Just played around with all some stencils, tried out different techniques I've been meaning to try, added some ink, sprays, stamps, and gesso, and had a great time!
If you, too, love stenciling, this Shepard Fairey video is a must! So inspiring! (via Mary Ann Moss):
I decided to go with Kelly Kilmer's challenge, and see what I can do in 10 minutes.
This is what I managed to do today, without having an idea of wherer to start and how to continue: outline a stencil, paste some paper, try (and fail!) a new type of image transfer, doodle over it, and scribble using crayons and paint pens.
It was fun! it's very liberating to just do it, without over-thining the supplies, paper, and how to start, and I'll continue working on this page in 10 minute spaces, to see how it ends up, and how much time it take all in all.
Here's another page I did in less than ten minutes some time ago. Although in this case, the background was already painted. I just stuck down some masking tape, washi tape, and doodled.
I prefer to take my time and enjoy journaling and thinking, but I also like using these timed challenges, just for fun, and also to better understand what I *really* need to have when I journal.
What about you? joining in the challenge as well? ever tried to time an art journal page?
Israeli artist, Einat Aloni, in a post about her teacher, Sasha Galitsky (beautiful art journal in that link, don't miss it!), explains how she convinced him to be her teacher, and describes a lesson:
"Sasha gets angry when I outline my images in black ink. He can't stand the thought that I approach my drawings with a finished idea in my mind, he splashes some paint, adds a cockscomb, sticks a tail, turns the hands into legs and the ground into clouds".
Drawing by Einat Aloni and Sasha Galitsky
Don't you just love it? :-)
I have two more pages left in my current art journal. I'm so happy to be able to work in it more. I find it challenging and enjoyable, and it's a great opportunity for me to actually try all those paints/techniques/ideas I've been wanting to try! I love working in smaller journals, because seeing them filled up is great, but I'm also starting to feel the need for a thicker journal, which will also document my process. I wonder whether thinking about my next journal isn't just an excuse for me to feed my addiction to notebooks!
Anyway, here are some recent pages. This is one I really liked, and I loved working on it.
It stated out as a collage:
The reason I have a picture of the unfinished page is that I sometimes have such a hard time getting over the "oh, it's so beautiful" stage, that I like to keep a picture of it - just in case it gets totally ruined under all those layers! :)
The next page is one that took just a few minutes. I didn't have much time, but decided to work in my journal anyway, and I'm happy I did. It was a chance to use some colors and inks I'd been wanting to try out, and to doodle a really quick face - which is also great for me, because I'm always so afraid of faces! It so happens, that the time limit was great here, because I'm really happy with this pleasing guy. Nothing deep, nothing too meaningful, just play, really.
This is another very quick page. I was painting with my 2-year-old (he's actually going to be 3 in only 4 months!!), he picked out the colors, and I squished them out onto our palette, and quickly brsuhed them on my page, before he muddied them!
Over here, I decided to use a picture I had taken some months ago, of a giraffe in the Safari.
I'm quite happy with the outcome, but she sure taught me some lessons! There are so many layers going on here, so many trials and places where I was about to trash her!
This is how it started out- with a photo, printed black/white on regular printer paper. I then outlined her with pencil:
Painted gesso over her, and stuck on a background I had prepared in my journal:
As I said, she taught me many lessons, one of which was how to use watercolors, and how much water to use so the color doesn't bleed as much as this:
And this is my last page, or rather, two pages, because I just didn't manage to blend them into one coherent layout:
I love both pages separately, but not both as one layout.
However, out of all the above pages, this one is probably the most personal one, where I actually wrote out some things that were on my mind, and tried to put them down.
Sooo... what did you think? was this too long? I love reading about processes, so I thought I'd share mine! Thanks for reading :)
I started a fresh new journal this week, and have been having great fun with it. I love the freshness of a new journal, it somehow feels different working in a new one, new opportunities, new idea, well, freshness! Do you know what I mean?
I'm trying to make some time for journaling every day. It's not easy, but the other day, as my son asked to do some painting, I opened my journal, and decided to paint along. It was a great idea, because althout we only painted for about 10 minutes (he's two and a half, and that's as much art as he can take! :), I used it as an exericise.
We used watercolors, and as I noticed how my son's use of colors and brush strokes are so different than mine, so free and careless, just letting his brush go anywhere, loading or not loading it with paint, not bothering to clean it inbetween, I decided to learn from him.
