Secrets

Last weekend I went to a play that was all about family secrets.  The play was well acted but depressing since the family secret involved teenaged prostitution.  In the lobby of the theater, there was a kiosk set up where the patrons could reveal their own secrets.

"What are you hiding?"

The 4-sided kiosk was covered with Post-It notes on which people had written all kinds of secrets.  Some were silly (“I ate the last piece of cake”), some were deep (“I threw my engagement ring away and told my fiancé that I lost it”) and some were disturbing (“My sister was raped by a family member”).  As I walked around the kiosk reading the notes, I heard people commenting that they were analyzing the handwriting.  A few people thought that many of the notes were written by the same hand.  I choose to believe that each note was left by a separate individual who felt just a little bit lighter, a little bit happier, after leaving a secret behind.

I can’t tell you what my secret is, but I can tell you what I wrote on the Post-It note that I left behind.  “So am I.”

- christina

Fashion Sketches

My lovely daughter, Hannah, is studying fashion business at Columbia College.  She wants to work in the fashion industry, but does not want to design clothes (that answers the first question that people always ask me when I mention her major). To complete her studies, she has to take classes like Fashion Design Principles so she has learned to draw fashion sketches. 

These drawings are from an
app on a Samsung Tablet.

I love her drawings and hope that she will someday teach me how to draw these lanky, stylish women. Check out Hannah's website here.  I am very proud of all of her hard work and can't wait to see what she does in the future.

- christina

Donna Downey Journals

For the last few years I have been following the blog of a fellow artist, Donna Downey.  Until recently she published videos once a week called "Inspiration Wednesday" in which she would create a mixed media page in a journal.  What I loved about her videos was that she talked about her thinking while she was working.  I loved hearing her work out problems that she ran into, describe her feelings about the piece as it progressed, and grapple with the issue of when the artwork was actually finished.  Although she doesn’t make the "Inspiration Wednesday" videos any longer, the old ones are still accessible through her blog.

Donna always did her "Inspiration Wednesday" projects in a special journal that she created herself.  I decided to make a Donna Downey journal for me.

The journal I made is cloth and canvas with
2 signatures of cardstock paper.

Donna Downey journals have "inclusions" which
are index cards, envelopes, and other things.

I started with washi tape and alphabet
stickers.  I used masking tape to keep
paint from seeping between the pages.

I spread acrylic paint all over the
page using my fingers.

Finally I added a face.
"She dreams in colors."

I also made a Donna Downey journal for my BFF as a present.  I hope she sends me pictures of the pages she makes in her book.

- christina