I finished my journal page for the personal symbols theme. I have been busy working on some magazine submissions and I have a RR page that I am trying to get done  a little early!  I wanted to  come up with a twist on the RR theme because I am in the middle of the rotation. ALL of the other pages are just gorgeous, so I wanted to take the theme in a different direction.  My stepdaughter,Sera, suggested Tree Nymphs and I was like ...HUH?  So, I relied on my fall back strategy," GOOGLE IT!!!" Now, I am madly sketching tree nymphs to see if I can come up with

a few that I like enough to make my RR page around.  I will post any semi-successful attempts!Stay tuned for the new theme! I will post it very soon. I noticed that I am coming up on my 100th post, so to celebrate I will be having a giveaway !!!

Appreciate Everyday Beauty...

Here are my pages for last week's theme, appreciate everyday beauty in your life.   I would love to see  your ideas if you decided to participate this week.  Leave a comment and a link!  I am reading a very cool book  by Corey Moortgat called The Art of Personal Imagery.  There is a section that discusses how we choose and use symbols and icons in our art.  I am sure this is not a new idea to most of us altered artists. We are natural born collectors and we do collect examples of the symbols we feel best represent us.  This week I challenge you to make a journal page or spread that celebrates YOUR OWN personal images, symbols, designs, icons, totems, etc.  
This art journal page will be yet another type of self-portrait.  How do the things you surround
yourself with and create art with reflect your spirit and personality?

It's TIME for a new weekly art journal challenge!!!!

Here is my page for the Who Inspires You, theme.  I found the dancing lady in an ad in a magazine and thought that she would be a cool symbol for my muse!  If you did a journal page for this challenge be sure to post a comment with your link . I would LOVE to see what inspires YOU!  This week we sprang forward with the clock and it got me thinking about the concept of time.  I think we all spend  a lot of time thinking about the past and wondering about missed opportunities.  This week I want to focus on the blank canvas of the TIME stretched out before  us.  We have the power to create new realities for ourselves.  I propose the theme  NOW IS THE TIME TO...  use your journal to articulate meaningful ways to use the time directly ahead of you.  Please don't make this another TO DO list. If it's time to stop doing something that is standing in your way- write down what you WILL DO, make it positive,  voice your replacement for that thought or behavior that needs to be changed.  I have to constantly remind myself  not to dwell on the neagative but instead focus on the positive change that I want to bring into my life.   NOW IS THE TIME TO... get started on your journal!

Last Journal Challenge of 2008!!!!!

Attention my little band of faithful journalers! Here is the very last challenge of the year.  I hope we can convince a few more readers to join in the fun! You don't have to do every challenge or be able to get it done in a week. Feel free to drop in and do any of the challenges that appeal to you!

Last week's theme was I BELIEVE... and I posted my page here.  Does anyone else want to share?

This week I propose a SELF-PORTRAIT journal page.  I went with this idea because I got a very cool book for Christmas titled, Mixed-Media Self-Portraits Inspiration and Techniques by Cate Coulacos Prato.  I spent Christmas Day doing some of the exercises.  You can approach this theme any way you want to.  Make a realistic self-portrait, a stylized self-portrait, an "inner you" self-portrait, alter a photo by drawing or painting on it, do a digitally enhanced self-portrait.  Many people have trouble using themselves as a subject because we are so conditioned to be hyper-critical of our faces, bodies, etc.  Therefore, I challenge you to jump in and fearlessly make a journal page that somehow represents YOU as you are right now, or as you see yourself, or make yourself over into your artistic vision of yourself!