i know my heart, 6×8 inch mixed media panel
Another mixed media panel that I bound as a cover for a blank journal.
I’ve mentioned this before, but one of the reasons why I do visual journal entries is to get ideas for paintings or panels. Explore a theme, play with composition or color. It allows me to loosen up a bit, take some pressure off, I think. And then panels are also sometimes studies for larger paintings.
Below is a visual journal entry that I did. I actually was playing around with structure with this spread. I had never done a pop-up and wanted to give it a go. It’s not the most elegant pop-up ever. Actually, it’s pretty terrible! But it does pop-up and that’s all I cared about. If I were doing a pop-up for a book to show, then I definitely would have been more careful. But as I said, this was for pure fun and experimentation.
When I returned to this image almost 2 years later, I had totally lightened up my palette. It’s interesting to see the difference. The darker composition is more dramatic, but I was going for something softer and more comptemplative this time around.
Thank you for your comments on my last post. For some reason I get about 10% of comments emailed to me. Which are not very good odds. And sometimes I don’t even know if there is a comment unless I go back to the post, which I don’t normally do. So I apologize if I don’t get back to commenters. I really do appreciate the comments people leave for me and don’t want anyone to think I’m ignoring them!
“i know my heart” moves me. The contrast of dark against light makes me think about realizations, epiphanies, and inner knowing.
Lovely.
Courtney
What a great post. and thank for telling us about your comment things. I wondered….
I’ve been taking an artist’s book class at the Book and Paper ARts center in Chicago. You might enjoy taking classes when you arrive. If you’d ever like to meet to draw together, just email me through my site. The Field Museum is my favorite place to draw. Good luck with your move. Your cover ideas are great!!! Do you carry these sketck books around? how to they hold up?
I really like this. I also noticed, when I first began to visit your blog & read some older posts, how much your artwork has evolved/changed over the last couple of years. I thought it was pretty cool to see your growth as an artist.
Debi
Thank you courtney for putting those words to my piece. When I was first making it, I wanted it to be about Guardians, protectors, but when it was done…I felt that it was more about knowing oneself. Self-awareness in moments of quiet.
Thanks Lindsay~ I bind my journals using a coptic stitch, so they are pretty durable! And do great even when things are added to the pages or painted on.
Hi Debi, thanks for your observations. I know that my work has really changed quite a bit over the past few years. Never consciously though. That’s the neat thing about it. We all grow and change in imperceptible ways, so of course our art would too!
This piece is beautiful and calming… perfect for a journal cover. Journals are really a tool for expressing one’s self. I love how your inspiration for this cover came from your own art journal and now this new journal gets to go inspire someone else.
xo,
Carmen
Thanks carmen! I hope that they will inspire another person’s journey.