Art Journal Journey

A few weeks ago I found myself feeling really bleh. For no particular reason, just bleh....so I decided to play in my journal until I feel better. It worked. For a start that happy piece of scrap fabric makes me smile. I just cut the letters free hand, no planning. It was a meh page anyway. Dark colours and drab colours to go with the theme. Some dirty yellows and after scribbling, cutting, gluing and making a mess of my hands (I used oil pastels over an acrylic base) I felt so much better. And it was simple and quick. No art involved, just getting fingers dirty. Maybe that is all I needed. Now the page makes me smile as I recall the evening. Win win. Gotta love that!

I recently did the page below in a small journal that I have.(you can see the edges of the book in the untrimmed image) The quote is by Stuart C Hackett and I found it in Lee Strobel's book 'A Case For Creator' Now I had a very definate idea of what I wanted to achieve, and yet, although not displeased, I feel it could have been so much better. I used oil pastels and stamping and added the little tags on the side to feature the quote in it's original latin. I kept it simple and focussed on purpose, but I'm sure I will be doing that one again digitally in the near future. For me digital just has so many more possiblilties. Here is another quote I did....there is a page in the book for it, but I was so unhappy with it, that I recreated it digitally so I can stick this version over the comparative insipid one in the book. It simply did not create enough drama on paper. See - ? Of course I could have kept going untill I achieved the desired effect, but instead...