Happy Art Journaling :)

I've not played in my art journal for a long time and Saturday morning saw me just needing the relaxation that comes from playing with paper, paint and stitch.

I'd painted my pages in blues the night before, then decided to tear some of it away!

I had quite a bit of stamped and painted tissue paper on my desk after taking one of Jane Davies' online courses (highly recommended!!) so decided to add some to my pages.  The leaves are a hand carved stamp.

I cut some more leaves then stitched them to a partial page using my sewing machine (I LoVe doing this!!).

A while ago I bought some lovely old wooden printing blocks and used the 'g' (just because I love the font!) to add some more texture to the page

It all made for a happy Saturday :)

Cabinet of Curiosities

This month's theme over at The Sketchbook Challenge is 'Cabinet of Curiosities'.  I would so love to have one of these, I love the idea of lots of interesting things all collected together in many different drawers and boxes.  How this translates into a sketchbook page is another matter but Jane Davies suggests a 'cabinet of curiosities' as a format which I rather like.

The idea is to focus on variety, and it really gets you thinking!  I kept feeling myself reaching for a colour or shape I'd just used, even when it was one I don't normally go for - I guess my brain had been recently alerted to it and thought it was a good idea!

I found it really quite hard to choose things that were different.  I know what I tend to go for (blues and greens, text, circles) and had to try and make sure I didn't keep reaching for these.  I also found myself justifying myself when I did reach again for a blue (it's a different shade) or when making another circle (it's using different supplies!).

This 'task' was part of lesson 4 of 'Extreme Composition' and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I cut snippets from magazines, old books, envelopes and bits of painted paper, and used rub ons and made marks with paint, pastels and ink and placed them in a grid format.  I then added 'one mark' to each of them, in the form of collage, printing, paint and drawing.

It certainly got me using supplies I don't normally reach for but will be doing in the future!  Have a go, it's fun!

some shapes and lines

I have to say that I'm looking forward to half term week when I can catch up with some work in the 'Extreme Composition' workshop I'm taking from Jane Davies!  This is week 4 and I'm only on lesson 2!  It's a great workshop though, just quite time demanding.

Although I like them, these pieces all feel a little 'safe'.

I had a play with the project on a manilla tag, adding in some felted pieces and some stitching..

... the photo doesn't do the texture (or the colours for that matter) much justice..

It was an interesting idea to explore though :)

extreme lines

Our first challenge on the Extreme Composition online workshop is to create lines.  After completing some of the tasks I turned to my journal and, finding a page I'd created from scrap paper, I started adding lines...

The page started out with some overspray, and some cleaning off of one of my favourite script stamps.

I added some lines using india ink and a kebab stick!

Then added some extra detail to some of the lines with a fine line pen.  I also did a little exploration of line across what was once a waaaaaaaaaaay to colourful page which I 'diluted' by brayering over with white paint.

The background colour was created with Dylusion spray inks and I love how the colour has come through onto the white lines created with white acrylic ink.

from doodle ... to journal page

After slapping a few shades of yellow and orange down on a page I decided I needed my main image to be in black and white...

... so I took some paper that I'd painted stripes and dots onto, and cut out some rectangular shapes in order to create a fern.  This was based on a doodle I'd done a few months back...

After sticking the rectangles onto the page I used a stick dipped in india ink (a favourite technique of late) and outlined the leaves and created the stem.

I added a few splashes of black ink in the background too, along with some textual stamping.

There are a couple of snippets of red paper in there too.  This page came about after watching some of Jane Davies' work on youtube.  I've just signed up for her 'Extreme Composition' online workshop which went live this week so I'm planning on getting some 'playing' done this weekend, between report writing that is!  Ahh, the life of a teacher lol

step by step art journal page

Maybe it was a little ambitious to take step by step photos of the creation of a page whilst attempting something new!  All the way through, until I forgot to take any photos, I was telling myself to just play, just enjoy the mark making, but ended up really not liking what I'd done. I really, really, really love these pages now and can't believe they looked like this at one point!

