I worked in my art journal again yesterday after getting home from picking up my sister at the airport and bringing her to my parent's house. This is not an easy time for any of us with the news of my father's cancer having spread. For me, doing art, creating something, helps to calm and center me. It also allows me to work out my feelings in a different way than talking or crying or whatever! I was drawn to work in my art journal yesterday afternoon and this is what happened.

When I started I did not know what I was going to do . . . These papers were sitting in a box on my desk, leftover from Mary Green's last challenge. I had printed some of the images she gave us on this tan, weathered stationery. These leftover papers seemed a good place to start. I added a copy of ledger page top right below, also from Mary. Probably key to where I went with this spread was that I already had a copy of one of my Great Uncle's paintings printed out and in my scrap box. Click for details -top left page below.

The watercolor paper this journal  is made with is too white for me for this, so I use a walnut stain Distress Ink pad, direct to the page, to blend everything. This I sprayed water on top to really blend the ink and paper.

I typed out a short bit of info about my Great Uncle, William Glackens on the same tan stationery and glued it on the left side. Then I dripped (instead of sprayed) Adirondack espresso Color Wash on both sides of the spread. I also added another painting by my great uncle and a photo of him and his daughter Lenna taken in 1914 to the right side -click for details.

The painting I added is Hammerstein's Roof Garden, 1901. This painting is held by the Whitney Museum of Art in New York. My Great Uncle was part of a group of artists who believed in painting realistic scenes, not just pretty pictures.

I believe I chose the photo of William Glackens and his daughter Lenna out of the many I have of him because I am named after Lenna, and it shows their loving father-daughter relationship. I did not plan to add this, but when looking for additional images to include in my spread, this is the one I was drawn to.

To finish the spread, I took my jar of Gold Lumiere paint, dipped my finger in and spread a little gold sheen around on parts of the pages. This spread is actually a little sparse for me, but I like it this way and feel that it is finished. This is the last full spread in this journal. I have one 1/2 page spread, to do in this journal.

I would like to share some additional paintings by my great uncle . . . go to my page on him.

Chez Mouquin, 1905  - Chicago Art Institute -This is one of my favorites. I have a poster of it. My son Dallas has seen this painting in person. He came back and told me that he didn’t even know this painting was at the Chicago Art Institute, but he recognized it from the poster I have!

The Shoppers, 1907 - The Chrysler Museum, Virginia - The central figure is my great aunt, Edith Dimock Glackens, sister of my grandfather, Stanley K. Dimock, my mother's adoptive father. Edith and William were married in 1904.

Lenna Painting -Lenna Glackens, by William Glackens - My namesake, William Glacken's daughter Lenna. She was named after her mother's mother, Lenna Demont Dimock (my great grandmother) . . . I like to think of myself truly being named after Lenna Glackens. She was an artist and a writer too!

W. J. Glackens, 1935 - William Glackens died in 1938. I am honored to have art so revered in my family. Thank you for visiting and sharing my story. Lenna Young Andrews, September 16, 2011