Category Archives: Inspiration

Quick Imagery- OneMinuteMuse Art Journal technique

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I’m into a big fan of using mass media images in my art BUT I see some possibility in this particular technique. In this video she takes an image from what looks like a fashion mag, glues it into her journal, gessos over the top of it and then colors it by hand. Because the features are muted and dulled it would be very easy to turn that image into a zombie or dirty it up pretty fast. I’ll try it out and see what I get. Zombies. Yeah. I love zombies. Killer fashion zombies. So cool!

Oh wait where am I’m going to find fashion magazines? We don’t have any in the house.

Get Past the White Page Part 3

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Probably my favorite technique is to write on a page with sharpie, it can either be previously gesso coated, acrylic painted or raw paper. It doesn't matter.  After that you go over the sharpie wriitng with gesso. As the gesso dries part of the sharpie writen text is visible through the gesso. It lifts into teh gesso and is slightly purple. It works with red sharpie as well, and several other colors that I've tried. It works with the liquitex gesso I use as well as the clear. Sharpie will also lift into heavy body acrylic paint. You can then write over the gesso or treat just link a gesso coated page. I like to then add more layers over the top of the writing.

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Here I used a page I had coated in liquid acrylic and gesso and stamped some random round shaped onto. I wrote ontop of that with a standard fine tip sharpie.

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This is still partially wet, as the gesso dries more the purple will lift into it more. I was too impatient to take a pic of it fully dry. I ended up adding more to the image before I could ge another pic.

Rule #6 Look for Inpiration Everywhere

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Seriously, everywhere. Look at your morning coffee, your egg mcmuffin, the trash on the ground, dirty dishes, your pen/pencil/brush, your hand, alarm clock, lamp,air conditioner, car/truck, train, train pass, dollar bill, debit card, credit card, the internet, the TV, cat, ferret, dog, a tree,a park, a movie, your family, homeless dude sitting next to you on the bus, the newspaper,a magazine, office, your job, your home, birth control or lack of it, your best friend, your most hated enemy, your ex, a funny website, youtube, your mom, air filters, dust, dust bunnies, a spider, a mouse, the vacuum an etc…

In short anything can inspire you to write/draw/paint in your art journal. Where do you let it take you? That's what matters.

it’s not too early Secretly I hate Christmas

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I don't but what I hate is trying to find unique gifts for my family for Christmas. My family is notoriously hard to buy for and this year I'm taking the handmade plunge and going all out and getting only handmade Christmas gifts for some of the hardest to buy for people on the planet.

I got out of my Mom's birthday easy with some handmade beads for her troll bracelet. For Dad's birthday we got out of it easy with a thick book on drying foods. (He's a farmer) Last Christmas I scored with a reusable shopping bag full of thrift store wool sweaters and a vintage polish coffee percolator. The middle brother got something I don't remember and I copped out and got my youngest brother a…. gift card. I hang my head in shame with that one.

So this Christmas I'm going handmade. But what to get. For my Mom I'll probably get her something again for her bracelet- there are a lot of artists selling really cool lamp work beads for troll bracelets.

I'm not sure what to get Dad or Matt. Allen, well, I'll look for something World of Warcraft related or iPod touch and that will be easy.

I have to start early or I"m left scrambling around in the last week looking like a moron at the mall nearby wandering the aisles with all the men who waited until the last minute. My goal is to buy everything handmade this holiday season!

#5 Any media/ medium is okay

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What speaks to you? Crfayons? If so use them. Do you only like to write in blue, purple or green? That's okay too.

Do you like:

Sharpies?
Caran d'ache?
Charcoal?
Acrylic?
Watercolors?
Colored Pencils?
Collage?
Gouache?
Ink?
Rubber stamps?
Pastel?
Watercolor Pencils?

If so use them.

Do you hate any of the above? Then don't use it.

Do you like to use more than one? Use whatever you like. Mix 'em up.

Use what you like there is no one (but you) to stop you!

Inspiration and technique: Susan Cornelis: Soul Collage

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I really really love Susan Cornelis’s work. She does some images of chickens that I simply adore, but I”m also a fan of her collages and sumi ink drawings/ paintings that she calls Soul Collages. It looks to be something of an automitic drawing process that involves sumi ink poured onto a wet page, manipulated with various tools and then collaged on with color added. It would be a great way to work out ideas, get inspiration and to work yourself out of a rut. This could easily be adapted to working in a spread of a journal- smooshing pages together to manipulate the ink. Reminds me of a rorshack test.

#4 Do a little every day

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Even if all you do is go through your journal and randomly color pages, or doodle borders or even just scribble do something related to art every day. It can take 5 to 10 minutes but you should do something everyday. It's part of the process. Process is the most important part of art journaling. Once art journaling is part of your everyday habit you won't want to leave it behind.