Lifebook 2018--Save 20% Now!

Hello Friends!  

What a great ride Lifebook 2017 has been, it's been such an honor to be among this trip of instructors and amazing students. I've enjoyed every minute. I'm so grateful to my friend, Tamara Laporte for having me for the second time!

While I won't be partaking as a teacher in 2018, I will be as a student and champion of all things Lifebook. In case you are interested in joining in on the fun, check out what is changing for the better & enjoy!

Life Book 2018

New & Improved, Bigger & Better! 

2018 is a special &; exciting year for Life Book because the launch of LB2018 coincides with the publication of Tamara's new book (all about Life Book) AND she is going to make the Life Book offer more holistic by opening the course up to other art forms (like clay work, photography and writing) plus she is also bringing in some more wellness experts that will support you on your wellness/ personal development journey!! It’s very much in line with her very first vision for Life Book when she started dreaming up the concept in 2011! :)

The key differences/ extras this year are: 

• Virtual Life Book Gift (or Swag) Bag!!! :D Everyone who signs up to Life Book gets a virtual ‘goodie bag’ filled with things like: high res prints (for you to print out), exclusive discount codes from teachers and sponsors, free ebooks and ezines and other awesome stuff! yay! Click here to find out what is in the gift bag!
• Additional healing AND art disciplines (Tamara has invited several other experts who do things like yoga/ aromatherapy/ NVC & mindfulness etc plus other art disciplines like sculpture/ doll making/ photography & writing etc to make the entire healing/ wellness aspect of Life Book more holistic (these offers are on top of the art lessons not instead of).
• Tamara will run several Facebook live sessions (first year she is offering this), these will be in the form of: Check ins/ FAQs/ Impromptu art sessions & They will be recorded and available for those who can’t make the live sessions.
• Life long access to all content (this is the first year she is offering life long access to all content, yay!!)
• She is holding a huge prize draw with 20 prizes or so combined worth of £3000 GBP for all people who sign up to Life Book (not part of the blog hop) – This prize draw can only be entered if you sign up to Life Book, prizes include huge bundles of art supplies and other cool creative and wellness items!
• Price does NOT change from last year!! Even though you’re getting SO MUCH MORE !!! :D

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In a nutshell, this is the Incredible Life Book 2018 offer:

◙ A minimum of 6-8, in depth, Mixed Media Art Lessons plus a Minimum of 4 Bonus Sessions by Tamara  (it usually ends up being more than that though because she gets excited about all the new things she learns and finds it difficult not to share haha!)
◙ 21, in depth, Mixed Media Art Lessons by Spectacular Guest Teachers (see below who the 2018 guest teachers are)
◙ Between 12 – 18 additional arts & craft and wellness sessions with experts in this field (check the teacher profile doc to see what each expert has to offer)
◙ 21 (Smaller) Bonus Activities like: extra PDF prompts & step by steps/ artist interviews/ ATC swaps/ give aways/ audio meditations/ writing prompts etc by Tamara & Guest Teachers
◙ Between 4-6 Facebook Live Sessions with Tamara

Early Bird Discount Code!

If you join Life Book by the end of this month, December 31st, you can get 20% off!!!

Click HERE to join now!

Day 4 Morning After Challenge: Beauty is More Than Meets The Eye

....Good Morning My Loves.....

So here we are on Day 4 of my challenge....and I'm sharing with you an sketch that I had in one of my journals that I forgot about truthfully but happened upon when I was thinking about what to do last night for my page of the day. I decided to tweak it a bit , take the sketch and turn it into a pen and ink painting.  The concept came from a page in a magazine.  While a lot of times, I just make up my portraits, more or less concentrating on the technique rather than the outcome, sometimes I like to look in fashion magazines for inspiration because the models features are so pronounced and unusual at times...it's fun to try to recreate.

That's the thing about beauty of a person. It often is more than what you would assume is traditional beauty. And what is beautiful to one, isn't nearly as striking to another.    

Those that may appear beautiful on the exterior are quite harsh and ugly on the interior.  

.....but the eyes....they tell so much about a persons soul.  They are the windows to someone's heart. They reflect the beauty that resonates on the inside of one and speak volumes even when all else is silent.

there is so much more than meets they eye.....and yet, it has to be the eye that catches one's heart first and foremost before the rest walks away in a rush.

