Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Hello mojo!!!!

Remember how I said in my last post that my mojo has been taking a very long vacation??? (Thanks btw for your kind words on that topic!!!) Well, she's back yeah!!! The very same evening I told you about my mojo being gone, I was looking at some of my friends' blogs, and I came accross Lucy's blog. She had posted a page featuring a drawn face ... the page turned out absolutely beautiful. You can find it here if you'd like to see it. It's way better than mine, but I thought I'd share it anyway LOL.

Turns out she took a FREE class over at the "Willowing and friends" ning site. I don't usually sign up for ning sites unless there's something truly interesting to be found there, but this time I didn't even think twice about it. I signed up and immediately started watching the tutorial video's for week 1 of the Art, Heart and healing class ... over two hours worth of totally interesting footage! Tam (Tamara Laport), the owner of the site and teacher of the class is absolutely lovely, bubbly even, and I wasn't bored for a single minute. After watching the video, I immediately took out my supplies and got started. I worked on my page till far after midnight and finished it the very next morning. Bye bye frustration, hello mojo!!!

For our first week, we had to make a "healing" journaling page ... first we had to write down all of our negative feelings on the left hand side of the page. Then we had to look at our notes, and try to find out where they were coming from, like a need to feel loved, a need to feel accepted as we are, etc... Some of my sentences were "I should lose weight", "I need to spend more time with the kids", "I should be more organized in my housework", and so on. I found most of these feelings went hand in hand with guilt, with me always trying to be better than I am and feeling guilty if I fail at this. Then we were to go over these sentences with gesso, symbolically erasing them, and after the background was finished we had to write down one sentence, a positive one this time, expressing how we could deal with all of this. Haha, now people who know me, who've talked to me or even read my blog, know by now it's impossible for me to say what I want to say in just one sentence LOL. That being said, writing down feelings doesn't come easily for me, so I turned to a few lines from a song ("I don't want to be" by Gavin DeGraw). This is what I came up with:

The words in the stars say: "I don't want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately. All I have to do is think of me and I have peace of mind". Actually, there were a few other lines in this song I would have liked to have used even more, but I really wanted to include the "Peace of mind", as that is what I am looking for, no more guilt, just some peace of mind, some reassurance that I am doing right by me and my family.

Tam also showed us how to make a background. I wanted to keep it light and cheery, as it was supposed to be a positive page, though for some reason or another at first I wanted to use black and blue LOL. I think my art journal page will be a bit more "dramatic" though, I feel the need for drama LOL. The colours turned out to be a bit of a problem ... we were supposed to use water soluable wax crayons, but since I don't have any (but they're sooo on my wish list right now!!!), I used watercolour paints ... blending them wasn't that easy, and I do think when I see other people's work that wax crayons result in slightly brighter colouring, but still I'm happy with the result

Oh wow, I've talked too much again it seems ... anyway, if you want to learn how to draw those faces, which btw is surprisingly easy, this class is definitely something you should explore!!!

And now the downside to finding my mojo again ... I so want to create right now, but I have so much to do!!!! The kids are going away for the weekend and I have still a lot of organizing to do before they leave ... ah well, good thing I don't need much sleep LOL.

Talk to you later my friends.

Love xxx Peggy

22 comments:

  1. Oh, Peggy! I'm so excited you were inspired to try Tam's class - it is amazing and has opened a whole new door in my art world. :)

    Your portrait is wonderful...you are a natural! The features are perfect and the stars are such a great design element - I'm inspired by music a lot, too....I'm working on a page with the song 'Your Love is a Song' by Switchfoot.

    Can't wait to see more of your creations!! xo

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  2. Wowwwwwwwwwwwww! Peggy! This is AMAZING! I love love love love love love the colors, the images...the stars! WOW WOW WOW!! You are WOW! :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

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  3. Prachtig gedaan Peggy!!!!!

    Saskia :)

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  4. Sounds like an awesome class, and your art journal page turned out fabulous!!! I LOVE your drawn face - I might try drawing myself again soon (but, you know, there's always soooo much to want and soooo little time..!) I'm glad your Mojo returned!!!

