Green Pepper Press Street Team Crusade 15

The two journal entries below are inspired by the GPP Challenge 15 for December. "Where are You?" was the question posed. One could also talk about other places one's been. See: http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/ I chose the place where I was born, and the place where I live now; Oklahoma City and Québec City.

La Flor

I haven't had time to work in my journal for quite some time. It was great to get back to it! The theme for this page is "La Flor", and I chose the Gerbera (G as in Gerber) Daisy. I've only seen pictures of this flower, but its size and colours make it look spectacular. I entered information on it, which is legible in larger size. Just click on it.

Roll of the Dice

That is the title of last week's journal prompt from "Blissfully Art Journaling". I was inspired by yet another song, "Taking a Chance on Love".

Sea Dreams

This page is in vivid contrast to what's going on outside my window right now. When I woke up this morning, a blizzard was on and is still going full blast. I love it when that happens on a day I don't have to venture out. I watch the violence without while feeling as cozy and calm as my cats, who are presently curled up in a blanket on my bed.
The stamp used for the image on the left is one of my favourites. The other is a new one, which will probably become another favourite.
January 10, note: Since one of the subsequent themes at "Blissfully Art Journalling" was "water", I entered it on that site as Theme 43

Window on the Fashion Past

With all the journal prompts illustrated, I've time for my own themes. The images on this page are from an ad and an article in Vogue. The background page lends itself to a number of ideas, which I hope to exploit.

Done, at last!

I made two more pages on the "Spooky Moments" theme, based on a poem I wrote some years ago. The page below is Theme 22, "Favourite Holiday." This was the only theme left to do, so I'm now up to date!

Catching up

I kept avoiding Theme 32, "Twenty Things to Do or Not", because the number seemed daunting. When I finally decided to "just do it," the twenty things came easily!

Theme 35 was "Spooky Moments". One more page--Theme 22 "Favourite Holiday", to do and I'll be up to date with the themes proposed!

Tag, You're It!

That's the theme for this week. At the end of the month, Tesse, the owner of the Blissfully Journaling site, will have a drawing to see which one of those who have done the four themes for this month will win the doll book she made for the occasion. Keep tuned!

Transportation and Balance

Here's a Transportation page with a more traditional mode of travel. The subject of this page is "All About Balance". I couldn't resist doing a tongue-in-cheek page on this topic.

This week's theme: Modes of Transportation

Maybe I bent the rules on this one, but when an idea hits me, I just have to go with it.

Three Pictures of Special Moments, (My) Hands, and Stripes of Life

What a mouthful that title is! I've done three more pages on the themes from Blissfully Art Journaling. The first of the three themes asks us to make a layout of three pictures of special moments in our lives, and add comments.

I've cheated on the second theme, "My Hands", because the hands on the page below are not mine. Someone sent me the pictures in an e-mail, and I instantly thought of them for this page. The art work is, astounding. Only paint has been added to the hands, no props used. It symbolizes for me what wonders our hands can express. We can use touch to love, injure, work, write poetry, novels or letters, and we can even make them objects of art.

Theme 30, below, is Stripes of Life. Instructions were to use a ruler to cut strips from magazine

pages, and use them to create a layout. Can you see the woman running for a taxi behind the strips of Dolce and Gabana perfume?

Weird and Wonderful

These pages are my takes on theme 25, Hidden Meanings, and on theme 27, Make an Anihu. What is an Anihu, you ask. It is an animal with a human head, or a human with an animal head. My versions do not adhere to this exactly, but I had fun with them. I can't take credit for the mermaid, she's from an ad for the Australian wine, Yellowtale. The Catfish, however, is all mine!

Have you ever wondered what put that barely-a-smile on Mona Lisa's face? Read the above.

Opposites Attract!

I finished another page today. The theme is "Endings", and Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" seemed most appropriate for the subject. I've used music to interpret quite a few of these themes. Music expresses our emotions as mere words cannot.

The Blissfully Journaling challenge for this week is to make a layout showing two opposite figures. Working from the other end of the list, I have 11 more challenges before I'm current.

Notes from the Past

Theme 21 on the Blissfully Art Journaling site is "Include a pocket on your page." The notes in my pocket are in French, because they are copies of real notes, written by my husband, which I found in my night table drawer some time after his death. I wrote a poem about this find at the time, and it's included in my pockets pages. Jean used to get up at 5:30 every morning, and since I'd still be sleeping, he would leave me little notes on the kitchen table, always signed with x's.

Confusion Reigns!

Well, it reigns at least occasionally. The title comes from a website I found by clicking on the title of another blogger. The result; serendipity! This is theme 20, "Confusion" from my Yahoo! Journaling group. It's always puzzled me that dictionaries use the word being defined in the definition. I was taught not to do that. No wonder I'm confused.

Skipping Ahead

I've now done 22 of the 36 weekly journal page challenges, but this page skips ahead to #36. Tesse, the site owner, has launched a monthly contest, beginning with November. Those of us who do all four challenge themes in a given month will have their names entered in a drawing. The prize will be an art doll book by Tesse, which she'll personalize for the winner.

