Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Pixie Allen

Hi guys, it finnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnally feels like we're heading into summer here YIPPIE! I'm so happy I wanna share the love and will be doing so online tomorrow may be....in a giveaway...may be...I guess you'll just have to come back and see ;) for now though we have the happy goodies in the form of TAAAAAAAT (yep I'm THAT happpppppppppy I gotta draw lotsa words ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut!) lol enjoy the fabulous work and mindful words of Pixie;

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are. 

I’m Pixie (yes it’s my real name) I’m an artist, I’m a seeker of the light, and general love giver... I am a mom of two little boys and wife of one hubster who’s pretty awesome in himself. I run a plumbing and heating company during the day... who am I kidding its a 24/7 company lol! But I use my spare spare time to art, create, write and just free my creative muse. I love to create using all the colours on the spectrum, Im not shy of colour, it makes me happy, the brighter the better. I don’t box myself in when it comes to the type of artist I am, I tend to create what needs to come out of me so one day that could be an art journal page learning techniques another day it could be an energy piece, the next a fantasy piece, so it depends on my mood, my muse and what I am free to create. 

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it? 

I guess the biggest challenge is to remain true to who you are. It’s so easy to sit on YouTube and watch how everyone else creates but then you go and do the same, it’s easy to loose yourself as an artist especially if you are just starting out. I say its great to watch other process for a while but there comes a point where its time for you to shine your beacon down on the world and let them see just how fabulous you are. To over come the risk, always art in your style, style is what makes you....you, so to speak, there’s not really much point in copying someone else’s style because it isn’t authentic to you and that what everyone wants to see right!?! 

What is your heart’s greatest desire for your life as an artist? 

To be free to create the things that make my soul sing. I love art and creating, but I don’t stick to the rules, I make sure it’s always fun and the music is on in the studio so I can groove along to it lol. I hope that people look at my art and just love the colours, the use of colours and say wow that rocks. 

What do you most wish your art to achieve? 

I would like to achieve my own gallery show locally, then clearly world domination lol but seriously I would love my own gallery show, even a shared show, this would be one of my biggest desires for my art. 

Do you ever lose your mojo, and if so, how do you get it back?

It’s natural that at some point that you’re going to hit a wall, I just flow with it, I journal alot, a written journal, I find that helps get out any issues, a bit like morning pages, it gets out the negative before starting the day. It helps and it works, thats not to say that sometimes it will be a long hiatus between arting but I think sitting with it is the most important thing, listen to your gut and do what its asking you to do I always find that going against it just causes more road blocks lol. Sooner or later the muse will return, I guess its just having faith that it will come back.

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art?

You can find me in all the usual places, mainly on facebook, my blog is down as I have some huge plans for that but right now you can find me here: Facebook Page : Twitter Page : Youtube 

Thanks so much Pixie, your last answer reminds me of a friend who says 'meh! it happens' with a dismissive shrug to practically everything that you think is totally end-of-the-world-crappy-balls (...short of someone dying that is) and I LOVE THAT! It happens, end of. Been feeling in that place lately and while part of me is going 'but you have no big project you're working on & that feels total weird-balls' the rest of me is totally 'who cares I got this shiny new paint, oooooooh *slosh* arrrrrrrrrrrrrrh *splat*' lol so I'm totally loving my mini downtime, I'm still doing art...so why do I feel I have to label it with a 'big project' sticker? That's total screwed-up-balls*!

Remember to *nudge* *nudge* come back *wink* *wink* tomorrow....

Do you??

Email me or click the link to find all the details here =)

Much love

Jennibellie

* not sure what all the balls is about, the sun has made me giddy!

Have you ever...

had a burning question for me?

I've spent the day answering your qu's and I've jiggled about my blog so I now have an 'About Me and FAQs' page YAY!

I decided the best way to tackle the amount of questions I get posed via email, youtube, facebook, twitter, flickr, you name it, is to dedicate a place where I can answer those that crop up time and again (and just for the nosey few that wanna read em all too ;) ). 

I love getting mail, and I love connecting with you all, so please don't stop. It's just the amount of questions coming at me has now gotten to a point where I feel all I'm doing online is answering queries, and I'm beginning to sink! I'm only one person. So hopefully this will help me out some by answering those that all have the same questions of art supplies, video making and online pursuits. Or if nothing else you'll see some cute (& scary - top right!) pics of Sweepie lol

I've also created a special place for my blog tutorials, which I'll hopefully be doing more of in the future, whoop!

