When art just happens

I always keep a piece of butcher paper covering my work space, and I'm embarrassed to admit, that until I did the Documented Life Challenge this year and was challenged to use my "under paper", I always just threw it away

Today, instead of throwing it way I cut up into pieces and was amazed by the results. I love some of the new color combos that turned up in my scraps-colors I would probably never intentionally put together. Each piece was like it's own individual mini artwork--and I didn't even try! Gotta love that!

I used a couple pieces in my journal entry today. It pushed my a bit out of my comfort zone to add theses to my pretty pastel pages, but I loved the results

Chagall inspired Story Art

My service student put together this great display of some of the Marc Chagall inspired artworks created by my 5th graders this semester. 

We started off our lesson learning about Marc Chagall and characteristics of his style of abstract art. We watched a great short video on Biography.com that the kids loved, and also looked through two storybooks on Marc Chagall.

Using liquid water colors, students created a colorful background.

I showed a sample of artwork I had created and told a story of my memories behind the pictures-the kids love this! Then I asked each of them to use the back of their paper and brainstorm a list of words that communicated a story or memory they wanted to tell. Then students drew images for each word, turning the page each time so the images floated around the page. Students drew in pencil first, outlined in Sharpie, and then colored in with construction paper crayons.

If you would like to see more samples of student works for this project, visit our gallery over at Artsonia.

Art Journaling Work Desk

Here's a sneak peak of what I've been up to lately in my art journal. 

I joined the challenge over at Documented Faith, so I've been using Stephanie's words and verses as a spring board for my pages.

I've also been trying to keep up with the weekly challenges at The Documented Life Project. Here's one I did with the layers you will love-cover up the good stuff challenge. 

I love Illustrated Faith's Bible journaling techniques, so I've tried a few of my own in my Bible when the inspiration strikes me. It's such a natural way for me to worship and take delight in God's word!

I've also been inspired lately by the colors in my daughter's new bedding. She wants me to paint some new abstract art for her walls, so I've been trying out some things in my journal first.

Can you believe I found these quilts at Walmart for $25 a set, and the cute orange pillows at Home Goods. We are thinking something like this below to place above each bed. I'll be posting pics on Facebook when I get the canvases completed and placed.

And of course, Valentine's Day-hearts are on the top of my list of favorite fun things to paint! Hope you had a LOVEly one:)

As always, you can follow me on Facebook or Instagram to see what I'm working on daily, as well as what's going on in the classroom.

Mixed Media Hearts

I wanted to share these Jim Dine inspired mixed media hearts made by my fifth graders. They are are colorful, fun and unique--just like the kids who created them. We made these on recycled cardboard tiles, approximately 4 x 6 inches in size.

First we applied a layer of gesso, and then used tempera paint for the heart and background. I instructed the children to use a contrast of warm and cool colors. We spent a day painting papers with tempera paint, texture tools, and foam stamps.

We used our papers to add a collage element to the entire piece. After the paper was added, we added some more color with oil pastels and sharpies. Last, but not least, we sealed with a glossy coat of Modge Podge. 

I'm planning on putting up all 85 of these on a bulletin board in the 5th grade hall. I'll be sure to post pics on Facebook when I get it done. My only regret was that it wasn't done in time to enjoy the entire month of February. There's always next year, right?!

Follow me on Instagram or Facebook to see what I'm up to on a daily basis.

Color in Art Journaling

Here's my week three Documented Life Challenge on the Color Wheel and a quote by Georgia O'Keeffe. 

I decided to do a Mandala for my color wheel because I do this project with my students and I love the way the designs turn out. It was a challenge because creating a mandala is a very tedious task to me....Yes, I know they are supposed to be a relaxing exercise:)

I started with a spread covered with a layer of gesso and used a variety of different mediums to fill in the mandala shapes. I was a great learning process to see how each one reacted differently to the gesso. 

I wanted to leave room for some journaling, so I put the quote along the side border.

Not one of my favorite pages, but I'm glad to be caught up! I can say each challenge is pushing me a big outside of my comfort zone and helping me try some new styles.

Using Gesso in an Art Journal

 Here's a quick step by step of how I did my week two challenge for the Documented Life Project-the Journal. The challenge is facing the blank page with gesso, and the quote was by Mary Shelley.