This week's topic is "Betrayal", and here's my take on it. I plan to keep on doing the previous challenges. Can't wait to get caught up!

New Pages

Challenge 18 Wings
Couldn't resist making my own fairies for this challenge

Challenge 19 Up in Smoke
My first thought was the money and the health--the lives--that go up in the smoke of a cigarette. But I wanted to be positive, and this song from the Jerome Kern 1930's musical, "Roberta" came to mind. It's not super positive, but the lady has a positive attitude. When her friends tease her about her fickle boyfriend, she smiles and says, "When a lovely flame dies, smoke gets in your eyes."
The sheet music belonged to my mother, and has aged gracefully. Gotta love the '30's look of the illustration.

Theme 17: Let's Go to the Beach!

No more beach time here until next year, but it's nice to think about it and anticipate the warm light, the sound of the sea, the sound of gulls arguing. Actually, I'm not near the sea, but I have an active imagination.

What Flower Are You?

For theme 16, Tesse, the site owner, asks us to think of ourselves as a flower. I have several favourites; pansies, the rose, the gerbera daisy, and wild violets. I chose the latter, because when my husband and I lived in our second house, I wrote a poem about the ones which visited our backyard every spring.

I googled them, and found that they're considered a weed by gardeners! Have our pestecided, artificially turfed yards blinded us to the beauty of wild things? If I had a house today, I'd plant my yard in wildflowers of different kinds, or simply let the wild violets take over. What a treat it would be to walk barefoot among them!

Two More Theme Pages

Here are my Journal pages for theme 14, Definition, and for theme 15, Black & White. The flowered pattern in the black background paper does not, unfortunately, show up well.

Theme 13: Pop-ups

I did part of this and the previous page while visiting my friend in Stillwater, Oklahoma. I've had the template for the pop-up flower pot for several years but had never used it. Thanks to Tesse, who comes up with each week's theme! Unfortunately, the scanner flattened out the flower pot, but it popped back up once the scanner lid was opened.

Theme 12: RED!

Red is one of my favorite colors, so this page was a delight to do. Note that even Mary Poppins loves red.

Theme 11: Newsprint

My eye was captured this week by pictures of famous Montréal and Québec City sites, side by side in the local newspaper, “Le Soleil” (The Sun). The headline above the pictures, included on my page, is “Eternal Rivals.”
The article posited that rivalry of the healthy kind is good. It’s usually the smaller city which keeps the rivalry going, declares "Le Soleil"; the larger one “s’en fout” (doesn’t even pay attention to it). The Media: Radio, television, and newspapers, all contribute to keeping the rivalry going.
Le Soleil quotes a Laval University (Québec City) professor as saying, “To use a larger city as a reference point can make life more stimulating and more exciting.”

Theme 10: Time

Another song inspired the page for the theme, "Time." "As Time Goes By" was the perfect choice for me. To hear the song on a great video clip, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_bMFVDu9yo

Theme 9 Stop!

This theme brought to mind vividly the old Supremes' song, "Stop! In the name of Love!" To hear the song, click on this link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=S_PKqgzSXAM

Themes 5, 6, 7 & 8: "Me in a Word", "First Letter of My Name", "Superfly", and "Earth"

I was with my younger son recently, and was curious to know what one word he'd choose to describe me. He said, "Bubbly", and I decided to go with that. Next, as soon as "Krazy Kat" popped into my mind, the page almost made itself.

"Superfly" stumped me for awhile, especially since the pages already posted on this theme were very imaginative. Then I found a picture on the internet which just blew my mind. Loads of fun doing this page!
The theme, "Earth" was one which everyone else seemed to have done so well that I was really challenged. But a song which I'm often asked to perform nudged me, and voilà!

Still Starting Out!

Blogger wouldn't allow me to add all my journal pages, so here they are in a new post:
Colour Grid: Choose a colour, search through magazines to find ilustrations. I hadn't seen the part about the mags, so I made the page below, top. Then I just had to do it right, so I took some magazine cutouts and made the "Pink Power" page.

Extraterrestrials was Theme #4. I didn't think I'd be able to come up with something until I found the web picture on the left-hand page, which inspired a story. You begin to see what I mean about being more writer than visual artist.

Starting Out

I've just joined an online journaling group, whose owner issues themes each week, to challenge our creativity. So far, 28 themes have been posted. Below are my pages. I started from theme one, slipped in a couple of later ones, then decided I'd just slog through the list in order. One thing I've learned so far; I'm still more writer than visual artist.

If you've visited my other blog, http://mezzokat.blogspot.com/, you'll recognize the first four pages.

Theme #1 was Favourite Animal.

Music was Theme #2
The pages below are actually on Theme #26, "Down the Road", but the name reminded me of a picture I took at the entrance of a nearby walking path. I'd been wanting to do something with the pic ever since it was developed. Patience is rewarded!
This theme, #23, "Summer Memory", also got me. I'd already written an essay on the subject, "My Enchanted Back Yard", so it was a perfect candidate for the Journal.