So that's it for now, Jennibellie is over and out and Jenny's going to take over with a chillaxing evening, go check out my new pages and if you can think of any other glaringly obvious regularly asked questions for me leave em in the comments of this blogpost, it'll be an ongoing evolutionary exercise =)

much love & happy weekend

Shoestring Studio Spruce-Up Ideas w Video Goodness

Woohoo! Now I feel like a real Jennibellie-again...because I have a new video. I've felt a little out of my own loop/on a back foot since I've come back online and this is the reason. Now I have a video. Now I feel complete ;)

This vid is a run-up to my next which will be a full studio tour (yes, I know long time coming...been badgered about it for yeaaaaars! lol) but here I wanted to show some super simple ideas for sprucing up your studio, on the cheap (often free) and very quick, before I do. Here it is, enjoy:

Much love

Comic Strip Page

So you know I've been kinda slow on the journal pages recently, as I said in My Journal Pattern post a while ago, sometimes I do nothing but art journal, other times I do anything but art journal. And this is one of those latter times. And that's okay. My muse isn't much fussed about looking at, or producing, art journal pages but instead looking outside the box of art journaling; which is fine, awesome in fact. It gets me to see what else is around me that can inspire and develop into something.

'Drained' says (and shows, from it's lack of inspiration/interest) it all!

Recently I've been really into reading zines, especially perzines, and given my artistic nature I definitely prefer those that are created with an artistic flare of their own; which has lead me to read a few comic based zines. What I love most about these comic perzines is that they can take the mundane of days and turn them into something relate-able, clever and fun. So taking inspiration from some of my favourite zinesters* last night I created a comic strip, picking something mundane from my day and choosing very simple sketches, so that I didn't find the process too arduous (which would be a sure sign I'd never make one again lol)

A jiffy later here's the finished result, 

about how Sweepie's just like a real boy, and will eat anything....just as long as it's off of your plate.

And so you can read it easier:

So super simple but it did give me a feeling of accomplishment lol. This is in my written journal & I'll definitely be doing more of these in there to log my day. My bff is always drawing our time together like this, and I used to do little 'bits' like this in my teenage journals (which looked like a cross between zines with their doodles and copy & paste elements & Smash Books with their across-class-notes and ticket stubs with journaling) can't believe it hasn't occurred to me to do it as another form of journaling before now. I highly recommend this for when you don't feel like getting out all your pens/paints/crayons/etc/etc/etc and doing the full art journal shindig.

Happy creating, much love

* (I know I've blogged about zines before but I'm aware I may be still be speaking a different language to some of my readers here, so 1) Zine, a form of self publication on any desired topic 2) Per-zine, short for personal-zine, can be a diary or poetry etc 3) Zinester, someone who makes/trades/reads zines. K? Good. Great. lol)

Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Misja van Laatum

Hi guys...I'm back, that means TAT is too, and I'm really excited because having recently been under the creative weather lets say I found this weeks artist a truly interesting read of new perspectives...just what my arty doc would order. If I had one, anyways. I'm betting. Yeah. For sure. Anyways, enjoy =)

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are.
My name is Misja van Laatum and I live in a small city in the Netherlands. I've been a creative tinkerer for as long as I can remember. I grew up drawing and painting, building, reading and exploring. This was largely due to the good example my parents gave me: my mother was a teacher and my father an administrator (for the same school no less!) but both were great artists in my opinion. However, the economic situation in the seventies meant that becoming professional artists and starting a family was pretty much an impossible combination. Nevertheless they both kept painting and drawing in their free time. My father switched to mostly assemblage and collage in the eighties.
I'm no professional artist either (well – not in the traditional sense anyway); I finished art school as a digital designer and I work as a freelancer doing all sorts of graphic work and game design.
Art-wise I like to use a lot of different techniques: I enjoy drawing, painting, bookbinding, collage and (some) etching but mostly I'm into mixed media and assemblage. My works are usually small. I work with boxes, found objects and ephemera. There are many, many artists I admire but some of them are truly inspirational: Joseph Cornell, Carel Willink, Nick Bantock, Giorgio de Chirico and Lisa Nilsson to name but a few.

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it?

