art journal pages

coltrane
john coltrane portrait, journal page


I start in the middle of a sentence and move both directions at once.
― John Coltrane


This past week I listened to Coltrane and Miles Davis music for the first time. While listening to round midnight, I sketched Coltrane's portrait in pencil. I then went over it with charcoal and outlined his hand with sumi ink.

flexible
september journal page, Flexible

I don't paint dreams or nightmares, I paint my own reality. ― Frida Kahlo

I also completed my journal page for a life in the year of an art journal. The prompt was to complete a journal page inspired by Frida Kahlo's work. Using her painting titled The Broken Column as inspiration, I wanted this journal page to represent the ability to survive and live beyond life's low points.

I started out with a figure line drawing on top of a gesso and acrylic background. To that I added pastels set with titan buff acrylic. I then added painted and stamped tissue paper for the t-shirt.

I looked through my vintage 1941 Mechanical Engineers Handbook for images that would add a mechanical element. When I read "flexible couplings allow for a slight occasional misalignment" I felt it was a perfect metaphor of surviving the twists and turns that we experience in life. The drawings of coupling parts can be seen in the arm, lower body, and to the right of the face.

wishing everyone a good weekend and joining sunday sketches and a life in the year of an art journal

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