Art Journal Every Day: Inspired to Begin
December 31, 2010
Wow! I can hardly believe that we're up to 156 participants for January! We have literally exactly doubled in numbers since last Friday. It's beyond anything I ever imagined for this little project. What a kick ass community to be a part of! I am delighted that so many of you are up for the journey. I'm super psyched myself!! (My husband always says that I overuse exclamation points, but I really can't help myself at this point!!!)
Welcome to the first official post of Art Journal Every Day! Yay!
For those of you who are new, you can read all about the basic concept behind this project and add your name to the blog/flickr/facebook roll for January here. Read about what an art journal is here (lots of eye candy). And if you're new to art journaling entirely, read these posts.
Let's get started, shall we?
I went and visited the blogs of everyone who signed up after #78 (where the list ended when I wrote my last post) and I stole some more pictures! This time I thought I'd point out a few ways you might use ten minutes in your art journal, inspired by each of these pieces of art. Remember, giving credit for inspiration is always a good thing.
How magnificent is Ashleigh's crocheted sun? I have no idea how to crochet or how long something like that must take, but I love the idea of making your own embellishments for your page! Why not spend ten minutes crafting an awesome focal embellishment for your page? Just because you're not working directly in your art journal doesn't mean that you're not working on your art journal!
Look how much Barbara was able to do with two colors! Amazing! I can't quite tell whether the orange is on top of the black or the black is on top of the orange. Pretty awesome. Why not try out a dark background? Take ten minutes and cover your page with black gesso or black paper or black tape. Figure out what you'll do on top of it tomorrow!
I love Carolina's stitched spread. Why not head to the sewing machine and stitch some scraps together for ten minutes? Cutting them to size can wait for another day!
Cathy's watercolor background is fab! Why not take ten minutes and prep a few backgrounds? One color on top and another color on the bottom! Or take the color blocking a step further and divide your page into quarters or eighths or along the diagonal? You never know where your imagination will take you when you come back to the page!
What a cool, cool page! I love that vortex thing and all the question marks. Why not take ten minutes to explore a question that's tickling at the back of your mind? Art journaling can be extremely therapeutic. I often find that working in my art journal and exploring an issue that's bothering me helps ease my tension. Ten minutes of writing about it or assigning colors to your feelings can be a great way to start your day!
Awesome border around the photo here! (And notice the book rings -- a great way to bind your pages together if you don't want to use a traditional book!) Why not take ten minutes and cut a bunch of rectangles from paper and fabric scraps? Or how about another easy shape like circles or hearts? The nice thing about having a dedicated space to create is that you can leave the pile of shapes on your desk and then the next time you have ten minutes, you can take the time to stitch or tape them down!
I'm not sure if this is a journal page or a painting or what, but it is gorgeous! Mysterious and interesting and full of life! Sometimes I see other people's work and I feel totally intimidated by it. But art journaling is all about being brave! I'm sure this face took more than ten minutes to complete, but why not spend your ten minutes beginning the process of creating your own face? If you're nervous, start with a black and white copy of a photograph. Glue it into your book. Color the image with watersoluble oil pastels blending them with your fingers and creating your own little masterpiece!
Awesome palm print! On her blog Cindi shares that she did it with Glimmer Mist. If you're okay with inky fingers, go ahead and dip your hands in some Glimmer Mist or paint and spend ten minutes making handprints, finger painting, and just getting messy! (Okay, spend seven minutes getting messy and three minutes washing your hands!) But why not explore what you can do with those awesome tools attached to your wrists instead of a brush?
It's the repeated stamping down this page that caught my eye. Why not grab some blank sheets of paper and spend ten minutes stamping some decorative borders? You don't even need actual purchased stamps! Grab a cork and some paint and you can cover everything with stamped circles! You can make it as fancy or as simple as you want!
I'm a paint girl. Can't hardly help it. But maybe you're not. And that's 100% awesome. No paint? No problem? Copy Clemencia's lead and spend ten minutes collaging pretty patterned paper to create an awesome background! If you're a scrapbooker or cardmaker this is a great way to spend ten minutes at the end of a crafty session. You've already done the work of coordinating the paper; reap the benefits by using your scraps to create a collage background!
I love that Connie glued actual leaves into her journal! Why not take ten minutes to glue some real life ephemera from your world into your journal? A bill, a ticket stub, a food wrapper, a pretty envelope, a shopping list -- a little piece of your every day life!