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  5. Nou ja zeg Peggy!!!
    Wat heb je dat PRACHTIG gemaakt!

    You sure got your mojo back.
    Keep up the good work :)

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  6. Leuk, nu kan ik je hier en op flickr ook volgen!
    Je hebt een leuke blog en je kan lekker ratelen!;-)
    Cariños de Trudis

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  7. WOW! Peggy this is AMAZING. The face is perfect....the whole page is stunning.

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  8. How awesome Peggy!! I'm so glad you found your mojo again and hope you get to create alot more soon!!
    - April

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  9. Amaai, wat een geweldige pagina!
    groetjes Isolde

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  10. I'm so glad you came to my blog today Peggy! It was so funny, I was thinking about you today too! Your page is amazing. You are a wonderful artist!!
    Guilt is something I know all too well! Perhaps, someday, we can get rid of our guilt. What kind of artists would we be then?
    Hope to see more of you!! Take care!! Hugs!

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  11. *GASP* I'm speechless!! I have no words for this wonderment....

    Peggy you are AMAZING!!
    hugsxxxxxxxx

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  12. Net als Mandy ben ik 'speechless'.....(zal jou niet snel gebeuren, he? Lol!!!!)
    Je bent echt een ALLESkunner!!! Tekenen, schilderen, scrappen, strijken, je kan het allemaal!! Een natuurtalent!
    En wat heerlijk dat je mojo terug is! Niet alleen voor jou maar ook voor ons, je trouwe volgers en fans!!

    Hugs, Jenneke

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  13. Love this one Peggy.....your MOJO is back...Both you and Lucy are such talented artists!!!!! Love the stars!!!

    Wishing you a great one!!!

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  14. GE..WEL..DIG Peggy!!! Écht, ik vind dit zooo mooi!! Ik ben helemaal weg van het portret en dan die kleuren.....
    Petje af meis!!

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  15. WOW wat heb je dat prachtig gemaakt zeg!!!Blij dat je mojo weer terug is!!!

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  16. Dit is echt Briljant Peggy! Heel erg bedankt voor het onder de aandacht brengen, ik had Lucy's post ook gelezen en was meteen verkocht ;)
    Je painting is fantastisch en je background...wow!je journaling, de sterren...
    Echt een artiest ben je meis!
    Heel, heel erg mooi om naar te kijken!

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  17. Blij te lezen dat je mojo terug is!!! En hoe!In 1 woord GEWELDIG!!! Je portret is super en de kleuren zijn een perfecte aanvulling!
    BEdankt voor je lieve berichtje, we gaan in Lommel wonen.

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  18. wow, Peggy!!!

    I haven't been here to say hello in a while (sorry about that!!!) but wow-zers!!! your work is growing and let me tell you...you've blown me away with this!!!

    glad you've found your mojo...I hate when mine goes missing, and it always seems to come back when I am busiest and can't do anything with it. :sigh:

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  19. Peggy, I can totally relate re: the lost mojo, that is super fantastic that this course of art therapy has been just the recipe for his return, wow wow must check this out, although I am guessing it would be a little emotional also, have to be prepared for that...Wow writing your thoughts down and then gessoing them out, this is truly fabulous and wow your layout with the pic, omg, just awesome. I have the very same guilt, so I might just do one of these too. thank you so much for sharing. Love Melxx.. So glad Mr. Mojo has creeped back...

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  20. Thanks for sharing these links/ideas/thoughts/feelings... I'm sure a lot of us looking at your blog can relate totally! Your artpage is awesome, it's textural qualities are really enticing! and yes, I'm off to find some mojo myself. It's been lurking somewhere dark and hideous I think, I will need to use a few hazardous cleaning chemicals to get it to come back out!

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  21. Je vond je "mojo" terug, en ben er heel blij om en hoe, je bent terug met een groooooooote T, vind dit echt heel mooi en ook al vind je het zelf niet, ik vind dat je er echt heel veel op lijkt.

    dikke knuffel
    ikke
    xxx

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  22. that that face is beautiful

    I wish I could draw half as well

    xx

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