If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here. All of the previous posts can be found archived here. 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. If you've done some art journaling this week and you've blogged about it, or put it on flickr, please leave a link in the linky list at the end of this post. Thanks! I have to admit that I've been having some trouble art journaling as... Read more →

Here is the player for today's podcast: If you can't see the player above, click here. Today's podcast features three very talented ladies from around the world: Nathalie Kalbach Nathalie Kalbach is an European Mixed Media Scrapbooker. Her layered work is an explosion of texture, dimension and jewel tone colors. In Nathalie’s workshops she shares her secrets for using paint and ink products to reveal texture, tips and tricks for embedding found objects and embellishments and how to unlock your personal creativity. She has taught workshops in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Israel, Germany, France, Belgium, Greece, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Italy,... Read more →

Thank you so much for all of your enthusiastic comments. I was feeling pretty insecure about sharing all the faces -- good and bad -- and now I'm so glad that I did! So here it is, the final (for now) installment of my girls on cheap paper: Watersoluble Crayon Watersoluble Crayon on top of Acrylic Paint Sumi Ink & Acrylic Paint Watersoluble Crayon, Watersoluble Pencil, & Acrylic Paint Acrylic Ink & Watersoluble Pencil Acrylic Ink & Watersoluble Pencil Acrylic Ink Watersoluble Crayon & Watersoluble Pencil Watersoluble Crayon & Acrylic Paint Watersoluble Crayon Watersoluble Crayon & Acrylic Paint The project... Read more →

As promised yesterday, today I'm sharing some more of my girls on cheap paper. I thought I'd answer some questions that came up in the comments on yesterday's post: Do I draw from my head or from looking at photos? I do both, but all of the faces in this particular book were drawn from photographs -- photos I took, photos in magazines, photos online. If I had my druthers, I'd always draw from a live model, but that's not always possible. Yep, that was a sketch of my Mom! Kudos to those of you who guessed that! I am... Read more →

A while ago Dina Wakley recommended the book 100 Girls on Cheap Paper. It's a collection of drawings by artist Tina Berning. The book title pretty much sums it all up. Inside are 100 drawings of girls on cheap paper. But they're wonderful expressive drawings done with an economy of line and great mastery of shadow and light. Here are two of the drawings from inside the book: Amazing, right? This is not an instructional book. There's a very short introduction and then page after page of beautiful paintings and drawings. After flipping through the book I was immediately inspired... Read more →

I grew up near a spectacularly beautiful cemetery called Mount Auburn Cemetery. It is an enormous cemetery filled with gorgeous landscaping, beautiful old mausoleums, ancient gravestones, and lots of birds. I grew up climbing the tower and going for walks all around the cemetery, reading the names and stories on the gravestones out loud and making up stories about the deceased. As people that I know have died, some of them have been buried in the cemetery. So visits there now include some particular stops to say, "Hello." Yesterday I went for a visit with my Dad and his family.... Read more →

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here. All of the previous posts can be found archived here. 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. If you've done some art journaling this week and you've blogged about it, or put it on flickr, please leave a link in the linky list at the end of this post. Thanks! Hi, my name is Julie and I am a journal making addict. Seriously.... Read more →

One of my family traditions is Thanksgiving gratitude. Each year we go around the table sharing what we are grateful for at this moment. I have a lot to be grateful for this year. I live a very lucky life. I have the most wonderful and supportive family and friends. I have an amazing job that I love. I also have the most fantastic blog readers. As a small thank you to you for being so super awesome, I'm sharing a high-res version of this image: Hang it on your wall, paste it into your art journal, cut it up... Read more →

Do you recall the Letter Ladies post I did back in January? Well, most (not all) of the book is now posted on the Art House Coop website. Click through the link to see what my collaborator did with her letters! Here is the original post from January 25, 2012: So I've been very anti "The Sketchbook Project" since I first heard about it several years ago. I think it's a super cool idea to collect all these sketchbooks and exhibit them, but it just doesn't feel right to me that you have to pay to enter your work and... Read more →

A common wedding favor is a keepsake matchbook. People sometimes put the name of the bride and groom or perhaps the date of the wedding on the front cover. I took that idea and made a prettied up matchbook with a haiku and short note inside for a family friend's 50th Wedding Anniversary. It's a nice alternative to a traditional card. If you'd like to make your own, grab a matchbook and remove the staple that holds the matches. Once you've opened the matchbook up, note the dimensions of the matchbook. Cut and score a piece of paper to match... Read more →