Art Journaling

Art Journaling blog post.... no words, just pictures today.

and a link to Balzer Designs.. Art Journaling Every Day

School has started!

School has started!  I teach K-6 art at a private school (plus I do Yearbook and Student Council).. so I'm guessing I probably will not have much time to blog for awhile.

Children's art is so refreshing...

The first graders are starting with simple collaged initials and then moving on to a watercolor/texture background.

Stamping with cylindrical objects and then embellishing with markers and pens. 

Look how beautiful crayon rubbings and kid's watercolor paints can be.

I've managed to sneak in a little bit of my own art journaling in the past few weeks.

And look, I've been published!

             Scholastic Art is a magazine geared for grades 4-12.   I've subscribed to it for many years and submitted a lesson plan to them.

Here is my lesson plan and students' artwork.

That's me!

You Shall See the Beautiful Things...

I have been inspired by some of our summer events.  We went to several places this summer with carousels...  Disneyworld, of course.  The carousel was one of Daria's favorite rides.

We rode a lot of carousels this summer.  Our local zoo has a carousel, as well as a fun restaurant in our town called Ella's Deli.  If you ever visit Madison, WI go to this deli for lunch, it's a real trip!   Little Amerricka is a (little) amusement park only 20 min. from our house and they have all kinds of fun kiddie rides.  We went to all these places this summer and Daria had a blast riding the carousel at all of them.  Also, at Little Amerricka they have a cool little train ride.  I mean, the train is pretty small.  Daria loves trains (thank you, Thomas the Train).  So we go on the train ride and I expect the ride to just go around the park.  The train ride lasted 15 minutes and took us off to a farm area next to the park.  And there's ducks and cows and a peacock and sheep and all the typical little farm animals.  Then, as you loop around we see a ZEBRA.  I was thoroughly amused to see the zebra on the farm.  I was not expecting that.  The zebra made its way into my painting.

There was a book of children's fairy tales that I had where I cut out this text and used it in a previous collage.  I like this phrase and repeated it here with rub-on letters.

 Linked to Paint Party Friday, Artists in Blogland and Out of the Journal.

Glass Fusing

One of my favorite activities to do with a group of girl friends is to go to our local paint your own pottery place.  They offer glass fusing and you can make bowls, sun catchers, pendants, ornaments from glass scraps.  Here is what I made last week during our Mom's night out!

Red

The Height of Summer

Well summer is winding down, but Julie Kirk's Height of Summer is still going strong.  Write about your story of height and look at the Pinterest board she has curated.

Here is my story.

I am 6'0" tall.  My parents are both around my height, but my two brothers are 6'7" and 6'6".  As a girl, it was hard to be that tall.  I always felt like I stood out.  Pants are really hard to find and I know they will only fit if they are marked "tall"...  only a small selection of pants in stores are tall.  Yes, I played volleyball in high school (for one year).  No, I didn't make the basketball team.  See, you have to not only be tall, but also fairly coordinated.  Don't even get me started on shoes.  Do you know how many stores actually carry a size 12 shoe?   There are 3 stores near me.  1. A high quality shoe store where shoes are about $150-250 for a typical shoe. Um I'm a teacher.  I can't afford to drop $200 for a shoe.  2.  Payless shoes (if you don't know what those are, they are trendy, but generally super cheap and uncomfortable).  Again, I'm a teacher and I stand on my feet all day.   3.  A shoe store that is about a 45 minutes drive from my house.   If I need shoes, typically I will go out to the shoe store that is 45 minutes away once or twice a year and buy a pair or two of shoes.  I'll wear the same two pairs of shoes for a couple years.  If I'm in a pinch I'll go out and buy a guy's shoe.  Most of the time my pants cover most of the shoe anyway.  If my feet had been slightly smaller (like a size 11) I could find shoes at any store.  Yes, it's annoying and I'm bitter about it.  And I will be bitter about it until I can find affordable shoes easily.

I will ALWAYS notice if there is a woman in the room that is the same height as me or taller.

My husband is about 5'11".  I have never dated anyone shorter.  Not that I was opposed to it, just that it is basically how it happened.  Women who are tall usually end up with guys of a similar height.

I love this picture taken about 2 years ago.  This is our backyard garden.  Look how tall the sunflowers grew!

Here is me two years ago also.. I love this picture.  Big chairs are fun. 

 When people see Daria they often say, "She's tall for her age, isn't she?"  Actually no.  It's just me.  I'm tall.  Daria has actually been in the lower percentile for height and weight her whole life.  She was in the 19% for height and weight for the longest time.  She is about average now.  I think she will probably grow to be tall, but probably around 5'9"?  Both Andrew's mom and sister are shorter than me.. I think about 5'5"?  I think my tall genes will average out with their genes.

