My Pen Doesn't Skip a Beat

There was a bit of a shaker this afternoon here on the California coast...bitty little earth wiggle in the neighborhood of 5.5 on the Richter scale.  It was over in an instant though, not even enough to throw me out of step.  I've been curled up in the studio, dealing with the incessant inclement weather by working in my usual palette of bright pinks, oranges, turquoises, and shocking greens.  Journaling is so much more enjoyable since I began revisiting long-neglected styles;  I feel more playful, relaxed, and engaged.  Each page in this particular journal take me several days to complete and even after a page is "finished," I sometimes continue to add details here and there.  So fun!

Diving Deep

Some sort of fevered hacking cough descended upon my household in the last few days so I've been missing in action, trying to recover while continuing forward with all my various commitments.  In addition, I've been doing some very deep thinking on where I want to go with my journaling (and art in general) and how blogging fits into that puzzle.

I've been looking back through my many in-progress journals and realized that my old stuff felt more personal, more alive, more genuine that what I've been doing recently.  The more I blogged, the shallower my content my content became.  I was working faster so I could have fresh stuff to show every post but the trade-off was that I wasn't taking my time with pages.  And I realized that I have tired of always showing everything; I recognized a deep, important need to hold some things back so that I could work unfettered by copyright and privacy issues.

Changes are afoot.  I am slowing everything waay down.  One of my 2012 goals is do more "slow art," projects that take time to develop and percolate, simmering in my brain and unfolding without pressures, be they internal or external.  I am continuing my daily diary as it serves as a great snapshot of my days.  However, I am also working in other journals, going further, playing longer.  These fresh pages will only be shown here at Lost Coast Post as detail shots.  Some won't be shown at all.   Diving into the depths of one's imagination is a solo journey...at least it is for me at this point in time.

Not to worry...I'll have plenty of material for blog posts as journaling certainly isn't my only form of artistic exploration.  I think you'll begin to see common themes though: characters, an emphasis on the tactile, the original, the leisurely-developed.  I love this path I'm on and hope that you'll join me for peeks at the scenery as it develops.