{points of two week #52: where i want to go in 2011}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

Our prompt for this, our final week, was where I want to go in 2011.

And Roben-Marie's page!

I’ve been working on a portfolio website for myself behind the scenes, and for that, had to actually gather together all 51 Points of Two pages to put into a single gallery. Seeing them that immediately, opposed to over the course of a year, showed me a window into myself I’d been missing. A glance, long and loving, at where I’d started and where I ended.

This whole project started innocently enough as a Facebook status update.

Yes, a little idea we both had, a way to chronicle the year and keep our journals in our hearts. We started with that one idea and ran with it.

It took a week to figure out the name.

robenmarie@xxxxx


Perspective Play...?


kiraboshi@xxxx
 to robenmarie

I like it! I kinda want to work discovery in there now, though...

Roben-Marie Smith
 to me

Okay...let me think about that as well.

Have you thought of any?



samie kira
 to Roben-Marie

Nothing concrete. I have all these vague ideas floating around in my head...i just need them to snap together!

For example, words:

discovery
point of view
perspective
difference
common
artistic
another
distance
togetherness
exploration

They just won't come together as I'd like!


Roben-Marie Smith

 to me

Hey!

Okay, I took your words and here is what I have.  I am running out of steam with this:

A Common Difference
An Artistic Discovery
Distance•Different•Discovery
Artistic Perspectives
Artistic Explorations
A Distant Exploration
Points-of-Two: an artistic discovery

I want to start work on my page for next Friday, but wondered if you could give me a little more to go on for the theme?  I know we chatted about the difference between our worlds right now, but I want to make sure I am on the same page.


samie kira
 to Roben-Marie

whee! I like these two:

A distant exploration
and
points of two

They're lovely and just light a spark in me! Which do you like best? Now that we have contenders, I hope you're not getting dizzy from thinking. I'm sorry for being so...unable to articulate.


OH! I thought it'd be fun to start with the differences in surrounding....I could journal about all the snow and freezing cold, and you can journal about the loveliness of Florida, even in winter. Or we can do something more deep for the first one....such as what we'd like to accomplish this year, or a journal entry around our "word" for this year (all the talk of it has me picking my own!).


And then we were off, thinking up ideas, coming up with prompts from our days, things that happened, the unique perspectives of one woman in Chicago and the other in sunny Florida.

What Points of Two has taught me is that I can pull art out of anywhere. Somewhere in the middle, our prompts turned from situations and feelings to materials we could use. Our daily lives spilled onto the page as we experimented with things we’d never used before - I distinctly remember searching Wal-Mart for cheesecloth to use on a journal page, and wondering how I’d even attach it!

(I ended up loving that page, and it remains one of my favorite)

If our initial goal was to create a page every week for an entire year, our secondary one became showing new and experienced journalers that there isn’t one way to make a journal page. I love the dichotomy of our work, and yet find myself loving and wishing I could make pages like Roben. We’ve always admired each others’ artwork (which is key to a lasting, creative friendship, I think) yet retain our own styles when trying something inspired by the other.

There were weeks when we happened to journal about the same thing without knowing about it, weeks when we were finishing up pages the morning of (okay, that one is mostly me, and I’m working on it!). Weeks when we used the same colors or images but in vastly different yet appealing ways.

I think my idea of a journal page has grown and stretched through this project, as well as what can be used on one. Roben began this year creating digital scrapbooking items, and many of her pages are a hybrid of hand-made and computer-edited pages, something that really excited me and got me exploring a new world of digital art. She even took many of my Points of Two pages from the beginning of the year and turned them into art bits and photo mats for digital use.

As I sit here writing my last entry for this wonderful project, I find myself excited and charged by the idea of finishing a year-long partnership with a close friend, one I’m blessed to have in my life. To complete something like this is an accomplishment, especially considering its humble beginnings. Who knew a little update and comments could turn into not only a year of creative wealth, but an interview in the upcoming Artful Blogging and a feature in Art Journaling? We never thought ahead more than a few weeks, and when asked to be part of these publications were touched and humbled our little project - done mostly for ourselves, if only in a public way - garnered so much attention and comments from readers around the world.

Thank you for coming along with us on this journey. This isn’t the last you’ll be hearing from us, but for now, we’re taking a long overdue break on our Fridays for reflection and maybe, just maybe, a bit of TV time.

love,

Samie Kira

{points of two week #51: life is ___}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

Wow! Week 51 already! Almost a year ago, Roben-Marie and I decided to do a year-long project together, as well as make sure we work in our journals at least once a week. Next week will be bittersweet! 

But today, our prompt was "Life is ____," insert a color. Instantly, the colors of a sunrise came to mind, and I got to work on my page....

...and really didn't like it! So I made another, smaller one. Simple is better, I thought, and I wrote out how I feel instead of cluttering it up with paint and images that just weren't true to me.

Be sure to check out Roben-Marie's blog - she filmed her progress and posted the vid!

{points of two week #50: m is for map!}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

This week's theme was "M is for Map." I decided to draw a little map on some fiber paste, and show that you can redefine the map of your life by using your wings. I was in a self-pep-talk kind of mood when I did my page.

Can you believe we only have 2 weeks left?!

(be sure to check out Roben-Marie's blog for her story!)

{points of two week #49: on the dotted line}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

Our theme for this week was On the Dotted Line

My page doesn't have any words. While I was working on it, I was amazed at what came out, at how much my subconscious mind was able to capture how I was feeling so perfectly. That's one of the great things about art journaling - the ability to so succinctly capture what cannot be said with words. 

So there I am, balanced on the dotted line, between serenity and feeling particularly ucky. The page says it all. 

on the dotted line

Be sure to check out Roben-Marie's blog for her story!

{points of two week #48: strengths & weaknesses}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

When I started this spread, I wasn't intending for it to be part of this project. But as I continued to work (and whine on Twitter), I realized it was a perfect representation of what this week's theme is all about.

I started on the right side, trying to think, to get back into the groove after weeks of quilting and fabric art. I had all these plans in my head, and just got in my own way. After awhile, I knew I had to just give in and stop trying so much and just play. So I glued in the fabric and started randomly painting. I didn't know where it was going, and yet, when I finished, I knew exactly what it was saying.

 

Be sure to check out Roben-Marie's blog for her story!

{points of two week #47: wings}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

This week, we focused on wings. I actually had this piece of Amy Butler fabric with wings already stitched on it in my scrap pile, so I rescued it and used paint directly on the fabric. Embellished with Copic markers and a cool silver pen I found.

And here's Roben-Marie's page! Check out her blog for more!

{points of two week #46: self-portrait}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

For this week’s theme, we did self-portraits.

I’ve been doing a lot of art educating, seeing as I never went to art school (I went to an art school, but didn’t major in this kind of art!), and knew that a self-portrait didn’t necessarily mean a picture that looked just like you. Rather, I wanted to do something that represented how I see myself and my life.

I decided to focus on the dichotomy of my life, the mask I wear to appear “normal,” and how I truly feel inside. I used only acrylic paint, a stencil (the girl cut out from the front of a sewing pattern), spray ink, & a plexi heart I got in a clearance pack of shapes. And of course, a sewing machine, because I just adore mine now that it purrs. (Oh, and my Martha Stewart punch, because it's just fun.)

So this week’s page and self-portrait is dedicated to my sisters and brothers who live with chronic illness in whatever form.

And check out Roben-Marie's blog for her story!

 

{points of two: inside plastic}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

 

We’re back! A personal matter kept us from updating last week, so we shifted that prompt to today. And what is the prompt, you ask?

Inside plastic.

Roben-Marie and I both used clear vinyl stitched onto journal pages for this one, but in very different ways. While she used it to contain fortunes from fortune cookies, I used it to cover my entire background.

Originally, I only sewed it long the side with the fabric, intent on allowing the plastic layer to be peeled away to reveal the original, but once I started working on it with Copics and saw the amazing effects I could get working on the vinyl with the alcohol-based markers, I decided to sew the plastic down permanently to make it part of the final piece.

I just love experimenting and finding out something new! If you use the colorless blender on the vinyl, it works as an eraser, or if you just put down the tip, it works like alcohol and clears a tiny space.

The messages in this piece are hidden under and above layers and are still very personal - I don’t think I’m ready to reveal what I’m thinking, which is what the page is about, anyway! - but maybe working with the ideas/feelings some more will help me build up the strength to “come out,” as it were.

On this page, I used acrylics, vinyl, Copic markers, fabric, and stitches:

And don't forget to visit Roben-Marie's blog for her story!