The topic of following your passion has come up in many conversations lately. Jonathan Manning and I discussed it a few months back when we did our dress rehearsal for his show, I’ve discussed it with my friend Jane, a couple of coworkers and then my friend just wrote about it on her blog.

The reality of following your passion, the one thing you really enjoy in life is that it doesn’t come easy to all of us. For me I’ve had a passion all my life- art but life and reality made it hard for me to follow that passion. My entire life I’ve called myself in some manner an artist but was unable to follow that passion through its natural and inevitable course. In my case I needed to find my niche.

I’ve painted and drawn my whole life. Behind the scenes I’ve written my whole life. Granted I know I’m not a great writer, I’m sure I’ll always be adequate but never great. I’m cool with that. As I’ve embraced the art journal as not only a primary art form but also to wrap my secondary career around I’ve found what is in part my passion. Not just art but a specific part of art- the sketchbook/visual journal/ art journal and the making and keeping of them.

Find that passion, that solitary goal, fills my life with purpose. Teaching the art classes online, doing the UStream show and now working long wonderful hours on the zine has filled my head with hopes and dreams and drive, long dormant ambition wells up when I think about these things I’m doing. I think to myself “I will win at this.” It’s a cool feeling after not really caring about much these last few years.

When Jonathan and I chatted he put into my head about how pursuing your passion can open doors* in your life that were seemingly unattainable. Pursuing your passion makes you happier, more energetic and life seems more vibrant.

On the flip side of that is that sometimes the current situation can be almost unbearable. You can feel stuck in the rut of your current life. For me, though I love my DayJob Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s are nearly unbearable reality checks. Monday night I normally have my UStream show. I spend the evening talking about art, demonstrating art and immersing myself in art. Then Tuesday evenings I have my drawing class. I spend that evening discussing drawing, the zen-like state one can achieve from drawing and again immersing myself in art culture. I love all of that. I won’t tell you about Thursday’s zine meetings.

For me spending the evenings working on the pursuit of my passion, my dream of spending my days working on art and art related things it both a gift and a curse. I see how wonderful the evenings are personally then to return to the constraints of my DayJob is difficult though I enjoy the actual job and the people surrounding the job. I just hope that the next year of DayJob remains as enjoyable as it’s been in the past.

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St Lucia
Originally uploaded by maskingtape

Lovely sketchbook, love the stark black line

Today is my day of chores. Saturdays are often that day for me. I sleep in then start to tackle the list. Today’s list included taking the dogs for a much needed grooming. Witht hat out of the way I’m in line for some household chores before I’m fully awake to tackle the various to do lists for Art Journaling ning, the Zine and the new projects I’ve lined up for myself.

I became distracted by the mail when the rest of my now week old Amazon order arrived. I received my Noodler’s Firefly yellow highlighter ink and the waterproof grease. I call this the rest of my “works.” In that these 2 items go hand-in-hand with the syringe I ordered from a Veterinary supply company so that I could easily measure precisely the amount of ink I’m placing into the barrel of my pens. This will allow me to mix perfect blue blacks and other colors. As of right now it’s letting me fill my Platinum Preppy highlighter with firefly yellow fountain pen ink so that I can keep all my to do lists accurate and highlighted. The preppy hold 3ml of ink. A regular cartridge holds 1ml. My 3oz of firefly ink is equal to 89 cartridges. That many cartridges would cost $67. One bottle of firefly yellow ran me $12.50. So you might balk at paying $13 for a bottle of fine ink, but then you look at the cost against the cartridges it’s a real value.*

Not to mention that filling the preppy with 3 ml is equal to 3 cartridges of ink, meaning I’ll have to fill it less often. My fountain pen looks like it’ll hold about the same in ink but I wanted to test it out so I only filled it halfway.

So I can’t wait to get sketching with my fountain pen and tackling that to do list with my highlighter filled with Noodler’s ink!

