ARTFUL JOURNEYS - WEEK #21

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!  Let's take a moment to remember and thank all those brave men and women of our armed forces who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, and give thanks for living in a world where freedom is recognized and appreciated.  And to those of you who are active military families, thank you and your loved one(s) for your sacrifices.  You are appreciated.

WEEK #21 - CIRCLES

Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; that there is always another dawn risen on mid-noon, and under every deep a lower deep opens.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

Betty here again this week with a little food for thought before we get down to some business.

Do you ever stop to think and recollect about circular things?  That there is no beginning or no end? That the circumference of a circle is the sum total of the whole?  Have you thought how our lives get wrapped around circles?  I think about these things, and often when I get into these kind of philosophical moods, I move closer, I think, to knowing my true self...the real me...the one that is deep inside, hidden away from external pressures, impressions and ideas.  In life, there is a beginning and there is an end, and if you are a spiritual person, you know that being reborn after our last earth breath is yet another circle of infinity.  We wear circles of gold and silver on our fingers, lovingly placed in marriage or commitment as a sign of infinite love, with no beginning or no ending.  We take a circuitous route when lost, back to the beginning.  Even this can have a very deep meaning.We have social circles, circles of friends, quilting circles, sewing circles, circular driveways, circular buildings; our drawing instruments are circular in nature. Wheels on our vehicles are circular.    The tub you toss your pens and markers into are circular.  How many circular things can you find within an arm's reach of where you sit right this very minute?  I would expect more than ten. Perhaps more than twenty.

But we're not on some spiritual or philosophical quest this week with our prompt.  I just thought I would give you something to ponder and reflect upon, and how circles can and do infiltrate our daily lives in the smallest and largest of ways.  Maybe you will reflect upon these circular thoughts while preparing your journal spread or spreads this week.  There's nothing limiting you to just one spread per prompt you know!  I definitely made more than one, but none are deep or spiritual.  Just some circles, with some different techniques and media.

Have fun with the prompt this week.  Go deep. Go light.  Go spiritual.  Wax and wane prophetic if you want.  Collage circular things.  Draw up some perfect or perfectly wonky circles, but include those circular orbs and brighten up your day, and ours.  

The fabulous, beautiful & talented Lynn Jackson made this awesome spread this week. She really had her mixed media art mojo going......and here's what she had to say about it:

"Doing these circles made me very happy because I seem to struggle with every prompt we have each week but this one was so easy. 

The background color is Apple Barrel lime green and topped that with the pretty Indian Turquoise then started drawing the circles in black and outlining them in the white pen.

Arrows used are a rubber stamp and all the sayings are from the Unity Stamp Company.
Please check out what the other girls are up to. We all have such different styles and all awesome. Thanks for looking. " ~~ Lynn

Tamie Rodriguez Wilson has really rocked the prompt this week, in her usual "flippin' fabulous" style.  Check it out here

Melody Elzy whined to me all week she was struggling with this prompt. At first, I just laughed at her, but then when I realized she was serious, I encouraged her to push through her really mean inner critic and take a different approach and to stop over-thinking it. We talked about a couple of different methods and she produced something.....well, beautiful!  She's still not happy with her spread (she's letting that mean inner critic get to her this week), but I can tell you it is perfectly perfect and has Melody's fantastic artistic touches all over it.  Scoot over to her blog and check it out here

Shana Roberts Conroy joined our team this week,  and we are so proud to have the benefit of all her artistic talent, ideas and excitement about the groups and the team!  We are very pleased to present her first prompt as an admin, and a treat for you! Shana made an awesome video quite some time ago and we are pleased to share it here for your viewing pleasure for this week's prompt.  We didn't really give her much notice for doing a spread, but this 17 minute vid is definitely worth your visit!  You can check out the video here.

And lastly, my contributions for this week's prompt can be found on my blog, along with images of some of the other work I have been up to in the wee-hours of this week.  Check it out here

Now go out there and make some circles.  Get one with the circular universe!

We're keeping it artful!


ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Tamie, Lynn & Shana