I use gesso on almost every journal page. I love the texture that it gives, and it allows it to hold up better for all the layers. Here I glued on some burlap and cotton duct canvas pieces and then covered it all in gesso. I added a little paint to the gesso in the background here.

After that dried, I added some color with acrylic paint.

On the next layer, I used some bubble wrap and stamps to imprint more texture. I also used a watercolor pencil to outline everything. I used my Friday and Saturday hand carved stamps since I am using my journal for a planner also.

More stamps and some designs.

I finished it off with some neocolor crayon shading, more doodles, paint and the Mary Shelley quote. This quote really brought to mind one of my favorite verses, Lamentations 3:22-23. "Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Truly, with Jesus, the beginning is always today!

Art Journaling with Documented Life and Documented Faith

Over the past year, I have been inspired both creatively and spiritually by the Documented Life Project and the Documented Faith project. For me, it's the perfect intermingling of life, faith and creativity, so I decided to jump in feet first for 2015.  It's taken me awhile to prep my Journal/Planner, and process all the prompts, posts and emails, but I managed to be ready enough to start with the first day of January, so I wanted to share a few of my pages and thoughts.

First, I purchased the Moleskine  Diary Daily Planner. Last year, it seemed like most of the participant's used the Moleskine weekly planner, but I really wanted to have more room to journal during my daily quiet time, and also have some space to record my daily "to-do's" and prayer requests. I love the binding of the moleskins, but the paper is so thin it takes a lot of prep to get each page ready to take some of the mixed media that I prefer to use. Overall though, I think I'm pretty pleased. I also got a new Bible for Christmas with a journaling column on each page. I haven't figured out yet how I want to use this, but I've loved some of the ideas I've seen over at Documented Faith and Illustrated Faith.

For the Documented Faith challenge, the word for the month is TRUTH The verse for week one was Jeremiah 29:11. Here's my Journal page for that week.

For Documented Life, the challenge was Facing the Blank page with book pages, and the prompt was "keeper of your own goals". Here's a quick detail on how I put together my journal spread. I love using old books for art journaling. In fact, I worked in our school library for two years, so any book that was ready for the trash bin went to my art stash. I have dozens of old books with nice antiqued pages. I use them all the time to wipe off left over paint and clean off stamps, and then I use those to start my journal pages or add layers.

I started off with some book pages that were painted with paint, spray ink and stencils and stamps. Without putting too much thought into it, I tore out pieces and adhered to my page.

Next I used a watercolor pencil to define some of the edges and add some shading and detail. Then I filled in with some gray paint.

Being the "keeper of my own goals" really challenged me when put in a spiritual context. All my verses this past week have related to plans and trusting God, so I went pretty deep here. My page turned out more chaotic than I like, but I kept having random thoughts, and I just wanted to get them all down on the page. It's got a lot going on, and really no focal point, so I may still tweak it some. Overall, though, I love all the texture and grungy feel. I normally use a lot more color, but the old book pages set the tone for me.

First, when I think about my goals and dreams, I automatically consider what God's plan for me might be, because I've learned from experience that His way is always best. I have a knack for making a mess of things, and God knows my heart better than I do.  He always has great plans for us!

Proverbs 4:23 says, Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."(NIV) With that in mind, I started thinking about the best way to keep or protect my goals and dreams, was to guard my heart. Psalm 90:12, reminds us, "... to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom." I have to protect my time, and protect myself from desires of the flesh like selfishness, and protect my heart from temptation and worrying about pleasing others. I know that God gave me the gift of creativity, and it brings me so much joy. Through creating, I can praise Him and give Him glory. It's so easy for me to not make time for the things that make my heart come alive; to cave to the pressure of pleasing others and doing what everyone else is doing instead of seeking God's pace and plan.

God has showed me three verses that I need to focus on this year that can help me "guard my heart" or "keep my goals" the best. They are all things that make my heart come alive and enable me to trust, love more and bless others. 

1) Time in His word. John 15

2) Pray continually 1Thessalonians 5:16

3) Fix my eyes on Jesus-my ultimate goal. Hebrews 12:2

I would love for you to join me in this journey for 2015. I'm hoping when my journal/planner is complete, it will be a beautiful gift of praise and documented faith to my heavenly Father. I post regularly on Facebook and Instagram, so follow me there to see my daily pages.