Be Still

I am late getting this up because I have been so busy this week and before I knew it the week was gone! Unfortunately I have been doing things other than my art journal so that is behind too. But life happens and we adjust. Not going to stress over being behind because that blocks our hearing God and drags us right back into our perfectionism. 

I have gotten some artwork and journaling done this week although not completed yet I do have a start.  

I have not done a wrapped canvas except the little four inch ones like below.

So I challenged myself by starting an  8 X 10. Here it is in process.

I am trying out a gitter glue on the cage. I have had it in my stash for months so gave it a try. It takes a long time to dry so I have set it aside until today. I will let you know how it turned out in my next post.

As for my "Praying with Art" journal, I started a page on being content. Is waiting for the final touch unless life gets in the way.

I also finished this one on Saturday,

I am working on the Facebook page and it should be ready mid July. It will be a closed group for those who want to journey into praying with art. More details soon.

Tomorrow I will be discussing letting go of some of our "perfectionism." This is one of the biggest killers of our creative spirits and I think it hinders our hearing God. 

Until then take 5 minutes to sit quietly and listen to God's message for you in this passage. Psalm 139:13,14

 13For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. 14I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.…

It will be hard at first if you are new to this. One minute will be an eternity and those mind monkeys will try to distract you but just take a deep breath and start again. I couldn't stop my mind more than 20-30 seconds at first but I kept at it and eventually worked up to much longer. Also you may not hear or feel any stirrings. That is ok too. God is very patient and sometimes his message is just "Be Still"

Blessings dear friends. 

Praying with art

Praying with art is something God laid on my heart in the Fall of 2016. I was in my second year at the 2 Year Academy for Spiritual Formation and I was praying about what to do for my two year project. My original plan had ran into a lot of barriers which made me realize that it was my plan not God's. 

My desire to find a ministry and my love of creating came together in this God inspired way:

Praying or expressing what you hear from God with an art journal.

Ash Wednesday Journal entry.

Art journaling is very popular right now, especially mixed media art journaling because it is freeing and you can start with little to nothing in art supplies. I will go into more detail as we move along. 

I can tell you that it has helped me relax and stop fretting and I spend less time striving for self perfectionism.

Journal Page from 06/23/2017

I need to work out a schedule for posting regularly and how often to post the suggested scripture or topic for prayer. Perhaps you can help me by answering a few questions.

How often would you like to receive a focus Scripture verse or topic to art journal? Weekly or monthly?

Do you prefer a Scripture passage or focus like love, forgiveness, etc. or both?

I will be posting more info in another blog post about tools and supplies, where and how you can pray with your art. But let me encourage you right now by getting rid of some negative thoughts you may be having. 

1.  You do not have to know how to draw (I can't), paint or write neatly (another thing I am not skilled at) 

2.  You are not creating museum pieces or pieces to sell. You do not have to show anyone, including me what you did in your journal. This is between you and God. 

3.  It is not expensive to do. You can find many items in you or your children's "stuff".

4.  Finally, yes you can do this. You will wonder why you waited so long. 

Sign up to receive my post via e-mail and join this amazing journey with me.

Blessings,

Debbie

Backgrounds and the time it takes

Yesterday I said I would explain why I had not finished my one a day painting. This post is picture heavy which makes it longer than usual. 

Doing one piece of art per day was taking a lot of time in between steps because of drying after each layer of the background. So I decided, after watching a YOUTUBE video to prep a weeks worth of paintings and document the process for the background.

First I applied gesso to my page so that all my paint doesn't soak into the paper. Canvases come pretreated with gesso so you save that step. 

Then you dry the gesso. The time it takes depends on how thick you apply it. Gesso takes longer than the paint to dry. I like to let it air dry because then the mixed media paper doesn't curl as bad.

First color is applied with brush and dried.

Second color is applied with fingers and dried.

 Then I apply third color with a wet wipe or fingers and dry.

Then stencil with more paint...

and dry.

Then stamping randomly with ink.

Then walla! Ready to create

This takes a lot of time. I should have timed it but forgot. Maybe next week.

That is my process for backgrounds. I think I will take one day a week and prep a week's worth of backgrounds. If none of the backgrounds are speaking to me on any given day I can always make another one. 

Do you prep your backgrounds  in advance? Let me know in the comments below. I like hearing how others create their artwork. 

Debbie

You can find my art for sale at:

https://www.artyah.com/seller/artbythesea

And https://fineartamerica.com/artists/deborah+halcomb

First Post "One Per Day"

This blog is about mixed media art. 

I would like to introduce myself first. My name is Debbie, I am also known as Daytona Damsel and I love creating. 

The purpose of this blog is to share my mixed media art journey and to have a place where my followers in my new ministry can come to get more info. My new ministry is to teach others to pray with art, specifically mixed media art. I am still in the process of setting this up so check back later for more info if you are interested. 

One Per Day

Two weeks ago I shared on Facebook that I was going to create one piece of art per day for a year. The first week I did well but as the days wore on I started running out of ideas. Some days it took most of the day just to decide on the colors of the background. LOL
When this would happen I would go online to get inspiration on Youtube and Pinterest. Today I stumbled upon a video for Dylusions Paint color mixing. I didn't care about what colors go together; I already know enough about color combining to be dangerous. What caught my interest was the fact that she was preparing nine background pages at one time for future use. Duh. Why didn't I think of this? 

Today I sat down and prepared eight pages with paint, stencil and stamps. Now I am ready for a week's worth of art. From now on I will take one day a week to prepare my back grounds, even if I have to spend a little more time one day a week in my studio painting. But spending more time painting is not really a problem because I love to paint and it was so much fun trying different paint combos.   

I could not figure out how to link the video from Youtube but the artist name is Umut Rados and the video is titled 9 Easy Backgrounds With Dylusions if you would like to watch it. Umut has some great color combos. 

Do you prep backgrounds ahead of times in groups? I would love to hear from you and I respond to every comment I receive.

Give Away

I will be giving away supplies in the future, sign up to follow me so you don't miss out. 


Have a Blessed Day
Debbie