31 Days of Art Journals - Introduction

What to expect

Thought I would give you an idea of what you can expect over the next 31 days

• Insight into how each 31 journals were made
• Video flip through of pages on Youtube and
• Weekend roundup and tips
• Video of an art journal process ie 'backgrounds'

I love working in my art journals and over the years I have made quite a few over the years, I didn't like them all.  There is nothing quite like creating one of your own from start to finish, obviously you can go and purchase one, but once you start making your own there is no limit to what you can create. I thought I would share my love of art journals that I have created.  

For the next 31 days in October I will be sharing with you some of the art journals that I enjoyed working in, and still use.

Art Journaling is part of life

They come in all shapes and sizes, and have been used in a variety of ways, some are handmade, fabric, recycled, and shop brought.  I have much more than 31 so you are getting a taster.  Over the years I have found it a great way to get ideas down, express visually when you can't find the words and see how much you have grown in your creative walk.

Start somewhere

There is no right or wrong when you are making your art journal, once you learn the techniques you can take it where you want and have some great adventures.  There are revelations and gems dwelling within the pages.  

Art Journals fighting for their space

I will also be giving you a simple video flip through so that you can get a closer look at each one, the pages are a delight, and I love the texture that you can create with each one, mini works of art and  a masterpiece in its own right.

Art Journals come in all shapes and sizes

I will also be showing you the inspiration for some of the pages in the journals.  I really do encourage you to take the time to either make or use recycled materials to make your art journal, and then add to it using different textures to create a look that speaks to you.

Handmade Journals bring intense joy

So why not join me tomorrow and see what I have to share with you over the next 31 days of Art Journals.

Last but not least, I would love to have you join me for the online class in November that I will be teaching on called Hacking the Colour Wheel - Art Journaling for Creative Rebels.  I have one spot to give away on the course and you will have access to a range of wonderful lessons to inspire and motivate you.  You will also be learning a book binding technique to create your own art journal

31 Days of Art Journals - sneak peak....

I thought I would give you a sneak peak to 31 Days of Art Journals.  I will be sharing with you some of the Journals that I have made and give you a look through them, to inspire and encourage you to spend time making, playing and bringing life to your own.

From the 1st October to the 31 I would love to have you on this journey with me,  and I hope that it inspires you to look at different materials in a unique way and see how you can incorporate them in your creative journey.

Journals come in all shapes and sizes

The journals that will be sharing come in all shapes and sizes.  

I will also share some video hints and tips about working in your journal and will give you some ideas to play with in each journal that I share with you.

Come back on Sunday 1st October to see the very first journal I will share with you and stick around for the rest of the month to see the variety and get a closer look at some of the journals.

Leather beaded journal

Today's the day! My first Auction

Today is the day that my art goes up on the Survival and Triumph Online Auction.  I am very blessed to share the space with Jenny Doh  We kick off at 1pm EST and go on to around 11.45 the following day.  I have a few more that pieces of art that you may not have had a chance to see yet, and you can see the other pieces on my Facebook page HERE 

cloth and string

I have a mixed selection of artwork on display which speaks to the ever exploring creative in me.  I love mixed media and taking it off the canvas and the art journal and onto a sculpture, and you will see my figures combine fabric, clay, paint and jewelry.  

Engage

I love experimenting and also working with different materials including recycling, up-cycling and these too you will find will be able to tell a story and capture a heart.

If you haven't signed up yet come by and show some love and encouragement and who knows you may be inspired to do something creative for yourself.  Survival and Triumph  Auction

Painted Tray

Seekers 2

Seekers 1

Stay blessed and be a blessing!

BADASS Art Journal Course - My Session on the Course

I am really pleased to share with you my lesson on the BADASS Art Journal course, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I wanted to show how you could use a surface that you may have not thought of using to create a piece that can be an encouragement while you do it.

I worked on a large playing card and wanted to create cards that you could use and write something that when you look at it on a later date you can be inspired and reminded of what you wanted to achieve.

I also wanted to use words that you could see that would provide instant encouragement.  You also have the different layers and textures that go to show us the many different areas of our lives that we work on.

It was also great to see what the students came up with, each beautiful in their own way and so unique.  

Here is a small selection of the students work, I will be sharing more at a later date.

