Art Journal Every Day: Guest Post: 15 Minutes of Mixed Media with Rae Missigman

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.  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, use the hashtag #artjournaleveryday so that we can all take a peek.  Even if you're not on social media, you can see everything (from twitter, pinterest, instagram, and facebook) that uses that hashtag here.

Hello! my name is Rae Missigman and I am thrilled and honored to be showing up here today as a guest on Julie’s amazing and inspiring blog.  I am excited to be sharing a little art journaling inspiration and what I like to use as a springboard for getting creative. Most days are pretty crazy around my studio and for me so making time for experimentation is key to making art that I love.

 

Four years ago, setting the timer while I created seemed like a terrifying idea, and at first it was, but as I learned to stop listening to the tick of the timer and instead focus on the art it began to feel more productive than scary. I began this self imposed exercise as “practice” , as a means to an end. I hoped to stretch my creative skills as a artist and to overcome the fear of creating on demand. For the most part it has remained as such. Some days the time allowed is used for testing new supplies or techniques, other days I experiment with layering or mark making or collaging, but most days I sit down with no plan at all.

While I have learned many things along the way, most of what I create on a daily basis winds up being a simple foundation for a future art journal page, but with that said, there are days when the exercise ends with a beautiful page that I am happy to call complete.

I never sit down with a finished piece in mind and this has proven extremely important in eliminating the “stage fright” that can occur when the clock starts ticking. Instead, I gather a few supplies, most times limiting myself to what I can reach, letting my surroundings be the springboard I need for inspiration.

As I continued to practice this exercise, I was surprised to learn just how much I could accomplish in a mere 15 minutes. Using the same few tools and easy to reach supplies along with my favorite techniques I am essentially repeating the same process over and over again, both myself and my artwork morphing a little each time I create.

Most days I stay true to the timer, only stopping the exercise when the timer dings. Some days I am on a roll and I continue to work for as long as I feel the creative juices flowing. But the rules that I find myself creating under are my own, and I am free to change those rules up at any time.   By continuing to set the timer, I am in turn continuing to stretching myself as an artist and overcoming the fear of creating on demand.

I love how brave this exercise has made me. I work better under pressure, I find inspiration in the tiniest of my surroundings, I am able to create beautiful art journal pages with just a few supplies and I never take for granted the time that I find myself on my stool in the studio.

 

 Simple Outline of My Video Process:

1. Grab a recycled magazine or catalog to use as a practice journal.
2. Add paint to a small printing plate using a decorative brayer and stamp on your page
3. Loosely brush white paint on the page
4. Begin to add color to the page using a palette knife
5. Drip permanent ink on the page, tilting the page to move it around
6. Cut and rip small bits of collage papers and adhere with a glue stick
7. Use a brush to loosely add paint in large rings around your collage papers. Quickly use a scraper to remove some of the paint to reveal the layers beneath
8. Add pops of color using a *stencil. (*try using just a portion of the stencil to create interesting marks)
9. Add heavy bodied paint through a stencil with a brush to create texture
10. Clean your brush off along the edges of your page to create a loose colorful border
11. Add colorful shape stickers and scribble their edges with china markers
12. Use paint and a detail brush to paint on areas of small marks and immediately pull up some of the paint using a dry clean cloth
13. Add pops of white paint using a sponge and detail stencil
14. Add interesting marks with a metallic marker
15. Scribble the edges of the page and focal points using a #2 pencil
16. Blend portions of the pencil marks with a painty sponge
17. Drip blending solution on the page and immediately add a few drops of alcohol ink to the solutions. Move and tilt the page to move the ink around until it dries
18. Use a white gel pen and permanent black marker to add lots of little detail marks
19. Use a sponge and heavy bodied paint to add colorful texture in areas of the page and immediately scrape some of it off to reveal the layers beneath
20. Add paint to a favorite stamp and *stamp the page (*try stamping off the edge of the page for added interest)
21. Journal a few words using a pen or pencil

Happy Creating! 

 Blog: raemissigman.com

IG: raemissigman

FB: Raemissigman

Twitter: @Raemissigman

 

Rae Missigman is a self taught mixed media artist, who loves to create, blog and instruct. She has a passion for re-purposing found items and turning them into something beautiful. Her mission- to integrate up-cycled tidbits of everyday life into her art, has inspired her to approach creating in a whole new light, sending her on scavenger hunts of the largest kind in search of new materials.

 

Rae has found a real love when it comes to combining paint, textiles, and paper- something that is evident in much of her art. her She has a fondness for both pattern and color, which has led her to create outside the lines, resulting in artwork that is both busy and polychromatic.

  

Look for Rae's new book on mixed media to be arriving on shelves next year!