I wrote an entire little post about fear of art and lost it. Does that mean something? Here's a little of what I did today. Hope to be more regular and start to slay the fear.

Day 12

I am at a serious crossroads in my life (this sounds better than mid-life crisis does). So I've been thinking bout goals and such. Here's a journal page I started to get me thinking.

Day 11

While I was gone to Missouri, I worked on some journal pages. They are small because I'm not trying to have you read the words, just look at the overall picture. One of the entries is about a humorous/frustrating Steak & Shake experience and how Starbucks saved the day. Another is a little narrative about my dad and Don building a fence.

Day 10 continued

I've had this need to change something in my home. I was thinking I wanted to buy something, but I couldn't decide what that might be. So instead, I rearranged my studio a bit. I've always wanted a chair in here and by moving my bookshelves down a bit, I have a place. I moved this one from my bedroom. Either I'm going to get a new one, or I'm going to recover this one in some wild and fun print.

After I put the bookshelves back together, I took a breather and sat in the chair to look at a book. This is going to be one of my new favorite spots, I can tell.

Day 10

Our theme for this month at my calligraphy guild was Beauty and the Beast. We were encouraged to think outside the box. I have been doing a Beth Moore Bible study on Esther, and I realized that Esther and Haman provided the perfect beauty and the beast picture. In this piece, the dark green block of lettering is scripture describing Haman. The wispy cream lettering introduces Esther, and the blocky lettering running up the side shares one of the main themes of the book. I like the ideas but if I were to do it again, I would execute it differently. The dark lettering was made with a Pentel watercolor brush, but I would have preferred using gouache. The Esther lettering needs to be more prominent, and I would have chosen a background that didn't fight with the words so much. Good practice, though!

Day 9

Here's a detail of the piece from yesterday's post. I do so love this italic form. It reminds me of a ballet - long, fluid movements that express so much.