Art Journal: Weekend Spread, Do Not Fear Success

This weekend's spread is all ready to receive writing which I think will be white gelly roll on the left side. I don't want to put in any writing on the right, but I'll have to see how much room I need.

The first layer of the background was gesso over blue watercolor crayon followed by several layers of green and blue tissue, art papers, and a computer printout of the female figure. The image is embellished by glitter glue. (I don't fling glitter, I squirt it! :)

Creating the image was a project in itself. I found a vintage image of Mata Hari. I am not particularly interested in Mata Hari herself, but the image presented to me all sorts of possibilities in terms of manipulation and embellishment. It took about an hour to colorize the whole image in Photoshop, resulting in about a dozen layers to achieve the final effect.

So what is this spread about? A couple of weeks ago during a meditation time, the words "Do not fear success" popped into my mind. It was an interesting insight that made me consider that my lack of progress in certain areas of my life may not have anything to do with a fear of failure, but rather from a fear of being successful. This insight is something that I am going to have to give some considered thought.

I debated with myself as to whether I should rephrase the title of the spread into a positive affirmation such as "Welcome Success". But since those were not the words that came to me, I stuck with the original statement.


ljgloyd (c) 2012

Art Journal: Weekly Spread January 16 Onward

Here is my spread all ready for my multi-day journaling for this week. Nothing fancy: just gesso over watercolor crayons, then stampings, followed by a drawing. I will handwrite my entries in black Pitt pen.

ljgloyd (c) 2012

Mosiac Spread: It's All About the Journey

This is my full weekend spread for January 14 and 15 (awaiting text for the 15th). It employs the mosiac and "hidden" tab prompts from earlier this week. I created the background by laying down some white gesso, fushia acrylic paint and black gesso. The mosiac tiles are cut from a paper I made of light wash of the fushia paint rubbed over by a thin layer of copper metallic acrylic paint. The labyrinth is a computer print out. I embellished with glitter glue. At first I was hesitant about using too much glitter but then I thought "You can never use too much glitter!" Woo-hoo.

ljgloyd (c) 2012

Art Journal: First Week

Here is the front cover of the journal:

The journal itself is a 9 by 12 soft-bound sketchbook. I painted over the cover in cerulean blue, green and copper metallic acrylic paint. I pasted a photo that was taken in a low-light setting by a friend. The friend who took the picture was going to delete it since it was so blurry, but I just loved the effect and knew it would someday show up in a piece of art. Here it is. Finally, the text is stamping on a piece of blue tissue paper.



This image was created for my January 8 journal entry (January 7 also had a similar image). I just didn't know what to make as a focal point image so I just traced my hand and started doodling in it. I painted black gesso around it for contrast and wrote the text with a Sakura white gelly roll pen. A number of people in the Book of Days group have commented that they too have used the motif of the hand in this week's journaling. How synchronicitous is that?

I am working on my multi-day spread for this week. I want to incorporate a mosiac effect into what I have already started, but that may not work so well and I'll have to use the mosiac effect on my weekend spread.

What I find interesting about this project is that I have had the discipline to do it every day thus far, even if it is only a word or two. We'll see how long that lasts.

More to come.

ljgloyd (c) 2012

Pantry Improv: Huevos Rancheros

My huevos rancheros recipe is not really an improvisation, rather my interpretation of a classic, soul-soothing breakfast dish. My guess is that someone originally improvised this from food on hand in the pantry.

From the pantry:
vegetable oil
corn torilla
canned refried beans
salsa (or you can make fresh if you like)

From the fridge:
eggs
queso fresco or some other soft white cheese

Completely cover the bottom of a large skillet with the vegetable oil. Heat the oil until it starts to shimmer. Lay a corn tortilla in the oil for about two minutes or until it starts to get crispy. Carefully flip the tortilla and crisp the other side. Remove from the oil and drain on a paper towel. Fry one tortilla for every serving.

Spread a couple of tablespoons of refried beans on the tortilla.

In another skillet, fry an egg in a bit of oil, either sunnyside up or over easy. Scrambling doesn't work so well because you want a runny yolk in the finished dish. Place the fried egg on top of the beans and tortilla.

Spoon a bit of salsa and sprinkle a little cheese on top of all.

This breakfast dish is wonderful for lunch and dinner as well.

Click HERE to read about my personal pantry improv project.

ljgloyd (c) 2012

Watching Bread Rise: A Metaphor for Growth

This week I made bread from scratch. I'm a bit of a foody, if you haven't already figured that out, so the process of watching the bio-chemical replication of yeast is something that fascinates me. Yes, I know, I need to get a life, and that is indeed what I hope to do this year.

Bread-making is an appropriate picture of life growth. Yeast is a living creature -- Saccharomyces cerevisiae -- a one-celled critter that procreates like crazy if you give it enough sugar and warm water. When you combine these happy little yeastie-beasties with flour, salt, a lot of time and a little heat, you get bread.

I have an idea for a long-term life project. I have been tossing the idea around in my mind for several months, and now I want to nurture it with the hope it will rise like bread dough. The idea is the flour, the yeast is the planning, and the sugar and warm water is the research. Hopefully, the planning and research will make that idea rise up into reality. I don't expect achieving my goal will be easy. I expect a little heat along the way, but you need some heat to bake good bread.

I'm sorry to be so vague on the specifics of the project. I'm still in the planning stages, and, if you have ever made bread, you know that if conditions are not right, the bread dough won't rise. So I'm not going to say any more about it now in case things fall flat.

But to leave you with a little more than my ramblings, here is the recipe I used to make the gorgeous loaf of bread in the picture above:

Thoroughly mix together in a large crockery bowl:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose white flour
1 teaspoon salt

In a separate bowl, combine:

1 package of dry active yeast
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of warm water

About 10 minutes later, when the yeast is frothing on top of the water, add the liquid to the dry ingredients and thoroughly mix. Put a little flour on a bread board and dump out the dough on it. Vigorously knead the bread for about 5 minutes. (Great therapy). Return the dough to the crockery bowl and cover with a clean kitchen cloth. Put it someplace warm and leave it for about 3 hours.

After the dough has risen (it should double or even triple in size) add some more flour to the board, dump out the dough, and knead for another 5 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a large cast iron skillet. Cover and let it rise for another hour. About 15 minutes before you plan to bake the bread, preheat the oven to 375 F. (about 220C). Uncover the skillet, put it in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes (or until the top is golden brown).

Prepare to swoon from the aroma.

ljgloyd (c) 2012