Once you've captured someone's eye, the rest begins to reveal itself.  It's only then you can decide if it's the type of beauty want to bloom into something more.    :)

***

Today's suggestion: leaf through some magazines.  Find a photo of someone that has eyes that speak to you.....work on recreating those eyes in your 'own words' with your own strokes.   My advice is to use a pencil first and foremost, a 2b and maybe a 4 or 6b for darker shading. A blending stump helps tremendously with shading and smoothing out the features.    You can do it!! :)

Have a great Sunday....may your day be filled with moments of great beauty and joy.

xoxo Jodi

A Quiet Moment of Reflection

There are some days when I just don't want to speak....just write and listen to all that is going on inside of me.   Today is that day....a quiet day of reflection starting out on my back deck, a cup of good coffee and my journal.   Life is good.  Especially when you slow down and listen.

General Information - East Coast - Art Is...You - The East Coast Art Retreat

General Information - East Coast - Art Is...You - The East Coast Art Retreat

So many upcoming events and happenings to share, it's hard to know where to start, and that's definitely a good thing! Coming up in October I will be participating as an INSTRUCTOR--wooot woot at Art Is....You retreat!!

I'll be teaching 3 classes and vending one day during this retreat that is not to be missed. I looked at the list of instructors and had to pinch myself that I was included amongst some of my most favorite mixed media artists! In this particular class I'm featuring, we will work on creating a angelic muse using a primarily neutral color palette, a bit of collage, multiple layers of paint, and a touch of journal writing. Learn a variety of techniques amongst a tribe of other like minded creative souls!


For those of you who want to teach at retreats or be published, add new galleries to your resume, open an online shop....it all starts with doing the work first and foremost, then the next step is to put yourself out there. Plain and simple.  I sent in an application and lo and behold---I was accepted!!  It wouldn't have happened if I didn't. What are you going to try this year that you weren't brave enough to do in 2010??  I'd love to hear your story!

Can't Sleep Make Art Art Everyday Month Day 30

And so here it is, the end of Art Everyday Month!  Where did the time go? Like an impatient child, time keeps going and going whether or not we keep up with it or not. It moves on whether we are ready or not.  I'm ready for December and so happy for the month that I've had in art. I've learned a lot, I've created a lot and the challenge has  taught me a bit about endurance and routine.  Just like anything, you can make excuses after excuses as to why you can't do something. If you spent a few minutes a day doing things in the same amount of time you complain about not having time do it--you will  be surprised in a good way that you can you accomplish sometihng once your obstacles are removed!   Last year at this time I wrote an article in Cloth Paper Scissors about just BEGINNING (A Beginner's Guide to Beginning  Jan/Feb 2010).  Half the battle is creating good habits and  setting time aside everyday to do what you love alongside with doing what you need to do.  Are you a morning person or a night person. I'm a night person. I just am.  I will get up early though and do stuff but right now, I do most of my work late in the evening just because that's when life settles down, I get home from work, chores are done..yadayada.  

Last night, I couldn't sleep.  I was tired but I couldn't fall asleep.  I grabbed my new journal that is going to be dedicated to faces, and started in that with just a few simple tools.  A couple pencils, pen, marker and eraser.  No magical set up or items and I just started drawing this face. I don't even really care for how it came out, I"m not good at drawing profiles.  But that's all right because one day I will be good at it.  I'll keep on trying and late at night when I can't sleep because too many things are buzzing around my head, I'll have something release my feelings into.  I'll keep this up and other creative techniques I've incoporated into my creative routine so that maybe this time next year, I'll not only be writing about beginning things, I'll be well into a new career path and full time art life. It's going to happen. I can feel it :)   Stay tuned and lets see.

I hope good things come to you with your new creative routines that were forged this month and you continue to be inspired by the friends and connections you have made  during the challenge. I know I will and I am :)

 

You Are Not Alone Art Everyday Month Day 11

There's a fine line between peaceful solitude and loneliness.   A creative life can be a full life, and it can be a quiet lonely life.  I rarely feel the loneliness anymore.  I think it's because I feel gratitude and joy for all the opportunities I've been presented with and the friends I've made along the way.  Good friends.  Friends that I really, really, really needed.  When I moved to North Carolina 660 miles from my home, I left behind some very good friends and all of my extended family.  All I did pretty much was work.   A lot.  6-7 days a week, 60-70 hours a week at least not including driving time.

