It seems that a large part of my art practice is that I make art in public and semi-public places.
Laundromats, bus stops, coffee shops, trains/buses/cars/airplanes, work meetings, community meetings, doctor’s office waiting rooms, etc…
The thing is, I do this…write/draw/color/collage/stick whatever into these books…to help ME…it calms me to have this to focus my eyes & hands on….it helps me listen better…but I’m realizing that many other people rarely, if ever, see folks MAKING art.
I was lucky enough to be exposed to art very early (in books, of all things!) but I don’t recall seeing folks MAKING art anywhere around, in public.
My family made/makes art of many kinds…music: both parents sang; Dad sang lead in a Barbershop Quartet in his younger days, and he always sang for me…Mom was endlessly practicing for another church choir solo…my brothers play the drums, flute/piccolo/sax, and keyboards, respectively…2 brothers paint/draw, the other, like me, works with words…everyone was/is creative…my Mom was a seamstress, and could/did make many things textile…my big Bros made/make amazing model train layouts…
I saw my folks being creative at home, but not out-n-about. Maybe, seeing someone “in process” of making art in random places will be a good thing for others to see?
People I don’t already know almost never “interrupt” me while I’m out somewhere, putting things in my books…most everyone waits until I make eye contact before they speak, or even wait for me to speak first.
I like answering questions about my art sometimes…I think that most anyone can Art Journal…it will just be their view/hands in it instead of mine. I say that anyone can do this, they just can’t do it exactly like me.
Currently, I seem to be in a cursive writing phase in my journals. I’m really OK with that, I just wish my handwriting was a beautiful as my Mom’s.
Contrarywise: Another part of my art is the fact that my books get super beat up, being carried around in my artbag… but that deserves photos…
Horatio and Emily 