Poetry and Journals

I am one of those singularly useless college graduates in this day and age - I have a double B.A. in English and history, subjects not much valued by the modern business world where one must basically have a 'trade'.  I've never regretted my choice of majoring in liberal arts, and I'm celebrating that choice today in a way, by using one of my favorite poems by one of my favorite poets on a journal page.

The poem is "The Stolen Child," by Irish poet William Butler Yeats.  You can find the full text of the poem here. The poem is basically acknowledging the legends about fairies stealing children from their human families, which I think may still be used as a benign threat in the British Isles ("watch out or the fairies will get you", that sort of thing).  But it's done in a beautiful way that I love, and Yeats is a master of using language to create images that stick with you.  Many people are familiar with him as a writer of poems about the Irish conflicts, rather than the more mythological work.  

Several musical artists have set the poem to music, including the Waterboys and Loreena McKennitt.  I like McKennitt's version but really prefer the Waterboys, which you can find here.  It's from their album "Fisherman's Blues."

Enough of the lecture.

I started the page with my usual covering up with scraps of vintage paper.  One reason I do this, if I'm going to paint a page, is to strengthen the page itself.  I then attempted to use one of my malfunctioning paint sprayers to start a yellow layer, which didn't quite work.   This would be Primary Yellow.

I then added various layers of other colors, a light Cobalt Blue, Permanent Rose, and Titanium White (I use traditional acrylic and water colors, by the way - not paint that comes in little bottles).  The stencils are from a set I found at a discount store, which I think work quite well, and I also used a strip of stencil waste (punchinella).  

And there it sat for a couple of days.  Then for some reason I decided to add a green border (Soho Urban's Forest Green) around the edge of the pages.

And I liked it.  I thought it added some definition.  By this time I had decided that the theme would indeed be "The Stolen Child," and I found some images I could use on Etsy, as well as clip art sheets from Lunagirl's shop, fairy wings in particular.  

The mother and child image was pretty much all white and I decided to color it in with pencil to give it more color.  I imagined the child was dressed in some semblance of Scottish tartan but I've no clue of the clan that's supposed to be represented.  I added wings to the woman, implying that she's a fairy come to take the child away.  I also added some other embellishments

Here's a closeup of the woman so you can perhaps see the penciled in color a bit better.

And finally, the finished piece with a quote from the poem.  The font used is Chiller, not sure where I got it from but it's a free download, virus-free.

What do you think?

later,

lin

Shameless Self Promotion

It's been a while since I've done some self promotion here by showing stuff that's in the shop.  I'm also running a couple of sales on and off over the next few weeks, such as one happening now giving a 25% discount on all items.  That's through Thanksgiving.  Then there's an obligatory Black Friday-Cyber Monday sale, with a 20% discount.  

Enough of that.

What I want to show you are some of my favorite items in the shop, some older, some newer, and tell you a bit about them.  I hope you don't mind.  If you'd like to look at the pieces in more detail, you can click on the title beneath the image to go to its Etsy listing.

The Secret

This piece is my absolute favorite. This is probably the fourth version of it, as people seem to like it and so they buy it.  I found the image on a website I used to buy supplies from - the owner of the shop had a freebie section and the photo of the little girls was included in the freebies.  As you can guess, it's two little girls sharing a secret and I think anyone can relate to the idea and put themselves in the situation.  Though normally my work includes a comical caption, I felt this had no need for it.

Another favorite piece of mine is this naughty boy mini collage.

Naughty Boy

I don't know where I bought this boy's photo, probably on Etsy.  But I knew it had to be used as a collage and I chose to make it a mini-collage.  The photo itself is wallet-sized so the resolution would diminish if I enlarged it too much.  I just love the expression on the boy's face.  I can only imagine what he's thinking posing for what is most likely a school photo.  I think his teachers had their hands full with this kid.

Another naughty item is this card featuring a man who is distraught about something or other.  His image came from one of Dover Publications' collections of Victorian etchings.

Naughty Guy

What on earth has he done to send him into such paroxysms of anguish?  I'm sure his wife is probably very upset with him, whatever it is.

Here's a recent favorite, featuring a guy I've used in several pieces.

