Art Journal Journey

Ever felt like this? Too fast Too much Too many Like the volcano is building up pressure....I'm so glad I'm not feeling like this right now, but this was not so long ago....I like the way the type stamp fills the sky with busy talk. Just what I wanted...even if the stamp did not take equally well on the back ground. That is covered with oil pastel and gouche paint. Not sure why the success rate varied, but hey! It all adds to the randomness of a quick thought put on paper, right? I'm not sure that this is actually finished either...most likely I'll stumble across it at some point in time and add a whole lot more busyness stuff to it. I would like to add more dimensional paint (like the lava) too, but for now I'm just seeing if it will stick to itself and maybe pull of the page, before I do anymore. Experimentation is the name of the game.

Sadly neglected this blog, but I am journaling. In one way or another. Also sad is how busy my life is that I seldom get the chance to post stuff. That is just no fun. At least I am ‘good’ busy. I thought I’d show you this double page spread I did quite some time ago now. Just needed to do something with a read pen on real paper, so I grabbed a quote that had made a picture in my head and sketched it out. It is all wrong in many places, but that is exactly why I have art journals. So I can make mistakes and ignore them. Not because they don’t matter, but because they are not the most important thing in my life. I don’t want to be ruled by mistakes. Real or imagined. So I just do it,, cringe, swallow hard….and move right on And in spite of it all I totally enjoyed doing this. Got more sketched, just need to add the colours etc. This is a good old journal from Walmart. I had watercolour washes on the page to start. The rest is colour pencil and some markers. Another reason why I li...

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...

ATC and circus…to me the 2 together are a no brainer. ATC’s are so much fun to make and the imagery of the circus so rich that I suspect I could make a dozen cards at least and not get tired of them. Ildi Geist’s goodies again provided me with ample fodder for this one (products used are no longer available) Ildi has a great new Page Set coming out tomorrow. I feel an ATC coming on!!!

Ugh...the 9x7 size journal is no longer available for printing.....grrrrr. So I shall have to rethink that one. I think I may just print the pages I have and work them into a hybrid book that I have started with other pages I had printed....and then changed my mind. Gotta love a changeable mind ;-) Meantime...I've been playing with ATC's some more. More than half my wardrobe is purple, I'm sure. I try valiantly to move away from it (variety is the spice of life and all that sort of thing....) but success is limited. I used a kit called 'Start Wearing Purple' by Ildi Geist for this double sided card...not that I need any encouragement! Here is another one with a school theme...that chalkboard background make me want to grab chalk and start drawing!

This one was fun to make...just kinda pondering the variety and multi facetness (is that a word?) of life, I used Ildi Geist's Circus Maximus Page Set  (no longer available)