Another big chair on the Union Terrace in Madison.

When I was kid, giraffes were my favorite animal.  I made a clay giraffe in art class which I was so proud of.

So, how about you?  How has your height shaped your life?

A few more pages...

Here are a few more art journal pages..

A few art journal pages in August...

Go see more art journal pages at Art Journal Every Day.

Artist Trading Cards

 I made a bunch of Artist Trading Cards this week.

These are really small, the size of a baseball card.

Did you know that I monitor the Artists in Blogland group?

We are having an Artist Trading Card swap, so I needed to make 6 cards.  I ended up making a few more because I didn't like how all of them turned out.  Here are my cards:

Since I made extra little cards, I put a few of them in my Etsy shop.  Yes, I know there is a debate about Artist Trading Cards vs. ACEOs.  ATCs were originally created to be traded only.  Some artist started selling their cards as well and calling them Art Cards Editions and Originals.  The reason being is that perhaps some people wanted to collect the miniature artworks, but did not make their own.  Personally I am not an ATC purist.  If people want to sell or buy miniature artworks, I really have no problem with it. 

Just Journals Link Party!

Just Journals Link Party

It's time again to show off your fun art journal pages! Add your link to the list below.  If you are reading from a blog reader, you will have to jump over to the actual post to see the link gadget!

Grab a button for your page:

<a href="http://marciabeckett.blogspot.com/search/label/Just%20Journals%20Links"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-C8s9b6t92ISQc2xuXt-UYwxjRGrKJWpH0F0yliAFl28CjVJBD27CGz_ilZLJjSDUmejvrBYIDfA2kC8fmlg81mdWt589ZqaEGRR651AnxSUNpxGviLLn7Qn7icqB_j2qJPuui1tZbFvg/s1600/006.JPG" alt="BWS tips button" width="275" height="100" /></a>

Check out Artists in Blogland to see more artwork!

********  and..... I am featured on Dawn's Random Journal Day this week!  Her Random Journal group is mostly writers, but we are celebrating ALL journal keepers between the two of us! ******

Here is an art journal page I made this week:

What's on My Bookshelf?

I typically read about 3 books or more at a time.  I usually have a non-fiction art book I am flipping through, a non-fiction religious book and a book with a plot.

Currently, I am reading The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates.  It is a non-fiction book, but it is written as a narrative.  Here is the book description:  Two kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year of each other. Both grew up fatherless in similar Baltimore neighborhoods and had difficult childhoods; both hung out on street corners with their crews; both ran into trouble with the police. How, then, did one grow up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the other ended up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence? Wes Moore, the author of this fascinating book, sets out to answer this profound question. In alternating narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.

"The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his."

It is a very intriguing premise.  So far, it is interesting and I recommend it.  For some reason, I am having a hard time getting into it right now.  I think because of the recent shootings in the U.S (the one in the movie theater in Colorado and then the one that just happened this weekend in Wisconsin (which is about an hour from where I live) at the Sikh temple) I am having a hard time reading about or watching anything with violence. 

The other two books are a bit more light-hearted.  These are the two I am enjoying now:

The One Year Book of Inspiration for Girlfriends: Juggling Not-So-Perfect, Often-Crazy, but Gloriously Real Lives (One Year Books) is a Christian inspirational book.  There is one entry for each day of the year and it covers such topics as "Finding Your Joy", "Spread Too Thin", "Dwindling Resources", "Will You Be My Friend?" and "Getting a Do-Over".  Each section has a Bible verse, real-life inspirational stories and tips, steps to take, questions to ask yourself and quick doses of encouragement.  I can tell that this book was written by a conservative Christian and while I don't always agree with everything, for the most part the book has been great.  This is the kind of book I like to read at night before bed...  one you can read in short bursts.. pick up and put down at any time and still get a lot out of it.  Here are some snapshots from the book:

The last book I am showing you today is Stash & Smash: Art Journal Ideas.  This book is small and thin, but each page does have a LOT of ideas.  I like that there is a lot of little pictures.. each page is crammed with fun things.  I can see picking up this book when I am stuck for a prompt some day.  Most of the ideas are not "new-to-me" but they spark reminders of things I can do.  For example, "#61:  Mix and match strips of color cut or town from magazine pages."  or #25. Handy Bookmarks-- tie fibers to the tops of pages to use as bookmarks.  This book would be a great start for a beginning art journaler!