There are some art journals and/or sketchbooks that you just treasure. There are numerous pages inside that make you smile when you look at them.
— I have one of my favorite art journal spreads framed on my wall and every time I pass its, my stomach jumps with joy —
(The reason for this post is for you, dear reader, to look at the pages and tell me what you’d like to learn. I tried to balance it so there’s a mixed bag of techniques!)
Today, I’m taking you through this art journal and talking about the why and how about the pages within. Below, you can see photos of my favorite spreads, and I’ll add notes to help you on your way to creating!
My favorite bits are the gel printed detail in the upper left corner, and the tissue paper on the right. That tissue paper has been made into resin paper (perhaps another how-to lesson to come!) so it’s clear and shiny and not as fragile as regular tissue paper. I got the figure from a Dover book.
The photo on the left is actually from Arizona — I recognized the flip-flops as a pair I got after I moved there. The symbols on the bottom left are moon and sun. Don’t worry — I used to speak passible Japanese so can confirm that the kanji are correct. ;)
This one I did talk about the giant face drawn with a Pentel Pocket Brush and then colored a bit with watercolors and colored pencil. I just LOVE the lips. I should do more practice! The words on the bottom were written on Hobonichi paper (it’s Tomoe River Paper).
I just adore this spread. The mandala is from the first coloring book I offered to the world and the small size makes it easy to add to an art journal page (almost like it was made for such use…). There are a few pieces of scrapbooking paper, but the paper where the journal writing is was in the back of my grandma’s cookbook binder.
The left is just a mix of paper, wash tape, fabric, stamping, and stickers. The words cut out are what prompted this page. I’ve found that having a bunch of words cut out and in my collage stash are a great prompt for art making.
I only just started writing on vellum and woooow it’s so fun. That’s the pocket brush coming in again. It takes some practice but then you can do all the lettering you want!
This spread was inspired by the magazine words on the left. I built it out from there. The left side has layers of tissue paper and stickers. The bottom right is from Sabrina Ward Harrison’s The True and the Questions (I did tell her about cutting it up to use in my art journal, and she said she was hoping someone would do that!). A corner has a peek of a mandala. But the figure and the sun are the two big focal points. I recently wrote in a journal, “The light can go on forever — it is infinite, carrying warmth and love through the black emptiness of space. Close your eyes and lift your face to the warm rays of the sun.”
Thank goodness the butterflies were already cut out, or I would have never been able to add them, thanks to the cast I was wearing at the time. A lot of collage fodder was used to put this together. All I added was the neon pink and teal paints with my hands, and my super preschool left-handed writing.
One of the things I do is if there’s a spot I really don’t like, I’ll throw a collage element in to cover it. Those teal lines through the lightened neon pink are a fav. I also like doing scribbles and lines with crayons. Can you tell? The real experiment was writing on the figure’s cloak. I may start doing that more often!
This was a bunch of fun with mark making. The bottom left is layers of paint applied with my finger tip. There are also larger brush marks and then the crayons come back to play (I use the Caran d’ arch neocolor II watercolor crayons). I started doing some stacked collages on both sides but pulled the focus of the right page in with the scribbled quote.
Or consider sharing my work to get the word out! Thanks! See you Friday.
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