Man with a Past

He has such a serious, stolid face but behind that stern exterior is a man of mystery, someone with secrets just waiting to be revealed.  I think this photo came from a collection of old photos on CD sold by my friend Lisa Busch of collagestuff.com.  As I said, I've used this guy several times, and my friend Michele Alt just adores him.  I do too.

And finally, here's one more of my favorite pieces, another recently created magnet - 

She's So Hot

This piece is based on a song, actually.  One of my favorite musicians is Lyle Lovett and years ago he recorded a song called "She's Hot to Go."  You can find a video here.  I had printed this photo from one of Lisa's collections, and came across it earlier this year.  This poor little child looks so warm in her heavy clothing, and Lyle's song came into my mind as an obvious caption.  Of course the song is about something else entirely.

That's it for this edition of self-promotion.  Hope you like what you see.

later,
lin

Post Number 100!

Hot diggity dog!  Stirring Up Ghosts is 100 posts old!

When I decided to start publishing a blog again, two years after I abandoned a previous blog, I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it.  It took a while for me to even decide on a name, and that was after consultation with others.  The title was not a favorite of those I polled, but after consideration I felt that with this blog I was indeed going to be stirring up the ghosts of my past, and that it was certainly appropriate.

What this blog has become is a meditation on the effect mental illness has had on my life and my art.  I can't deny that mental illness is a major factor in how I live my life today.  If it hadn't been for a serious breakdown 5 years ago, I would probably still have the job I'd held for 25 years.  But that's OK.  It's been an important journey of self-discovery and disclosure of long-held secrets, even secrets I had hidden for so long I wasn't aware of them.

But I think the blog is also a reflection on the joy of making, of creating art that makes me happy and also pleases other people.  I'm finally realizing that I have to make art that first pleases myself, and then worry about everyone else.  Most artists have a hard time with satisfying themselves, I think.  We're too worried about selling our work.  We want people to like what we do.  Especially those special folks in our lives.

I said recently to a friend that I'm definitely not afraid of rejecting any of my pieces that, upon reflection, I decide just don't work or are not of high enough quality that I want to sell them.  I'm conscious of quality control.  There are 'mistakes' I will tolerate, but there are many that I won't.  I decided a while back that if I can't support a piece I'm not going to show it or sell it.  

Sometimes I will show a piece and realize, once it's on display, that it just doesn't work.  This happened recently with a piece (the one you see here) that had been a long time in creation and once I saw it on the wall, I thought "uh uh - not good." This was in spite of my artist cousin Jan's opinion that it worked quite well.  So I've added it to the reject pile.

One of the more 'famous' instances of my disliking a piece very strongly can be found in the photo of me at the right of this post.  It's one of my earliest pieces, about a woman who is waiting for her lover to return from war and is called, I think, "She Who Waits."  I entered it in an art show for disabled artists in 2012 even though I wasn't a great fan of it, and my Congressman, David Cicilline, chose it among others to hang in his office.  The photo is of me at the reception he held to honor the artists.

She Who Waits

But I really didn't like the collage at that point, and wanted to get rid of it.  I knew my friend Michele Alt loved it and I tried several times to give it to her but she wouldn't take it, wanting me instead to get a good price for it.  We finally agreed at one point that I would have a print made of it and she'd buy that.  I was still determined to give her the piece and in late 2013 I had my chance.  She and her husband Adam helped me do an upscale flea market in December 2013, and I thought that it'd be a good way to repay them for the help they'd given me.  Michele protested but finally took the piece and, I think, gave the print to her mom.  I'm glad the piece is in a good home, although Michele (and my cousin Jan) still can't understand why I dislike it so much.

But that happens.  We're not always in love with our own work.  Which is why I've taken a temporary hiatus from making my usual work to sell in the shop.  It's normally a lot of fun to make but I felt that I was getting stale and not enjoying the creation.  In the process I've discovered that I enjoy painting (though I don't think I'm that great), and I'm figuring out a different way to collage and still tell my silly stories.  Although I'm still on a collage journey, I'm traveling on a different path for a while.  It's a way to rejuvenate the creative juices, I think.  I've shown you guys some of the art journal pages I've done using some of the different things I've tried.  And I plan to continue that trip down a different road.  At least for now.

