The Muse Connects

The community pueblo at Wupatki National Monument.

North of Flagstaff, Arizona, are the ruins of the Wupatki Pueblo. In the years between 1100 and 1182, a tribe of approximately 100 Native Americans lived there, in several buildings and a large, complex community room. Within a day’s walk, there were 1,000 other people from various clans. The stones that built the Pueblo are found on the ground in slabs. They are still there today. Their shape is smooth and regular, so stonemasons would not have needed to be hack them out of a quarry, just trim and place and mortar them into place. The walls look, after 900 years, fresh and even and modern.

Wupatki Pueblo is in the high desert, and the climate today is harsh–hot in the day and cold at night. A hundred years before Wupatki was settled, Sunset Crater, a volcano about 10 miles away, erupted, spewing lava and ash for many miles. The ash helped keep moisture in the ground, and the box canyon on which the village is built collected water during rains. The climate may well have been milder, modified by the volcanic explosion. Although some of the buildings are built close to natural wind blocks–canyon walls and arroyos.

The Hopi believe that the lessons learned about living and tending animals, making peace and making war, are still there, taught by the spirits of the village population that died there.

I took a photograph of the community building, showing a wall through a window. I thought about life in that community, the hard work that had to happen every day. And I wondered how the tribes had avoided war for many years.

Collage: Black paper, painted with metallic inks, covered with Japanese washi paper, pierced. Words cut from a history book.

When I got back, and took the idea into the studio, I wanted to make a collage in light and dark, with spaces to see through and spaces that look onto a different view.

For me, found poetry–a gathering of random words into meaningful ones–is like hearing bits and pieces of an ancient conversation.
The poem reads:

It is no longer
good enough to cry
Peace!
We must
Act peace,
Live peace.

For me, the photo and the collage have striking emotional similarities–the look through an opening, the prayer for peace, and the realization that peace is work. It doesn’t just appear, it needs to be acted out and lived. Daily.

The muse brought one from the other. An entirely satisfying experience, all the way around.

Flagstaff is a “Dark Sky” city. No lights shine into the sky at night. Lights that work at night all shine down, toward the earth. At the Wupatki Pueblo, you can see a sky full of stars and the Milky Way, much like they were 900 years ago.

—Quinn McDonald believes she is standing at a point in time, on a road that has been traveled for many years. She has been here before.

Favorite Journal Discoveries

Yellow pepper, on the way to red. Watercolor on paper. © Quinn McDonald

Yesterday’s post started a whole rush of good ideas about keeping multiple journals for different reasons.

• Cut up your old business calendars/notebooks for recycling in new journals
• Keep a journal online, in a different language, to give space for the different aspects of your personalities.
• Keep ideas in a small journal you carry everywhere. Expand them later.
• Fiber work can be a journal, too. So can quilts. Don’t be shy, experiment!
• Make your own journal–after you have completed some pages to get it started.
• Work in several journals at once so you can dry pages without having to stop creating.

Today, I thought it might be fun to add some tips I’ve discovered to make my journal more interesting or fun to work in.

Date every page of your journal. It’s better than numbering pages, it lets you track growth and changes.

Storm warning. Ink on paper. © Quinn McDonald

Leave the last few pages of your journal empty. When you are having a bored day, use the dates to create a list of interesting ideas you had in the book. It will make it easier to find that special page if you have an index to check.

Make a mistake? Don’t paint over it. Figure out how to fix it, then re-do it on the next page. You’ll create a problem-solving how-to and gain pride in your work, not anguish over mistakes.

Want to show your journal to someone but have some pages you’d rather not show? Punch holes in the outer edge and use a ribbon to tie the pages together. People won’t untie without asking.

Brass doors at old movie theater, Phoenix.

I’m a writer, so I keep writing journals. Every month or so, I “harvest” phrases, metaphors and ideas and “distill” them into separate pages. It keeps me from hunting aimlessly for that phrase I liked so much.

Keep one journal for color swatches, alternative uses for and reviews of products you use regularly and lists of color names (for markers, yarn and paint). Take the journal with you when you go shopping. You won’t keep buying your favorite color over and over again. Instead, you’ll see what you have already and what you need to add. Stick coupons in this journal.

