Inspiration Journal Page...

Trying out some new pens I got.

The ones on the top are both Prismacolor -- so nice and dark! The bottom one is the FudeBall 1.5 I got from Jet Pens. It looks so washed out compared to the Prismacolors. Collaged elements and stencils on a gelli printed background.

Looking at it now I wish I had done more with the lettering -- after all I am taking a lettering class! But I wrote it quickly while the thought was on my mind and didn't worry about the writing. Eventually I hope to learn how to slow down (I can always jot down my thought on a scrap and rewrite it nicely later)... eventually.

Sunday Introspection...

I was told when I was younger that I "think too much"...

I didn't really know what that meant at the time but I see it now when it comes to my art. It is hard for me to be loose and free -- to allow all that spontaneity that art sometimes demands, I guess in that thought I can answer my own question of why I do art journaling... it allows me the space to be free and open and at the best of times, spontaneous.

With that said however, I still think too much and take a lot more time looking at other people's art than doing my own. I tell myself it is for inspiration and ideas and then later say I don't want my art to look like or be anyone else's... Where do getting ideas and being derivative separate? I need to be there.

Letter Love 201 Lesson 2

Following the guide from the teacher, Joanne Sharpe, I used most of the quotes she had on the list. Now that I have done this I want to compile a list of quotes I like/use a lot and make another one...

Here is a close up of part of the page...

My hair and a cat...

Decided this was the month to get my hair done professionally again (about once a year I spring for that) and had them add some golden highlights to my hair...

Meanwhile the neighbor's cat with the unfortunate name of Tofu keeps coming over to visit... she is so gorgeous!

Letter Love 201 class...

After a wonderfully fun day at my friend Leslie's house playing with gelli printing again and deciding on our challenge art page, we got down to the idea of taking Joanne Sharpe's Lettering Love 201: Lettering as Art online class.

Leslie signed up right away and I was only a few hours behind although I didn't get started on the class until today.
Lesson 1, make the cover for the journal.

I mostly followed the teacher's style and suggestions and discovered I didn't have very good water colors! I had a small cake set that hadn't been used for a number of years so I think the colors were not as vibrant as they might have been. I have some tube watercolors but I like the idea of having a set of cake colors to just open up and start painting with so I got myself another fairly cheap set on Amazon.
And Leslie, my scanner also doesn't like 9x12 journals! I found my Canson All-Media Journal to use and decided to try the large size for this class.

I am liking these online prompt groups...

They keep me motivated and creating... this page was actually for 2 different groups, Carolyn Dube's "Use Your Words" group as well as the ongoing Journal Fodder 365 group on Ning that I have mentioned before. Both of them had a prompt about words so I was able to incorporate things from both prompts onto one page.

Mid week journal page...

Or what I did this evening instead of going to an exercise class. I had started this last night and came home wanting to do something in blues so finished this page.

I can't believe I am almost finished in this Canson Journal already. I stsarted it last year then lost where I had put it for nearly a year then found it and have been journaling almost daily for the last couple of months. And now I have around 10 blank pages and around 15 gelli printed pages in it and it is done! And now I am thinking I want to go larger for the next one... and maybe start a couple, for various purposes. I still want to make a journal with just art pages from song lyrics.

One last Sunday art journal page...

Found a few old photos of me when I was searching some files on my computer so I decided to print them out and make another journal page. Since I have a busy week ahead these from today might be the last until next weekend.

Still under a slight Sabrina Ward Harrison influence, I added the quill pen (not successful on that paper) and some ink blots. I don't usually do that much collage on my pages but I like it so I think I will try more in the coming days.

Last day of vacation...

for this week anyway. Luckily we get next Monday off as well for the "official" President's day and THAT weekend will be art-fun packed as well!

Yesterday I got to wondering what Sabrina Ward Harrison was up to and through another art friend found her online at Facebook. I hadn't realized she had put out another book last year, again the use this book as a journal type book (which I never do cause the pages themselves are too pretty or interesting to me to journal over them). And then last night I looked at Spilling Over before I went to sleep...

Today I made a sort of Sabrina influenced page in my own journal.

Sunday art...

Finished up a set of gelli prints that I started yesterday and ended up with 21 pages, which I am going to bind into a small book (7 signatures) and probably just keep as the gelli prints without any other journaling in them. It is very colorful and I haven't get fingured out how to show it in a photograph so I guess I will need to scan the pages and make a mosaic to show them before I bind it. But not today...

I did another journal page, not so much for the Art Journaling Journal Fodder class but more cause it just felt like it was coming out of me today...

Gelli printed background with collage and writing on top. Lyra aquarelle crayons and Micron pen. Ink drops on top of it all.

3 Day Weekend Art Play...

Heard my Gelli plate calling me early in the day so spent some time playing with that...

Then made a journal page for the Journal Fodder 365 class on Art Journaling (see links in a previous post). The topic was writing on non-straight lines so I made some swirly shapes on a gel printed page in my journal and went to town.

What you don't see is the incredible mess my work area is so tomorrow I will be cleaning that up before I do anything more!

Going in circles and Into the Woods

Continuing to work through Journal Fodder 365 for the Art Journaling group... today I found myself drawn to circles.

Gelli print background, then pen, and Lyra Aquacolors (can't find my Neocolor IIs which I prefer so using these while I keep looking). This was from one of the Journal Fodder 365 exercises about repetitive shapes on page 19.

The Journal Fodder guys just announced a retreat this summer... sounds interesting. Thinking about it.

And on another (musical) note... we just got back from seeing the Sacramento Light Opera Company's rendition of one of my favorite musicals, "Into the Woods". It was fun, very well done for such a small venue and a pleasure to be somewhere not crowded on Stupor Bowl Sunday! I must prefer a musical any day! Also a pleasure to be able to support a local production.

Gelli print collage...

Started making flower petals from a piece of gelli printed paper and ended up with a couple of flowers in my journal. Here were the pages before I started to cut them up:

Not sure yet what I will do next but here is the beginning of a gelli-printed collage.

Linked on Double Vision

Finished January Art Journal Calendar!

Yay I managed to continue this on a daily basis in January!