ADVENTURES IN ART JOURNALING

Hi everyone!  Welcome back to my blog!

Art journaling is HUGE.  I was a bit late to jump on the band wagon and I have to admit that when I see some of the absolutely AMAZING art journals out there, I feel hugely inadequate.  I have never had a drawing lesson in my life and what little doodling I do, I have just picked up and played around with.  

But I totally LOVE the idea of art journaling and I love experimenting with mixed media elements.  I want to get better at it.  I want to learn about drawing faces and doodling and that is something I hope to spend more time doing.  But in the meantime, I don't want to miss out on playing around with art journaling and expressing myself through my own art because I feel ill equipped with DRAWING faces or expertly doodling.  Hopefully I am talking to some people out there who are feeling the same way.

Recently I got together with some of my wonderfully fun friends and crafting buddies.  We all bought a 9" x 12" Strathmore spiral bound 140 lb. Watercolor paper "Visual Journal" as our basic art journals. We decided to try a MODIFIED version of Shannon Green's "Journaling in 5s". Click HERE to find her on YouTube.  

My journal is way different than hers but I really like the CONCEPT of the "Journaling in 5s" and I think it's a great thing for people who seem to be "blocked" about how and where to start when trying to create a background and go from there.  We did not stay within the time restraints either ... but as I said, it was sort of an outline for us to follow and it really helped in getting over the "where do I begin?" fears.

This was a fun way to play around with pattern, color, texture, magazine images, ephemera, stencils, paints, inks, washi tapes, fabric strips, stamps, fibers ... you get the idea.

Over the next few weeks, I wanted to share some of my pages with you.  I did not take photographs of the process in creating these pages, because it was just "play time" for me. So, I apologize for not having tutorials to share with you.  But I hope you enjoy the pages for art's sake.  Some are finished, some are still a work in progress ... maybe there are ALL still a work in progress.  (smile)  

If you are like me and NOT a fabulous painter or doodler and you feel completely intimidated to do any art journaling, I encourage you to take the leap of faith and just go for it.  Start out simple and go from there.  It truly is FUN to actually SEE your pages develop and take on your personality and attitude on any given day.

Almost all of the pages began with gelli prints that I did either on copy paper or on deli paper.  From there, you can see all sorts of layers of text, magazine images, ephemera, washi tape, stamping, paints and inks added. 

This book makes me happy just to look at it.  I love the diverse colors, patterns and textures that all converge in such a unique way. I didn't realize it at the time, but almost every page has a positive, encouraging message. Yet another reason to smile!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope that in maybe some small way I've encouraged you to not squelch your creativity because you aren't a fabulous doodler or painter.  There's always a way to be creative, express yourself and have fun at the same time!