Art Journal Every Day: How I Start

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!

As I've often said, I tend to work on my art journal pages in little fits and bursts of ten minutes or so a day.  Many days all I do is add journaling to a page already bursting with color and pattern.  Other days I do some random drawing or painting.  For me, my journals are all about the accumulation.  However, I know that when looking at a finished page it can be difficult to figure out where it all started.  So, today I thought I'd share a few pages in the very beginning stages of being.  Next month, once I've finished the pages, I'll show you the before and afters.

I used a marker to draw some figures and then painted around them.  I'm planning to journal all around them.  I haven't decided yet whether I'll "fix up" the ladies or simply leave them "as is."  But that's part of the beauty of creating cumulative pages -- you don't have to make decisions.  You simply put something down and keep moving.

I collaged a piece of painted and printed deli paper into my journal and then used paint to cover the rest of the spread -- except for that large patterned square.  I'm thinking I might put a face into those flowers, but we'll have to see what happens. (Recognize that snowflake stamp?)

I have so many decorated tags.  I like to find them a home in my art journal.  These two tags are fashioned as little flippy inserts.  I haven't yet decided whether to leave them alone or do some writing on them?  And I'm trying to decide whether to paint around the face monoprint or leave it white.  I have hardly any white journal pages.  I am a lover of lots and lots of color!

I united several disparate patterns with a wash of blue paint.  As you can see from the detail photo, I tend to keep my paint somewhat translucent as I do like the patterns and textures underneath to show.  This is definitely going to be a fun page to journal on!

So there you have it: a peek at how I get started in my journal.  Sometimes starting is the hardest part.  Just remember: you don't need to know where you're going.  You simply need to get something down on that page!

Here is this week's linky list:

Thanks for stopping by!

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P.S. For all those who have asked, I will be offering at least two and maybe three online art journaling classes next year.  I think you're going to like what I've got planned!