ALL A-TWITTER OVER ART

From The Art of Wild Abandonment, by Junelle Jacobson

I haven't even finished watching all the videos from my first online art class, and I'm already signed up for the next one! My friend High-School-Debbie (a.k.a. Honey) has already taken this class, and when I saw photos of what she was doing, I knew it was right up my alley! The workshop is called The Art of Wild Abandonment, and is being offerred here. The instructor, Junelle Jacobson, believes it all begins with a simple sketch -- sketching the art of everyday moments, or our "feel goods", as she calls them. Kind of like my little to-do lists, no?

Meanwhile, things are coming along rather well in my new Kitchen Studio. I found some baskets at Target the other day, which helped to corral some of the mayhem, and I moved that old cake cover with the beautiful patina up above my cabinets, to give me more workspace.

One basket for the wooden stamps

One basket for stencils and texture stamps

One basket for pens, inks, stains, etc.

I'm also finding new ways to use the decorative pieces that were already there. For instance, I already had a button jar there on the shelf, which was only half full. Art-journalists often add buttons, bits of ribbon or lace, and other such "findings" to their pages, so, Voila! I now have a findings jar.

This pretty tea tin makes a great place to stash the spare pads for this stamper

Know what I like best about this set-up? It's right there, in the heart of my home, where I pass by it a hundred times a day -- which encourages me to stop and play for a while. Though I could never do my writing in this manner, art journaling is meant to be done in stages. You gesso a page, then wait for it to dry; put down a background, wait for it to dry; layer on color and ephemera, wait for them to dry; do your doodling and writing, wait for it to dry. So, if I'm in the kitchen, waiting for the water to boil or my tea to brew, what better way to pass the time, than by stepping over to my open journal and gessoing a few pages, or dabbing in a background or two? When I have something simmering on the stove, or I'm waiting for something to come out of the oven, what better than to remove an image transfer that's been drying, or add some doodling to a page? Would I be nearly as tempted to create, if my supplies were out in the garage or down in the basement? Wouldn't I feel ten times as guilty, if I had to go sequester myself for a few hours at a time, while neglecting everything else? So, as it turns out, what was born out of desperation, ended up being, well, abso-freakin-lutely brilliant! 
Let's just hope, though, that my new class uses mostly the same supplies as my old one, cuz if I have to go out and buy all new stuff, I have no idea where I'll put it all!