So that's where I've been for the past 100 posts.  I thank you all for traveling along with me, understanding when I'm mired in darkness (all too often lately), and celebrating when the work is going well.  I hope you'll continue to accompany me on my meanderings and I look forward to Post #200.

later,
lin

Not Everything's a Success - And That's All Right

Art is about working out ideas.  And when they don't turn out as planned, you make do with the result.  

As I've mentioned many times before, I'm part of a journal exchange with my friend Lisa Busch of collagestuff.com.  I really can't say enough how valuable I find both her friendship AND her shop, which has tons of great collage supplies.  Moving on....

Because I've really made an effort to explore paint and stencils, I decided to do that with this spread in Lisa's journal.  I like to start out these days with layering pieces of vintage papers first, because when I do these spreads it's with no plan whatsoever.  Whatever happens, happens.  Some call this the "Wabi Sabi" way of doing things, but I just call it flying by the seat of my pants. 

I decided to first try spray misting paint on the papers but because I've been having trouble with the sprayers (purchased from dollar stores) not spraying properly I don't get the right effect, so instead I spray stuff in globs on the paper and then wipe it down with sponges.  I mixed several colors - I think gold, red, a little yellow, and white -- to get the peachy color.  It wasn't intentional, it just worked out that way.  You can still see the papers behind the paint.

Then I stenciled away in various colors.  Lisa will laugh because I've expressed a dislike of neon colors and these sort of have that look, don't they?  But they're not.

These are some of the paints I used - one of the spray bottles that doesn't spray right is top right corner.  Actually I'm finding it rather fun seeing what happens when the spray comes out (nor not).  One of the tubes is an offbrand that I purchased in a set from a job lot store.  It says it's Cobalt Blue but it definitely is not, more a light blue.  Which should be a cautionary tale about buying paint from a job lot store - but it's still very useful.  And part of imperfection.

One happy result from my painting is always the papers with spillover paint.  I tend to use USPS tyvek Priority Mail and Priority Express mailbags as backgrounds, and like to both rub off excess paint from stencils, brushes, and sponges.  Believe it or not, I've only recently started saving them.  Oh, and baby wipes.  Great for cleaning stencils, hands, palettes..... even palettes and stencils with old dried paint.  And you can use the dried painty ones for something too.

So once I finished painting the spread hung around for a couple of days while I decided what to do next.  I actually liked it as it was and in retrospect should have left it as is.  But I decided to screw it up by adding circle shapes in various patterns of blue from scrapbook paper.

Once I started, I realized I was making a mistake.  But I soldiered on because I wanted to see just how "bad" it might get.  And also because I started thinking about bubbles. At first, in an effort to save this page, I decided to try using a quote from a song I like, Colbie Caillat's "Bubbly" but when I read the lyrics, I realized that wasn't going to work.  I discovered the song's not about bubbles - I'd always heard the song but not the lyrics, and just assumed from the title that it was.

Oh well.  What next?  

Then I remembered the standard "I'm Always Blowing Bubbles," and I knew I had the theme that might make this into something that sort of works.  And here's the finished result

It's OK.  It turned into an experiment in using shapes.  I know now that next time I should use fewer shapes to allow more of the painted page to show through, and I should probably use an actual pattern to make them float.  

In any case, it's imperfect, it's sort of interesting, and I'm glad I did it even if it didn't turn out particularly great (in my opinion anyway).

What do you think?

later, 
Lin

Pictures at an Exhibition

I'm active in my local arts group, the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative, which runs a part-time gallery in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.  Currently a change in week day hours is being contemplated but you can visit the gallery, called the Mill Gallery, on Saturdays and Sundays from 1-5pm at 558 Mineral Spring Avenue in Pawtucket.  Everything's $150, with 1/3 going to PAC.

Advertisement over, now to the fun part.

Currently on view is the annual 10x10 Show and the point of the show is that all works have to be 10x10 inches in size, and if a 3D piece it can only reach 10 inches into the area.  Many of the PAC members (as this is a member show) have trouble working small, something which I have no trouble.  My problem is working larger, actually.

