Theory of Evolution

Even as a teenager, I was never one to keep a diary, but, since I started journaling about a year ago, I've gotten more comfortable expressing my feelings with words. Perhaps the "art" part of art journaling helped. Now, journal pages are my security blanket, my comfort zone, the mashed potatoes of my art. So, I've been playing around with putting my journal pages on canvas. I love journal pages, the freedom to not be perfect, to experiment, and to tell a story. Sometimes, though, the words are hard to share, but the beauty of an art journal page is that you can reveal as much or as little as you want to reveal. You can paint over your words, write them upside down, in code, backwards, or you can just use someone else's words: a song, a poem, a prayer. Since today is International Peace Day, I created a journal on canvas called "Meditation For Healing."




My painting started life as an arch that I created following Belinda Schneider's tutorial at Bel's Nook. I realized early in the incarnation of my arch that it would devolop into a different species entirely.





By Friday it had morphed into a watercolor sketch, and, by Saturday, it had grown details, like the blue crescents, which I photocopied from a Chinese checker tin. On Sunday, I spent the day putting it all together on a 12" X 12" canvas that I distressed with gesso and black acrylic paint. I added metal elements, an old earring, some scrapbook paper, journaling, and the evolution of this little mixed media painting was complete.





For Roo's Day of Peace Party Mixed Media Monday and Creative Therapy. Rhonda is having a Peace Day party on her blog, so please take the time to join a the celebration at Roo's Treehouse and then light a candle, sing a song, or say a prayer for peace across the world.