There's a number of challenges I face as an artist (and I do think they are the same hurdles that most – if not all – creative people face) but it's hard to arrange them 'smallest' to 'largest'.
There's the very mundane and down-to-earth practical side of if: I'd love to spend a big portion of my time in the studio but until I've figured out how to make an actual living out of it, my art remains a glorified hobby. And I'm not even sure that's a bad thing; it means that 'studio time' is essentially 'me time' where I get to make things I truly like, at my own pace and to my own standards.
I find a bigger challenge in the doubts that pop up regularly: is what I'm making relevant? Do I even like my own work? Will it ever be 'good enough'? How do I keep myself from re-hashing the same ideas over and over again? And these doubts can be really hard to overcome... they can be crippling from time to time. Stepping away and doing something completely different does help: go swimming, take a long walk, play video games, hang out with friends. Doubts never last (or they haven't until now!) and I always find they're outweighed by the pleasure of creating.

What is your heart’s greatest desire for your life as an artist?
Good question, and a really hard one. My 'heart's great desire' suggests that there's some goal I'm working towards and that's not the case. I'm still learning and I fully expect to keep learning as long as I keep creating art. But there are certainly a number of things I'd like to accomplish in the (near) future; I enjoy working in cooperation so I'd like to participate in (more) group exhibitions and possibly – once I feel I'm proficient enough – organize workshops or courses. I enjoy writing so 'publishing a book' is one of those long-term items on my bucket list.
Furthermore I would love to set up a museum. And fill it to the creaking rafters with nonsensical objects, weird art and strange books. Admittedly this is towards the very-unlikely-to-ever-happen end of the spectrum, but who doesn't like to dream? I wouldn't be the first however, take a look at these for instance: Nick Bantocks 'The Museum at Purgatory' (http://goo.gl/1Bxxs), The Museum of Jurassic Technology (http://mjt.org/) and more.

Do you ever lose your mojo, and if so, how do you get it back?
It happens from time to time, but not that often. Thank goodness.
I'm very much a 'picture thinker', so usually when I start working on an object it's the culmination of a much longer process that has been going on inside my head – sometimes for absolutely ages. The actual 'making' of an artwork; the collecting, arranging, painting and assembling is – usually - just the final stage.
So to keep making art I need to keep feeding my head (heart? soul?) new and exciting titbits of the world around me. We all do this, all the time: you watch films, read books, meet people, travel the world. Keep an open mind, open your eyes wide, listen, taste and feel. All the time.
But I do lose my mojo every now and then: usually when I'm over-burdened with work, or when I'm worried or sad. What do I do when this happens? First of all: don't panic. I trust that inspiration, creativity and ideas come back as soon as I've made room for them. They never leave, but sometimes you stop listening to them...
Secondly: kick-start the creative process. After one of these "dry spells" I've made a habit of visiting a place that's new to me: a museum I haven't been to, a city, park or forest I haven't seen yet, etc. I'll take my time; take pictures, make sketches, search for anything that might be useful in my studio (you know: leaves, seeds, pebbles, second hand books and postcards, etc.).
And finally: start working without a plan. I sit down, grab whatever comes to hand and just start making stuff. Painting, drawing, writing, anything. It doesn't have to be 'good' or 'pretty' – getting back into the flow is what matters. Sometimes the end results are surprising, sometimes they're horrible, but they always get me going again...

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art?

My website – which is very sparse at the moment, but I'm working on that – can be found at: http://www.misjavanlaatum.nl It's all in Dutch for now, but the relevant bit of it (my portfolio) is a Flickr feed that contains just pictures and comments in English. I also keep a Flickr set with works in progress - it can be found at: http://goo.gl/g8YYN

Thank you so much Misja, I love that you don't think you have something 'big' that you're working towards but have such awesome bucket list desires - as you say you're working towards something when you create without even realising it, so all your desires are undoubtedly coming nearer to you too =) Reading your interview was very refreshing to me and I think you have unknowingly made me recognise something I've wanted to do for my art, for myself, for a while but never consciously acknowledged so thanks =) I guess we'll see if I do it if I do a near future post on it...

Email me or click the link to find all the details here =)

Much love

Jennibellie

Hello...remember me???

Hello, hello!! I'm back, did you miss me?? I missed you. Thank you to everyone that's left such warming comments for me in my absence...and while I said I was going to stay off of the computer (which I did do very well I think) I did check sites & messages on my phone still - you can take the internet away from the girl (...but only if she doesn't sneak a smart phone up her sleeve or under her pillow lol) still it did mean that if you sent me a message I did read it, so thank you to everybody for being so supportive (right down from the tips of my toes!)