Needless to say, I didn't make many friends for  a long time.  I could barely keep my own life together with my family let alone make time for friends.  I never felt that I would meet & make the type of friends I grew up with and perhaps that's how everyone feels. I guess it was just magnified for me because of how far away I was from everyone and how chaotic my life had become.

I quit my job that originally brought me to NC and took some time off before starting in my new career.  I did make some new friends but still....not so much still. I was in a position and still am where I can only get so close to my co-workers because I am their leader.   Fast forward to a couple of broken relationships and many bumps in the road, I still had a longing for companionship outside of the office and outside of my office setting with people I could lean on and do things with whenever we could.

I started dabbling in art, and connecting with a few people online through blogging, Etsy, and other forums....and then....who knows how it all happened but I met some fellow artists from my own home town.  Amazing. I was just beginning to play with all the cool paints and tools and pretty much had no idea what I was doing but I was having fun and I wanted to share that enthusiasm with others and do things with people that got what I was all about.  Serendipity.  I met some wonderful women who then introduced me to a whole slew of other wonderful women artists....and through those new connections I finally made the friends that I was missing for so long.  It's not easy for me to connect to others....believe it or not, I'm rather shy in  a lot of social situations.  Business...perfectly fine, more than fine.  Social--I'm an observer rather than a leader.

The moral of the story is, I don't fear being alone anymore. I have made lots of connections and friends, many people I can count on and they know they can count on me, too. It's all come together beacause of this 'solitary' peaceful creative life that I now lead (albeit part time).  It took being brave and following the doors that were opening,  walking through them even if it felt a little uncomfortable at first....it all happened exactly when I needed it to the most.

Thank you to the peeps I met through my blog and other blogs, too.  You all have added much joy and inspiration in my life.  :) 

Here's to never being alone.  You have nothing to fear, there's always someone there whether you can see them or not. Just reach out your hand and you'll be amazed at who is there to hold it for you.

***

Materials Used:

9x12 Strathmore Visual Journal

Neocolor II Water soluble crayons

Staz On Ink

Rubber Stamps

Stabilo Pencil

Pitt Pens in shades of gray

Black Pitt Pens

Ball Point Pen

Liquitex paint in titanium white and titan buff

Uniball pen in silver

Magazine cut out 

The World is a More Colorful Place Because of You Art Everyday Month Day 9

 Don't you realize by now, these are the Artful Years of your life!

 You and your crazy hair, lady its really okay to be different. Our shoes don't have to match our shirt and it's okay to wear a flower in your hair if it makes you happy.

 Not every flower is perfect or the color some make think it should be. It's still beautiful nonetheless

 Celebrate the fact that Art Is YOU!  Live it and be proud of who you are.

Some day perhaps someone will understand that this is who you are and accepts you for it. You need to accept yourself first.

The world would be a lot less colorful if you weren't in it.

:)

Paint Over Art Everyday Month Day 4

In the spirit of Art Everyday Month, I've been trying to do something creative everyday--for the most part I've been able to keep up then along comes today and here I am, it's after 9:00 and I haven't created anything today.   After a day spent in a meeting which was draining to me for some reason, I came home and picked up the lil man then off we went to gather supplies for my art kits for my Saturday Graffiti 2 class I'm teaching. My intentions were to finish my sample tonight but guess what. I'm tired :)   I feel like going to bed and just closing my eyes and actually getting 8 hours of sleep instead of my regular 4 or 5.    That' s the thing about leading a duel life. (Regular day job the art by night) It catches up to you!      So today, I'm sharing with you a piece I finished a couple of weeks ago. It's a personal piece I started back last December. The picture above was featured in my shoot for the Summer issue of Studios.  You can see this piece behind me as it was originally.   I let it sit for months and months on end because it really was kinda an emotional piece for me to do.

I wasn't feeling like myself when I did it originally. I had been burned pretty bad (which is actually pretty good for me as an artist, the more emotional I am, the more I create!....hahah....but who wants to go around getting screwed by others especially those who you thought loved you just so you can be more creative???)  LOL  Not me.  Let's leave the drama behind us thank you very much.  Anyway, I digress.    The colors weren't me--the girl didn't have the right face and it really just was too close to me because of the time I had started it, it was almost a constant reminder of what had happened...so I avoided it.

