journal class

I had two days last week of teaching art journal basics to some friends of mine. 

My goal is to develop a class that I can teach easily to anyone (not just my pals)

The benefits always fall back on me.

I get to play too.

(This is a children's board book)

This page demonstrates three color brayered background, gesso texture and pattern, collage elements, sharpie and paint illustration, stamping with paint, and tissue paper transparent journaling.

reinforcing

my art journal has been falling apart at the spiral binding

so I took it apart to reinforce the edges

I took 1 inch strips of paper, folded them in half, and glued them to the hole punched edges. Then I hole punched them again.

.... and reassembled the book with the newly reinforced pages ....

... this was my finished page today ...

Art journaling is a wonderful way to put my feelings down in a sort of obtuse code, known only by me. Unless I explain it, the journal entry's interpretation is completely open and flexible.

Today's page is about resisting my automatic role as wife/mother while school is out today - and making myself virtually unavailable for mundane tasks - instead immersing myself in creating. Have I been missed? Breakfast and lunch happened - the dishwasher was emptied - laundry is being done - and none of it by me. 

crazy for journals

I love the Moleskine journals 

they come in all sizes

and they're easy to personalize

I added a photo transfer to the cover of this one:

(I'll use it for our summer vacation on Kauai)

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 and this one has it's own case:

(it was easy to sew - if you sew - the elastic is a "goody" brand hair elastic - cool eh?)

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I attached a photo to this one - it will be good for garden notes:

(I sanded the edges of the photo and peeled off the bottom layer of photo paper for easier adhesion)

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 and this one (my favorite) is a photo directly transferred onto the cover:

(I prepped the cover with gesso for the foundation)

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 "the Moleskine notebook is the heir and successor to the legendary notebook used by artists and thinkers over the past two centuries: among them Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and Bruce Chatwin. In 1997 a small Milanese publisher brought the legendary notebook back to life, and selected this name with a literary pedigree to revive and extraordinary tradition."

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on a personal note - I really suck as a blogger lately

what's up with that?

I've lost my mojo for some reason

possible reasons:

busy life (mom)

other priorities (teenage kids)

oh wait - that must be it!

I'm a mom to teenage kids!

no one ever mentioned it was like having toddlers all over again

argh!

maybe I need to go back to tea posting 

- it really kept me on track -

 there's a lot to be said for that daily cuppa

... just some rambling thoughts ...

journaling

it has been a very busy week

now it's friday, and I feel the need to string at least one cohesive thought together

my journal is a good place to go for that

lately I've been using a large sized spiral notebook

(instead of the mini moleskine I've used before)

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I begin with covering every bit of the lined paper with something

(torn up bits from magazines and my clipping stash)

my glue is

my ever present jar of mod podge

applied with a cruddy but big paint brush

(usually I use matte instead of gloss, but I happened to grab this one today)

for my "thought"

I like to take a paragraph of text and circle the words that mean something to me

then I block out the rest

and finally I gesso and pretty it up with pencil or paint

my words today:

silent

past

hope

share

who

memory

place

     step 1: circle words                                   step 2: block out the rest                           step 3: gesso and pretty it up 

then I take those words and use them to string my thought:

I add some more bits and scraps

pretty it up with gesso, paint, pencil, etc.

and in about an hour I have some of my sanity restored

:)

happy friday

we're skidding into the home stretch here

hopefully you are too

:)

my pogo

I first saw this on jean's blog (bluebirds in the meadow) a few months agoI just tucked the thought away in my brainand it resurfaced recently when I saw it on another blog (I don't remember which one - sorry)


it's a portable printer that hooks up directly to your camera and prints 2x3 inch photos on their own special photo paper that has the ink embedded in it (no ink cartridges)


since polaroid is the master of instant photography ... I thought it was a good bet that it would be a good product


the prints have a peel off sticker backing which make it ideal for journaling


I did this little journal page this morning in about 45 minutes


what I'm discovering is that the photos alter beautifully


this one was gessoed, sanded, gessoed and sanded again


(I bought mine on e-bay for about $40 including 40 sheets of paper. The individual paper comes in packs of ten - typically running at 3 packs for around $10 - so about 30 cents a sheet)
... I'll show you more possibilities with this little gadget in future posts as I play with it some more ...

round robin art journal

journal page for my friend

a friend of mine sent me her art journal and asked me to fill a page in it

she suggested I might like to send her an art journal for her to fill a page

and that is how my first round robin art journal has begun

my art journal ready to be filled

 her journal doesn't have a theme

but I thought I would like to have one for my journal

my theme is "sunlight"

now I just need friends to raise their hand, saying, "I'll do a page!!!"

if you do,

I'll do a page in yours

and round and round we go

:)

journal page

I did this journal page while mulling over something

mulling over the idea of offering a class in my home

a journaling class using this new-found technique I love

but would other people take to it like I did?

would they part with their time, some cash and a bit of a drive in the car?

am I enthusiastic about a process enough to be infectious in my enthusiasm?

is it worth the trouble?

the potential for failure?

the potential for success?

and what would that look like?

a swan dive or a belly flop?

* * *

do you mull over things like I do?

my word

for 2011

new year's resolutions are not something I do

but it got me thinking about the word 

resolution

I like to shorten things and make them smaller

resolution

becomes

resolute

journal page

01-01-11

journaling

I've been keeping up my journal pretty consistently
... which is unusual for me.
I have loads of started journals
and not one single completed one.
I think I'm on a roll with a method that works for me.

Basically it goes like this
(and this technique I learned from Willowing and Friends "Art, Heart and Healing"):

1. write a two page spread in pencil - thoughts that need to get out
2. on a separate piece of paper record the gist of what you wrote
3. gesso over the pencil, lightly or heavily, depending on how revealing you want to be
4. collage, doodle, paint, etc. over the gessoed part
5. write in the bit you wrote that was a summation of those original thoughts

Because of the personal thoughts included in my journal 

(which is as it should be)

I'm only showing you bits and pieces of it.

I hope to inspire you to have a place you can write down your hopes and dreams and fears and worries.

There is something good about putting those thoughts to paper

finding the beauty in them

and then keeping them secret.

be yourself

this week has been a crazy school week for the kids,

but working in my art journal has been very do-able.

sometimes I'd rather be a mad painter in an airy light-filled loft

... but I'm a mom, driver, cook, maid, etc ...

and surely, 

if I were the mad artist in a loft

... I would wish for momming, driving, cooking, etc....

so I doodle

and I blog

:)

Here's how I did these pages:

gesso

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ink-jet printed image 

(it's me at age 6)

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mod-podged face down

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about an hour later, dampen ink jet paper

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carefully rub and peel away paper, leaving image behind

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mod podged second image face up

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a bit of gesso to soften the edges

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a bit of color (I used watercolor pencils)

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tea bag paper for my words

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words mod-podged down

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a little more gesso, color and doodling

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just trying to be myself today