Mark Making; Making One's Mark

I have started making a triptych cover for each of my ATC's that gives my contact information, the date of the trading session, and the title of the ATC. The cover uses recent art from my journals and art shows.

This month I used my Perfectionist Gremlin and "Seated Nude at the Confluence" from the Third Annual Naked in Lyons show at the Ohm Gallery.

Inside the cover is a poem about laughter by Susie Petersiel Berg, called "So Many Words for Laughter."

On the back of the poem is a page of words associated with "laughter." I stamped my chop over the words on the back and made 12 copies of the cover and poem insert.

This ATC was a collaboration between the Muse and what Quinn McDonald calls the Gremlin, in her permission-giving book, "Raw Art Journaling." She encourages artists to Confront, Confine, and Confound the Gremlin. A fun way to not get rid of but to dialog with the Gremlin is to draw it on a separate piece of paper and then choose a time to have a dialog. You can then allow it to speak or be in your studio on your own terms. One art Gremlin many of us deal with is Time.

The Gremlin says, "Wash Dishes; Go Shopping; Do your Laundry; Then you can do your art, but only if you are perfect."

The Muse says, "In God's Eternal Now there is time enough for all things."

Many artists complain they do not have enough time to do their art. Lesley Riley challenges artists to make time for their art by:
1. Announce your commitment
2. Set boundaries.
3. Schedule time.
4. Create a habit.
5. Plan Ahead

This is the year I will spend Mark Making and Making One's Mark. A year from now, it will be interesting to see where this journey has taken me.

 More information can be found at www.createmisedmedia.com.

Third Annual Naked in Lyons Show: August 13, 2011, 5 - 9 p.m.

Available at the Ohm Gallery: 441 Main Street, Lyons, Colorado 80302

Title: "Seated Nude at the Confluence"

Artist: P. Jeanette O'Rourke, M.A.

Medium: Daniel Smith Watercolor & Krylon Gold Leaf on Daniel Smith Watecolor Ground; Sealed with Daniel Smith Gold Gesso; Finished with Golden Archival Acrylic Varnish

Size: 8" x 10" Hardboard

Frame Free: Ready to Hang with Hammered Brass Clips

Price: $400

Poems While You Wait

Just What Do You Think You Are, Really?

While walking with an art buddy on our way to the Monday Boulder Arts group, I saw a man sitting on the Boulder Mall--he was sitting in front of a 1917 Corona typewriter with a sign that said, "Poems While You Wait."

I asked him how much a poem cost, and he said it was by "donation." He asked me for a topic, and I gave him the question R thinks is important to answer during one's life on planet earth: "What are you?"

So while R and I waited, he typed out this poem:


WHAT ARE YOU?

STARDUST
               ashes from great big stars
                OD'd on light
caught in skies of gravity
     deep enough to draw water
and something
                something very near like a first kiss electric
     happened
                 things begin to wiggle and draw in
     like a magnetic
                  all the brilliant designs
     that make a home
                  our home
            beautiful
like fresh love
                   enough to make it work
     you are a miracle of light and ash
             putting forth all the effort necessary
                     to see your love again.

Then Bill Keys read us his poem and I handed him my donation (actually, I had to borrow money from R. to pay for it). I don't know how much a spontaneous poem costs; I hope it was enough; I know I got my money's worth.

I read his poem to our arts group and two of our members asked to hear the last line twice.

Anyway, I am linking to Bill Keys blog at www.poemswhileyouwait.blogspot.com

A great idea and a fun blog; check it out.