How to Create a Fantastic Art Journal page

When I first began doing art journals I had no clue as to where to start or how to layer my work to give me the best results. I have watched countless tutorials, read several books and viewed many art journal pages, this is the process I have come up with "How to Create a Fantastic Art Journal page".

1) Begin by picking your palate. I usually work with three main colours and versions of them plus black & white. If you're a beginner it's a great idea to invest in a colour wheel, one that tells you which are complimentary colours etc.
Some of my favorite colour combo's are
- Black, White, & Red
- Pink, Yellow & White
- Teal, Cream & Purple
- Fuchsia, Lime Green, & Orange
- Brown, Sage & Rose
- Orange, Yellow & Blue
- Lime Green, Black & Hot pink
I hope you play with colour a little to see what colours appeal to you. Or go through some magazines and just pull pages that you are drawn to to find your colour palette.

2) Begin by applying a wash or glaze in the lightest colour. Start layering come colour, shades of existing colour and textures on top. Use you brushes, fingers, bubble wrap, insides of coffee holders, sponges, plastic bags, etc.
Paint Glaze= 1 part paint-2-3 parts water-1 part acrylic glazing medium Wash= paint + water to thin
*Note- always let each application DRY before adding another colour, unless you want the colours to blend. Too many colours blending together will make for a muddy looking page.

3) Add some texture and interest to your page by stamping some text, musical notes, or other interesting subject to the page. You can also put your personality into the page by drawing a picture of your own then painting it. I have also added decorated, stamped or coloured tissue paper at this point.

4) At this point you can begin adding collage or altered collage images to your page. You can select a theme or just use random pictures out of old magazines. You may also want to add some three dimensional pieces to your work; paper or cloth flowers, brads, beads, feathers, etc.

5) Next I add a bit more paint, often white or gesso in areas that I want to mute out and give a bit of pop. Or I will add low-lights in a darker colour or deeper shade of a colour that is already there to create more depth.

6) Doodle time. I keep pictures of doodles around to give me inspiration on my doodles. Just play and be creative, don't over think it.

7) Journal- a poem, your wishes and dreams, a letter to yourself or another loved one, song lyrics... it's your journal, what do you want to say?

At this point your pretty much done, you can always doodle a bit more or add some more highlights with a white gel pen  if you like, but that's it. I hope you have enjoyed making some art.

Cheers,
Danine

Seed Journal

Good Morning, Afternoon, and Good evening to one and all. I have been quite the busy little bee as of late. Not only did I finish my travel journal; I created a base for yet another journal using all recycled materials, finished putting my table together (ya, the part came in the mail), I also finished days 4-6 of the "Seed Journal" challenge that I'm participating in on the Milliande community I belong to.

So I thought I would share them with you all. OR ya'll if you're from the south.

 Day 4~Seed Wings.... I call her Sweet Pea

I love my sweet, fresh from the garden, peas. 

They are nature's perfect snack, 

complete with it's own neat wrapper you eat.

She is sweet to the core and spreads love and joy where every she goes.

Day 5~Scattered Seeds... The Gardener

Much like my Mother did, and still does, 

she tends the garden with much love.

Sewing seeds and making sure there is growth.

Day 6~Pomegranate... Pomegranate Zentangled

Sweet, juicy, delicious and oh so amazingly good for you.

Hope you like them.
Cheers,

Danine

Part 1 Travel Jounal

I began last week by rearranging my office space. I then removed the old make-shift art desk, and began building my nice new desk. I was quite excited to be creating my art on an adjustable desk, reducing the neck and arm strain and general body fatigue that I have when I sit for 5-8 hours a day creating my art.

But as it turns out it wasn't long before I was cursing my new table instead of sitting at it doing art. Because it's tilting mechanism broke off in my hands while I was trying to assemble it... So much for working at my fancy new art table this wk... I will now have to wait a week or so to get the parts so that I can finish putting it together. (And when I say that I'm putting it together , I really mean my wonderful, talented and crafty husband Mike.)

So, I toiled, crafted, and painted away all week at the dining room table, and there I'll stay until my part comes in the mail this week. SIGH  But, onward to our "Travel Journal Challenge". These little set backs can't and shouldn't slow us down.

The inspiration for my Travel Journal came from a youtube video I saw a while back by "mycreativebliss". These are the steps I will be taking to create my Travel Art Journal, I hope you will join me
.
Part 1
A) Cut out 12 - 4x4 squares of water color paper (you could also use mixed media paper) for creating your mini works of art on.

B) Next collect some coordinating scrap-booking papers for the journaling part which will be on the reverse side. If you want to have extra journaling pages for pictures and writing you can also use two sided paper.

To make the pages more sturdy gather heavier stock paper from old cookie packages, cereal boxes, and shoe boxes, which would normally just go into the recycling box, that we will use in between the two pieces.

Stay tuned for Part 2
To make our books a little more interesting we will be embellishing it with ribbon, decorative pulls, chains and other such do-dadds.  We will add some pockets, fabrics and envelopes so that you can have space for ticket keepsakes etc. This process is done before assembling the pages so make sure you don't go and glue your fronts and back together until each process is complete.

Have a fabulous ART filled week.
Cheers,
Danine