Moynahan Studio: Art Journal Pages

Monday, October 13, 2014

Art Journal Pages

"Mums"
Mixed media - art journal page
Artist Cindi Moynahan-Foreman

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I marvelled at how the plants on my patio were still flowering and flourishing this late into September and I wondered how much longer they would last? I also read a book that encouraged artists to create mandalas and described how Carl Jung would paint a mandala every day to reconcile aspects of his own life and psyche.

Both of these inspired my art journal page: I used a mandala printout with a labyrinth in the centre and added gesso and acrylic paint to add the plants in the foreground. This art journal entry was done while the Thanksgiving turkey was cooking in the oven.

Ottawa Valley Road Trip

The art journal page below was inspired by a three-hour road trip where the intention was to take in the beautiful fall colours in the Ottawa Valley.

We found signs to an estate sale on Sixth line (March Township) and we drove the long beautiful driveway to the estate that sat on a hill overlooking the Ottawa River.

Next door to the estate sale stood an abandoned church and cemetery. I later researched the location and discovered that this was St. Mary's Church and Cemetery (N45.439722, W75.953056) erected in 1828 by Hamnett Kirkes Pinhey.

St Mary's Church and Cemetery
March Township, Ottawa

The church can be seen on the left

To someone like me who loves genealogy and history, stumbling accidentally on this place was a true delight. (I have added some interesting links below).

I wanted to capture the estate using a loose water colour and ink painting in my art journal. I wondered what it must have been like to wake every day to such a magnificent view of the river.

We did not purchase anything at the estate sale.

As I looked through the items for sale at the estate sale I thought 'wouldn't it be great if the person who lived there was an artist and kept an art journal and painted in it every day'.

Perhaps (s)he did.