My Generation

It has been said that what you love in your youth stays with you.

I loved the 60s and 70s (and the 50s too...yes, I am an oldie but goodie!) and I reflect it in my art.



I had so much fun creating the two page spread seen above. I was listening to a mixed CD of 60s music at the time. Music is a must when I am making art. It allows me to tune out distractions and focus on creating.
The two stamps (a likeness of Bob Dylan, and Give Up War For Lent) were hand-carved during my Zen period.

Talkin' 'bout my generation...(that's me around 1972!)

Does your art reflect the things you loved in your youth?

Where I Found My Zen

A few years ago I was really into hand-carving rubber stamps.
After losing my precious Mom I needed to find a way back to enjoying my passion...
...making ART...
-the quiet and focused method of carving stamps was my path.
It was where I found my zen.

While carving the rubber stamp of Paul in the journal page pictured above I began thinking back to 1963.
I was 13 and the British invasion had begun!
I remember clearly that even our mom's thought Paul was 'the cute Beatle'...well, at least my Mom did! For over 42 years Mom and I loved listening to the Beatles together.

I have a photograph, preserve your memories...

Long ago it must be
I have a photograph
Preserve your memories
They're all that's left you.

--bookends...simon & garfunkel--

We all have them. Old photographs in shoe boxes; in photo albums on dusty shelves; in envelopes stuffed in a dresser drawer...and in our busy lives we rarely pull them out and look at them.

Two photos of my Grandfathers were tucked in a large brown envelope at the back of my closet. I made photocopies of each of them and grabbed my Visual Journal...now I look at these photos often and reflect on my families history.

After creating a background using acrylic paints I simply cut out the photocopies and adhered them to the page using a gel medium...I used a gel pen to jot down thoughts that came to mind. Finding an image in a magazine of an antique globe I cut it in half using one half on each page and drew 'stitch marks' to symbolize the connection these two men shared...their children (my Mom & Dad) who joined together.

The original photos are still tucked away (for safe-keeping) -- but now I (and others) can enjoy the memories I have preserved in my Visual Journal that gets opened far more often than the family photo album or shoe box up on the closet shelf :)
Think of what YOU could do with photocopies of old family photos and create a one-of-a-kind Visual Journal as a gift for someone in your family!

(you can enlarge the photo by clicking on it)