Mixed Media « karenika

Note to Self – Week 4

This page was originally supposed to be a Tam assignment for Life Book 2014. Representing ourselves as an animal that represents growth and strength. But I didn’t feel like drawing any animals.

At the time, I was taking several big leaps of courage and I was thinking a lot about being brave so I decided I wanted to draw this girl leaping from one side of a cliff to another. I wanted her to be doing it gracefully, fearlessly, joyfully. Alas, my drawing skills aren’t that advanced. I tried and tried and this was the best I could end up with. I don’t love it but I also don’t hate it.

It says: the courage is in choosing to leap, not in the outcome, so celebrate the leap.

I wanted to remind myself that bravery is not about not being afraid. But it’s also not about the outcome. It’s about trying. Being willing to try. To jump without knowing what’s on the other side. To have faith.

This is a good one for me to remember as I go on my journey of being brave this year.

Note to Self is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.

Note to Self – Week 3

For this first page, I used Alena Hennessy’s lesson from Life Book 2014. Alena’s style is very fluid and intuitive and I wanted to emulate that.

This page also has no text. It’s easier for me to be organized, have a plan, and write my thoughts down. It’s considerably harder for me to just go with the flow. For this page, I painted the whole page first, and then I drew my flowers and painted over everything else so what you’re seeing in the flowers is what was underneath.

This one reminds me that we all have layers. What you see at face value isn’t always all there is. It also reminds me that what’s here now doesn’t have to be the final version of what there will be. Like art, we are always evolving. We are not finished products. And anything can be painted over. We get to choose who we are. If we don’t like what we see, we keep changing till we do.

It also reminds me to be more fluid. To trust my intuition. To trust that beauty emerges no matter what.

here’s a closeup of the left side:

and right side:

Thanks to Alena for teaching me so much.

Note to Self is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.

Note to Self – Week 2

For this first page, I used Carissa Paige’s lesson from Life Book 2014. The subject was about home and I thought a lot about what home means to me and what I consider to be my home.

I grew up in Istanbul, Turkey and my sister and parents are still there. A lot of what I consider to be my home is all the way there. I now live in the Bay Area and am married with my own family here. So my heart is always split. Some days I feel like both are my home and other days I feel like neither might be. And the truth probably lies somewhere in between as it always does.

So for this page, I collages some pieces to represent my childhood on one side, and some from my adulthood on the other. I then drew the globe (if I had planned it better, I would have put my sister and I on the right side, closer to Turkey and my boys and me on the left, closer to the US but alas I didn’t plan it.) in the middle and painted all over it.

Then I wrote: Home is where the people you love are.

isn’t that the truth.

here’s a closeup of the left side:

and right side:

this one has a lot of texture:

So, next time I find myself wondering where I belong, I remember: I belong with the people I love.

Note to Self is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.

2015 Projects – Note to Self – Intro and Week 1

Each year, I like to make sure I do one project that involves painting. Acrylics for the most part but any kind of painting. I liked the idea of Remembering things like I did for last year’s Remember This project. And I signed up for Life Book in 2015, too.

So Note to Self will be a year of painted pages, using mostly Life Book lessons and a moleskine watercolor journal.

At least that’s the plan.

For this first page, I used Flora Bowley’s lesson from Life Book 2014. Even though it has no writing, my note to self here to let myself be more free. Looser. This piece was done in many many layers and without any forethought. With some structure and grouping of colors but not much else.

It’s a reminder that I need to practice letting go. Like everything else, it’s a practice. This is also a reminder that what looks like chaos at first might end up as something magnificent. Part of the trick is trusting the process. Learning to see what’s there. To see inside the noise. And let the beauty emerge.

I am looking forward to another year of wonderful reminders and joyful art.

Today I Know – Looking Back

Today I know was a gift from the Soul Comfort class I took towards the end of 2013. And it ended up being one of my favorite projects from 2014. It never felt burdensome or cumbersome.

I really liked doing such a wide variety of pages. The art was fun. Learning to navigate the thin and non-waterproof pages of the book was fun. Playing with such a variety of mediums was also fun.

But the best part was the journaling. Getting to write out such interesting topics. Using the pages to collect my thoughts. I really loved it.

I seriously considered continuing the project for 2015 in some capacity. But I like to change things up. So I decided to bit farewell to this particular project. However, I am keeping my prompts and may end up using them in some other way.

In the meantime, I love love love this book that I ended up with. And I will go back and visit it regularly.

It was one of the few projects I didn’t abandon or modify in any way. I found a system early on in the year and it worked well enough for me to carry it throughout. Partly because I think this was a very flexible project. It was fun, diverse, introspective and rewarding.

I am very grateful to Melody for her wonderful ideas that never let me down.

Today I Know – Week 51

This week’s inspiration comes from on of Tam’s lessons from Life Book 2014. I used acrylics on the flowers and border. It was quick to make and gives me a lot of joy!

prompt says: today i know that i really like to