Keep a bin with leftovers, scraps big enough to work with. When the bin threatens to get full, organize a round robin with your friends (or Facebook friends) and swap scraps. Instant inspiration!

What are some of your favorite tips for keeping your journaling fresh?

—Quinn McDonald is an art journaler. She is writing a book on inner heroes and inner critics.

 

Call for Contributions: Inner Hero Book

Note: Thanks to everyone who contacted me. The contributors have been chosen.

Inner Hero Book Call for Entries
You know I’m writing a book on the Inner Critic. Actually, it’s about finding your Inner Hero and confronting the Inner Critic using the persona of your Inner Hero.

Image printed on fabric, then stitched to paper. Original image © Bo Mackison, 2011.

An important part of the book is to include art from people who love to do creative work and encourage others. Not famous people, but experimenters and explorers. If that’s you, today is the day to start planning.  The Inner Hero Art Journal: Mixed Media Conversations with Your Inner Critic is going to include artwork from a variety of people, and today is the day I’m asking for contributors.

About the book: 

• The book has five example chapters. Each chapter has a separate art technique and a writing technique.
• In the book, I’ll be creating a series of double-sided, loose-leaf journal pages with art on one side and writing on the other.
• You will be submitting either an art sample or a writing sample.

These are the chapters and techniques in the book

Inner Hero Name	Art Technique	Writing Technique
The scribe	Ink as paint (abstract)	Free writing
The tarot-reader	Paper mosaic	Alike and Different
The alchemist	Printing on fabric (combines paper + fabric)	Guided visualization
The gardener	Botanicals in artwork	Tools (What tools do you use to inspire yourself?)
The wise woman	Combining techniques	Using aphorisms, proverbs, folk sayings and quotes.

Ink used as paint. Abstract, © Quinn McDonald

Update: Please follow the instructions below, even though they are long. Do not submit both art and writing. It’s your choice, don’t ask me to decide. Please pay close attention to sending your contact information (#5) and how to handle the subject line (#6) below.

What you need to do now:
1.  Choose an inner hero name/technique you would like to work with from the chart above. For each persona, there is a corresponding art or writing technique. The Inner Hero you choose will determine the technique. Choose only one–art or writing.
2.  For art submitters: Send two low-resolution images showing a sample of your work. Work you like to do is best. It’s not necessary to show the kind of technique you are going to do.  These images are just samples. The purpose of these samples is to help the publishers see your work.

3. For writing submitters: Submit a 100-word to 150-word writing sample. (Please no more than that). You can copy it from your blog or something you have written, or you can write a sample piece just for this.  Do not send a link to a site, and do not send an edited sample from a published piece. I want to see your own writing in the email.

4. You can read FAQs about art techniques and writing by clicking on this link:  FAQ   It is a pdf, and you will need Adobe reader. Download it here for free.

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5. Once you have decided what you want to submit, send me the email with the samples, your full name, phone number and mailing address to Innerherobook@gmail.com   I will not share this information with anyone, it is simply providing me several ways to contact you.

Paper mosaic. © Quinn McDonald, 2011

6. In the subject line put the name of the inner hero and what technique you are choosing.
For example, if you want to use natural objects in your submission, and you want to submit writing, you will put Gardener/Writing in the subject line.
If you want to be the Alchemist and work on fabric and paper, put Alchemist/Art in the subject line.
You may choose the last chapter, combining techniques, but you must list the specific  art techniques you will be using in the body of the email. “Combining” here means art techniques.
7. The email with samples is due on October 21, 2012 by midnight Eastern time.  Remember, these are just low-res samples of your work, not finished pieces.

8. If your work is chosen, you will receive another email by mid-November. Final artwork photos are due by December 31, 2012. You will not send in artwork, you will send in photos. More information will be sent to the people who are chosen for submissions.

Botanical pear collage. ©Quinn McDonald, 2012.

Fine print you should know:
1. There is no guarantee you will get chosen. Even if you are chosen, you may get cut at the last minute. I have absolutely no control over this, and it is not a judgment against you.  It’s a matter of book pages and design.
2. You won’t get paid for your work. ( I wish you would.)  On the other hand, if your piece is chosen, you will be in a published book that I am working hard to make popular. You will have bragging rights to be a published artist or writer.
3. You will be asked to sign a permission slip that says the work is entirely owned by you—that you are not using someone else’s work. In other words, any photos, phrases, artwork was done by you. If you rip pages from a magazine for collage, they cannot be recognizable.