 It is always great to see how students develop, grow and step out of their comfort zone to find that place where they will allow their creativity to fly.

I have another course that I will be teaching on called Hacking the Color Wheel.  It is split into two sessions and I will be teaching on the 2nd session.  You can purchase the sessions individually or buy a bundle, which is more economical, and you get to see all 14 teachers on the rest of the course.

Such a great line up of teachers!  

Click Here to find out more details

One BADASS Art Journal Course - Week 5 - Late Night Conversations

Welcome to my interpretation of the class led by Cristin Stephenson in the BADASS Art Journal Class.  For this class as with the others I did 3 pages, one double spread and then two that came after that could either follow the same theme that I had worked with in the main page or be totally different.

Magic at midnight

For my main page below I started out with random shapes on the page, then as I thought about the late night conversations the song 'Dancing in the Moonlight' by Thin Lizzy came to mind

That connection with the moon, the music, and the sea also came in as well.  My characters that came out on the page seem to want to go on an adventure, perhaps a Thelma and Louise type of adventure in a car on a raft on the ocean with the music blazing...and free.... who knows

Adventure awaits

Some times you have to take that leap of faith, not knowing how everything is going to work out.  Some times we prevent ourselves from doing things because of fear. It is either we fear failing or we fear changing and things working out so we don't fit in our neat little boxes.  Fear to laugh and be yourself, fear to say yes to something or no.

Follow your dreams

Listening to a speaker called Lisa Nicols she was talking about her life and saying that fear can paralyze you and that you should use it instead as your fuel to get you to where you want to go.  We can sometimes fear using a particular art material, or fear that creative play because of what might reveal about you.  You can put anything in there that you might be feeling fearful about, and think about what the worse that could happen.

It is time to let go, step out, step into but make that change!  This page then came out of all of that, she chose to step out and be who she knew she could be, she stepped out and is 'Dancing' as well, not worried who might be looking or that 'its always been done this way' or about anything else that could get in the way.

Come join me next Friday and see how I interpreted the next lesson

One BADASS Art Journal Workshop Week 4 - Creating and Using Painted Papers

In week 4 of the course we looked at creating and using your own painted pages which was led by Effy Wild.  I love creating pages and find that they don't normally last long in my studio, as I always find faces emerging out of them and end up painting them.  I decided to do my own thing for this lesson.  You can see last weeks session HERE

I treated the page as if I were creating a background page with different elements, shapes and colors.  I then kept adding different layers which sometimes covered up the layer below or allowed them to show through.  This is a technique that you can get using tissue paper on a page, the underlying image will come through.

The more layers added the more it began to mimic my feeling of being surrounded by things that needed to find a home. I had to force myself to stop as I kept adding doodling and crowding it out, then covering it with paint and then going again.

Sometimes my mind be like.....and then I need to tidy up

On the first side of the main page I then drew a group of 4 simple figures.  It was almost as a way of  clearing up, and expressing aspects of my creative process, purposely not going into any detail but keeping it as plain as possible.

The many sides - keeping it simple

It then became more about an expression of the me I wanted to see.  How is it that you see yourself within your journal, do you express yourself freely or are you hiding something even from yourself.  The art journal for me can hold answers, but you got to let go of your perception of what you think others will want to see.

I see You Me

All of the pages for me are all linked and are about expression and the different forms it can take.  The way I create using many different mediums and styles seems to feed my desire to create.  I find working with different mediums suits me and the impatience I sometimes feel, there doesn't have to be the one thing there is always something I want to create, or try, and Mixed media art enables me to explore as many as I choose.

Again the style is kept very simple, but the textures and the colors ones that I find interesting.  If you are following along with the lessons, perhaps you can try putting changing something and seeing where it takes you.  You don't have to do each lesson just once, you can do it as many times as you wish and with different mediums.  Come back next week Friday to see how I worked with the next lesson.

One BADASS Journal Workshop - Week 3 - Explore, Dream, Discover

Week 3 of the One BADASS Art Journal workshop was called Explore, Dream, Discover with teacher Tracy Scott.  You can still sign up to this workshop as you get lifetime access.  Why not check out some of the other class bundles that is on offer.  You can check them out HERE 

For this painting I worked on black card and started out creating the flowers on the page.  I love creating faces with a story and so this character came through to tell hers.

