Category Archives: Art Journal

Journal 52 catch up

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Week 23: Small Success
I was on vacation from 6/6 to 6/24 so just getting anything done  (while thoroughly enjoying my visits with my very best friends) in my journal was a real accomplishment.
Random ephemera, sharpees, gel pens,   and stickers.

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Week 24: Silly Zoo Animals.
Totally phoned this one in, but I’m  OK with it since I PLAY and I do NOT have to be “perfect”.
Watercolors,  sharpees and gel pens, and magazine clippings.

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Week 25: Questions & Answers. I really like this spread because I feel like I successfully captured some of the gorgeous colors of the Kansas hills where I was able to visit and camp. As I presently reside in the desert (it’s practically a cartoon, how the desert looks) the colors of the Kansas country were positively saturated by comparison.
This was done with my little travel watercolor set and waterbrushes, and the writing was done with gel pen.
My best friend’s 5 year old daughter quizzed me and I HAD to document some small aspect of the awesomeness that is Jane.

Journal 52 – Week 22

WINGS!

Week 22

I HAVE to say that I really like how this one turned out!

I really, truly had that moment that the big Art Journal creators talk about…where I worked on an idea, got to the point of HATING it, but kept going until I ended up with something I LOVE!

(seriously…I DREW a book.)

That’s a BIG deal for me…cuz I don’t draw…wait…I can’t say that anymore.

What! I KNOW it’s just a book, but I. DREW. IT.

That’s not a stencil. Or a stamp.

YAY ME!

I HAVE caught up!

I seriously HAVE caught up on Journal 52.

Week 17

Week 17 – Treasure – The usual, acrylic, paint and gel pens, stencils and a random piece of junk mail.

Week 19

Week 19 – Outside in. This is a random photocopy of a sci-fi illustration that I colored with gel pens and too much imagination, I think.

Week 21

Week 21 – Top 10 Lists. Acrylic, gel and paint pens, stencils and glitter paint.

It’s pretty cool what I can get done while binge-watching Dr. Who!

Four in one weekend!

I finished four (4!) pages for Journal 52 over the weekend!

Week 6 – Windows.

I was playing with some Folkart glitter paint I found on clearance and then went with it on this one.

Week 6

Week 13 – Spring Cleaning.

No matter how many times I told myself that I didn’t have to ACTUALLY clean to get this page done, I was still stumped until I came up with this mess. It IS fun to play with watercolors though…

Week 13

Week 18 – Observations

I picked up this Balzer Designs stencil on my trip to Fresno and HAD to use it. It inspired my page for this prompt so well, I think. I DO love to watch people wherever I go…

Week 18

Week 20 – Good Advice.

This is some of the BEST advice I have ever taken to heart, and I had fun with watercolors again!

Week 20

So…If I can finish two (2) more pages before the new prompt comes out on Friday, I will be caught up.

I won’t know how to act, of course…

More pages

.I just got home from a road trip to Fresno (8+ hours each way) and I’m wiped, but I wanted to post the pages I finished last week.

Week 8

Week 8 – Aromatherapy. BIG surprise…It’s coffee! The smell of coffee is one of the BEST scents in all the land.

It seemed like it would be too easy to put a nose on the page, so I messed with my own head a bit and here we are…

Week 15

Week 15 – Cards. I had thought of using lotteria card for this but that would involve locating them in my stash…heh.

Both of these pages were finished during my monthly day-long-boring-as-hell training at work. I do what I can to keep from fidgeting all day (and stabbing people out of boredom).

I am getting close to being caught up with the Journal 52 prompts and I hope to get to some more by next weekend when I go up to a cabin near Julian with some friends. No interwebs & no cells for 2 DAYS!

I’m putting together little art bags for both of them so they can play too!

Off to bed…

Catching up! Journal 52

Finished 2 more pages over the weekend… I had sprayed two pages with walnut and java ink a few weeks ago and planned to extend this “conversation” page. The background ended up being darker than I had anticipated. It was difficult to add color on top of the spray. Live and learn in Art Journaling!