If you are using quotes, they must be in the public domain (this includes proverbs, folk sayings from your country, or quotes from ancient books, such as writing from the Buddha, Rumi,  the Bible or Q’ran).
4. You will own the copyright to your work. However, North Light may use your image in advertising, or in subsequent editions of the book, or in translated books.

If you have any questions, send them to the email address in Item 5, above, with the word Questions in the subject line. I will try to answer the questions quickly. Please read the FAQs first. I’m so happy to be able to include a big variety of meaning-making art in the book!

Tea-Dyed Projects (Loose-Leaf Journal Pages)

This gallery contains 3 photos.

Tea-dying is ancient. And modern. And flexible and inventive. Here are three projects that you can do with four tea bags. You’ll need: 4 tea bags of any black or red tea Filtered water, about 1/4 cup Wide watercolor brush, … Continue reading →

Poured Acrylics for Art Journals

Poured acrylics are exactly what they sound like–add acrylic paints to acrylic medium and pour or spread them onto a canvas. Some artists add water to the paint and spread it to create a blended background.

I tried a variety of mediums (gel, fluid, and glaze) and two different substrates, freezer paper and watercolor paper. The freezer paper allows the release of the poured acrylics and makes them usable in collage.

Experimenting with acrylics takes some time, but the results are worth it. Here are some results I came up with.

Poured acrylics mixed with gel medium on watercolor paper. ©Quinn McDonald 2012, all rights reserved.

Acrylics mixed with heavy-bodied gel medium on watercolor paper. This dries the fastest, but the results are a little more controlled than I like. I prefer the smooth surface of fluid medium.

Acrlic and gel medium poured onto freezer paper. ©Quinn McDonald, 2012, all rights reserved.

If you pour the same mixture on parchment or freezer paper, the acrylic will dry and can be peeled off. The front and back look completely different. This is the same color mix as above, but the colors that sank are different than the ones that were on top.

Acrylic paint and ink mixed with fluid medium and opal/gold glaze. ©Quinn McDonald, all rights reserved, 2012

Mixing ink (green and mallard blue)  and paint (Payne’s gray) with a mixture of fluid glaze and gold/opal glaze gives amazing results. Fluid glaze is designed to retard the drying of acrylics, and it does. This piece took 24 hours to dry.

Swirled and controlled colors. © Quinn McDonald, all rights reserved, 2012

Acrylics (Payne’s gray, vermillion, cobalt blue) dropped onto fluid acrylic and then treated like the surface of marbled paper or cake decoration. In the corner is a blend of metallic copper acrylic, and quinadcricone burnt orange swirled together in flue acrylic.

Inks on fluid acrlic and gold glaze © Quinn McDonald, all rights reserved, 2012

First, put down about a tablespoon of fluid acrylic and spiral a teaspoon (approximately) of gold/opal glaze (Golden’s) through it. Spray inks (I used Tattered Angels Shimmer mist) onto surface, wait 30 seconds, and tilt mixture, being careful to keep the ink on top of the fluid medium.

Can be peeled off parchment or freezer paper. © Quinn McDonald, all rights reserved, 2012

Payne’s gray, opaque white ink, Graphite Shimmer Mist, swirled on top of fluid acrylic. Once dry, these acrylics can be peeled off the freezer paper and used in collage. Use self-leveling medium to create a thin skin.

—Quinn McDonald is experimenting with inks. There’s something to be said for that. She’s a creativity coach and art journaler.

Privacy, Designed

Most of my journals are experimental, so I write notes in them, experiment in them, and don’t worry too much about having beautiful show-piece journals. But because my life is really just one push of toothpaste out of the tube, I also write my thoughts, fears and hopes into my journals.

Once, I was more careful to keep things separate, but I have become stubborn in my refusal to create “show journals” that don’t reflect my life. It’s one of the reasons working on loose leaf pages is appealing. That way I can gather what I want to show to a class.

Side view of journal with tied pages.

The journal that’s going to Valley Ridge with me this weekend is one that contains some personal observations that I don’t care to share with anyone. They might include my own inner critic’s rant, or a comment I found hurtful but recorded, along with the source–things that don’t benefit from sharing.

