going retro

RetroArtJournaling promo2

Anyone that has been in my studio or my classes, knows that I have been practicing art journaling for several years now.  It has gotten me through times when I just didn’t have any fresh new paintings in me.  Since I was in elementary school, I have loved collage.  I used to make calendars for my mom for Christmas, creating a different theme for each month and hand-drawing the calendar (this was way before Microsoft Word.  No PCs in my house).    I loved collecting images and then putting them together thematically, and the cutting and pasting is still as thrilling to me as it was in my childhood.

I have a growing collection of vintage magazines, including McCall’s, Good Housekeeping Life, Newsweek and National Geographic.  I am interested in the stories as well as the advertising.  I honestly don’t know how women made it in the 40’s – 70’s  (although many of those same ideals and expectations are still around for us today).  But I find the glamour mesmerizing, as well as the rationale that the softness of your hands after washing dishes will positively affect your husband’s desire for you.

In my new Retro Art Journaling class, I’m sharing my vintage magazines with you as we create some fun journals.  The base of these journals will be booklet cookbooks, so many of your backgrounds will already be in place.  We’ll use collage, paint, markers, gel pens and more to create one-of-a-kind art books. I personally have created a couple of these retro-themed books and have loved it.  I know you will, too.

Find out more about this new class by clicking HERE.

a riddle

"a riddle" art journal pages by Misty Oliver-Foster
“a riddle” art journal by Misty Oliver-Foster
The next few volcanoes took me down
I was starting to feel very sorry for myself
Why couldn’t she play the piano until the next day?
music is medicine.
Finding myself covered with regular words,
it was a very long time before I dared to
believe my recklessness.
“Enough of this nonsense!”
Ugh.  She tried not to groan.
“Keep it moving!”
But she didn’t.
She just said, “No.”
The word was right under my supplies.

 

A riddle.

awesome april (day 30) – i did it my way

ATC 38  23(Grace)  23 SeriesI set a challenge for myself this month to post on my blog daily, and this, my friends, is the final post for the month of April 2014.   I did it!

There were days that were a lot more inspiring than others, some very exciting with good news to share, and others that I just didn’t feel so motivated about.  But I’ve found that this has been a really good exercise for me — it has kept me focused each day, because I knew I would need to share something interesting each day with you.

Just like my journals, my blog posts are a good resource for me to see what was going on in my life at a particular time.

An overview of this month’s posts:

  • I have gotten to share some of my visual journals with you, which until this month I hadn’t published online. Posting on my blog daily has encouraged me to finish some of those journal pages that I had started but had been dragging my feet on finishing.   See awesome april posts # 18 22, 23, 25 and 27 for new journal entries, and I have a new visual journals page that I’ve been adding to all month.
  • I shared things that inspire me along the way(days # 5, 6, 7, 14 20, 28) and the advice I would give to my artist self 20 years ago (#16).
  • My trip to Europe is officially on the books, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a while.  It’s been 10 years since I traveled overseas, so I’m happy to have something fantastic to look forward to next year.  jens studio 3
  • You got a few glimpses into my studio (day # 10, 15, 26, 28),  and the studio of my friend Jennifer Cowley (day #2).  I also shared a few of my art friends (day #11 and # 24), as well as some of my students’ work in progress (day #3).
  • I’ve had a great month getting my work out there.  I revealed the news that I was selected to complete a public art mural for McKinney this spring. ( I’m still waiting on a start date, and I’ll keep you all posted on the latest  developments with that project). Meanwhile, I’ve also sold a few paintings this month, and been selected for a juried show.

Thanks to all of you who have been reading my blog this month, and to my new ‘followers.’  As always, I’d love to have comments from you on any of the posts.

Here’s looking forward to a Maniacal May.

 

awesome april (day 27) – abstract circles

visual journal
altered book turned visual journal

 

While some of my art journal entries use images of people and things, many of them are simple, stream-of-conscious designs . I tend to use a lot of circles.

This is from my first visual journal (an altered book).  The background is made by tearing out phone book pages and layering them over the existing book.  I then glued on patches of pink tissue paper.  I used transparent green glazes to add a contrasting color, then opaque white to balance the black charcoal.

Although this isn’t an image of a real “thing”, to me it reminds me of a totem, a pair of eyes, or even an abstracted female figure.

Like this? You can see more of my  art journals HERE — updated frequently.