Inside My Art Journal: Exploring My Yellow Self

 I am taking a fabric surface design ecourse right now and have been giving a lot of thought to patterns and colors that I want to experiment with in a textile.  It's really hard sometimes to sketch out ideas and it feel totally original to me. There are so many iconic background creators out there right now, sometimes I feel at a loss for what is truly me and what is inspired by the images that I have seen.  I believe that it is truly ok for an artist to use other people's work as inspiration.  In fact it's how a lot of really famous artists got their ideas, by working alongside and being influenced by there artisan counterparts of their day.  But sometimes when I use a technique frequently used by another much more famous artist, I feel inauthentic, and in-authenticity is a total killer of creative energy.  So today's journal pages truly reflect me wrestling with myself to find a unique creative voice that is totally me.  I also really wanted to experiment with pattern making on yellow backgrounds ever since I saw these! Yes, you can get inspiration from anywhere, even socks.  The trick is how to take that inspiration and help it grow something new and unique that could only come from you. 

So here are my 2 pages for today.  I also used a lot of the artsy tape that I made with you yesterday.  Can you spot all the different ones?  If you'd like to create your own tape for a project, check out my DIY here.  Thanks for stopping by today.  I'd love to hear what you are journaling about (on paper or on your blog) today.

XO, HARMONY

Discovering Old, Adding New... A Creative Photo Journey

We visited my brother and his wife a week or so ago to help them a bit with renovations on their newly bought house.  It was one of those bank repo-type deals, so there was a lot of work to be done to get the home ready for them to move in.  In all honesty, we spent most of the weekend playing, hanging out, and eating, but I promise that a little bit of work actually happened in there somewhere.  Here's some random pics I took on that day on the home site.  I was inspired by the shapes, textures, and patterns that could be found anywhere, even in an old and ugly house under construction.

And then there was this guy so focused with his baby sized-roller brush...

Speaking of Patterns, Colors, and Shapes, I am super super psyched to start this ecourse with Alisa Burke this week!  I am hoping to learn some new techniques and get more ideas for how to incorporate unique fabric that I created into my art.  Haven't heard about it yet? Watch this intro video she made for it and you may not be able to resist the fun.
beneath the surface online class from Alisa Burke on Vimeo.

Let me know if you are taking this course too.  I'd love to connect and share photos!

XO, HARMONY