Art Journal January

'Tis the beginning of the new year, and brings us to Art Journal January.
I will be playing along with Milliande again this year, and welcome you all to join us.
So break out your art journal with me, and play along. Just click the link below to sign up.

The end of Art Journal January

Well, here I am getting ready to post something all together different, and realized I never posted the last two pages of my Art Journal January. So I am taking a quick minute to post them. Day 30 and 31. The first of which is a fairly simple page, mostly done with a mixed up background of paint, gesso, and more paint, splatter paints, color mists and a little squishing it around with my fingers. Then I added some simple drawn images from a magazine, and colored them with markers, to make a simple but unique look.

Second is the last page in my journal, which is a fold out page, depicting gel medium transfer images of faces and eyes. I chose to take the opportunity to reflect on my month of journaling with this last page. I entitled it True Vision, with the reminder that I will create from within, with true intent, and with the hopes that I will learn, grow and see what and who I really am through my journaling.
As mentioned above, I started the page with many magazine cutouts of faces and eyes, and did a bunch of gel medium transfers with them, then I cut out a face and eye from a magazine, and adhered it to the top. I stamped the words with alphabet stamps, both on the flap and underneath. Then added my journaling and a bit of gold shimmer powder to the lettering.

I want to thank you all for traveling this journey with me, and hope to do it again next year. :)

Art Journal January Day 27

Ok, I went back and tried out the eraser art page. It turned out better than I expected it to. I had originally intended to do a face of some kind, but just couldn't wrap my head around it. I couldn't sleep the other day, so I got up and started to journal what was in my head, and this is what came out. It is a set of hands holding the light of the sun.
I used a scribbled background of 2B, 4B and 6B charcoal pencils, and then smoothed it with a smudge stick, then I "drew" with my kneaded eraser until I got the outlines I was looking for.
Lastly I added some light yellow and flesh colored watercolor pencils to give it a little more dimension. I wrote the words with my trusty sharpie marker. :)

Art Journal January Day 29

Today's prompt was awesome- I got to get MESSY! I started with a triple layer of acrylic paints, in blue, green and purple.
Then added the swirls with distress crackle paint, then layered on alcohol inks in several colors and colored sharpies in different shades of purple.
Then to top it off, I spritz with three different color mists.
This was absolutely a good time- letting go of lots of the feelings I have been having the last few days, and thinking about how when I was a little girl, I would twirl around in my pretty dresses, til I got dizzy and fell down. I loved to twirl and spin- ah, memories.

Art Journal January Day 28

Day 28- Funky Footprints
I have to say I think today's prompt was the funnest so far, and with just a few days to go, it may just as well be my favorite.
I love the idea of using your feet to help create art. Just goes to show that when creating art, it is definitely a part of the whole you.

When I got done making the footprints, the first thing I saw in the image was a silly cheeky monkey, so I chose to go with it, and draw the doodles in and make matching monkeys in a heart.
The footprints are done with wildflower colored ink, and then I used colored sharpie markers to accent, and for the tail and ears I used a magenta watercolor pencil, and a water brush.
The toes are the backside of kitties, and a bunch of silly mice.
When I was all finished I added some glitter as accents.

Art Journal January Day 27

Well, this is really not the page for the Day 27 prompt, which is eraser art, but I just couldn't get my head wrapped around the whole reverse part of scribbling and then erasing what I want to show up- it is just so backward for me. Not saying I won't give it a try, but I have to think about it for awhile, before I give it a go.
SO- here is my substitute page, which is just one to "reflect" on.
It carries a lot of reflection both in the imagery, and in the colors. I use several metallic paints, and silver ink to make everything cohesive.

Art Journal January Day 26

Here is my page for Day 26- The prompt was hearts.

It is hard to see, but it is spritzed with pearl ink, so it is shimmery. That is why the picture is at an angle. And the "gold" heart is actually a pretty shade of green, with gold shimmery scroll work. The heart at the bottom of the page, is an origami heart, if you look closely you can see the folded paper makes a four pointed star (around the letter T)

Art Journal January Day 25

Less than a week to go, and I have been at it every day without fail. I am running out of creative things to say, so I will just post the picture, and let you make your own opinions of it. :)

Day 25- prompt: Birdcages

Art Journal January Day 24

Day 24- hand carved stamps
I started with a bunch of stamped images from a stamp I carved, and stamped with different colors of StazOn inks. I then added the magazine clipping, and then I stamped the wings (another hand carved stamp) I used my reverse stamp so the I could have them going different directions. Next i took a piece of punchinella (sequin scrap) and laid it down, and smeared some artist cement through the holes, and then removed the punchinella. It left the nicest little white dots. I took some swabs and dipped then in alcohol inks (stream and wild plum) then smeared them on the artist cement dots. Then I took a charcoal pencil and blended it with a smudge stick, around the girl. I did some distressing around the outside with distress ink. Lastly I stamped the text lines across her front, and did some more journaling about what art journaling means to me.

