Journal swap page...

My friend Melanie and I began a swap journal TEN years ago, which we never finished. A number of circumstances in our lives at the time made us set aside our journals, and new opportunities in life and art kept us from resuming our swap...until this year, when my friend Marilyn and I began teaching a new art journal class. So Mel and I decided to pick up where we left off. This swap is unique in that we both started with an expandable "scrapbook" type of journal, where the pages can be removed. It's a great way to swap because we can work on pages and then just give the pages to one another to insert into our own journals. Although we each designed our own covers, the insides of our journals are essentially the same because when we swap pages, we also make one for ourselves. So (in theory) at the end of this swap, we will each have a very similar, if not identical journal with a personalized cover. I say "in theory" because in this case, I have finished Mel's page, but not the one for my own journal. And I have so many projects on my plate these days that I fear I will never get to it. So for the sake of remembering what the page looks like before I pass it on, here it is. We went with a spring time theme, since we've been enjoying some wonderful springtime weather lately --and also because, by April in upstate NY, we are sooooo ready for spring, even if it takes its time getting here.

I may still add just a few additional details, but I was pretty pleased with the overall composition.

Aaaaaah. A Sunday of Art-Making...

I played with a technique by Kelly Rae Roberts that was featured in two issues of Cloth Paper Scissors. The finished piece may be my submission for an affirmation collage swap hosted by friend and artist Marilyn Rock. I am in the process of making several more, so I am not sure which one I will swap. Marilyn cautioned that making these could become an addiction. I loved working on what affirmations I would use. It was definitely an exercise in self-awareness.

A sneak peak...

at the altered chinese chess set challenge...
For those who've just stumbled upon my blog for the first time, or those who don't commit every brilliant post I write to memory, I issued a challenge back in November, to the first ten readers who wished to participate. Including myself, the challenge began with ten participants, and nine were able to complete it within (give or take a week) our allotted time frame...

It has been a wonderful month at my mailbox (or more accurately, my front porch), where every few days, I was treated to another amazing work of art that began as a $2 Chinese wooden chess set and evolved into a unique work of art.

Here I have cropped photos to offer just a peak at a fragment of each of the amazing pieces I received. All of them are fabulously creative and entirely different, but I've made a few initial observations...

2 chose to retain the set's original Asian theme;
3 chose to keep theirs as a type of game;
3 went with themes evoking nature or used natural elements;
2 highlighted girls/women in their pieces;
2 are designed to be wall hangings

(obviously some pieces fit into more than one category here)

I want to publicly thank all of the participants for taking on the challenge. I issued it at an absolutely crazy time of year -- the winter holidays -- and everyone jumped in as though they didn't have a thousand other things to do. As I mentioned in my original post about the challenge, my plan now is to write an article about our experience (with the help of all of the contributing artists), as well as to create an art piece for each of the participants that also serves as documentation of everyone's creations.

Charmed!

In a couple of previous posts, I mentioned that my friend Laura Jones was hosting a charm swap in which I was invited to participate. I was treated to a wonderful boxful of charms in my mailbox about a week ago, and I wanted to share some of my favorites here today. In truth, I loved them ALL, but these were some that particularly stood out for me. This was such a fun creative exchange, and as you can see from this selection, no two were even remotely the same!! My absolute favorite was a charm that Laura made from a small Christmas lightbulb, adorned with seed beads, inspirational words, and wire. The simplicity and absolute genius of using an object in an unexpected way just made me smile.

Charming artists, l to r. top row, then bottom:
Debbie Wachel, Michele Merges Martens, Laura Jones & Laura Jones (my fave!)
Linda London, Mary Devenpeck, Marilyn Rock, Melanie Phillips, Laura Jones