I called the page Escaping to the gardens of the mind.  Working in an art journal can be very therapeutic and I find that the pages that I create usually have some bearing on either something I am working through or needing to put to rest.

An art journal can express many different sides to you, and those who have visited my blog from the 1st April to the 30  of April will see some of the different types of art journals that I have created in the blog series 30 Days of Journals that I am doing as part of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

When you want to escape to a place that is nurturing you don't always have to go far, turn to your journal.  Sometimes I can be sitting for hours working on different pages in my journal, playing with color and different textures and expressing those things that I cannot yet put into words.

As I mentioned in last weeks post either side of the main page I will be painting corresponding images that pick up elements or sentiments of the main journal page.

Remember that the journal that you create or alter is entirely for your use, you decide how you want to use it and what you want to have in it, so dive in and have some fun.

I will be posting another page from my BADASS Art Journal next week Friday, but you will also see my A-Z challenge that is also being done in April, going to be quite a busy month, so do stop by, there will be something practically every day.

Stay blessed and be a blessing.

One BADASS Art Journal Workshop - Journal Pages - Week 1 and 2

Well for those of you who signed up for the workshop you know that it is in full flow, and we have had some great lessons so far.  You can still sign up as you get lifetime access.  Why not check out some of the other class bundles that she is offering.  You can check them out HERE

I have been taking my time and really savoring the lessons and I decided to slightly change the way that I create my pages this time round.  

Badass Art Journal

Kiala Givehand lead the journal construction in week 1.  I used an old canvas that I felt wasn't working for me as a painting.  As soon as I used it for the cover of the journal it felt right.  I made a loop attachment so that the journal could expand especially if I collaged some of the pages.

Everything was stitched together and I have left the inside cover so that it can be an activity at a later date, possibly with some doodling or ephemera addition.

The other thing that I decided was to do the lessons on a double page spread, but I didn't want to leave blank pages on either side of the double spread, so I have kept these pages all about the main page.  Tiare Smith led week 2's journal page entitled Dream Girls.

For me this page expresses the dreams that I have when I sleep and the ones that I have when I wake.  I may add additional journaling on some pages or use just one word to express what I want the journal page to say.

I really love the finish I used textured card and acrylic paints alongside some Inktense pencils which give you a very vibrant look

On the front and back of the double page spread I wanted to pick up elements of the main page.  On this one I focused on the lips.  Again, some dreams we can speak into existence.  Many dreams started out with a declaration of what is to come.

An then the back of the two pages, I focused on the word dream and the eyes that can express so much - are they seeing the dream pass by or come to reality?

Amanda Trought, Mixed media Art

I really enjoyed getting back into the journal again.  I will be posting another couple of pages on Friday, so do come back and see what I do.  

Mixed Media Art Painting Giveaway - We all need someone to lean on

Art Giveaway - We all need a friend to lean on

 Ok I am part of the #1min1take Video Challenge and I have decided to do an Art giveaway.  My target for the challenge is to complete at least 60 videos of 1 minute to encourage you, inspire you and hopefully bless you in the process with different conversations.  

#1min1take video challenge

Some of the videos call you to answer some tough questions, others to think about your creativity and life.  In a few of the videos I will be sharing what I am doing either in the studio or on my travels in Barbados.

I created this piece of art recently and it was so much fun.  I thought I would share the process with you below.

It began its life as a piece of cardboard I had recycled and added collage and layers of paint.  It has some great texture on it with modelling paste and stencils.

Once I had decided on the base image I start filling in with gesso

And then adding some of the colors to give me a general ideas of the overall color of the painting.

I start to add some background and continue to work on the images,  You can see some of the modelling paste highlighted by gold on the painting.

A bird friend comes along and makes home with our two ladies.  Up until this point our main character is day dreaming lost in her own world.

And then she opens her eyes to the birdsong with a knowing look in her eye.

Mixed Media Art on Card 6 x 8 inches  - We all need a shoulder to lean on - 

Do you want to win this painting? then hop over to my YouTube Channel and leave a comment on the video above. 

Check out some of the other videos in the #1min1take challenge as I will be doing additional Art giveaways, and showing you art techniques and tutorials, why not subscribe while your there and click notifications so that you will know when a new video comes out.