So what's been happening in Jennibellie-land? Well creatively not much. I was actually away longer than I had intended; first I was very unwell and wanted to do nothing but watch tv shows on the sofa (I even brought all the twilight movies to watch consecutively in bed like a teenager lol). Then when I started to feel better physically I still just felt so drained in everything else; I was creatively burned out. This page below was the only art journal page I did during the whole of my absence, done after Margaret Thatcher died:

As you can tell not very 'arty', it is just a sketch on an already-painted background and A LOT of writing. And writing is what I mainly did as a creative release, because while I felt emotionally drained my mind was just going crazy - it did not seem to recognise that my hands were not willing to comply so gave me about 50 ideas for new projects a day (or may be it did realise & tried to overcompensate!), either way it was driving me nuts. So I wrote everything down in the hopes these ideas would leave me alone (yeah right!). But writing still proved useful, and through recognising this, and the fact that I just did not feel like physically creating anything I started to write other things. It worked at calming down my whirling brain by giving it a singular creative focus, and within a week or so, I had completed my first brand new zine in years:

jennibellie's journals - my new zine

It is my first perzine (personal zine) and was one of the most cathartic experiences I've ever been through; I think not only because of the emotional toils I was revisiting on the page, but also because of my current emotionally low plateau. Either way it helped, like extracting something poisonous you didn't even know was stinging you. This zine is about the secrets behind the journal page (or more specifically behind my journal pages) - the life, the experiences, the heartaches, the fears etc. There's more info on why I wrote it from this 'who, what, why' page from the actual zine:

if you want to read it click on it I'm sure it'll become bigger

So I'm pretty pleased I managed to 'create' something while still listening to myself and not actually creating anything lol. The zine isn't available yet, but I have sent it off to be professionally printed so I'll let you know when it's available if you're interested in reading it. Speaking of, I said I would say when the hard copies of my Prompted Art Journals are ready for sale, and finally as of today are they in:

click the pic

So other than hand-making the matching envelopes to go with journals I've not done much arty hands-on stuff more recently either. The most I have done is over a pre-arranged art weekend with a friend (this last weekend just gone) and in showing her how to make things I did feel a bit of my spark did come back. I made my studio a bit prettier and recorded some footage for a new video to do with art spaces - not nearly with the same amount of gusto or huge creative dose as I might have usually though. The thing about creativity is I know myself the times when I just have to park my butt and force it through, and I know the other times when I just have to wait for it to come back to me as it pleases - and this has been one of those latter times. And the constant flow of ideas shows me that if you are a creative, then that never totally leaves you, even when you have to take a break.

Uh! So long blog-post...but I'm back. Gimme a little time to settle back in (yes it's weirdly disorientating coming back after going 'offline' for a while - like taking a long holiday somewhere then having to get used to your regular home routine again lol) but I'll see you soon =)

much love

ps Sweepie missed you too

'where'd you go???'

Some time away

Hi guys, just a quick post to let you know that if you've noticed my absense a little over the past few days, on yt, fb or replying to your comments I'm not ignoring you, I just need a little time away from the computer. Genetically the women in my family are strong, but suffer badly healthwise with what us women have to go through, this month I've not only suffered excruciating pains and migraines but also sickness, which I've not dealt with since a teenager and it has knocked me for six. I can stand being on the comp, but only for a v.small time, so I'm just going to give in and have downtown away from anything that makes me feel worse. I could be away a couple days or a week or two, I dunno just wanted to give you a heads-up and tell you I'm not ignoring you and I've not disappeared, I just need to get better. And just to make this about art, here's the only art journal page I've done in quite a while:

 - without feeling any more sorry for myself ( :/ ) the title sums it all up really...

See you soon & be sure to have some fun arty time for me, much love

Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Felicia Borges

Hi guys, hope everyone's had a lovely Easter, filled with lots of treats and good times? (she says as she sits munching an choccie egg despite it being 11pm! *munch* *munch* *munch*). I've a treat for you too; TWO interviews. Not only is the lovely Felicia Borges, aka 'The Journal Junkie' this week's featured TAT artist, but she's also interviewed me on her blog today too. So once you're done reading her interview head over to her blog if you wanna know a secret I never shared anywhere else on the internet before 'ooooooooooooooooooh!' =D 

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are. 

