspired by my own work! It’s good to review your work and see how you’ve grown. Sometimes I lose sight of what I’m doing and then I read one of my books and go oh, that’s why. On the days when I can’t paint or feel like I’m an imposter, I look at old work and surprise myself with an awesome piece.
This is not all in one year but I have written 1000 posts and over 36,000 words. I want to write more stories. Writing is one of my favorite hobbies. My first story was about Ana & George. Three stories later I wrote Different Is Beautiful. This year I wrote For a Colorful Life. I recently read Live Your Love Story. It’s a fun quick inspirational read. I’m working on a new book. Do I know what I’m doing? My work makes my spirit dance. That means I’m doing something right. Oh, I started writing poetry this year!
It’s been a wonderful year! I thank all of you who reach out to me with your comments. Here’s to all that’s to come! That’s tomorrow’s post.
Siempre,
Mireya
Practice isn’t about getting good or great. Practice is about letting go. At some point, there’s this voice and you realize it’s there, always has been. I have sat and sat for hours trying to paint something. Nothing happened. On this occasion, I had one color, one damaged brush, and five minutes.
I’m putting together a creative exploration course with a paper collage. Sometimes I go into the process knowing that I’ll be creating flowers but it’s nice to just use random tools to stamp and blend colors. Then I’ll get an idea and start cutting and arranging. The idea blooms right before my eyes. That’s what happened with the letters M and L.
I like to experiment and paint. I occasionally post on Pinterest. When I do the results are awesome. At one point I had 80k monthly views. I had no plan but to share my work. It worked. I am still learning about SEO. I have ideas. Here’s to more traffic.
I know I’m the artist and I get attached to my work but I shouldn’t. I should only be that spiritual connection that comes as I create. I’m not the end result of my work. Nor am I entitled to the fruits of my labor. My best ideas come when I focus on the moment. For example, I many times have the opportunity to paint with my students. I set up the paint and brushes and wonder what will come of the dried-up dollar store palettes and beyond-bent shapeless brushes. These thoughts have nothing to do with me, my spirit. What is me is curiosity? I’m always curious about what everyone will paint? And every time before my eyes, the children mix up interesting colors, and awesome textures and they are artists. No one gives them permission. They just pick up the brush and go for it.
One of my techniques is texture. I love the surprise of trying a random tool to see what happens. These are the ideas that satisfy my curiosity.
Stamping with a candle lid is one of the best texture ideas I’ve ever had. I don’t want to say best because there are many more textures to come.
The textures that come from stamping with a paper roll are random and beautiful. Oh, this makes me think of the ceramic pitcher at Anthropologie. I’ve got to work more with this kind of texture.
Creating writing paper by stamping with ribbon? What an idea!
Stamping with a facial sponge creates a rough vintage texture. It’s fun to do this and then paint over it.
This was absolutely random. I used a semi-dry flat brush. I love it!
There are many textures that I painted for paper collage purposes.
What gives me a breeze? Painting is my breeze. Life is a breeze when I paint. I can walk among the trees, be cold in thought and suddenly the warmth of the sun makes my spirit dance. In that moment I am complete. I am free. Then there’s the times when I see the petals of a rose breezing in the sun. It’s these little details that make life a breeze, a breathe of fresh air.
This is the rhythm that reminds you that we are truly one.
Siempre,
Mireya
I wrote this post a week ago and somehow it stayed in draft. Finally here we are.
It’s the holiday season. We are about to begin winter. I can’t wait for spring. Last week I wrote about my obsession with roses. Have these lovely shades of pink always been there? Have they? I could be walking along in thought and suddenly I stop. Pink and peach roses catch my eye.
My next project should be pink roses? I could work on creating pink tones. Ettavee wrote this wonderful post on how to use fluorescent pink. I have been working on painting roses. I have! I am working on the layout and working on flower arrangements. Yes, I can use my art journal for this exploration. Pink Roses is a good book title? Ok there we have it. Pink Roses it is!
I love the pinks in these blooms.
Siempre,
Mireya
Oh here’s an idea for the book. Let me write that down. I have a list of topics surrounding color. That reminds me, flowers is a good one. My thoughts are all over the place. I threw out the first writings. Then I realized hello just write. Who cares if it makes sense. Write. I love color. Color is one of those elements that feeds my perpetual curiosity. Oh that reminds me of the de colores song. Yes that’s the story I shall write. Suddenly the fire is once again ignited.
Most of the pumpkins are orange. I never noticed but there are deeper orange tones and light orange tones. Then you have white pumpkins and yellow ones. Ooh I’ve seen some grayish brown ones. All these colors are signals of change and hold on because it’s going to be beautiful.
What a wonderful mindset!
In two months I’ll be sharing the free ebook. If you are interested then subscribe to my blog.
With love,
Have a good week!
He’s why I got this idea to build a fun tool box. The idea of a piece of rug creating texture that sparks my curiosity is happiness. I should buy some tissue paper. I could do mosaics like this and…
What I like most is the texture. What a boost of sunshine. I’ve shared this idea before but not with a quote. Life isn’t rainbows and sunshine all the time. There are ugly times that make it hard, REALLY hard to smile. Sometimes I’m angry, sad, confused, heart-boken and I create. Or I go for a walk and the warmth of the sun, smell of a flower mixed with a tree’s breeze comforts me. This remindes me that there’s always a reason to smile.
Yesterday I was looking through my sketchbook journal. There’s a lot of good ideas. I didn’t realize how many. I don’t have a habit of reviewing my work. Nor do I keep stacks of journals. I should have a few. I keep a few pieces from each project in folders. I do digitize most of it.
So piant a rainbow. Paint the sun. During the rain think of what will happen after the rain.
Thanks for reading.
In honor of today, Mexican Independence, I’m including a link to visit Frida Kahlo’s home.
Eyes, fish, leaves, balloons, hearts, lines, pearls, bubbles, clouds, confetti, goggles, shamrocks, flowers, peacock feathers, patterns…
Why didn’t I add these to the journal? I will. Three attempts, THREE and all of them trashed. Like the feathers. Like the tree. Like the pink and blue carefree vibe.
What if I used this circle to make clouds? There are countless ways to paint clouds. Soft. Dark. Whimsical. Big. How would this effect the mood or the message? Now that’s interesting!
an art journal of an expressionistic spirit 