This is his drawing, which I absolutely love, and I stuck in my journal! I loved his dry brush strokes, which were created using way too much force on the brush, and I love how it looks like a fantastic little fish!
So this is my drawing, done by looking at him. I started on the left page, you can see the more vibrant black strokes, those were the ones I started with, and then I moved to drier ones. I also used a color palette I would never have thought of myself - mustard and purple??? and then I continued on the right side, and this creature appeared, so I decided to just go with it, and painted it. I love this page!
The rest of my pages I used to finally try all the new paints and markers I've been hoarding,
Try new techniques, and basically just enjoy myself, and see where each page takes me.
The images on both of the above pages were done using image transfer. The tutorial is here.
I had a great time, and I hope to be able to incorporate more art journaling into my daily schedule! Do you manage to do that?
Took all my paints out last night and played around.
These are mainly backgrounds, using some new tools and materials I've been wanting to try.
Enjoyed every minute!
The hardest part is to decide if and how to continue each page.
Do you also fall in love with your backgrounds? I get stuck every single time, fearing I'll "ruin" them! :-)
I finally got around to using this journal I made a few years ago, and decided to use my ephemera instead of hoard it. The strip on the left, with the little paper plane drawing is actually a take away menu. I love those little planes, and have been collecting those menus, so I'm very happy to have finally used this. The little business card with the boy and girl is also from a local restaurant. It says "like" in Hebrew, which triggered the "Like" in English. Stencils, washi tape, and lots of acrylics there, too.
Front cover - image transfer on canvas, which I colored with copic and gel pens:
(It's right-to-left, the Hebrew way.)
I love it when all the strings hang like that, so I used different color spools for the bobbin: red, yellow and white.
I love the rough look of this journal, with the transfer, the uneven way the canvas is cut, the strings. I think this image makes this point even better, as you can see the spine as well, and all the textures:
Inside, two signatures from papers in varying sizes, to which I added bits and scraps. This way i don't have to deal with blank pages!
On the back cover, several image transfers, with gesso and paint. I reecntly noticed that I have a great collection of chair images. I guess that's part of my visual vocabulary. I wonder what it means!
And as I completed the journal itself, I just had to sit down and start working in it!
These are the two pages that I made:
This first one is just too green. I may have to continue working on it.
This next page I'm very happy with. It totally expresses how I felt as I was working on it!
I made this journal as part of a blog hop between Hebrew sewing blogs. If you read Hebrew, you can read all about it here.
The funny thing about inspiration and learning and process-oriented work is that when I sat down to make this journal, I had "sewn-fabric-journal" in my head. I had Teesha Moore's journals in my mind, and I watched all her fantastic videos of making fabric journals. I was 100% sure that i was going to make a Teesha Moore journal, and then this is what happened. Know what I mean?
So some time ago, I registered to take Mary Ann Moss' class, Remains of the Day.
The problem with online classes is that I never get around to actually "participate" when the class is on, and many times I never get around to doing anything at all. This time, however, I just knew I had to do it! Free-motion stitching seemed like something I had to try, and I love Mary Ann's gorgeous journals, so even though it took some time, I did it!
The first thing I made was actually not a journal at all, but a pie carrier. I had seen something similar to this in a magazine some time ago, and really liked the idea, and as I joined a kitchen swap, I thought of combining Mary Ann's techniques into the carrier.
So here's the result:
A closer look:
And then I finally got around to making the journal itself:
I really enjoyed working with all those bits and pieces, and I loved all the free stitching.
For the inside, I made a different journal than that taught in the workshop. I printed out lined pages with some interesting quotes, and made three signatures:
Then sewed them into the journal spine:
And as you can see, I played around with some more free stitching inside, trying to actually draw something.
And...done!
Sometimes it doesn't take a lot to be happy.
I love saving interesting papers, and my drawers are so crammed, it's unbelievable. Everytime I go through them I find bits and pieces that I can already throw, but that doesn't even make a dent in all the paper I have! Sometimes, if there's a scrap or an especially interesting image, I'll stick it inside my journal, hoping for it to become a page later on.
Last week, as I opened my journal, two pieces of paper fell out. One was this girl, an image I had saved from an ad for a new yogurt place, and the other was this scrap of Basic Grey paper. I picked them up and just stuck them down, the I added the strings, that turned the circles into balloons.
I was happy with the page, and left it as it is, minimal, but pretty!
What do you think? is your art journal always busy?