Still, the journal has a lot of pages that demo a technique, so it’s coming along. How to keep private thoughts private?

One hole is enough, no need to turn the journal into a sneaker-lacing project.

I punched a hole in the contiguous pages that contained the information, then tied them shut with waxed linen. Elegant in its own right, not glaring enough to call attention to what it might contain, this method is better than ripping pages out or pasting other paper over it.

Close up of tied pages.

When I return home, I can take out the waxed linen, and the pages, still  punched, will be neatly marked for the next time they need privacy.

–Quinn McDonald is a creativity coach, who teaches art journaling with a lot of creativity coaching mixed in.

Testing Resists

Resists are pencils, pens or liquids like rubber cement that prevent color from soaking into paper. I love using resists on my art journaling pages because it gives a type of texture to the page.

Tonight I tried three different resists, to completely different results and a big surprise to me. It seems the traditional resists I’ve used for a long time don’t always work the same way.

The first one I tried is white Uniball Signo gel pen from Jet Pens. I’ve used it to write on top of color and like the effect. It puts down a nice smooth, even line. I thought writing on Strathmore Ready-cut watercolor paper first, then using color, it would give me a nice resist. Not at all.  The gel ink soaks into the watercolor paper and the color goes on over it. I was surprised.

You can see the white faintly on the right side of the page.

I then tried Sharpie Poster Paint pens, which I did not expect to work well, but did, although it’s faint.  I used watercolor pencils and a wet brush. I painted the wet brush across the pencil and used it as paint. You can see the dots as well as the flower on the middle of the page, right side.

Colored grease pencils with wrap-sharpening showing. Image from Patronofthearts.com

Next I tried grease pencil, also called tile marker or china marker, is a white waxy pencil that is supported by a wrap of paper that you peel off to expose more pencil. I thought this would work; it’s my go-to resist pencil.

You can see a faint diagonal line at the upper right corner and a few dots.

It didn’t work as well as I thought. I’ll admit, it worked a lot better with an ink wash, but I was using watercolor pencils, so it’s quite pale, but visible.

What worked best? Utrecht liquid frisket. I applied it with a brush. Use a cheap brush and be prepared to throw it out. The bottle says you can rinse the brush with soap and water, but after I do that, I throw it out. It’s just not the same anymore.

Frisket works best, but I can't get even, straight lines.

The dots are clear because the frisket goes down wet, dries, and you rub it off like rubber cement. There are no straight lines, but I like the clear effect, even if the watercolor is pale.

So, there are three variables: paper, resist, and the watercolor. I need to try ink washes to see if I get better results than watercolor pencils.

-–Quinn McDonald likes the word “resist” because that’s what we do when we face ourselves in our art.

Loose-Leaf Journal Pages (Again)

The idea behind loose-leaf journal pages is simple–you can create a group of pages. If you like them, they go into the book. If not, they can be reworked without slowing down the creative process. Some other good reasons:

1. I can keep sample pages in one section. Here is a page that shows Twinkling H20 colors on one side, and some Tombow water-soluble pens on the other. I always keep samples in my journal, but now I can keep them all in one place, instead of shuffling through journals searching for that second set of Inktense samples.

2. I can remove pages that are too personal to show to a class. This means I can carry samples that are ready to show and take out pages that aren’t the right sample for the class, or ones not meant for anyone but me. The pages are easy to remove.

3. Loose-leaf pages can remind me of an idea I had and what it meant. I can group similar ideas or series that I make weeks apart. It’s a great idea for teaching and planning. This one shows a group of alchemy symbols. On the back I have notes on how creativity is like alchemy.

Loose-leaf journals don’t have to be your only journal, but they can be a very useful one if you have a lot of ideas, a lot of plans, or teach a lot.

–-Quinn McDonald is a keeper of journals and a maker of Monsoon Papers, a technique she created and will teach in Valley Ridge, Wisconsin, May 5 and 6.

Note: I’ve asked WordPress for help with the comment-leaving issue. If you can’t leave a comment, you can try to leave an anonymous comment, or even sign in through Facebook or Twitter.  Or send me an email at Quinn Creative [at] Yahoo [dot] com. Close up spaces and use symbols. Thanks.

