The beat goes on in StudioSuzesque. Badda bing, badda boom.

I heard yesterday that drumming reduces stress. I believe that is true. I think it’s the primitive remembrance of the heartbeat in the womb, but that is speculation. The talking head I was listening to started naming very simple stress-busters and it seemed to me that they could all be labeled sensory experiences. Smell the flowers, beat the drum, move to the music, eat the “brain foods,” and play!

I knew that. I’ve been to Omega Institute in New York, I’ll have you know. Now the only trick is to apply it to my life. Seems simple enough and I’m trying to relearn that lesson again for the thousandth time.

So back to the art which is–no doubt–a healing form of sensory play. When last I left you, I had talked about the collage page of the swirly-faced woman with mappy hair. I got her more to my liking with a lot of touch-up. Worked in more paint, took out some heavy shadows, and eliminated a lot of the color on her face. I didn’t like the purple eye shadow—odd, I know.  I then went over all the lines the Gesso had muted and made them dark again. I just like her with a white face and dark lines, surrounded by color. If you look closely in the lower right, I painted in a word: Traveling. I don’t like it and I’m going to paint over it. The instructor had said to add words, but I remembered that in this course I don’t have to worry about a grade, and a word just isn’t needed or wanted on this piece. So there.

I have worked on other journal pages with this same set of techniques.

Now that I look at this one and try to write a caption, I realize that it incorporates many elements of essential, grounded heavenliness to a little girl born unto the sign of Taurus. The picture in the upper right is Yours Truly at age 2. I am clutching my lovely little handbag under my pudgy little arm. There’s a tree and a sunny flower and jewels and a big ol’ hat and swirls and great clothes and a cottage and earthiness and a garden gate and keys and ROSES…Every Day.

This one began as a Treasure Map a while ago (I’ll talk about those in a future issue) but morphed into what you see here. Clothes on the line. A photo of a chair from a San Antonio trip. Colors I love. It’s partly about putting oneself into a setting and partly about waiting, a moment frozen in time.

 

 

 

 

 

Again, this page is very personal even though I have no idea who the woman in the picture is. I love her white linen dress and summer chapeau. The handbag in the lower left is one of my vintage ones and there is fabric and a nice bit of tinted trim on the right. I remain very happy about the “stitches” around the photo. There’s journaling on this one!

 

 

 

 

 

I have been thinking more about a journal or sketchbook as a whole entity rather than separate, unrelated pages. In the online art journal course, a different instructor began her four weeks of lessons on March 1. The first tutorial seemed overly simple and yet I keep thinking about it. As often happens in life, the simple concepts are the hardest to incorporate yet most significant. Her ideas seem to be centered around “breaking in” a new journal and making it your own. She suggested making a folder within the journal for bits and pieces you want to use. She also showed how to extend pages so you can create an expansive fold-out spread. The best thing she did was introduce a SIMPLE tool that had a little reservoir so that one could paint water onto drawings done with watercolor pencils or water soluble crayons. Of course I went and found a link—so exciting!!!—it’s an art supply I don’t have!! It’s called a waterbrush. Can’t wait to order one!

Till next time…HUGS!!

~suze.