Jes Lee

visual journaling

So. Much. New.

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2014-05-18 21.19.45

2014-05-18 21.01.00

2014-05-18 16.29.02

2014-05-18 12.29.44

2014-05-17 16.04.07

2014-05-16 19.11.17

I have so many images from Art-a-Whirl. What you see here barely scratches the surface.

It was a long week of prep leading up to Art-a-Whirl, and the weekend was quite emotional at times. But it was amazing. I have gotten to be part of an awesome group of people here, and I am forever grateful.

John has a video of me playing with fire on the last night of Art-a-Whirl…me, successfully making something out of glass! I will post that soon.

Last night I went to the Visual Journaling Collective at MCBA. I admit that I almost didn’t go…the past week had been so busy, and I, like many others, get very tempted to just stay home in comfy clothes….but I went, and it was great. I’m looking forward to going next month, and to journaling more in between meetings. A lot of people in the group focus on sketching, which is not something I typically do, but last night I created a couple of pages I really like in my book combining photos and collage and my water-color pencils. I don’t know how many journal pages I will share here, but I’m sure there will be a few posts of them coming up.

In other news: my updates on the Etsy sites have been slow lately. I ran out of time during Art-a-Whirl prep, and I have two boxes of new pottery waiting for me to photograph it. That is hopefully happening today. I also have a couple of journals left over after the sales that I would like to get posted in my Etsy shop as soon as I get some nice photos of them. Hopefully later this week I’ll be back to daily Etsy updates.

One last note: IT IS ‘ROID WEEK! Go to Flickr and look through the group pool. There are a lot of great images there!

Searching for inspiration

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I mentioned last week that I was taking a design class at MCBA. Tonight is the second class meeting. I admit it has been a bit more of a challenge than what I thought it would be. But, I really do believe that is a good thing, and that in the end, I will have a better understanding of what I am creating, and have a few more ideas shoved in the back corners of my brain. Honestly, the thing that has freaked me out the most about this class is that we are supposed to keep a visual journal, and have a certain number of new pages done each week (insert major freak out here). Why? I have never had the discipline to keep a visual journal. I rarely have the discipline to keep a written journal, or keep up on this blog that regularly. And now it is assigned?? *sigh* Of course, the instructor said that photographs counted as sketches and visual pages, so of course, I started filling up my required pages with printed cell phone photos (there would have been more film photos but that is another tragic story) and instant photos, and you know what? I realized how much those are really like sketches to me. Little snippets of my every day. Hmmm….maybe this can work. Not to mention, the awesome ladies (and guy) of letterpress at MCBA started giving me a long list of links to blogs of visual journal-ers. I’m starting my studying of their work tonight with Roz Wound Up. There is another visual journaling blog I found awhile ago, and can’t find again right now. I will post a link as soon as I track it down again though. I’m hoping they will provide a bit more inspiration. In the mean time, I’m still deciding if this journal of mine will remain offline, or if I will scan and post pages as I go….

In the mean time, a catch up on the 365 projects:

I was having a hard time with some of the instant film I was using, so there are a few days worth of instant photos that just aren’t there. But that’s ok. I’ll stop when I get to #365!

May 24th

Cell phone self portrait #46

May 25th

Instant 365 #48
Ghost bunny

May 26th

Instant 365 #49

Cell phone self portrait #47

May 27th

Cell phone self portrait #48

May 28th

Instant 365 #50

Cell phone self portrait #49
You can kind of see my new nose piercing in this one. It isn’t large. Most people haven’t really noticed it yet. It is something I have wanted to do for a very very long time though, and I am very happy I finally had it done. My sweet husband and my bff went with. She got her ears pierced that day as well :)

May 29th

Cell phone self portrait #50 

May 30th

Cell phone self portrait #51
with wine glass

Instant 365 #51

and a second one just to make up for all the days I didn’t post one:

May 31st

Instant 365 #52
I love seeing the lily of the valley come up at my parent’s house every spring.

cell phone 365 #52

I’m off to my class. 
Until next time,
~Peace~