So here you go, step by step :)

in my large-ish typewriter book, layer of Buff Titanium because I couldn't find the gesso!

patches of Phalo Blue in the bottom third of the pages

black drawing ink applied with a stick!

quite liking it so far, don't know where it's going though

a stripe of blue ink in the top third, then some Sticky Fingers Bluebell ink sprayed above it

darker blue ink splodge on, not liking this, and what on earth

am I going to put in the middle?

a stripe of a yellow ochre type of colour...like how it goes over

the blue spots and you can still see them

I wanted some red highlights on this page, inspired by

David Ashby's pottery, check them out they're stunning, like art journaling on clay

Nope, really don't like it, it feels to dark so I'll brayer some white acrylic

paint over it and see what happens

Oooo,

 I liked it so much I forgot to take anymore pics until I finished the pages

Brayering pulled off some of the paint so I used some scraps of paper from the table

as collage fodder

(I'd done some free mark making before starting this page aka Jane Davies then

used the same paper to dry off my brushes/brayer/stencils)

I've always loved the scraps of paper under my work, it's where I don't think so 

often get surprising results and textures.  It's also why I don't use a teflon mat!!!

A bit more drawing ink and hey, I'm happy!!!

:) hee hee hee

Happy, I'm so happy!

... not only did the postman bring some goodies I ordered earlier this week, but we have a new Hobbycraft store that's opened just down the road!  Ten minutes drive from my house, and one the way home from work (if necessary!)  And the best thing?  They had a 25% off coupon in the local paper :)  I'm AlwAys envious of you guys in the US with your Michael's coupons and I've never seen anything like this for Hobbycraft.

My Cuttlebug hasn't been well for a long time and I'm pretty sure it's rollers have 'gone'!  So although I love the look of the V2 Cuttlebug I invested in a Big Shot with my coupon.  I figured it'd cope better with the Bigz sizzix dies, it being made by Sizzix!

by Angeline Yong Jeet Leen

for http://thecreationofcreativity.blogspot.co.uk/

http://thecreationofcreativity.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/jay-gees-nook-dt-thanks.html

After a bit of blog browsing over the weekend, and seeing this (see above) fabulous card, I ordered the gorgeous Chloe Stem die by Memory Box and had a bit of a play with it.

It's the perfect size for shipping tags and after cutting a flower from some scrap, inky paper I had lying around I used the negative first as a stencil (see above)...

...  then on another tag.  I can't resist sketchbooks in art shops so, having bought a new little one at Hobbycraft, I resolved to at least finish one of my most recent ones so this page is in a small A5 moleskine...

I'm finding lots of inspiration over on Jane Davies' blog at the minute and the block of orange stemmed from there (sorry, pun unintended but then it made me chuckle :)  )

There's some background Chloe Stems cut from book pages..

which then stand out beautifully against the orange.  I'm off to learn leaded stained glass tomorrow so they'll be something different to share here over the weekend :)

journaling in a tent..or field..or the beach even!

It was with some trepidation that I only packed paint, baby wipes, stencils, a Pritt stick and the odd stamp, a couple of book pages and a pencil/pen with me to go camping.

I chose a journal to use, just the one, and as it is an old book it's pages required gessoing.

Now I'm not a fan of gesso.  I like my paint to stay put once I put it on the paper. But being forced to stick with it meant I did have fun, and ended up with some interesting effects.

My pages have been feeling a bit 'samey', and everywhere I looked things seemed very similar, so I started by using parts of hymns or bible verses as starting points and using my journaling as part meditation.

I journaled these pages whilst attending a Christian conference so they have lots of meaning for me but I still didn't feel I'd 'cracked it' as it were.  I used to be able to just enjoy my journaling without feeling it had to mean something or say something.

So I've given myself a bit of a talking to, read some stuff, watched a fantastic video by Jane Davies HERE and am back just enjoying being creative, playing with paint and mark making and seeing where it takes me, if anywhere!