Starting a New Art Journal

Starting a new Art Journal in a Smashbook I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby.

Art Journal #1 - Page By Page Flip Through

This Art Journal started out it's life as a basic ledger from Staples. I didn't do anything to the cover because it's quite slick and I find that SO frustrating--paint won't stick to it, pen won't work on it and don't even get me started on how hard I have looked for a good white pen...to no avail!!!

Anyway...to prepare it to be an art journal I tore out some pages, glued pages together, and gessoed over several pages. I've been working in it for a couple of years because I find that I work in it a lot for a while then move to something different and then come back to it. But now it is complete and I'm excited to start a whole new fresh book, but a little sad to see this one all the way full. This book represents, to me, hours of enjoyed, cherished, creative time.

What drew me to Art Journaling is that it's just for me. It's a place to do art for myself and to try anything I want to do. And now I have this entire book of fun, playful, funky pieces of art. Flipping through it makes me so happy. Love it!!

Here's a page-by-page flip through of Art Journal #1...my next art journal will be done in a Smash Book I found on crazy clearance at Target (score!). I'm already dreaming about the fun things I can put in it!

Art Journal Page 9/22/15 - Circles

This is the last page of this journal. I'll be posting a page-by-page flip through tomorrow of the entire journal.

This page was strongly influenced by this gorgeous quilt.

I began by cutting out the circles and placing them on the page...

 I then glued them down with Mod Podge...

I drew VERY light pencil circles around the circles so I could see where to do my negative space fill in...

I then used a Sharpie to do the negative space around the circles...

And Voila...the finished page!

And here it is with the facing page...

Art Journal Page 9/09/15 - Six Faces

Just one more page to go in this journal and it's complete. It's the facing page to this fun layout.

I felt like drawing faces today. So that's what I did.

The faces are drawn on scrapbook paper with a Papermate Flair pen and then a bit of white paint is added for emphasis.

I did one other little face today, but I decided she needs her own page. Possibly the facing page or possibly the first page of the next Art Journal. Not sure yet...

Art Journal Page 8/28/15 - Blue Haired Girl

I recently purchased Danielle Donaldson's book Creative Girl and I have been so inspired by her beautiful style and wonderful backgrounds. I highly recommend this book. It's GORGEOUS!! The background for this girl was very much inspired by Danielle.

I began with a face I finished several months ago that was in my "envelope of faces". She came about using my usual method (pencil->ink->paint->thin ink pen for more detail).

This page was already really warped and bumpy from the previous page which was done with a very thick background of paint and gesso. So I decided it may be best to attach things to the page as opposed to working directly on the page. I decided to embrace the warped bumpiness and texture though. So I began with a green tinted paper and I crumpled it up and then straightened it out before gluing it on. Then came another textured piece of lovely paper. And then the actual painting. As an afterthought I added the circle stickers to the side. Just for fun.

Here she is with her neighbor. I have only one more full page spread to do before this journal is complete.

Art Journal Page 8/25/15 - India Revisited

For the first painting in my (ongoing) Pop Art People series I did a painting of a woman wearing a sari--in my own funky, SO NOT realistic way. Recently my daughter watched the Bollywood movie "Bride and Prejudice" and now she keeps talking about going to India. So this painting from nearly 11 years ago (!) kept coming to my mind.

I decided to do a drawing in my Art Journal inspired by her today.

I had no end point in mind when I started this drawing. I wasn't sure if I'd leave it black and white, add paint, or something else. It's very freeing and relaxing for me to work this way--just sort of free flowing, see where the drawing takes me.

I'm nearing the end of this Art Journal. Just the page facing this newest drawing and one more full page spread left. I have enjoyed every minute spent working in this book. There is something about doing art for your own sake. This book is just for me and I have no rules or expectations. I just play. I have my next Art Journal ready to go as soon as this one is complete.

Even just seeing the side of this book makes me happy. All those bumpy pages represent time spent being creative and experimenting and having fun!

Here's the process I took today:

 I started with a light pencil sketch. 

 I did the outline with a Sharpie.

 I like to go back in and thicken up lines here and there and make the joints where lines meet more organic and soft. I also added a lot more strands of hair.

Here's where I may have gone a bit too far with the Sharpie. I sort of wish I would have left the negative space around her hair white so I could have added a background color. Oh well, what are you going to do?

 And then came the color. Prisma Colored Pencils are very soft and waxy making them great for blending and getting deep, rich color!

Art Journal Page 2/25/15 - Pink Neighborhood

I'm a little late getting my Valentine themed neighborhood into my Art Journal. I've had the houses done for quite some time. I just haven't had much time to work in the studio. But today was the day. And I'm rather pleased with how it came out.

For these pages, I began by squirting pink and white paint onto the pages.

I then spread the paint around with a credit card. This is a fun way to mix paint while leaving it still sort of splotchy and not too well mixed together.

After the paint had dried, I laid out all the elements where I wanted them. (The houses were all made using THIS METHOD). I then adhered them to the paper with Mod Podge.

Now that's A LOT of pink! :)

Art Journal Page 12/09/14 - Christmas Girls

These little gals are all dressed up in their Christmas dresses. These faces started out just as sketchbook sketches, but I liked them so much I cut them out and gave them their own Art Journal page. Aren't they festive?

Their neighboring page is a little neighborhood I did back in November. I didn't try to have the two pages work together this time. Instead I used a strip of washi tape to divide the pages and keep them very separate.