Art journaling is something I have wanted to do for a few years. However, the excuses were many and kept me from ever starting.
I am not that kind of artist
I don't have the right kind of journal
If I have time to be creative, I should be doing other more productive things.
I won't be able to fill an art journal.
People may judge my art or lack of it.
I like my art to be clean, simple, and organized. Art journals are not.
Well, it's a new year and time to throw away all the excuses. I didn't have a journal, so I made one. I thought I had a large notebook of watercolor paper, but it was just drawing paper. However, I have some Gesso, so I just cut the paper the size I wanted (5 1/2 x 8) and gesso'ed the front and back of each. I decided that I wanted to be able to add or move pages, so I just punched holes and used book rings.
Then there was the cover. Oh no, what can I do! I had the thought to paint it red and then use black crackle paint, so that I could see just a bit or red poking throught the dark black. Last year was a year full of really high highs and really low lows, so the red to me represesnted 'coming out of the dark' for lack of a better term. Again, I didn't have the right stuff. So I just painted it red, colored over that with a black water color crayon, and wiped some off to reveal the red. It seemd a bit dark and morbid, so I added light pink numbers and around the edges and darker pink butterflies. I like how the paint removed some of the watercolor crayon and just left an outline of the butterflies.
I am really liking the juxtopostion of a more dark design with extremely feminine elements. A study of opposites, if you will. It is so me! Is there a name for that design?
Here's the inside cover (super feminine) and the first page featuring my One Litte Word for the year.
Just a few days in and it has already been great. Its relaxing to just throw some paint on a page with no real plan of what it will become. It's freeing to try new art techniques without worrying about 'messing up'. I even used acrylic paint on one of my beloved A Muse wood block stamps...that's just unheard of *wink*. I may not share every page, but I will share more along the way.
We are on day 3 of crazy snow and mostly being snowed in. Here's to hoping that I can at least get some things done today.