Balzer Designs

Art Journal Every Day: More September 2018 Pages

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. 

Today I am sharing some more pages from September 2018.  I really love this series of art journal pages. They feel like the best version of my kind of art journaling.  Looking at them made me want to think about what I was doing at the time.  How did I feel?  How were the things going on in my life influencing these pages?  Reading the journaling, it seems like I was in a really happy and excited place.  Perhaps that's the key to my artistic success?

This page might look familiar to you. I shared a video of creating the center triangle almost a year ago:

I almost always looooove the black pages in my journal.  It makes me think that I should do more of them!

This "believe" is the very first cut I made with my ScanNCut DX.  I was skeptical that the AutoBlade was going to work and then blown away when it did!  

I love this large doodle.  My white pen of choice is the poster paint Sharpie, which they no longer make. So, I've been using Sakura's gelly roll and it does a great job. But, it's not permanent.  So you can wash it away with the swipe of a wet paintbrush.

This page is a collection of gelli prints with some hand cutting on the right side.

You can see where the paint peeled away when the journal was closed. C'est la vie.  I probably closed the journal before it was 100% dry.

I realize that hand cutting isn't for everyone, but I really enjoy it and find it meditative.  If you want the how-to, you can watch this video I made about the process:

And here is the other side of that cut page:

I love everything about this cut page -- the pattern, the black, the colored pages behind it.  Love!

You can see that this page is a bit shorter than the others around it. I printed the face directly into my art journal using a gelatin plate.  Then I trimmed the white parts of the page off (it had borders because my gelatin plate was smaller than the original page).

The text in the face is from a stencil and the little dashes are from an Art Foamie.

Hope you enjoyed this peek into my art journal! Thanks for stopping by!

Art Journal Every Day: August into September 2018

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. 

I'm delighted to be sharing some pages from August & September of last year.  It has been long enough since I created them, that I don't really remember creating them.  The main question in my mind is: Have I grown and changed in the (almost) year since I created them or am I in the same creative space?

This page was created using a technique I use all the time: reductive painting. It's a technique I demonstrate extensively in my Gelli Journals class.

I love to use pattern stamps to fill empty space in my journal.  It's like a super easy version of doodling!

One of the things that I've realized in a decade or so of art journaling, is that I really like knowing the date.  I used to be subtle about what month it was, but looking back through my journals, I much prefer seeing the bold month titles!

This face was also created using that reductive painting method.

However, instead of stamping...

...I filled the empty space on the page with pieces of washi tape!

Another face created by reductive painting!



I recycle all of my old prints, messed up art projects, samples, mistakes, and experiments into my Junque Journals -- all of that "garbage" gets bound into an art journal.  Sometimes I cover the old artwork completely.  Or sometimes, as in the case of this page, I let just a little bit shine through.  That purple daisy is from an early Balzer Designs release with The Crafter's Workshop (probably 5 years ago at least).  And now I've incorporated it into this face in my art journal!  For me, my Junque Journals are a perfect solution for (a) never facing a blank page, (b) creating layered art work with less work, and (c) neither throwing away nor hoarding old art projects, but rather putting them to good use!

I used a marker to color portions of this stamped design and I think it really makes it pop off the page!

So, let's get back to my question from the beginning of this post.  Looking at these pages, I am slightly sad to say that I feel like I'm in the same creative space.  And that's disappointing.  I like these pages.  I like these techniques.  But I hope that I am always growing and evolving and improving.  Staying stagnant feels like a little bit of a failure.  On the other hand, moments of reflection -- like this one -- are motivation to push towards change.  I think I'll take out my journal today and see what I can do to push myself!

I hope you will too!

Thanks for stopping by!

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P.S. Don't forget! The YouTube Livestream for Channel Members is tonight at 7:30pm EST!  If you're not a member, you can learn more here.

Art Journal Every Day: Collage Quickie

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. 

I haven't shared any art journal pages since December!  But I have still been art journaling regularly.  Not every day, but most days.  Today I thought I'd share a peek at a favorite technique.  I love to use collage in my art journal.  It's quick and easy and the results always make me happy.  One of my favorite collage techniques is to create shapes.  You can see a quick peek at the process in this video:

I use very simple supplies:

• a permanent black marker
• a hotel room key
• painted deli paper
  
  • FYI: I have an extremely limited number of painted paper scrap packs in my shop at the moment.
• Matte Medium
• scissors

And here are the results:

As you can see, there's lots of empty space on the page for me to add my daily journaling.

You can see a bit of an earlier page peeking through in the upper left corner.  Because I bind my own journals from the leftover paper junque in my studio, I have lots of oddly shaped pages in my art journal.

It's tempting to toss away the painted papers that aren't "pretty enough."  However, I have found that using them in collage is the key to happiness.  If your papers are beautiful, you'll hate cutting them up.  If they're kind of okay, then you have no problem hacking into them!! And the sum truly is greater than the parts!

I'm planning to start sharing art journal pages again going forward.  I hope you're looking forward to it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Best of 2018: Art Journal Pages

Here are a few of the art journal pages that I made in 2018 and love:

I did very little watercolor sketchbook sketching this year -- which was a bit of a surprise to me.  Something to remember to pick up again next year.  And looking through these pages I see a few common denominators:

• Faces (duh)
• Pattern
• Intense Color
• There's an undone quality -- almost raw -- that I really respond to.

Do you see other common denominators?  I'd love to know!

Art Journal Every Day: July into August 2018

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. 

I can tell that July and August were stressful and eventful months for me without even looking at the journaling on the pages.  One of the things that I love about my art journal is that everything in it is a reflection of what is happening right now.  The type of artwork I make -- the style of the artwork -- it's all part of my mood.

I often write myself a note, and you can see that in the large text on the page:

The face on this page is kind of both fascinating and repellent -- a combination I like.

Above is a peek at a stencil coming your way in January!  (Notice that I prototype stencils more than 6 months before they appear for sale!)

And another really big message to myself.  Also note the huge gaps in my journaling -- the jump from 5 to 8 on this page, but the jump from July 16 on the previous page to August 5 on this page.  That's another way that I know my life was insane and out of the control during this period.

I tell people this all the time, but it's hard to hear: Lettering doesn't have to be perfect or cookie cutter.  I think it's great when it reflects you and it's a bit wonky.

I like this big hairless head.  It's kind of alien and weird but still appealing.

Note that my coloring is not neat or clean or precise.  Yes!

I love to mix my media -- there's paint and marker and colored pencil and pen -- whatever I can reach from my chair!

So there you have it, another peek into my art journal.  I hope your weekend will include a little bit of arting too!

Thanks for stopping by!