Glitter Sharpies: Tale of Two Prices

Fish done in yellow, orange and dark pink Sharpie watercolor pens on Arches Velin. Background in Twinkling H20s. © Quinn McDonald, 2012

The Glitter Sharpies are a must-have for hand lettering. How I got mine is a story I hope you’ll enjoy–it involves a large-chain store (called XYZ here), a stubborn shopper (yep, me) and a camera. The pen review comes after the story. Part of the marker review is in the photo captions, so you can read just those and skip the store story if you prefer.

XYZ is a store I avoid. The one I’m familiar with is  older and has a messy display out front that’s tired and picked over, even in the morning.  The store don’t have enough help, and the help they do have isn’t well-trained so everyone is cranky (including me.)

On my trip to find the markers, I have to go down narrow, tall aisles jammed with Easter products and the omnipresent, overwhelming smell of what must be mountains of potpourri.  The Sharpie glitter markers are way in the back.  Pretty spendy at $12.99 for 3. But they put down color that looks like heat-set foil, so I splurged.

Back at the front of the store,  there is one elderly man with faulty glasses, peering at prices and slowly checking out customers. The line snakes through the store.  I stand and wait.

Eventually, it’s my turn. I put down the 3-pack of glitter markers, and $15.

He starts to give me a spiel to get a store marketing card, which may or may not cost money. “No, thanks,” I say, still cheery.
He scans the markers, and it comes up $14.99.

Glitter Sharpies hanging on the display. I've distorted the part of the tag that identifies the store name.

My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline. I say, “They are marked $12.99 at the display.”
“You’re wrong,” he says, “It’s scanning at $14.99.”
“That may scan at $14.99, but they are marked $12.99 in the back,” I insist.

He sighs. “I don’t have anyone to go back and check, so you’ll have to pay $14.99.” he says.

I think about the line I’ve just spent 20 minutes waiting in. “That’s OK,” I say, “I don’t want them at that price.” And I leave. Unhappiness chews at me.

Back home, I print out a coupon,  run errands, and return to XYZ.

The guy who couldn’t help me is hanging my purchase back on the rack. “I’ll take those,” I smile, and photograph the $12.99 price tag.  Markers and coupon in hand, I trek  to the counter, and the checker scans them at $14.99. “They are marked $12.99 in the display,” I say. She looks at me doubtfully and says, “They scan at $14.99.” Déja cranky.

I whip out my cell phone and show her the photo–she can read both the price and the writing on the package of glitter markers. The lady is astonished. “What a great idea!” she says. “But don’t you go telling anyone about this, or everyone will be saving money.” I do not want to think about what she means–just how many other products are over-priced here?  She calls the store manager. “The price signs were wrong,” she says, “you’ll have to pay the scanned price.”

“I have a photograph of the price marked,” I say, still polite, but firmly. “I expect you to charge me the marked price, and I want the coupon discount, too.”

The lady looks at me dubiously. I hold up my phone-proof, making eye contact.  “Ahhh, you deserve it,” she says, and then says, “So say ‘thank you’ or I won’t give it to you.” Small price to pay. “Thank you,” I say, and mean it.

And that is how I bought a packages of  glitter markers at a bargain price.

Markers on index card, tilted to show glitter effect. Smooth and rich, these Sharpie markers are worth the money.

And they are worth it. The Sharpie Glitter markers are water-based. You have to shake them and push the nib down to start the color. Once the color starts, it puts down a smooth line of glittery color. The color is so even and smooth that, once dry, you can go over it with a Pitt or Micron pen and the black outline pen won’t jump. There are six colors: green, blue, light pink, dark pink, yellow and orange. The colors are rich, the smooth glitter is bright. Small details and hand lettering look great.

Roofs are done in light and dark pink Sharpie Glitter markers. The rest of the color is Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils. Left half is pencil, right half outlined in Pitt pen. Notice that there is no smearing.

You can erase over them without dulling the color or picking up the glitter.

Despite the drama of the purchase, I love these colors. I’m not much of a glitter girl, but the color is saturated, well- defined and crisp.

The yellow is bright and clear, and perfect for crowns, halos, light effects and well, koi scales (in the top illustration).  I’ll be using these often.

–Quinn McDonald is the author of  Raw Art Journaling, Making Meaning, Making Art. She wrote it to help people who can’t draw become art journalers.