  And then last month I decided to do a paint over...paint over most of the piece and just start fresh. Maybe it's symbolic of how I'm feeling right now. I just want to start fresh with a lot of things.  I want to move on. I want to move in different directions.  In a lot of ways I am moving in different directions both personally and professionally, but in other ways I'm sort of in a holding pattern.  Waiting,  being cautious, trying new things but not really sticking my hand in the water too far.

Or am I? . It's been twelve months almost since that incident and and I've changed.  This painting symbolizes how much I've changed.  There's a lot of layers here just like the layers of my self.   Underneath there still exists what was before (again reference the top picture)....but she's evolved.  She's grown...and she is ready to move on.

Un peeling those layers and you'll find a lot of rough edges and scars and past hurts....

But you'll also find someone that has been patiently listening to the song of the bird to guide her in this new direction.   We all evolve and move in different directions from time  to time. It's okay to let things simmer until you are ready for them.  And when you are ready....watch out.....it'll be time for you to really soar and let the world know what you are all about now that the scars have healed and the hurts are forgotten.   Paint over the past and lets just move on. 

Broken But Not Lost

"Broken" work in progress....
I've had what was once a pure yellow background forever. It just sat on a shelf, waiting for me to be ready for it.
I took it down last week and began working it--adding black, gray, splatters of white. Scratched into it, beat up the canvas as I created what was inside of me. And then, this portrait began taking shape. Perfectly representing what I have been feeling lately.

Not knowing where to go with this.....

I'm still working through my strokes as much as I am my feelings.


Little by little, with every layer of paint, her destiny is becoming more clear.

Despite the fact she is 'Broken' and many tears have been shed, she is not Lost. I know she will be all right.
****
Stay tuned for the finished painting :)

****

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday as you celebrated all that is joyous in this season. I had a great Christmas, filled with lots of friends and family. Both boys here together, an abundance of food, laughter and fun. Late at night I did sit and reflect on this year and how many things have changed for me. It's good to sort things out with your own soul before you breathe them to the rest of the world. I'm still sorting and hoping to have answers as to where I want to go next soon. Or, perhaps the answers will come to me later. Either way, I am going to make some changes around here. I'm feeling the need to move forward after being held back for so long. In reality I did move ahead over the last few years but it was doing so with a anchor weighting me down. Now the anchor has been released, there's no telling what's ahead.

What do you hope is in store for you in 2010? If you had to choose one or two things, what would they be??

Check out some of my work for 2009 in this Flickr set:

CLICK HERE

Winds of Change

If I had a dime for every time I cried over the last few days, I'd be a millionaire.
Isn't if funny that during a time that one should be feeling so much joy and excitement,
I'm feeling worn down and broken.

I guess I'm the kind of person that gets very worked up about things, emotional and passionate, anxiety prone and determined all at the same time. And then, something happens that I just can't control despite the best laid plans which sends me into a tailspin.

What to do, what to do, when you can not win either way you turn? What to do when you
want things to be one way and the wind blows in an entirely new direction? How can you rise above the feelings of sadness and bring back the light to where it should have been shining?


The only thing I know how to do to alleviate some of the stress and pain is through my art. Creating can heal, but it can't solve the world problems. Nor can it solve mine. I wish it could, so that tomorrow when I close on the house, I can also feel the joy and excitement about something that I wanted for so long and have worked so hard for to make happen. There's going to be someone missing when I get my keys and when we spend our first night there, and it breaks my heart and engulfs my world with sadness to the point I almost wanted to say forget it all...the house, my art, my job...just crawl in a little ball and let the world go on around me.

But that would be giving up, and giving up isn't something I normally do. But I do have to let go and allow some things to work out without my forcing them to. Time does heal some wounds and the rest, well, the best we can hope for is a strong band aid to get us through till it heals enough to stand on it's own.


Change brings about excitement, joy, fear, apprehension, and anxiety for me.....it's when the rest of the world spins so fast that I need to just step back and catch my breath so that I can move forward with the strength I know is inside of me.

