Art Journal Every Day: A Seven Day Plan

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, all the posts can be found here.  Please read this post first.  There is a flickr group for sharing right here.  Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day!  No need to finish anything or even like it.  Just play! You can join the linky list for July right here.  You can sign-up to participate in August here.

I know that I keep saying, it's just a ten-minute-a-day commitment.  Well, I wanted to put my money where my mouth is.  So this week I timed myself and worked on a single page in ten-minute or less increments.  If  you're looking for some motivation to get cracking on this week of Art Journal Every Day, this might help. 

You'll notice that after the breakdown of each day's process, I point out a tip for making the plan work for you.  You certainly don't need to play along with my suggestions.  But if you're stuck and looking for some guidance, why not try out the seven day plan? 

DAY ONE (8 minutes, 46 seconds)

The Process:

• Place masking tape down the center seam.
• Add a thin coat of gesso over the masking tape.
• Dry with a heat gun.
• Stamp with black Archival Ink.
• Wash page with watercolor paint.
• Dry with a heat gun.

Idea to Try: Mix minimal stamping along the edges of your page with some watercolor paint to create the first layer of your background.  Hint: Keep the colors light.

DAY TWO (10 minutes)

The Process:

• Collage papers onto background.
• Dry with a heat gun.
• Stamp with black Archival Ink.

Idea to Try: Bring in visual texture by collaging elements onto your page.  Get more aggressive with how much of the page you're using.

DAY THREE (8 minutes, 40 seconds)

The Process:

• Color the page with Cray-Pas.
• Add Adirondack Color Wash.
• Dry with a heat gun.

Idea to Try: Add more intense colors and patterns.  Try not to control where it's going or pre-plan.

DAY FOUR (7 minutes, 48 seconds)

The Process:

• Using acrylic paint, stencil raindrops on the page.
• Let dry.

Idea to Try: Use an overall pattern to unite disparate elements on your page.  Hint: Use an opaque medium for maximum effectiveness.

DAY FIVE (8 minutes, 15 seconds)

The Process:

• Draw a large flower with a china marker.
• Paint in the petals with gesso.
• Dry with a heat gun.

Idea to Try: Add a focal image.  This is when your page really needs to start taking shape.  Now is the time to start thinking about the final outcome and working towards making your page look the way you want it to.

DAY SIX (forgot to time this one -- oops!)

The Process:

• Stamp words with black paint.
• Outline words with a white pen.
• Add black paint splats.
• Dry with a heat gun.

Idea to Try: Choose a strong overarching idea for your page.  Whether you literally stamp it on your page, as I did, or simply work towards showing it in other ways on the page, an overarching idea will go a long way towards giving your page impact -- visually and emotionally

DAY SEVEN (8 minutes, 30 seconds)

The Process:

• Write journaling using pen & ink.
• Color flower with acrylic paint.
• Add more paint droplets.
• Let dry.

Idea to Try: In my opinion, virtually every journal page should have journaling.  Don't let the words get in the way.  Let them flow and if it's stupid or grammatically incorrect, who cares?!  Just write.

So there you have it!  Seven days of less than ten minutes and you have a completed journal page!  Pretty cool, right?

Thanks for stopping by!