Moynahan Studio: December 2014

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

My Top 5 Moynahan Studio blog posts for 2014

In May 2014, I started the Moynahan Studio blog to feature some of my sketches and art work, to connect with other artists, grow as an artist and explore information about other artists and techniques.

In total, I created 54 blog posts in 2014.

So blessed am I - my 2014 Plein air painting spot
(my french easel and painting supplies)

The following were my top 5 visited blog posts according to google analytics:

Strathmore Mixed Media Art Journal (posted May 18, 2014) I have to admit to being slightly surprised that this was my most visited post. When I saw this page come up in my statistics, I thought initially that it was referring to the video of my completed Strathmore Mixed Media Art Journal . That video was top in visits in my flickr photostream
Friday #FemArt: Alma Duncan (1917-2004) (posted Nov 28, 2014) I was so happy that this post ranked #2. I developed the #FemArt hashtag because I was seeking to learn from other women artists. #FemArt posts originated with a post on Artist Louise Bourgeois Louise Bourgeois on Mapplethorpe and after my first blog post - I was hooked! It became an #ArtistDate as well
Artists in Canada (posted Oct 17, 2014) Hill Strategies actually promoted this blog post and my artwork on social media so this was no surprise when it showed up as #3.
Killbear Mixed Media Collage (posted Oct 9, 2014) I cannot even begin to express the happiness that I feel about these last two "Top 5" blog posts. Both feature artwork that I created that was well out of my comfort zone. (Note: For the record My abstract "She Who Hesitates" would represent the farthest outside my comfort zone!!) In some ways The Killbear Collage started as a complete and utter failure from my plein air painting retreat. But in every stage of trying to salvage it, I learned some valuable lessons.
Linocut Printing: "En Pointe" (posted Jul 6, 2014) I had created a few linocuts in 2014 but none were motivated by such love as I felt for this one. My daughter had purchased her pointe shoes in January 2014 and by July 2014 I witnessed her dancing en pointe at her summer recital. To commemorate this beautiful event, I produced a small run (10) of 4 colour prints.

The 5 top countries visiting my Moynahan studio blog were:

Canada
United States
France
United Kingdom
Germany

*Some 2014 Highlights*

I am eternally grateful to Wilson Street Studios for their great and serendipitous gift in 2014

and for the time spent in community with so many other amazing artists.
(P.S. "serendipity" was my word for 2014)

Composite of journal sketches from time
spent with other artists.

I was honoured when Vrtucar fell in love with one of my journal sketches that I had shared on twitter!

Journal sketch - my vrtucar

I had daily inspiration for my Centretown paintings and sketches

thanks to my many walks with my beloved lab Lexie.

"Centretown Laundry"

"Cooper Street Colours"

"Lexie Walks"

2015: My best is yet to come!

Plein air painting - feeling blessed!

Thank you for visiting my blog

and may 2015 be an inspiring and creative time

for us all!

My lab Lexie and me sketching on the patio
(Summer 2014)

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Art Journals - Year In Review

In December (along with the baking and shopping and wrapping and decorating) my mind begins to collect memories and reflect on the events of my past year in preparation for my "Year In Review" art journal page.

I start by undertaking a review of my art journal drawings and sketches for the whole year. I try to distill my life events and then highlight them in a thin ribbon around a new year's art journal page (see years 2010-2012 below).

Some years my "Year In Review"page also includes my plans for the upcoming year or sometimes I create a seperate art journal page to record my new year's resolutions (like my 2011 plans below).

Art Journal: My Plans for 2011
Artist: Cindi Moynahan-Foreman

I love this tradition. It keeps me balanced. It fills me with gratitude.

16 Questions To Help You End The Year Well

This year I received a list of "16 Questions to Help You End the Year Well" from a mailing list that I belong to called "Always Well Within".

These are wonderful, interesting and hard questions. They would be hard questions especially if your 2014 has been particularly rough.

I plan to do this exercise. I will carve out some quiet time with Tazo chai tea, candles and soft music to do this exercise. You might consider it too? Be sure to visit Sandra Pawula's web page for more information and join her email list.

The "AlwaysWellWithin 16 questions are:

Describe your year in a single word, sentence, or paragraph
Look back at each month of the year. Write one sentence to describe each month. Or write a sentence that elucidates the most important lesson learned from each month.
What were the highlights of your year? The low-lights?
Read through your journals, highlight the juicy bits and compile a mega list of lessons learned. Then whittle your list to your top 3 life lessons from this year.
Who/what were the significant people, events, and places during the past 12 months?
What would you like to forget about this year? Do you have any regrets? Anything you would like to have done differently?
What was the emotional tone of the year? What were the dominating emotional patterns? Don’t forget the good ones!
Capture your year as a color, a taste, a feeling, a visual or a smell.
Look through your photos and chose the ones that best represent the year. Write an evocative headline for each. Create a photo collage that represents the essence of your year. Collect your ideas here:
What did you accomplish? What challenged you?
List your most important insights about your body, emotions, mind, spirit, work, finances, and/or relationships. And anything else important to you.
What lessons, insights, perspectives, and new behaviors would you like to carry forward into the new year?
Is there anyone to forgive, including yourself?
Did you choose a single word as your guiding star this year? If so, how did it go with your word? Did you remember it? Did you bring it alive?
Is there anything you would like to complete before the start of the new year? List them here.
Create your own question(s) about the past year here: