Tag Archives: belonging

Techniques and Tutorials

Book Quotes Mixed Media Art

I’m an avid reader, and I used to keep a journal where I’d record favorite quotes from books, sometimes stopping every couple paragraphs to record something! When art journaling became a big new thing almost a decade ago, I started turning some of these quotes into visual journal pages as demonstrations for my art classes. I hadn’t done something like this in a very long time, but while reading ‘Census’ by Jesse Ball earlier this year, there was a phrase that really stood out to me and I decided to turn it into a small piece of art to hang on my bulletin board in my home office. I started with a light pencil sketch, then used watercolor pencils. Once that dried, I chose areas to highlight with stenciling and metallic acrylic. Last, I added details and the quote itself with paint markers. Lately I’ve been very into layering patterns into my art with stencils, and love how they can take a sketch or watercolor painting that is quite simple and basic up a level and add new dimension and meaning.

I hope you enjoy the demo. In case your auditory processing is iffy as mine can sometimes be and you prefer to read, here is the transcript for my description of why this quote stood out to me as much as it did. (One of these days I’m going to have to figure out adding captions on youtube! Definite 2026 goal!)

‘The Census by Jesse Ball is a surreal take on a wacky census taking journey in an alternate version of the US, where a dad travels on said journey with his adult son with down syndrome. This choice was made in honor of the author’s brother with down syndrome who unfortunately passed young. It’s a great book anyway, but this thought the main character has while meeting someone wearing a bunch of rings and pins of the different groups they belong to stopped me in my tracks. 

“I have always despised people who join societies. In general, I feel that groups of any kind are for the weak. The need for consensus is the most disgusting and pathetic aspect of our human world. Is there none who can simply wander alone beneath a sort of cloth tent painted with dreams?”

Yes, it’s harsh, but I don’t think this paragraph is saying community in general is bad. As one who has never been a joiner and experienced some angst over that fact, that last line awakened a sort of bubbling-over joy in my spirit. I was never part of one core friend group, rather on the periphery of several groups growing up. I had many intense interests, but never wanted to join any clubs. Even as an adult, I have been part of a few art groups but at times get easily frustrated with the politics and drama and end up quitting (all the ones I’m thinking of have already disbanded, so none currently in action haha!). I thought about joining a local hiking group, but then realized what I love about hiking is being alone and quiet in nature. I attend church but have never become a member, and though I definitely lean a certain way and am known as being quite opinionated, I will never affiliate myself with a specific political party. I like a person or group or entity until they do something I don’t agree with, and then I don’t like them anymore – simple as that (though this doesn’t seem to be very simple for many others!) I have several fantasy authors whose books I’ve tossed in the garbage even though I still like the stories because of their repugnant behavior as human beings. I don’t separate the art from the artist. People tend to seek belonging in ways that I just don’t relate to. Our society tells us to band together in pride about all sorts of ridiculous things … Pride in the location where the great cosmic lottery dropped you at the time of your birth, pride in what high school you went to which again is just the random luck of your location, pride that we have x amount of money or status without acknowledging any starting advantages that got us there or acknowledging how quickly our situation could change, pride that x # of people agree with us whether what we said was accurate or not … People offer blind loyalty and abandon their principles to fit where they think they should be. They refuse to change their mind no matter how far off the rails something goes, not wanting to grow and change lest they lose their “group”. I think I’ll stay under my tent of dreams, and remember to be content with that place. I’ll try also to always remember to leave it wide open for other tired journeyers to join me, not because we are the same but  because I choose to love them for exactly who they are right now. It’s not an easy choice and I’m not always good at it, but I think it’s the best one.

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Art Discussion, New Work

New Art Discussion : Belonging

I had the opportunity end of last year to create a largescale piece of art for an animal themed show at one of the galleries where I teach. When the call was made, I already had a canvas prepped and had been planning to do something centered around a jungle scene anyway. I decided to take the original idea further and come up with a concept that would fit the upcoming exhibit. From the beginning I’d wanted to represent all of my “big cats” in the jungle scene as female, and have the piece exude an essence of feminine strength, power, and courage. In the end, I had a lot of trouble coming up with a title when suddenly the word “Belonging” popped into my head and just wouldn’t leave.

So, I ended 2023 completing a piece about strength and courage, and in the first half of 2024 I had two people lend me the same book within the same week, The Gifts Of Imperfection by Brene Brown. I supposed that meant I should probably read it! Within the first 30 pages, I learned the important fact that I am actually courageous, a quality I may see in the characters in my art but that was never, ever a word I would have thought to apply to myself. The introductory chapter explains the root of the word courage in the original latin as deriving from cor, meaning heart – courage originally meant ‘to speak one’s mind by telling one’s heart’. As the chapter went on to delve deeper into that concept, I came to the realization that I have been courageous all along and just didn’t know it because I was defining courage by cinema standards.

I have often joked with people that I don’t do small talk, I only do big talk. I love being around people, but I have anxiety and some sensory issues (the main reason why I never thought the word courageous could ever apply to me by default), and so my social reserves get depleted quicker than maybe the average person. I need regular intervals of alone time to recharge. I’m not going to waste my precious reserve talking about whether it’s sunny or cloudy outside when you could just look out the window or stick your hand out the door and feel it. I don’t feel like describing the minutia of what I did all day, or answering any questions that only require one word like “fine”. I’m not opposed to being friendly and polite, but for the most part I don’t understand spending energy in conversation that adds nothing edifying to either person’s life. At times, this tendency has backfired. Some people don’t want to hear about the interesting dream you had last night and what you think it means, or to be asked what was the most fascinating thing they’ve thought about today, what was the most surprising thing they’ve seen this week – and that’s ok. Some people are uncomfortable hearing about anything that isn’t sunshine and rainbows, and seeing the raw emotions of the people around them. That’s where the courage part comes in I suppose, going deeper you risk rejection and ridicule.

I am an open book and always have been. I honestly think I don’t know how to be un-authentic so I don’t always even have a choice, it’s just how I work! Over the last 5 years especially I have been candid with people in my life about the inevitable beauty of life, and the accompanying chaos. Through virtual communication like this and other means I’ve shared my experiences even with those I don’t know that well. I don’t shy away from letting others know how I am doing, including when I am struggling. I have been open and honest about what I need when I’m not getting it, about the tough choices I’ve made that everyone might not like, about how my relationships are going. I’ve learned to be mindful, and to allow my openness to be paired with purpose and deliberation after some communication missteps. At the end of the day though, my sharing something uncomfortable that I’ve experienced can help others going through similar things, and also open the eyes of people who may never have given that experience a thought so that they can look at situations around them with compassion and curiosity, not judgement and condemnation. Reaching out and saying, I am struggling because I have been working so hard and still don’t feel like I belong anywhere is the only way there will be any hope of someone else reaching back and saying, ‘hey, I may know a place where you would!’.

I believe that is why that word “Belonging” was stuck in my mind after I stepped back and looked at my finished painting. I don’t think you can make a true connection with anyone if you aren’t willing to show all the parts of you. Belonging takes courage.

At the opening reception, a fellow artist came up to me and shared that her child had looked at my painting and said ‘That girl looks like she would play with me’. Sometimes our art knows what it wants to say before we do.

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