Mystele Kirkeeng -Artist

ART JOURNALER

INTUITIVE ARTIST

I got excited when I saw a new video from this artist, Mystele.  First of all, her name alone is "artistic"!  Wouldn't you want to know more about a person with such an interesting name...Mystele Kirkeeng.

The first time I saw one of her videos, I was intrigued by her approach to art.  She paints and draws with both her right and left hands!  She does very interesting, layered backgrounds.  As I watched this particular video this morning, I'm thinking...where is this going to go....how is it going to end up looking like anything...but it does in the end.  She's using up some old art supplies in her stash on this video and it's these little pieces that she transfers to the pages, that give her direction as she applies colors and marks on the pages.  Mystele loves to do faces.  

The most important part of this video is what she shares about the process, why she does art journaling, what it tells her about herself.  As you watch, listen to what she says about this at the end of her video.  

I'm always hearing people say....I don't know how to draw or paint.  On the other hand...I think a lot of people would enjoy art journaling....you don't have to know how to draw and you really only need a few supplies.  We all have something to say....you can do it in color and without words if you like.  You'll still get the message across.  And it's fun.  

ART - Fantasy vs. Realism

Acrylics - 10 x 10 Canvas Board

I'm taking time off from work this week to do "work" at home...preparing the house for winter.  So much to do....it's exhausting!  I also want to fit in some time for art work.  I go back and forth on what kind of art to do.  I went to an art supply store today and picked up a couple of beautiful inks and was dying to try them.  So I spritzed the canvas board with water and then drizzled the ink colors onto the board and let them "run".  And then I started filling in colors around the drizzled shapes.  It's all about an explosion of color.  It's not the type of art I want to do all of the time, but it is a fun exercise to see where your art will go.

The Yellow Picture Frame

YELLOW FRAME

I have a slight obsession right now with yellow picture frames.  First of all, they have to be the right shade of yellow.  So far I have 5...they're not all the same shade of yellow, but they are all warm yellows.  And they each have something unique about them....none of them are plain.  The one I'm showing here has the vines cut into the frame.  I did a little painting for it...not sure it's going to be the one for this frame, but I was dying to see how the frame would look with a painting in it.  It actually might be fun to emulate the vines of the frame into a painting....I don't know.....As far as the yellow frames, I was thinking it might be fun to do a feature wall with them. I need a few more.  The vine frame has a 5 x 7 painting in it to give you an idea of the size.   The frame below holds a silhouette of Tom we had done at a local church fair a long time ago...so it's my  first yellow frame....and probably my favorite.  

The Pumpkin and the Cat

The Pumpkin and the Cat

Canvas Board

5 x 7 Acrylics

This is a small little painting...not sure why I didn't just create it in my art journal, but these small canvas boards are kind of fun to use for a quick painting.

When I first thought about doing a painting on this canvas, I was going to do a pumpkin with an interesting background.  This painting started with a green background with some other colors as well....and this is how I ended up.  I do like the whimsical nature of folk art and I also love paintings that are filled with pattern...nothing left plain.  I sometimes get into trouble with my art because I don't think things through...I go backwards which can make it actually more difficult to do.  For instance, the window was put in last....If I had sketched the idea lightly on the canvas, painting it would have gone a little bit more smoothly.  I think of the legs of the desk as sort of like the legs of a cat...rather delicate with similar feet.  This is all I had time for this weekend. The leaves are changing and it was too nice to be indoors!

IF YOU KNEW SUSIE...

ART JOURNAL

Mixed Media

 "If you knew Susie"...

Susie is someone I met only once, 16 years ago.  She was organizing a golf event for breast cancer and I work for the company that enlists people to have these events for Susan G. Komen.  We talked on the phone quite a bit because I'm in CT and she was in southern VA.  She hosted many of these events over the years until she was unable to....and there's not much that kept her down.  About 10 years ago, I was fortunate to attend her event and meet her in person.  She was hard to keep up with.

  Susie was a breast cancer survivor who had been diagnosed at age 36 when she was the mother of 3 young children.  

The flower I collaged to this page

 (from a Pottery Barn catalog) 

reminds of Susie...

The photo you see here of Susie....is a card from her funeral that tells you about the amazing person she was,  because her cancer did not define her and she lived with cancer until January of this year.  She was born in January 1948 and died in January 2014.  You can do the math on how long she lived with cancer.

 This photo is of her attending the Kentucky Derby last year.  You can't tell from

 the photo, but she's wearing a sweater that has a flower stem down the front and the flower is up at her neck....kind of like the flower I put on the page.

More photos from the journal....

I don't want to go into the details of the art except to say there is lots of pink....I made a pink house for Susie with a big heart inside the front doors.

You know how sometimes your life crosses paths with someone who you know is special and you don't ever want to forget.....well, I could  never forget Susie.

She's touched more people's lives than she could have ever imagined.  She touched mine.  I had to put her in my book.  If you knew Susie....

(doors from Pinterest)