February Art Journal Pages

Writing a love letter to myself

each February

began years ago in 2008

when I first put paint brush to altered book..

It is a tradition that I look forward to each year..

writing about the things that I do, say and think

 that 

I really appreciate..

This year however..

I had a new twist to journal about..

I have always identified with being Italian American..

because I was so close to my father's family..

and because my mother and I had been estranged for so may years..

not uncommon in families with 

alcoholism..

My Mother always claimed to be Irish..

She even gave her youngest son an Irish name..

and well she was beautiful, 

with red hair, freckles and blue eyes..

fast forward 

to Ancestry and DNA testing..

and suddenly 

I am not half Irish, but German and English

What a surprise..

not an Irish scalawag in the lot..

I knew I had an English grandfather that I never met..

(lots of secrets on that side of the family..

that we won't go into here today..)

but I was too young to remember my maternal great grandmother..

My Mother.. 

sigh..

I can understand her changing her heritage during WW2..

I get that part, it would have made high school very difficult..

and small town living,

 atrocious..

but to keep the story going all those years later..

that is so my 

MOTHER..

However..

No matter where my DNA originated..

I am happy to be the woman that I am..

So I gessoed and painted and painted some more 

and scrubbed back the layers to reveal the orange paint underneath.. to show the past..

and used the letters...

to emphasize 

the power of the written word..

to manifest what we truly want to create..

Ingredients: Stitched Mono Prints, threads, acrylic paint, colored pencils, pencil, paper ephemera, antique envelopes, wrapping papers, pen.

So gentle reader,

I will have the second half of that 

Mono Printing video for you on Friday..

we will be printing on large cloth,

canvas

and boards..

so I will see you then

dear ones..

xox

February Art Journal Pages

February..

is the month that I always take the time

to write a love letter to myself ...

and I wrote 

a very long letter directly on the page..

in pencil

and took time to remember everything

that I have accomplished this year..

much of which cannot be seen with the eye..

Today is the first 

anniversary of my Mother's death..

and while 

I did not expect to grieve as one would..

for a Mother that is close and loving..

since

my Mother was estranged from me for so long...

I guess  I was a bit surprised by how much

work, spiritually I still needed to address... 

there was a dark cloud hanging over me

all year..

and it took a while to see it

and to release the issues.. habits

that I had been taught as a child..

and I think I will be continuing to work through them..

but they are recognized and the first step is being willing

to change, to let go and to walk fearlessly into the future..

A Red Letter Day was always an important day 

highlighted in red on the calendar..

I think it is also a day in which you realize how

much you love yourself...

Ingredients: pencil, acrylic paint, stencils, paper ephemera, mono prints, tissue paper, walnut ink, colored pencil

work continues in the studio

on my new collection..

and this week we are filming mono prints in the studio

for our YouTube channel..

as always I am so grateful to you for your

kind readership..

and comments..

ciao, ciao!