I live with my husband, teenage son, and three golden retrievers in Sacramento, California. I’ve always dabbled in creative hobbies, but nothing had ever stuck long-term. Then a little over 2.5 years ago I read a book called “How to Live on 24 Hours a Day” and it changed me. I began to focus on making various aspects of “art” a part of my daily life. I read books, I watched documentaries, took classes, and I started watching YouTube videos on different art techniques. It was there that I stumbled across this thing called “art journaling.” The rest, they say, is history.  I believe with every fiber of my being that there are no rules and there is there is no box, except the 25 square foot art studio where I create my mixed media art. I am inspired by abstract, modern, pop, and street art and love patterns and colors found in traditional cultural symbols and art from around the world, graffiti, stained glass windows, and more. Some of my current favorites are Day of the Dead art, Chinese cut paper designs, African tribal masks, and motifs from India. 

I use bold colors, patterns and textures and work primarily in acrylics and gel mediums, inks, paint pens, markers, pencils, and both pan and water-soluble pastels to paint, print, and/or collage on a variety of papers, recycled/altered books, handmade journals, and on canvas. Tools are often found, recycled, or handmade and can range from a drinking straw or bubble wrap to original stamps and stencils. Finished pieces can contain 100 layers or more. 

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it? 

I have made a lot of “ugly” art/journal pages. I’ve been stuck. I’ve been frustrated. I’ve left art/art journal pages (and even entire journals) unfinished in total disgust. I’ve thrown my hands up numerous times. 

But one of the things I’ve enjoyed, and get inspiration from, is being an inspiration to other artists/art journalists, especially those that are just starting out. I think there is a level of fear that we all share (that we don’t/won’t measure up). We decide on some level that we aren’t as good (as a beginner) as someone else (with 5 years of experience). I think part of that comes from our showing people the stuff we’re proud of and keeping our struggles and less than stuff in the shadows. 

I love getting on my soap box and preaching that “There are no rules!” in art/art journaling…except those rules and self-limiting beliefs that we create for ourselves. In fact, I’ve began preparing some content for YouTube videos around this concept…sharing the ugly, examples of what not to do, lessons learned, etc. There are plenty of tutorials of gorgeous art and journal spreads. I want to focus on videos that show that it’s okay to be human, not everything we do turns out the way we want it to, and ya know what, it’s okay…just try again tomorrow. 

Have you ever found anything that originally daunted you as an artist that you can now overcome easily? 

Making the art itself has never been daunting to me. Art, like life, is a grand experiment. But trying to figure out the business side of the arts? THAT is the part that gives me pause. Even though I am a “leap and the net will appear” kind of girl, I still have those moments where everything seems impossible--until I can see that it is possible—then it becomes inevitable. For the last couple of years, especially as I have become more confident with myself and more comfortable with my art, I have had interesting opportunities fall into my lap. At first I would dismiss them as someone just being nice and saying something kind to me. But more recently I have had a mental shift. What if they aren’t just being nice? What if they really are offering me an amazing opportunity? A huge lesson I’ve learned recently is that once I am ready/open to accept an opportunity, it will became a possibility, and eventually a reality. 

Recently I prepared 35 pieces of work (12 of them with custom framing) for my FIRST EVER art hanging at a local hair salon. It was scary and I’m sure I’ve made a lot of mistakes with it, but I did it! I’ve already learned from the experience and now I’m ready to say “Yes!” to other opportunities. And I’m eager to seek out opportunities on my own. I would have never thought that was possible a couple of years ago. 

Tell us where we can find out more about you and your art? 

You can find me at any of the following: 

Website: http://www.feliciaborges.com/ 

The Journal Junkie Blog: http://feliciathejournaljunkie.blogspot.com/

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/feliciaborges

Sketchbook Projects: http://www.arthousecoop.com/users/feliciaborges

Thank you so much Felicia, I love the story about putting all those pieces of artwork in the hair salon, because it reminds me of one of my new mantras (for the lack of a better word) for this year - to do what scares you most! We're always told to do that right? 

What I don't think gets shared enough though is that doing what scares us most is the best (& maybe the only) way to become less afraid. We somehow think that people we see putting themselves out there aren't afraid at all, just because they are doing it - but you ask them and that is usually completely wrong. They're afraid, but they do it anyway...

Here is the first installment of my interview with Felicia (she split the interview into two sections, the second part to be posted later on in week I believe), stop by and say hi =)

Email me or click the link to find all the details here =)

Much love

Jennibellie