Sketchbook Sunday!

As you may know, I've been doing a bit of Art Journaling. I journal write daily but my current efforts are to bring a more artistic flare to my writing. I really see Art Journaling as two distinct practices.....art and writing. I've focused mainly on the art end and have used my art to inspire my writing prompts.

To manage this addition to my currently hectic life, I'm going to really focus on the Art Journaling for a minimum of one day a week......Sundays. I'm sure there will be more 'cause I really like it, but I don't want to overwhelm myself.

Yesterday while drinking my morning coffee I started to sketch out ideas for beads. I typically don't do this and if I do, its usually on the back of a reciept or napkin or something like that. But yesterday I started with sketching out organic shapes that I had hoped to develop into beads....added a little watercolor and some thin decorative lines and ta dahhh! I really liked the process.

I couldn't stop there.....I took my sketchbook with me to the studio and created what I had drawn...

I kinda like this! I am typically a spontaneous bead maker where I just do what pops into my head. This planning out business could be a good thing for me....

This one is my favorite.

This is the other side. I like the others too but the lime green, although it didn't stand out when I was looking at it, seemed a bit seedie in the photographs.

Outside My Comfort Zone

Its always interesting to shake things up and work outside your comfort zone. Working with colors, styles, shapes that aren't necessarily "you" has the potential of opening doors to new ways that grow to become YOU. I've been doing just that and my first trial bead is kind of interesting to me. Primarily neutral, what I call subtle with an organic textural feel are the ways I would describe the bead. I used a few reactive glasses which really helped in the loose "happenings" approach I wanted to take. I enjoyed making this first bead so much that I continued with this experiment yesterday and anxiously await this mornings kiln opening! As you can probably guess, these beads have multiple views but I've only chosen to show one...they are very intreguing to me but WOW are they different for me.....










I'd love to hear what you think about my step outside my box. Its a whole different way of working....