Author Archives: leslie

Journal Girl Teaches some Workshops

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One of the things I really love about being “in charge” of a
site like Art Journaling Ning, is that I have contact with a lot of people with similar interests and
passions as I. Case in point, Samantha Kira, aka Journal Girl, has decided to
step into the AJ Ning class world. This is a great thing for all the art
journalers of AJ Ning. Why? She has a totally different style and approach to
art journaling than I do. We have similar ideas as anyone who is into AJ will
but her style is very different than mine.

Her first free workshop (per AJ ning rules and regulations) is
about layers and it’s packed full of information and ideas to get members
working in layers. It’s already, only a few days old, and active. Head over to AJ
ning and check the layers workshop out and play with layers. Lots of videos and
talk, it’s what makes a workshop great!

Next up she’s got a paid workshop going on. It’s called True To
You: Organic Exploration for the Visual Journaler. Read more about it here so that you can read what she has to say about it.It focuses around authentic
expression and mining your life for prompts rather than looking for external
prompts. In short I’d say it’s a series of essays on looking within to journal authentically.
Many people want to learn how to create art, thus they sign up for classes that
teach you how to copy, this is not that sort of workshop. Kira will teach you
techniques but also how to look within yourself.

This is what I think AJ is all about authentic expression. About looking within yourself, using physical materials to get at the mental materials, making them real and working on them. Part therapy and part craft and part art. I'm so very excited to see Journal Girl's paid workshop.

FML

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On days like today when my breathing is shallow, allergy
meds aren’t making a dent in my misery, I like to wander the house and think
about staying awake. Instead I succumb to the misery of my allergies and cold
and fall asleep, yet again, on the couch. 
Today will be a waste in terms of getting anything done. The lawn needs
mowing, the house needs cleaning and the dogs walking but I’m too sick to do
it. The sad reality of owning your own place is that you can’t call the landlord
because the lawn is too high to walk through; instead you just piss off your
neighbors.

Ah well, what can I do? Perhaps I’ll mow between naps.

Most of the time I get one big cold per year and that’s it,
then every now and then I get sick a lot. This happened one summer during
college, I was sick most of the summer and then once when I was teaching. But
it’s been years since I’ve been this miserable more than once per year. Lets
hope I get no more colds this year. I hate this.

Video: sketch book 4

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This is a lot different from what I usually post. It's kinda dark, kinda creepy, kind of an art journal but much more of a sketchbook than anything else. Very nice work though, even if it is creepy, it's creepy cool.

Technique Tuesday: Border

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Unfinished
Originally uploaded by lessherger

I started this page by scribbling 2 colors of watercolor crayon. I wet my brush and added gesso. I spread the gesso around liberally mixing the watercolor crayon with it as I went. I did not attempt to mix the colors perfectly. I wanted a mottled effect. I allowed this to dry completely before the next step.

Again I grabbed my brush pen, held it by the end and allowed myself to work quickly and loosely. I allowed the ink to mostly dry. It is not waterproof ink. I used my waterbrush to blur the outside edge of the border.I added more ink where I wanted more blur. I did this carefully to only blur OUTSIDE the edges and not inside the border.

You can see the full sized image and get a lot of detail by clicking on
the thumbnail above and clicking the "see all sizes" button above the
image that comes up.