Art Journal January Day 23

Day 23- one word page
Decorating a page with only one word. Well, I did sneak in a little image of a girl, but I just felt inspired, and I have given myself the freedom to interpret as I wish :) The whole freedom thing- loving it!
Other than the one image, the whole page is done with One Word. WONDER.
I have used a myriad of colored markers. Some of the words are done with watercolor brush pens, and watercolor crayons. Most of them are sharpies, but I also threw a few others in the mix.
The background is done with some stamped masking tape, and then painted it with twinkling H2Os, and some silver ink, to give it shimmer.

Art Journal January Day 22

9 days left, I think I will actually make it. This has been a rewarding experience, and I hope that it will help me to continue with my art journaling, and to take the time when I feel inspired to create. Not worrying if my studio is clean, or my supplies are unpacked. Just create with what you have on hand, and make it from the soul.

Day 22- layered transfers.
Sounds easy enough- HA HA! I think I started over 3 times, and finally decided that whatever came out on the last one, I was going to work with it no matter what.
Something to remember- the dark colors make it impossible to see the fine details of transfers that are on top of them. Keeping it simple this time, I didn't get as many layers as I had planned, but at least I had something to work with.
Definitely a thin coat of gel medium, and a lot of pressure. It is a touchy sort of thing.
After I got the transfers done, I decided to make it messy with some border stamps, bird stamps and a saying.
I muted the border stamps with some gesso, and added some alcohol ink smears for backgrounds, and some watercolor crayons for a little extra color.
Lastly I added some outlines to help the small flower transfers pop.

Art Journal January Day 21

Day 21 and counting!
Today we were to create a mandala. I chose to stay with my theme, and to write some positive self affirmations to help me to grow, renew and revive.

I started in the center and worked my way out by using several different media. First it was some green and blue water color brush pens, in two different colors of each. Then green and blue water color crayons, again in two different shades of blue and green.
Then blue and green oil pastels. Next I went over everything with blue and green water soluble pencils. Lastly I added some silver ink, and some blue and green twinkling H2Os.
I added some text stamps, and then I wrote my affirmations around from the center words. I added a little charcoal pencil and smudged it for depth. That's it- pretty simple, and it is quite shimmery.

Art Journal January Day 20

First off, I want to say that this page was a huge disaster, and did not start out very well. I had these great ideas in my head, and not one of them came out on paper correctly. I started with the scraps of paper background, and then a very light coat of gesso. My intention was to use an opaque StazOn to stamp the butterflies, then blend around them with a charcoal pencil but it didn't show up at all. So I then tried colored StazOn, but I did not like the starkness of the brown, so I attempted to paint them with Twinkling H2Os, but that was not very successful, and they looked really weird colored that way, so I decided to cover them with gesso. I was thinking about starting all over, but as I started to coat them with gesso, the butterflies started to soften, and I was beginning to think they weren't so bad after all. So I blotted on the gesso, and then when it was dry, I traced around them with a charcoal pencil and blended with a smudge stick. The gesso ended up covering most of the background paper, but it was ok, since it just softened the colors and prints. I then added the lettering words with a fine line Micron pen, and then added some streaks of silver ink to give it a little pizazz.
I guess it goes to show that even the worst mess of a mistake can be worked into something nice.

Art Journal January Day 19

Day 19- mosaic page.
I started out with a water colored background of mosaic tiles, but to me it looked like a big cozy quilt, so I laid down a coat of gesso over the top of my watercolor. Then I added some stamped images with StazOn and Distress inks. Next I used a fine line Micron pen to doodle and journal, and lastly I added a few highlights, (like the hearts) in colored sharpie markers.
It was a fun page, even though it doesn't look at all like I thought it would when I started.