Wind please guide this change with the gentlest of breeze....that is all that I ask, for now....

(((Art courtesy of my class that I taught at Swank this week...."Mixed Media Symbolic Portraits, "Change"...what do you think, do you feel that I should continue to work with portraits some and offer them in my Etsy shop?????))

Finding My Way Home, part 2

For those of you who have been following me on my home buying journey....I FINALLY got my final commitment from the bank on Friday so it looks like I will be moving next week!! whoohooo! You have no idea how stressed out I was over this process, mostly because I didn't get my commitment until less then a week before. I guess it's a bit of being slightly naive about the process, I thought being pre-qualified pretty much it meant it was a done deal unless something dramatically was uncovered during your loan process. I started all of this back at the beginning of August so I thought surely I would know way ahead of time if this was a done deal or not.....but that's not the case. They had me on pins and needles up to the very end. Nevermind 3/4's of the house is packed up and I'm living with boxes after boxes everywhere. Never mind I already gave my notice to the landlord.....yikes. I'm s stressbucket anyway so managing this process, plus work, plus keeping up with my art biz, family life and classes I've been teaching about put me over the edge!! So much so I had to visit with Miss Clairol yesterday :) It's all better now and I'm looking slightly less haggard so it's all good!

I just wanted to show you the works in progress for my Mixed Media Portrait class. In the last post or so, you saw the finished version of one my portraits. Now....check out the process that leads up to the final versionl. I'm loving doing these funky girls...a bit of realism mixed in with my abstract and funky mixed media art. In this piece, I'm using purples just trying to move slightly to the right of my signature blues. I'm really loving purple, cream and brown(or silver) combination lately. I haven't quite decided what my complimentary colors will be just yet.

Stay tuned for the final version. My class is this afternoon so wish me luck!
In this sample, you can see one of my funky lil houses coming to life; after all....If I'm doing a self portrait, how could I not include something that I've been obsessed with for over a year?? 'Finding My Way Home' has been what my life has been focussed on for the longest time. Thank you for taking the journey with me!

Jodi

Mixed Media Portarit--Layers of Me completed

Yay...she's finished! "Layers of Me" a mixed media portrait sample that I have been working on for my upcoming class at Swank in Southern Pines, NC. What 'Layers' of me did I discover while working on my portrait?

I discovered that art has brought me to a wonderful point of my life...one of great joy and
even great pain. I am forever counting my blessings and appreciate all the opportunities it has afforded me.

I strive to be heard but have a hard time communicating what it is I want to say. I discovered that tears of pain can sow tears of joy simultaneously. I learned there is still more of me left to unveil.

I strive for balance in an uneven world. As much as I love my art, I have been consumed by it as well. It's finding that balance in all that I want to do and still being able to manage my life and that of my family is very difficult....trying to juggle it all is one of my greatest challenges of this new world I've moved into.


I've also discovered that while I'm moving forward in some areas, I've had to let go of things that were and are dear to me because I just can't balance it all in the way that I had hoped to do. My intentions were in the right place by my physical ability to do all things that have come across my table...well, I just haven't figured out a way to do it all. I think it would be one thing if I didn't have a day job, I'd be able to fit in a few more things in on a daily basis, but when I'm physically away from my art and this computer even, the better portion of the day, there are definitely more constraints on my time then I wish there were. (don't get me wrong....I'm GRATEFUL and NEED the day job right now so that's not a bad thing, just one of my personal hurdles that I need to work through in order to balance my world more so).

Creative time can be such a wonderful meditative time as well. I continually work out my joys and frustrations while creating. Even though this painting is a sample for a class this week, I managed to reflect on my life and my self while creating the portrait. I hope I can convey this to the students so that they, too, may discover layers of their self.

What have you discovered about yourself lately?? What struggles do you face?

Holding Me Down to Earth

Yesterday I had the grand idea to do some thrifting but as it was, my body decided otherwise. In other words, I overslept. I guess it was an omen the day before, when after working 9 hours in a bank, I leave with barely a dollar in my wallet! How can I work all day surrounded by opportunity and forget to make a withdrawal before the end of the day??? MizFixit came to my rescue with exchanging 20 of her small bills (which I suspect she may be moonlighting at an area eatery with all those ones...lol), for a 20 at the atm when we walked out for the evening. She's a friend that always comes to my rescue !

