Flow Art

 Flow Art

Going for the grunge; accepting what is, and letting it all flow. Weekend retreat hosted by Jenny Grant. The first part of the retreat we made a zine journal from a single piece of paper. In my case, I used an old file folder (I have hundreds of used folders left over from our winter filing cabinet purge), collaged on top of it, and painted random mark-making embellishments. I wish I had taken a photo of the whole collage before I folded and cut it. 

After folding and gluing pages together and while waiting for it to dry, I set about making a book band with an old rusty piece of metal  that was part of a framed collage of pins and other artifacts that I got for a few bucks at the Garibaldi Museum yard sale many years ago. I have no idea of its original use, but it took quite a bit of thought to figure out a way of fastening it. Fun to get out the old beads and leather from my jewelry supply stash. 

Decorating the cover was an act of serendipity. Some found text that just made me smile, for indeed my art journals are “Joy practices,” and in retirement I am having the “time of my life” creating art. 

Next, the back cover. More found text that reminds me to “accept the unexpected” in my art-making, to play, to reserve judgement, and to relax and enjoy the process. 

So far, all was well and good, but the next part of the lesson edged into an area so out of my comfort zone. It was a perfect lesson on letting go of judgement and expectations. After all, it IS just my own personal journal, and I am just playing. The lesson involved drawing a face (yikes!). I used a Stabilo-All pencil to outline features. The good thing about this art supply is that it is water-solvable and thus is easy to smudge and subtract. I will admit to doing a lot of that. At some point, I just gave up trying to make it look good and decided that “she is who she is.”  The, again very serendipitously, found text appeared as if by magic. It all made perfect sense now; she had a background, and she came to life. “A family of shriekers and  face slappers.” “Common as mud.” I’m glad she “got all she wanted in life.” 😉

We’ll see where the rest of this journal goes . . . drawing faces is not my  thing, but I gave it a try.