I love everything about this page! But it's the stamped word on the masking tape (and I believe that's a felt speech bubble - yum) that has captured my heart. Why not spend ten minutes stamping simple words onto masking tape? Next time you sit down to work in your art journal, you've got custom tape to use for so many things! No tape? No worries! Stamp on ribbon or paper scraps!
Awesome background from Deb! A white page can be so intimidating. Why not solve that probelm in ten minutes? Squirt two colors of acrylic paint onto your page and spread them around with a credit card for this cool effect!
An art journal is about exploration and learning. I love that ffyrebird used this spread to explore these adorable monkey faces. Whether you're an experienced artist or a total novice convinced you can't even draw a straight line, why not spend ten minutes practicing something you want to get better at? It doesn't have to be drawing. It can be anything at all!
Just like ffyrebird, Gina did some experimenting! As she explains on her blog, she took those shaped rubber bands that are so popular and used them as masks! Why not take ten minutes and start experimenting with some household objects of your own? Explore potential stencils, masks, stamps, and texturizers!
"Art is the key to my inner balance." I totally agree. It keeps me sane and content! Why not spend ten minutes drafting simple phrases that capture some important truths about you? You can doodle the list in your art journal, or choose a scratch pad instead. Either way, there's no need to go searching for inspiration the next time you sit down to play in your journal. It's right there for you!
Kathy has an image of the finished journal page that was created on top of this background on her blog. I really like the color combination. Not an expected one and I dig that! Take ten minutes to play with interesting color combinations. Use paint, patterned paper, markers -- whatever you desire -- and get outside your color comfort zone!
Love that you can see every hand drawn line in the background of this page! As I said, I'm a paint girl, so it would be my first instinct to paint the background. Why not take ten minutes to try an art supply outside your wheelhouse? You never know, you might fall in love!
Amazing digital art! Limar wrote her own haiku for the page. I may be admitting to being a super nerd right now, but I love haikus. Some of my college friends went on a haiku bender for about six months and every e-mail sent and received was in haiku form! Why not take ten minutes to write a haiku for your art journal page?
How gorgeous! On her blog Linda writes: "It was so hard for me to take that leap and mess up a perfectly beautiful journal with pencil and paint, but I think the first step is always the hardest. Now that I see I CAN do it, I don't want to stop! I encourage all to let yourself play in a journal. Self expression is sacred.... PLAY and enjoy." Take ten minutes to "mess up" your blank pages. Don't think about what will finally land there. Just play!
Man, it's amazing how that supersized eye is just looking out at you! I love the big pink curve across the top of the page and how it's beautifully gradated. Why not take ten minutes to play with color gradation? Whether you use a curve or a straight line, experiment with going from dark to light. Or even from one color to another!
I won't lie. Despite my generally carefree attitude I have been going back and forth about which journal I should start working in next. I love that Lottie has used an old board book here for her journal! Why not take ten minutes and prep a board book for some fabulous art journaling? (If you want to know how to do it Diane Marra wrote a lovely guest blog post for this blog during Holidays Handmade on transforming a board book into a wonderful heirloom treasure.)
Is that an art journaling page? Could be -- if you're using book rings to bind your book or if you're making your own. You could also glue it to an existing page or stick it in a pocket on your page. For Marlene this beautiful little piece is part of a technique challenge she's participating in. Why not grab a little piece of paper and spend ten minutes experimenting with a new technique? Don't worry about making it into a finished piece of art. You've just created a wonderful artist's paper to use in your next art journal layout! Sort of artist's chicken stock!
I love the stitched hearts on this one. And for some reason the linear stitched lines remind me of the designs on some paper towel. Well that got me thinking. If you use paper towels to clean up your inky and painty messes, you probably have some gorgeous garbage! Take ten minutes to sort through your trash can and pull out some painty masterpieces! Iron them flat (protect your iron and ironing board) and adhere them as the background of your page!
Beautiful digital art! But we paper girls can get in on the fun too! I like to do all sorts of mad scientist experiments on photos that printed weirdly or that I just haven't gotten around to scrapbooking. Why not take ten minutes and alter a photograph? Sand it, paint it, distress it, or destroy it. Decide what to do with it later!
Melanie carved the initial stamp and the leaf stamps! Stamp carving is a surprisingly easy thing to do. Like so many things you can get super fancy or keep it really simple. On the simple end, grab a pencil and an exacto knife. Take two minutes to slice an "x" into the eraser or create a tiny heart. Spend the next eight minutes stamping it on everything!
