All posts filed under: Art Journaling

I like Friday the Art Journaling book edition

Published by

Books are the best thing aren’t they!  Especially books which teach you stuff.  Especially books which make you go ‘oh yes, I can do this’. Today I pulled some of my favourite creative books out to share with you.  I have recently started to do lots of art journaling and I get so much inspiration from all kinds of art style books.  Journaling with art is a lovely and creative release and it allows me to try all kinds of styles and techniques. I also want to learn specific things like drawing figures and faces as well as lettering and doodling.  I am no natural doodler, so I need some help!  My first book is a wonderful tool to encourage and guide the reluctant doodler like me. Craft-a-Doodle by Jenny Doh The book is by Jenny Doh who brings together various artists with examples of their work as well as a guided finished piece for the reader to create.  I like this book because it is as inspiring as it is instructional.  Neither overwhelms the …

Get Messy Art Journaling – Season of Happy Continues

Published by

Simple pages this week. I am pleased with the black gesso and white paint pen on the first spread, it is so effective. When I began these pages, I had plans to add lots to it and when I stuck down the moon (thank you National Geographic from the 1980’s), I didn’t want to add any more collage or cuttings. I don’t usually make the finished page in one sitting mainly because the layers need to dry before I can add any pen work or extra bits and bobs. The background was painted with my fingers but kept more orderly than normal finger applied paint! It was a fabulous full moon this week too, so that must have influenced me. The second spread may or may not be finished.  It is hard to stop sometimes and sometimes the opposite happens and I don’t know whether to add more and run the risk of ruining the pages.  What I might do is make this page again and continue to add to the new page and see …

‘I Like Friday’ The Get Messy Art Journaling Edition

Published by

  Art Journaling is fast becoming part of my daily routine and I love that it is in my life and on a regular basis. The first and last images are in my ‘regular’ sketchbook and are inspired by prompts and supplies from the Get Messy Art Journaling group.  I may do more on the last spread with the owl and the Brownies, although I like the white space and simplicity of it right now. The middle background spread was inspired by a video from Alisa Burke where she paints a flower background using her fingers.  I decided to give it a go, I like the result and I will definitely be playing with the paints some more to see what else I can do.  This spread is in an old book I am using as an art journal. I might just be addicted to using vintage books as sketchbooks, each page is different just because the paper already has images and words on it and I work over them.  I don’t usually incorporate the …

Get Messy Art Journaling – Stencil and Pink

Published by

This week in my art journal I have been playing with stencils, single line drawing and making a spread using only pinks.  All super fun!  Thanks to the fine folks at Get Messy Art Journaling for the ideas and enthusiasm. This double page was made by applying a thin layer of gesso then I used the stencil I made to create the all over design. All in an old book I have selected to use as a sketchbook.  Watercolor paint created a nice gentle colour which is lighter and darker at random.  You can see the stencil on the right of the photo, so it took a few layers to cover the page.  I am a little bit in love with this effect though and I have fallen hard for stencil making. Making a drawing using a single line and not taking your pencil/pen off the page until you are done sounds rather intimidating, but this was such a great exercise.  I took the pressure off myself and grabbed a teal blue colored pencil and …

Get Messy Art Journaling – Happy!

Published by

Last year I joined the fabulous group ‘Get Messy Art Journaling‘ purely on inspiration.  The thing is I had never ever done any art journaling and I had no clue about it or how to create one of these pages. What I did know was that I liked the work I was seeing made by the talented folk of Get Messy, and deep down I thought I might be able to give it a go. So, I did.  I got a sketchbook or two and started to make backgrounds and stuck a few bits and bobs down and did some drawing and doodling and I began to repeat this process in no particular order.  Some pages I liked and some I really didn’t, in fact I ‘finished’ a page this morning and didn’t like it one bit, so I started again and came up with the above page and I am super happy with it. To start with I didn’t really follow the prompts provided by the group because I was getting bogged down in …

‘I like’ Friday, the secondhand edition

Published by

I love me an estate sale, a yard sale or a trip to Goodwill or a charity shop.  Hunting down the bargains then maybe a spot of research on my latest find when I get home. Last weekend I went to a local estate sale in the snow!  Yes, I am that keen to go and explore and maybe find a treasure or two.  I didn’t find a huge amount, mainly, between you and me, because it was a bit expensive. I thought I would share what I did get. This was the first thing I picked up, I love the graphics on the box and I needed a brayer to use with my new gelli plate. It is clean and has no chips or dings. When I picked these up, I thought they would be great to use as an art journal base, maybe even alter each card to make a new set of art journaled cards.  I am not sure I can bring myself to paint on them though. These two books are …

‘I like’ Friday. The Art Journaling Edition.

Published by

I am really really really liking art journaling at the minute, so today’s ‘I like’ Friday should be called ‘I really really really like’ Friday! My art journaling journey began late last year when I joined the Get Messy community and started to follow along with what the talented people over there were creating.  I wasn’t really making any pages myself because honestly I felt rather out of my depth.  It was all so full and layered and complicated and I am a kind of simple soul, especially in my art.  So I watched and chatted and absorbed as much as I could. Then a prompt appeared on Instagram with instructions, just vague directions, but that was just what I needed.  So I gesso’ed and I stuck paper down and painted and stamped and wrote and doodled and I had a great time doing so. I did it again and this page (above) took on it’s own little life.  I never intended the girl to have wings, but there they appeared as I drew some random …