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Art Journal
Originally uploaded by bad bad magpie

I love this page bright color, image xfer and awesomeness.

collage; All the right tools
Originally uploaded by Jay Carrier

creepy but great

I am not the most patient person in the world. I am patient with some things; painting, drawing and friends. When it comes down to my long daily commute I am not anywhere near patient. In fact today after sitting in 10mph traffic for over an hour before getting roughly 10 miles from my home I was envisioning ways to cause accidents that would give the idiots ahead of me a real reason to drive like a moron.

I hit the exit for Wakefield and turned around and came home. I texted my boss and let her know. I have 2 choices now: fuck around all day or work from home. I’m not sure which choice I’m taking. Right now a 2^nd cup of coffee and a nap with the dog seems likely.

 The traffic is the worst part of living where I do, other than that the NOrth Shore is a nice place.

Here's a great art journal page by mycreativebliss on youtube.

I have a love of expensive writing instruments. I have since I purchases my fist 0.01 rapidograph my first year of high school. It cost me $30 and my parents were horrified that I’d purchased such an expensive drawing tool. I loved it until I destroyed it in college. Let’s not discuss that I’m still upset.

I know that my love of expensive writing instruments is trite and that EVERY artist under the sun loves a good drawing tool the way I do, it’s a universal love.

I also love good ink. I have jars of Higgins, various sumi inks, colored inks and I lust after the DR PH Martin’s set of color inks and liquid watercolors. Yet, I’m nearly ashamed to admit I have just added to my ink stable my first bottle of Noodler’s Ink, bulletproof Black. Seriously where have I been? I have known about Noodler’s for years. It’s made here in the US, one of the few inks that is permanent on cellulose and writes so smooth it’s not funny.

I have sitting on my desk a 3oz bottle of jet black permanent fade proof ink. I can’t wait to ink up my entire set of Rapidographs*, my 2 Rotring 700’s, my Vintage Pelikan GO pen and many others will get inked up with my new bottle of noodler’s.  I’m excited about the possibilities of the rotrings being inked up with the platinum preppy pen hack mentioned here. I’ve go the waterproof grease and a needle on order…

I wonder if ordering a syringe (with needle) online got me put on any government watch lists or if the Beverly Police will be knocking on my door looking for my stash… I’ll gladly show them to my new bottle of Noodler’s. They can look but if they confiscate it I’ll raise hell.

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I’m about to head to bed but I need to tell you about my art field trip to the deCordova museum in Lincoln, MA. My friend Jane and I have been scheduling art field trips here and there throughout the area. I’m advertising the days on ArtJournaling Ning, so if you want an excuse to go out and sketch and experience art, feel free to join us or schedule an art field trip in your area! Tell me about it so we can schedule an event on AJ Ning.

This week we decided to go to the deCordova. 2 weeks previous we’d gone to Salem Common. The deCordova is a sculpture park and museum. They offer classes, which I find a little on the pricey side but I’ve heard they are very good.

Cost for adults is $12, there are various discounts if you’re a card holder of various and assorted things, like AAA. If you are a college student admission is only $8. A year membership is $60 and if you plan on going more than 5 times, obviously is a good deal. Admission on Mondays is free.

There’s a lot to see and many of the sculptures are on loan to the museum for extended periods of time. There is a lot to see. There are around 60 sculptures within the grounds and around the building.  Some are mind boggling and ridiculously cool. One that I always like to see is Jim Dine “Two Big Black Hearts.” These 2 giant bronze hearts stand 12 feet high. Monstrously large and intensely cool.  You can call a number to listen to Dine talk about the piece.

There’s a lot to see and do. The store also houses a small 2d art gallery. They also on select dates have artists come in and give talks. The artist talks are included with the cost of admission and they fill fast.

A side note, it’s good to bring a picnic lunch with you as the food sells out of the café quickly. Don’t expect to get a sandwich or a soda after 1pm.

I’ve been to the deCordova in the past, when it was free to wander the park. You now get charged for both the park and the museum. This is good because I actually went into the museum this time and it was amazing. They have some extraordinary exhibits going on and were well worth the $10 I spent on admission. (AAA member.)

In short I can’t recommend the place enough. It’s full of visually interesting things, would be a great place to take a date and is a great place to vegitate.

Spread 003 Paperbear
Originally uploaded by bkasstle

Look at all those earthy browns