Keep it positive like Melissa. An art journal can be a great place to give yourself a pep talk. Spend ten minutes listing all the things that make you awesomely amazing! Spend ten minutes writing about what you love about your life. Spend ten minutes complimenting yourself or bragging about your achievements! Spend ten minutes writing, "you are a power for good," in beautiful letters. Spend ten minutes in celebration of you!
What a powerful page. I love the collection of eyes. Why not create a collection of your own? You don't have to draw it. You can stamp it, collage it, print it -- whatever you like! Why not spend ten minutes gathering a whole bunch of images of one thing? Decide what to do with them later!
I'm not much of an outdoorswoman, but I do love being inspired by nature. These flowers may be from Pam's imagination, but why not use whatever is around you as a starting point? Take ten minutes and interpret the snowstorm outside, on your page. Or a fall leaf! Or the plant on your windowsill! Or the tree branch banging against your window! Don't worry about getting it "right." Just let it inspire you in some way!
Oh the color saturation! I love the intensity of all those hot colors! I also love all the round shapes on this page - in the paint, the polka dots, the swirls, etc. Play with a repeated shape for ten minutes. See how abstract you can get with a circle or with a square. Set a timer for ten minutes and don't let yourself stop!
Magazines and catalogs are such a great thing. Huge beautiful images delivered to your home constantly! Spend ten minutes denuding a magazine. Flip through it and pull out everything that catches your eye. Take some time to sort through the pile, ripping and tearing out the images that particularly interest you. See how it feels to skip the scissors and have all those rough edges!
I love embellishing with flowers. And the beautiful glittery one on this layout is no exception. Why not spend ten minutes making a flower from fabric or paper? Or spend ten minutes transforming a purchased flower into a brand new masterpiece! (I have a *free* two-part recorded live online class on altering flowers here and here. It's about 45 minutes long with a bunch of ideas.)
Doodling is awesome! And I'm not ashamed to say I do it in public. Put your art journal and your favorite black pen in your purse. Waiting for the doctor? Doodle! Waiting to pick up your kids from school? Doodle! Sitting on the train? Doodle! Take ten minutes out of your day to doodle!
P.S. If your art journal is too big to fit in your purse, fold a piece of printer paper up and put it in your purse instead. You can doodle all over it and then glue it into your journal later!
Embrace your inner storyteller. Take ten minutes and just write. Write like you've never written before. Write about your dreams. Write about your job. Write about your significant other. Write about your first memory. Write about your enemies. Write about what you smell. Write and write and write. Like anything else, writing gets easier with practice.
This is so stunning! And there's so much going on! I love that! Why not spend ten minutes adding just one more layer to something that you thought was done? That's right, go back and draw, paint, stamp, doodle, or collage right over the top of something else. Add another layer of detail. You can do this every day for a week or a month or until you're ready to stop (and then maybe come back later for more)! Everything is a work-in-progress in my mind!
This is Wendy's vision board. If you're unfamiliar with vision boards, here's a link. Essentially, you create a collage of what you want your life to be and in doing so it helps it to come true. Why not spend ten-minutes starting your "vision file" -- a file or envelope full of images and words that capture what you want in your life? When you finally reach a critical mass, you can put together a vision page in your art journal!
So there you go! One hundred and one (well, maybe not that many, but a lot) of ten minute ideas to inspire you!
But remember, as the leader of the Scorpions in one of my all time favorite movies, Grease, says: "The rules are there ain't no rules." Art Journal Every Day can be done any way you want. My goal is to make us all feel motivated, excited, inspired, and part of a warm and supportive community!
I hope you will feel free to leave comments, questions, ideas, and thoughts of all kinds in the comment section. I know that I'll be checking them all week long (and I hope others will too). I hope everyone will feel empowered to answer any questions that are asked or respond to any comments. My great hope is that this will be a community endeavor!
Finally, I noticed that Sue wrote a blog post about getting her art journaling space all set up and ready to go:
Anyone else care to share a pic of where they'll be creating? I'd love to see it! And I'm sure I'm not the only one!
Thanks for stopping by!
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P.S. It's never too late to start or sign up. Jump in any time!
P.P.S. I'll be posting my usual crafty stuff to my blog all week, but I'll be back on Friday (and every Friday through 2011) with specific Art Journal Every Day content. Yay!
P.P.P.S. I put together a super simple and basic tutorial on how to sign up for a free flickr account here. If you want to share images it's easy and free! Again, no pressure. It's absolutely not necessary!