Week 3 – Conversation Starters

Week 3

Stencils, paint, gel and sharpie pens over walnut and java spray inks.

I DO love using my favorite beverage(s) as MY journaling subject…

Did discover an art supply that I DO NOT like for Week 5 – Television.

Week 5

I used Folkart stencil crème with stencils to add the tree branch and the bird in the cage and, over a week later, that black is STILL not dry. I picked this stuff up on sale, thinking that it would be more portable and useful when I journal out in the wild, as I am wont to do.

NOPE.

This has a an acrylic paint background, a picture from an advertisement, stencils and CRAPPY paint, rub-ons, and gel & paint pens.

The subject matter, television. is something I had struggled with until I had my cable turned off…now it bothers me not at all. I have Netflix and such for whenever I want to watch something but it’s never on as “background noise” and I don’t get sucked into crap I don’t care about. I don’t really miss it.

Yay me! More time to get artsy and that makes me happier than the “idiot box” ever could.

Journal 52 marches on

I’m catching up…I likely won’t lap anybody in the speed department, but I’m getting there…

Week 2

This is Week 2 – Just Be. I was spraying ink on the page that will be Week 3 and got it on this page too, so I went with that. I had been having trouble with this prompt because it reminded me too much of the phrase, “it is what it is” which I DETEST. I mean OF COURSE it is! What the hell ELSE would it be!

Anyway…Once I got over myself, this came out pretty well. I’m trying to work in different color combinations and I think I need more work on my “not bright” color schemes. (Not “neutrals”, exactly, but still…)

Week 4

This is Week 4 -Silhouettes. It’s a pretty straightforward idea , to create a silhouette from a stencil. I thought of some deep stuff  about how “time leaves shadows”, but really, I just like stencils a LOT and I AM trying not to dig myself too deep into the “what does it MEAN?” pit.

Week 16

This is Week 16 – Collage crazy. This basically started with the two new colors of paint I bought and just went from there. I tried not to overthink it too much and just pasted down the most recent things I clipped from magazines that I happened to have handy. I think it’s OK for coming from what was just in front of me, and it almost even makes sense!

The end result of all this is that I had fun playing with paint and stuff.

And I’m going to do it again!

More Journal 52

Week 1

I’m still working on the Journal 52 prompts for 2015 and while I’m not completely “caught up” I have kept going, which is really the point, right?  This is from Week 1: Pathways. I had fun with watercolor paint on this. My favorite part is the texture from the gesso that makes the bark of the tree. I’d like to say that I planned that, but NOPE!

Week 12

This is from Week 12: Inspiration Board. I could wax poetic about my love for coffee (and I will make MANY more pages about my love for the bean…) but this was just fun to make. I actually worked on this while having coffee in a local coffee shop (OOOH!). This was colored with watercolor pains and I used pieces of an old calendar and candy wrappers on it.  Makes me want a fresh cup!

Week 7

Week 7: Valentines. While I can feel conflicted about the subject, that never stops me from getting my “mushy” on. Hearts are just fun shapes to work with. And have no doubt, I am wildly, completely, overwhelmingly in love with someone…I’m just too cool for Hallmark sentiment. Looking forward to making more pages this weekend.

A new Journal 52 prompt comes out every Friday.

My littlest art journal

I’ve been carrying this little art journal around for quite a while now (more than 2 years?) It fits in my purse w/o fuss and has kept me from “going postal” in more than one of those meetings that should have just been emails…

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There are many pages “in progress” and some blanks just waiting to save lives…

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There are pages of stamped art..

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And a whole lot of stencil lurve…

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Oh! My little one! There may come a day when you are “finished” but until then,  your covers will get beat up at the bottom of my purse.
Which is why I decorate art journal covers LAST, if at all.

PS – Is it weird that once I post pictures of my journal pages, I get ideas about how to “finish” them?