Anyway, I have been very pleased with the work shown in this year's exhibition and wanted to share some of the pieces with you (yes, I'm in it too but this is about other people, not me).

First of all, I want to highlight a collage artist I really love and respect for the detail and nuances of her work, Hiroko Shikashio.  A long time painter and collagist, you can see the painterly detail in her work, especially this piece called "Autumn Rhapsody."

A set of paintings by Vincent Capaldi really. captured my attention.  It's a set of 3 entitled "Alley in the Square Series," showing a similar scene with subtle changes in each piece.  The yellow painting sold on Saturday and I was very pleased that it was I who handled the transaction.

Whenever Ewa Dzwierzynski enters a piece into this show or others that I've seen, I'm always amazed.  It's wild and wonderful assemblage art and I just love it.  This piece is called "Siren Sea Treasures"

A painting I really enjoyed is by Rob Mariani, called "Yardbird."  If I had the money, I'd certainly consider buying it.

Last but very definitely not least is this assemblage by Tim McCarthy called "He Thought of the Titanic."  I am amazed by the work involved in this piece and have admired his assemblage pieces for some time.  This is another piece I would have liked to purchase but unfortunately someone else got it.  It is just amazing to me.

These are just a very few of the 100 pieces entered in this exhibition.  In a future blog post I will show you several others I really like, and maybe even my own.

I do want to say, though, that you can spend a lovely afternoon walking around a gallery or art museum and look at the wonderful works on display.  Even if there are pieces you dislike there is always something to enjoy.  Do support your local art museums and arts groups with visits to their galleries.  Art is an important part of our lives, don't you think?

later,
lin

It Keeps Me Hanging On

The trend in art journaling - at least from what I've seen - is to show only happy stuff.  I've seen comments that say that some artists won't ever show their real feelings in public, and that they're impatient with blog posts that talk about the sad and bad.

Sorry about that because this post is about sad and bad.  Regular readers of this blog know of my continuing battle with mental illness and that I've been in a dark period.  As such, the pages I'm showing this week reflect that.  Feel free to find something happier if you so choose.

Yes, the above is a bit confrontational but it is how I feel about the trend.  Yes, there's a lot of negativity in the world but it's not going to go away if one averts their eyes.  Confronting it helps to control it and do something about it.  Which is why I do art about what I'm dealing with.

That said, what I'm showing you starts out with a mish-mosh of paint.  Actually, when I did the actual painting I was really having fun.  Not really caring about whether or not the colors mesh, whether or not it looks organized - it was a matter of planting down stencils and splashing paint on them.  And I like the effect as they are actually.

I think these could be used as backgrounds for a lot of things actually, but then I went and spoiled them with depressing journaling.

Spread One says exactly how I feel about honesty about my life.  For decades I denied that there was something wrong.  In 2009 I had a serious breakdown and it's been since then that I've admitted to my mental illness, and sought serious ongoing treatment.  My breakdown happened in a work environment, thus eliminating one thing people fear - that one's employers will find out.  After that there was no point in hiding it.

The spread is simple - my journaling plus the image of a young girl.  I feel that adding anything else will minimize how I feel.

Spread Two takes a quote from a favorite song, "Time," by a favorite band (Pink Floyd).  I toyed with some of the lyrics, and changed "the English way" to "Lin's daily way."  I paired it with a contemplative Victorian woman image and with a vintage clock, and left it as is.  To add anything else would once again minimize the impact of what I've done.

This work is in my so-called 'private' journal, not one of the two I'm exchanging with my friend Lisa.  Even so, I still am sharing it.

It really is OK to express one's honest feelings in an art journal - and it's OK to share it.  I won't mind.

later,
lin

Thought I'd Something More to Say

As I'm writing this, I'm realizing I really have very little to say today, but most of you know how much I love flowers.

So what I wanted to share with you is a Facebook page that I love that my friend Cynthia Pepper Jones told me about, the Sociedad Argentina De Horticultura - or the Argentina Horticultural Society.  If you're on Facebook, you owe it to yourself to Like this page as you will receive in your feed gorgeous photos of beautiful flowers that will make you very happy.  
Hopefully they won't mind if I share a few of their photos. 

later, 
Lin