Scrapbook pages and Randomness

Scrapbook Pages and Random thoughts

(The best kind of thoughts?)

As promised, here are some really cute layouts I made last week.  They turned out exactly as I had them in my mind.  Most of the time, I can't scrapbook when I want.  I have to wait until the housework is done or the kids are in bed.  So I think about it.  I plan layout designs and colors, inventory my stash and decide what I am going to use.  Then when I sit own to work I know where I want it to go.  That's how these pages came about.  And I think that perhaps that amount of thinking and arranging helped them turn out so good.

This first one is going to be titled "Summer Girls".  It's me and Addison sitting outside watching the boys run through the sprinkler.  I really love all the different patterns together.  That's one of my favorite techniques.

This second layout is going to be titled "Our sunshine girl."  Because she is so happy most of the time and so smiley.  I haven't put the titles on yet but I really wanted to get this posted so imagine them in your mind's eye!

This of course is my cute girl.  This was taken just this afternoon. 

Now for the randomness:

Toward the end of June I was reading some of my favorite blogs.  I came across one (I apologize, but I cannot remember which one it was!) that really got me thinking.  I immediately grabbed my journal and started writing about it.  I wanted to share it here and see what you all think.

Here was the question:

Does seeing too much (tv, books, magazines, art, blogs, etc) contaminate us as artists?  Does it negatively impact what we create, making it less pure?

My answer (taken straight from my journal):

Art is about taking pieces of our world and creating something that expresses what's in our soul.  An artist is someone who takes what's inside themselves and what's in the world they live in and combines them together into something that is uniquely theirs.  The only time the art becomes less pure, less authentic is when one tries to copy or imitate someone else's art.  Then it is not really one's own.  But learning from others, experimenting with techniques or processes or materials, that's part of the artist's journey.  That's part of the fun! Everything we see combines into our own art, in our own way.

What's your answer to that question?

Have a great weekend!