journal pages of c.c. kessler

2009-06-21T18:43:00.000-04:00

Neda

2008-09-08T22:38:00.000-04:00

2008-08-19T10:26:00.000-04:00

2008-08-04T14:21:00.001-04:00

2007-08-19T11:08:00.002-04:00

I like to decorate my journal pages and make them colorful. My journal is not a diary. It is a place of expression. Some days I write. Some days I only have visual images. Some days I do both.

There is nothing more boring to me than page after page of handwriting on white paper. I look for emotion and expressiveness when I look at someone's (or my own) journal. That can be expressed in words, true, but as I am a very visual person, I respond more to the visual way the words are placed on the page.

2007-08-15T06:52:00.000-04:00

Doodles - doodles - doodles. I love to doodle and do it all the time at work. I have a Rhodia pad at my desk and I keep a micron pen nearby. Anytime the phone rings and the call lasts longer than 2 minutes I automatically pick up the micron and begin doodling. Depending on the length of the phone call determines the complexity of the doodle. If I sit in front of the TV with nothing to do I will usually fall asleep. I usually listen to the TV as I doodle, or play video games on my laptop.

These two doodles were probably done while watching TV. The left one was done using a No. 2 pencil. The right one was done with a Pitt pen, both on moleskine paper.

2007-08-11T08:41:00.000-04:00

Nyung-ne. this is a tibetan practice of fast and prayer. I did this "doodle" in a large moleskine with a micron .01 pen.

2007-08-08T07:41:00.000-04:00

I often doodle a musical clef. Not sure why. This was a doodle I did about 12 years ago on a piece of old fashioned fax paper with markers. The original is about 2" x 3". I've always liked this picture.

2007-08-03T08:18:00.000-04:00

This is a 3" x 3" collage using the glueless technique taught by Jonathan Talbot. I was fortunate enough to take a workshop with Jonathan at Kanuga Watercolor Workshop several years ago. I enjoyed the experience immensely. As I result I went back to Kanuga 2 more times, but with less satisfying results.

I still use the process Jonathan taught as a way to make collage. While it is process oriented it also has a very professional look to the completed picture and infinite possibilities for using it in mixed media pieces.

2007-07-28T11:51:00.000-04:00

War Good God y'all
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it, Say it, Say it
(music & lyrics by Edwin Starr)

War. Good God

2007-07-22T15:07:00.000-04:00

This is EDM appliance challenge, our TV in the den. F and I spend much time here in the evening, watching shows we enjoy, hanging out with our dogs, and chatting.

2007-07-12T15:04:00.000-04:00

A sketch of a shirt for the EDM clothing challenge. Pencil in a moleskine sketchbook, large size. This is a shirt from a catalog. I will do a shirt from my own closet next time.

2007-07-02T14:36:00.000-04:00

This is my first EDM Challenge sketch. Pencil in a large moleskine sketchbook. Not very good, but I'm showing it anyway.

2007-07-01T06:41:00.000-04:00

Most of the works on this blog page are from my little moleskine. Some are from daily journals and some are from a little moleskine I keep in the den for doodling. I like to doodle with color and with paint.

This is a little picture done in the corner of a page in my journal. I have a dream of one day retiring and going on the road for awhile in an RV. I often have this vision of me in motion.

2007-05-10T06:48:00.000-04:00

My morning companion. I drink a full pot of coffee each and every morning. My favorite being New Mexico Pinon coffee, that I first had on our trip to Santa Fe in early April.

2007-04-20T14:18:00.000-04:00

3 images from our visit to Ghost Ranch. A pencil rendering of one of O'Keeffe's most enduring images, and 2 watercolor landscape attempts. All 3 on watercolor paper. I had always wanted to see what Georgia O'Keeffe saw and painted. I fell in love with the landscape as she had. I am not a good enough artist to depict what I saw but I loved being there and was inspired by it.

2007-04-13T08:46:00.000-04:00

We went to an art store while in Santa Fe (of course, we did!) and I bought 6 half pans of WN watercolor paints that reflected the colors of NM. They didn't fit in my travel paintbox so I made a little paint kit out of a cardboard match box. I used the paints that way for the rest of the trip. When I got home I transferred the half pans to a small mint box.

2007-03-01T08:56:00.000-05:00

I bought a small moleskine cover from Renaissance Art. It fits like a glove and I use it every day. If you're thinking about getting a cover for your moleskine check these people out. Great cover, good company, several styles, very affordable.

2007-02-01T15:08:00.000-05:00

This grouping of 4 pictures from my journals are watercolor. I like the way the paint went on the paper. I like the organic shapes. The pictures have movement and light and seem to go together to me.

2007-01-31T06:52:00.000-05:00

I called this painting ARTtools. It's acrylic on 11" x 14" paper. It's dark but I like it.

2007-01-23T13:48:00.000-05:00

Sir Paul McCartney, from an aging Beatlemaniacs memory. Micron pen and watercolor in a small moleskine.

2007-01-10T14:53:00.000-05:00

I enjoy collage as a medium. It feels like an old medium, but it is only as old as Picasso, as he is the first to have used it in fine art.

This images has cut outs from Smithsonian magazine. I selected them while watching a program on Africa, and the lack of committed response from the U.S. Lots of pledges and promises, very little follow through.

2006-12-10T07:42:00.000-05:00

A pencil abstraction of a mobile home. Bring your world with you as you travel.