Art Journal January Day 18

I was really excited about today's prompt. I have been thinking a lot about home lately, and this gave me a great outlet to express my feelings about "home"
I am very grateful for the home we live in, and for the love and tenderness of my family.
Supplies:
scrapbooking paper snippits
gel medium
watercolor brush pens- (loving my new toys)
gesso
charcoal pencil
distress ink

Art Journal January Day 17

Well Milliande got me on this one! I was totally baffled as to what to do, so I found an image of a cupcake and went from there. It was actually once a Duncan Hines advert. but I painted all over it with watercolors, acrylics mixed with heavy body gel medium and some charcoal pencil blended with a smudge stick.
The letters were cut out of magazine pages, and the S is a chipboard shape.
Lots of gesso here and there, and a bunch of flower jems from Heidi Swap, to spice it all up, and Whalla!

Art Journal January Day 16

A little drawing mixed in with my paint fun.
Today we were to make some simple fast drawings of faces. Not worrying about what they will end up like. I left my guidelines in there for the whole simplistic idea.
The page just looked so plain with my sketches, so I started adding paint. I used a flourish stamp and stamped it into my paint to take some away and leave a relief image, then stamped it on another section to make a print.
Once it was dry, I rubbed some gold metallic paint over the top, and then stamped the images in black. Then I distressed the whole thing with tea dye inker.
supplies used:
gesso background
pencil drawings
pink and gold acrylic paints
black StazOn
tea dye ink over the top

Art Journal January Day 15

Half way through the month! This has been a really enjoyable experience so far. I have filled up one journal and am starting on another one.
Day 15 was to use an image of an arm from the hand to the elbow.
My journal wasn't quite big enough to trace my whole arm, but it was almost half way there.
(I tried)
I chose to trace my hand in a reaching pose, so that I could have it grasp a big star. I chose the star image to help me to remember that I am going to shine. If you read my pages earlier, my word for the year is "Shine".
I took pictures before I finished completely, so the words that are not on the page in the photo, are:
"Shine like the star you are"
(It is written at the bottom of the page.)

I used a sharpie marker for the tracing, the words and a fine line for the outline of all the stars.
I then colored the stars and the curtain at the top with Caran D'Ache watercolor pencils. I lightly colored the background with them as well.

Art Journal January Day 14

Two weeks in, and I am still at it. This is big for me to be able to keep at something this long. I usually get distracted, or sidetracked and give up.
Well, I am setting a goal to finish out the month, and maybe in the meantime I will have created a habit.

Day 14~ wax resist.
This was actually pretty fun, I had first thought of using crayons, and then decided that I wanted the wax to be white, so I used a candle instead.
I started out by writing with the candle on the page, and then I used my water soluble crayons, as well as my watercolor paints. I blended the colors together, and then when it was dry I used a charcoal pencil and smudge stick to add the dimension.
Today was a great day to help me to remember to keep at this and create art everyday. :)

Art Journal January Day 11, 12 & 13

I've been really busy these past few days, so I apologize to those that are keeping up with me for not posting.
I am really enjoying this challenge, and am squeezing in a little art time everyday. Which is one of my goals this year.

Day 11 prompt was to make a message in a bottle.
The bottle flips open to reveal a message I wrote to myself to read again at the beginning of next year. It should be fun to see how I feel about what I wrote to myself this year.
The supplies I used in this page are:
scraps of decorative paper,
blue, light blue and white acrylic paint,
opaque white pen,
black micron pen,
twinkling H2O paints
watercolor brush pens


Day 12 prompt~ vertical lines
I had fun scribbling on my page with vertical lines, and then dripping paints and alcohol inks.
It was kind of freeing to see the paints running down the page.
I used oil pastels and micron pen for the lines,
then dripped 2 colors of blue acrylic paints down the page, and while it was wet,
I dripped the denim alcohol inks into the paint.
I wrote the title with an opaque white pen, and the words with my fine line micron.


Day 13 prompt~ facing silhouettes
I started with a background of water color paints in big circles, (red yellow and blue)
Then I scraped a layer of white acrylic over the top, which smudged it up quite nicely.
Then I cut out the images from a scrapbook paper, and glued them down facing each other.
I then drew around them with a fine line micron pen, and a 6B charcoal pencil to give it depth.
Then I added my rantings.
It was a good release, and helped me to realize that I need to take care of myself, and let my inner beauty shine!