I arrived in Maine safely after a 6 hour drive with a few leisurely stops* to stretch my legs and investigate the Maine reststops. My advice, there is no investigation needed they are pure gross.

Jonesboro seems to only change with the seasons. It's quiet and peaceful. The silence is ony disturbed by dumptrucks full of sand traveling to the town "sand pile" in preparation for winter. Back and forth they go, load after load.

I thought I would have missed peak leaf season but a quick look around the farm shows me alizarin crimson blueberry fields framed in the bright yellow of aspen and oak. Dotted with the red of the maples and all framed further by the dark evergreen of fir and spruce. Many of the trees have dropped their leaves but those that remain are intensely colored and begging to be painted or drawn.

As much as this area was once my home, I'm deeply aware that I'm "from" here and don't necessarily belong here. This is no longer MY place. I've felt this way for close to 7 years. At some point after you move from what is your hometown to a new place you transition to being at home there. What was formerly home, feels good but not as right as it once did. So here I am sitting in my choldhood home, writing this post on an unfamiliar computer that is not set up for someone of my height; musing on the colors and chill of my hometown and how I've grown out of it.

I had forgotten how much I love this season in Jonesboro. The air is crisp, the sun is warm and the colors are bright. Harvest is nearly over and Halloween is almost here. I could tell you many stories of school time shenanigans but we'll leave those to memory.

On a quick side note- I have no cell service here, which means I can't check twitter or facebook unless I'm on my laptop. I might see if I can check my cell over in Machias, but I'm suspecting I won't get service there either.

Continue reading →

It seems mixed media is the new art world buzz word. I partially love and partially hate the labeling. I love it because it means that mixed media is gaining a foothold, it means I no longer had to adapt and change stuff to make it work with other media.

That is how it is supposed to work.

In reality it doesn’t. You see all the companies want to cash in on what we do. Art journaling has grown from a few of us messing about in our sketchbooks with paint, transfers and glue to the start of an industry. Sort of like when scrapbooking was taking off 10 years ago. All the companies got on the bandwagon and now they want on the art journaling bandwagon.

My gripe is that many of the companies slap the label “mixed media” onto their products without proper testing to see if the product WILL actually work in a mixed media environment. Take for instance the Ranger tissue tapes. Labeled mixed media, yet they won’t stick to acrylic paint. Or the Ranger masks that if you use spray ink the glue rubs off and won’t stick to an acrylic painted page, or a page with ANY media on it period. Both products will only stick to raw paper with a smooth finish. By not properly testing the products for true mixed media use these companies make their products useless for mixed media.

It’s really aggravating to pay the price for one of these products and have them not work as advertised. It’s a great disservice not only to the artists but to the budding art journaler and mixed media artist. Instead of bringing more people into the form they drive people away by making the form seem more difficult. If companies decided to accurately define and  test their products they would make what is an engaging art form more engaging and easy to take part in.

Instead they want to ride the wave of cash to a fat bottom line.

Portrait of A Distracted Man
Originally uploaded by .sWineDriveR.

Kinda creepy but I like it

The oneminutemuse puts up some great fast tutorials on youtube for your art journal. THis one is fun for a neat background.

I’ve been traveling here and there on Saturdays or Sundays with my friend Jane on what we’re calling Art Field Trips. Essentially these are  set days to talk about art, gripe  and make art.

This Saturday we traveled to Salem, MA. It was an easy trip for the 2 of us as I live just over the bridge. Salem’s downtown area turns into a giant street fair for the entire month of October. I avoid Salem most of the time but taking the train in wasn’t bad at all.

We got there at 10am and it was windy. IN the sun it wasn’t bad but the wind really made it rough to sketch. I got in a good 15 minute sketch of the bell. We walked to Gulu Gulu for lunch had a great meal and spent some time sketching in the warm cozy café.

We had a lot of fun. Our next trip is scheduled for October 30^th. We’re going to go to Starbucks, set up a still life and draw.

Stack of books
Originally uploaded by JMSANCHEZ92

Book pr0n

Those of you who follow me on twitter saw my pathetic tweet: I didn't expect this to be an emotional event, failure is hard for me. I got more than a few DM and tweets asking the same question, “Is everything okay?”

While it’s still an in motion event and I can’t write much about it right now, but will in about a week. I can tell you this: I’ve made a decision that leaves me emotional but also relieved. I strive to be the best in all that I do and I’ve been struggling with this choice for some weeks now and finally have decided that the best thing is to follow my heart and not my mind, though it is hard for me.*

I have been frustrated, angry and sad for the last few weeks and I’ve been harping on it. Today while talking to my friend I told her, “I’m harping on this and I need to stop.” It hit me that I need take some action. I’ve taken that needed action and it will make my life much more positive in the future. Right now it’s a tough choice.

What I can tell you is that my time should open up again, my Monday Ustream should become more regular again and I’ll be more able to focus on developing more classes. While I’m a little freaked out at the step I’ve taken I know it will lead to far more productivity and a more balanced life in the long run.

This of course goes with the month’s theme of “following your passion.”

Continue reading →

Sketch Meetup at the Central Park Ravine (by me!)
Originally uploaded by jessekalim

2 colors are sometimes effective

Flurrsprite on YT does a whole series of layout videos for your art journal. With the suggestion that you take some time to prep some pages in advance, a useful tip if you are on the go.

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.

Continue reading →