I started driving home and remember I have pretty much nothing to eat for dinner. Get gas, and then drive over to Panera Bread for some soup and sandwich. If you haven't tried their Fuji Apple Chicken salad, run don't walk. I am a total addict. I absolutely love the apple flavored vinigerette dressing. Being one that never does things in the order she should, I get a hair up my butt to go over to Michael's after I get my dinner to see if they got in the latest Cloth Paper Scissors issue or the February issue of Artful blogger. I've checked every week. That's the only reason why I've gone into the store (lol) , honest. Of course they didn't have either. I really hated to waste my gas so I figured I might as well make my trip worthwhile and buy something. My latest obsession is collecting different types of sketching supplies. Wood less graphite pencils, charcoal pencils, charcoal wash pencils, white charcoal pencils, graphite pencils in hard, soft and medium leads. Erasers that bend like silly putty. You name it, it is going to be mine! My intentions are to work on my drawing ability as I progress on my artistic journey. I want to be able to rely less on magazine imagery in my artwork and more on my own concoctions. Although, I still love to incorporate it all. I just want less imagery in my work, although I use the imagery for inspiration.


(((((W I P "What is Next"))))))
After my trip to Michael's Friday evening, I headed home with my cold soup, intent to work well into the evening on some projects, then get up early Saturday and head out to the sales. Ya. Right. By 9 pm, my body started puking out on me, wanting nothing more than to lay my head down. I did work on a few projects, these ladies part of the 4 things I'm doing. The color wash back ground are result of extra paint that I had from doing my last two Sweet HeART pictures. I hate wasting paint, so often times, I have extra paper or projects going that I can stamp or brush on the excess paint onto. During the couple of hours I spent creating, I kept getting interupted by phone call after phone call until I finally turned the phone off at 1:00am. Needless to say, I didn't get my butt up out of bed Saturday in time to do some thrifting. Going back to forgetting my money and forgetting to take the paper I bought at work home, perhaps it wasn't meant to be.


((((((W I P "Together"))))))

I really need to have a yard sale of my own truth be told. I just don't have anything big to sell, to make some big bucks ensuring the sale is worth my while. Anyone that's ever had a yard sale, knows that getting ready for one is a huge undertaking. You need to make sure it's worthwhile. Of course, I can't tell you how many times I've gone to a sale where the people have a very small table with about 15 items on it---why in the world you would spend a morning of your life selling cast offs that won't even net you 5 dollars is beyond me. No. Hell to the NO! I'm not going to do it unless I think I can make at least 100 dollars.
So, instead of yard saling, lil man and me went in search of some new shoes. Okay shoe designers for the Shoe Department, let's get something straight. Not everyone can wear open toe shoes and strappy or non strappy sandals to work!!! Nor does a woman's foot look good in ballerina round flat soled shoes with conservative bank dress slacks. Said my peace. Nuff said. Needless to say, I did not get a new pair of shoes. 492 choices and not one of them appropriate for the bank. Or am I being picky???? Lil man got a new pair of sneakers so I guess the gas wasn't wasted, but Mama is still in need. Later in the evening we watched "Martian Child"--cute movie btw. Definitely family friendly. The child in this film pretends he is a Martian to answer the question as to why he was abandoned by his parents as a baby. Heartbreaking in so many ways. It takes an eccentric widowed science fiction fantasy writer to break through the emotional barriers of this child to hold him down to earth without his gravity belt. Although I haven't been abandoned (lately), I can understand the need to escape to a fantasy world to provide a sense of order to all that doesn't make a bit of sense. I solve my problems with a brush rather than a gravity belt and sunglasses to hold me down to earth.

((((Almost Invisible completed...added shading and some additional highlights)))


And there you have it. My Friday and Saturday. Pretty mundane. Notice I didn't include any cleaning or organizing. I have soooo not been in the mood to overhaul anything in this house. I need to hire a maid. Ha! I wish. Since a maid is not going to be in my future anytime soon, I better close this post and go and meet with Mr. Clean and see what he can do to help me out in this housecleaning debacle I've encountered. You gotta know when to pull in the resources when it gets too much for one to handle on your own. I'm woman enough to know, I need help :)
*****
CHECK OUT These latest cutie's!!