Optimistic

 Welcome 2021! I am feeling optimistic as we start the new year. We have a vaccine for covid-19, which means there is hope for an end to the pandemic at some point this year. We will have a new president on January 20th. A president who believes in science, can keep his ego in check, and will behave as a leader should. 

I had planned to finish all the pages in my small art journal by December 31st. I didn't quite meet that goal, but I am okay with it. There were too many pots that needed to be made! I usually take a break once the last pots are shipped by the holiday deadline. This year orders continued to come in and Christmas day was my only full day off. I will admit to taking a more relaxed attitude for the last two weeks. The flow of the day has been an enjoyable one.

Here are two journal pages that I completed during this time.

The entire journal was made using gel printed, mixed media paper. I sometimes have to work hard at how to incorporate the backgrounds into a new artwork. This was one I struggled with and just decided to practice a figure painting on it. Once I got started I liked how the background became the print in her gown as well as her tangle of black hair.

I wanted to explore circles a little more and incorporated them into two different spreads. I painted a thin layer of gesso over the gel printed pages before I began. This added a little depth to backgrounds. The small circle pattern in the spread above is a raised texture. I created it using a stencil and molding paste. The spread below was created with the old photo in mind. The photo is of my sister and me, taken in front of my brother's mustang. I am quite sure we were headed to his high school graduation. My mother made our dresses. Mine was a knit material that had a rick-rack trim. I remember that it was itchy and that I never really liked to wear it. Anita's dress was madras plaid in orange, yellow, and blue. It was way cooler then mine.

I have just one full page spread left to create, and this little book will be done. Time to start binding another. This time with plain white pages.