2006-11-02T16:44:00.000-05:00

2006-10-16T16:19:00.000-04:00

I like this picture. It reminds me of daydreaming. I had painted a watercolor wash on the page first then did a micron pen design over it. Then I painted in some of the featured shapes.

2006-10-06T14:31:00.000-04:00

Another self portrait in micron pen and watercolor in my journal. I refer to this as me with narrowed eye. I have a tendency to narrow my eyes when I am skeptical or angry.

2006-10-05T15:57:00.000-04:00

This is a micron pen abstraction in a large moleskine journal. From a commentary on the practice of nyungne by The Venerable Bardor Tulku Rinpoche:

Practiced by all the major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, nyungne is a special fasting practice of Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. It is extraordinary both for its profound spiritual qualities and for its practicality in application. Nyungne is performed over a period of two days, the second of which is a complete fast. During this nyungne, practitioners take on temporary vows and generate the attitude of bodhicitta, the unbiased attitude of compassion and aspiration for the enlightenment of all beings. Rest for the Fortunate, by Bardor Tulku Rinpoche

2006-09-28T16:14:00.000-04:00

Watercolor glaze over prismacolor pencil. The watercolor glaze over the waxy prismacolor gives this painting a look of pastel.

2006-09-21T15:39:00.000-04:00

Prismacolor pencils in a large moleskine. I love the depth and richness of color you can get from prismacolor pencils.

2006-09-18T17:53:00.000-04:00

This is a watercolor pencil and micron pen in a large moleskie journal. I liked the colors and the organic nature of the shapes. I tend to do geometric doodles and absracts. This feels fluid and flowing, and has some depth. I like this one a lot.

2006-09-18T17:38:00.000-04:00

2006-09-15T07:26:00.000-04:00

A small journal-sized self portrait in micron pen and watercolor.

crowmaxx studio

2006-09-13T15:18:00.000-04:00

A panorama photo collage of my little studio.

2006-09-08T09:35:00.000-04:00

Notes and doodles from a class on observing children in the classroom. It applies to observing the world for an artistic goal as well.

2006-08-31T12:11:00.000-04:00

I have always been facinated by totem poles. There is something about documenting your heritage in this way that I am attracted to. I would love one day to carve a large totem pole. This is a watercolor applied heavily to a large moleskine page in my journal.

(Karma)

2006-08-30T13:16:00.000-04:00

Watercolor pencils on small moleskine. While the moleskine paper is not always conducive to watercolor, watercolor pencils work really well on the paper.

2006-08-28T15:44:00.000-04:00

Everyone's dream, right? NOT! Micron pen and watercolor with little water, making it opaque like gouache, in a large moleskine.

2006-08-28T07:47:00.000-04:00

This is an abstract image with figurative references in my small moleskine. Micron pen, watercolor paint, and glitter gel pen.

2006-08-27T12:48:00.000-04:00

Mixed media with micron pen, water color pencil, and a sticker. Aurora means "new dawn," but it has a significance deeper than that for me. I was in a treatment center of that name in my early adulthood. Again, in my large moleskine.

2006-08-25T13:38:00.000-04:00

This is a mixed media in my journal using a photo of myself and a thought I was having at the time. I can't remember what insired it, but it reeks of self pity now.

2006-08-23T13:28:00.000-04:00

This is from a small moleskine cahiers notebook I jot notes in. I had nothing else with me to doodle on so I used this notebook. This is prismacolor pencils.

Again, in my small cahiers, a glued photo of David Hockney (from Vanity Fair magazine) with glitter gel pens filling in the grid squares. I find Hockney a very interesting artist. I don't always find that his work has a lot of visual depth, but he does have a deep knowledge of making visual a 3-dimensional world in a 2 dimensional space. I find him facinating and inspiring. The other page is a drawing of a layout for an abstact painting.

(reminder)

2006-08-22T10:00:00.000-04:00

This is a watercolor and ink reminder to myself in my moleskine journal.

2006-08-21T16:17:00.000-04:00

Two mixed media pieces inspired my Tibetan teacher The Venerable Third Bardor Tulku Rinpoche, and others who have taught me through their dharmic writings.

2006-08-18T10:28:00.000-04:00

Here is another moleskine journal page with quick watercolor images.

2006-08-16T15:13:00.000-04:00

This is a pencil drawing of the head of Chenresik, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, an icon of Tibetan Buddhism. The line drawing structure that is called a tigsa, and is drawn first using an ancient formula. It's a traditional grid used to proportionately draw the image of Buddha or deities. This tigsa is of a 3/4 face of Chenrezig (Tibetan Buddha of Compassion). The original is 14" x 17".

2006-08-15T10:43:00.000-04:00

These 2 watercolors were done when Frankye and I took a class at Cheap Joe's in Boone, NC with Don Getz. It was a plein air sketch/paint class and we did these painting in Blowing Rock and in Valle Crucis, NC. It was good fun.

This watercolor was done while staying at a rented house in western NC with our friends Christie and Sue. This is an abstracted vision of the and from the back porch of the house. It was a lovely vacation in a beautiful place with good friends.

2006-08-14T15:45:00.000-04:00

I got into using gel pens with glitter for a while. This was done in a moleskine and was more about playing with the ink than doing the absract.

2006-08-12T08:31:00.000-04:00

This was done in watercolor in a small moleskine. I have used a cropped version of this little painting on my other website.

The First Post

2006-08-11T17:04:00.000-04:00

This is a collage I made in a large size moleskine. I think it was my first moleskine.