Tag Archives: technique

Behind the pages: NaNoJouMo 5-8

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“The sooner I fall behind, the more time I have to catch up.” Anonymous

Have been journaling with the NaNoJouMo prompt every day this month, but I’m still catching up on photographing and posting pages.  Partly because we’ve had painters and plumbers and extra projects going on here at the house getting ready for the Christmas Journal Workshop.  Despite the fact that I’ve been feeling the stress of deadlines and extras, I’m excited.  We’ve put together some really great give-aways for the attendees and the studio is looking great!

I’ll share more in the next couple of days, {seriously excited about what’s coming for Christmas!} but in the meantime, here are some pages.

Day 5:  EQUANIMITY

EQUANIMITY {NaNoJouMo 6}

{watercolor, Pitt pen, Staz-on black ink & butterfly rub ons}

Added definition and text to an existing mandala page.  The color on the page started with blue, but the orange made sense.  Text reads as follows:

“e-qua-nim-i-ty [ee-kwuh-nim-i-tee]  noun. 1. mental or emotional STABILITY or composure especially under tension or strain; CALMNESS; EQUILIBRIUM.

I don’t think I possess this quality… Rands does.  I usually crumble with an almost audible IMPLOSION.  I wish I responded to life with equanimity… I don’t.   But I also believe that my “SENSITIVITY”  is part of my art and how I do life.  It’s WHO I AM WHEN I TUNE IN.  Actually, Life makes me SIZZLE.”

Life makes me sizzle

Day 6:  ESOTERIC


ESOTERIC {NaNoJouMo 6}

oh hey scary thoughts... page detail

Earl Grey tea tags

ESOTERIC mandala detail

{index card, masking tape, tea tags, Crayola crayon, watercolor, 6B pencil}

Hit some deep {and private} thoughts in my journaling, so I taped them up…  Text reads:

“Oh hey DEEP & SCARY thoughts.  Sometimes you creep up on me.  I want to keep you, but I think I’ll use some tape.”

Day 7: MOMENT

MOMENT {NaNoJouMo 7}

MOMENT detail

MOMENT detail

{gesso, watercolor, gel transfer, ink, Tattered Angel Glimmer Mist in Graphite w paper towel press for texture, tissue paper and scrap Excel doc as underlayers, acrylic scraped w credit card}

Day 8: VIRTUE

VIRTUE {NaNoJouMo 8}

{masking tape, Pitt pen, security envelope scrap, gesso, gel transfer}

Behind the Pages: TRUST

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A few pages into the Canson Mixed Media book.  This is the first time that I’ve journaled extensively in a spiral bound book.  Wow, I didn’t realize how often I create double page spreads;  I’m having to get used to the wire in the middle of the page.  {Although so far, I love the weight of the paper!  It’s been great for both watercolor and acrylic.  Want to see how it handles marker soon.}

This spread is for a weekly prompt group on fb created by my friend Lee Ann.  It’s called Joy in the Journey: Art Journal Prompts.  Lee Ann is a dear friend from college; a natural creative who is relatively new to art journaling and is handing out weekly prompts to dive into her journal.

This past week’s prompt was the word TRUST.  I’m posting these almost finished pages, so that I can share supplies and technique with the group.  As you can see, this was one of those pages where I had to work around the wire…

TRUST

{background is Winsor & Newton Phthalo Blue Red Shade It’s from the Infinity Artists’ series, but I mixed it down with white craft paint and water and applied it like watercolor over a layer of tissue paper.  The tissue layer is adhered with matte Mod Podge.  Just a note – paint, especially when watered down behaves differently on the surface of the sealer, so you’ll get a different color and texture than on the neighboring unsealed paper.  I added an thin white layer on top of the sealed tissue to create contrast for the text.  Top layers:  Pellegrino label, stickers, torn paper sack and bird punched out from a piece of saved stationary.  Black lettering:  Ultra Fine Point Pilot G2 0.38 and white lettering: ZIG Opaque Writer

Text reads as follows:

It is amazing to me that I have boarded an airplane and crossed over the ocean when {I DON’T REALLY UNDERSTAND} the intricacies of aerodynamics…

I believe the information on a nutrition label. {or is it that I ignore disbelief?} I will even eat in a restaurant without ever examining what is behind the kitchen door… but I don’t trust you.

Are we born without trust? Or do we have it and then lose it?

How do you move from here {nest} ———> to here {flying}

Trust

...but I don't trust you.

TRUST. How do you move from here ---------> to here

Behind the pages: Move.

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A very dear college friend has discovered the world of art journaling.  {Yay! LA} And she jumped into the deep end of the pool by creating a facebook group that gives weekly prompts.  She’s asked me to help administrate, which I am joyfully doing!  This past week’s prompt {and the first of this journey that she and I are sharing} is the word, MOVE.

I had a decorated page with no text that was waiting at the very end of my current journal, so I used it.  {since today is Saturday and LA is giving us a new prompt tomorrow.}

MOVE

The written text reads as follows:

“I am a thinker and a planner.  I like to UNDERSTAND before I take Action.

just MOVE ——->

sometimes I will think and plan AND NEVER START.

I don’t like mistakes and seemingly perfect people really freak me out.  Which is all a jumble of the same idea.

Nothing will ever be PERFECT.

{Detail added to background word PLAY:  On a side note, I forget to play.}

"Nothing will ever be PERFECT"

on a side note, I forget to play

Materials:  Background painted with Delta craft paint color Territorial Beige, layered with Windsor & Newton Cotman Water Colours and Staedtler Watercolor Crayons.  {the black circles are from the bottom of the watercolor crayon twisted dry onto wet paper.} Grey circles are from the dirty water swirled around on the page.  The green collage element is torn from a yoga magazine and glued in with matte Mod Podge.  The gold is tissue paper.  {Even  though it’s matte sealer, the page is still shiny and hard to photograph…}  Pens used:  ZIG Opaque Writer in white and a Pilot G2 {0.38}