Category Archives: Journaling

Out of Range

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Sorry for the lack of updates this week. My head has been other places and I could have sworn that some of the updates that I've scheduled for NEXT week were in fact scheduled for this week. Sigh.Additionally I'm very lucky in that Christie has had this week off from school and work. We've been relishing the unusual time together and really enjoying just relaxing after I get home from work. Tonight I was greeted with a nice bottle of red wine and homemade Italian meatballs with sauce made using her Grandmother's recipe. Yum. Right about now I'm read for sleep.

Product reviews start next Thursday and Flickr Finds start Friday. The rest of the week is up in the air in terms of plans. I think that I'll start Technique Tuesday up again. Then I'll try and get the wordy stuff to Wednesday and the weekends. Then If I feel like posting within the week I can continue to do so.

Starting this coming Monday, Jan 10th I'll start up my UStream show again. I'll be working on the Midori Traveler notebook cover knock off. I'll post a supplies list sometime soon.

Updates this weekend might be spotty as it's Christie's last before she heads back to school and I really want to enjoy this time before we're knee deep in stress again. Seriously, this week has been amazing.

be free

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I've had a lot of stuff going on in my head. I've been making a lot of drawings,
none of which I've been that happy with. I've been dabbling with paint, my
cricut machine but I've been avoiding those larger paintings I wrote about
awhile back…

Facebook alternates between being the bane of my existence and a tool of
happiness. I had an interaction with a friend of mine where the end result was
me contemplating sending her a message that simply said, "What is it you
are so afraid of?"* So I turn around and I ask myself with these larger
paintings that I really WANT to create, "What is it that I'm so afraid
of?" "What is holding me back?" 

At first as I think of these questions I have no answer, but the more I think
about it the more real it becomes. Working in a journal comes easy. It's (for
most) private, secretive, and as I call it, closeted. How many of you work
privately in your art journal? How many of you don't tell your friends or
family you art journal? Would they not understand? Would they call you crazy,
stupid or tell you that you’re wasting your time?**

Welcome to my world circa 1996.

The closet is a safe environment, warm womb like and it's easy to make art in a
journal, no one ever has to see it. The art journal can be a closet.  For some people the closet is the only place
they can create, and that’s okay at some point your going to want to open those
doors and share with people what it is you create. Not all of us have friends
and family that are supportive of art, or who would even try to understand. You
can’t let that hold you back from your urge to create. We all need to follow
that creative urge to where it takes us no matter the course.

So I ask you to look at what it is that you’re afraid of in
your journal, what holds you back. Journal it, Write it down. Acknowledging
those constraints will eventually allow you to loosen them and allow you to be
free. 

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Moleskine Give Away Contest

About a month ago I was contacted by Chronicle Books about hosting a give away on my blog of products from the new Moleskine line of products. Unable to say NO to anything free, I accepted. I expected a small amount of products, one or 2 sets of books. Instead I received, via Fedex, a large box. In it were several colors and sets of the 5×8 Volants, a set of the pocket sized volants, a desk calendar and the hottest thing in there, several Color A Month Planners.

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seriously limited edition one of a kind journals

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I've been working on some special journals. What I've done is take one of the posters I make the jotters out of, cut it up into smaller pieces and then I've journaled on it. So each chunk looks like a giant page out of one of my journals, or is a giant journal sheet. It's what I've been working on over the last few days which explains the lack of real blogging, tweeting and facebooking I've been doing. I'm really excited about these journals.

I'm working on 4 of them right now or rather I've got 4 covers completely finished. So far I've got one book completely finished and one more almost done. They are filled with 50lb, 100% cotton bright white sketchbook paper, 200 pages of it and are stitched with a linking long stitch. I used bright red Irish linen thread for the stitching.

The journal art is sealed with clear acrylic varnish, that allows you to feel the texture of the art but wipe it clean with soap and water if you spill coffee on it, and the art should be undamaged.

I'm still working the details of the pricing out but they will eb listed on my artfire account this evening.

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The journal picture is titled "Super Star." I've got more pictures up on my flickr page.

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.

#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.

Rule #3 Be Wary of the Sales Pitch, but don’t begrudge

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Everybody wants to sell you something. You need 3 things to art journal:

  1. Yourself.
  2. A journal.
  3. Something to write/draw/paint with.

It's that simple. You don't need every product ever made, though they are fun. Some of the most beautiful journals I"ve seen are black and white or made with a ink and one other media. If you like color all you need is something simple, marker,watercolor, crayons, you name it and you can add color. You don't neede every rubber stamp, ink pad, re-inker, paint or marker ever made. Pick a few and go with them.

There are free tutorials online. There is nothing wrong with paying for a tutorial, hell classes are fun. But you don't need to know how to make a page just like someone else to make a great journal. All you need is you, a journal and something to make marks with. Anything else is optional.

Rule #2 Pages Don’t HAVE to be Pretty

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That's right your pages don't need to be pretty. They can be ugly. You can leave them raw and "unfinished."  Your pages can be:

Dirty
Dark
Ugly
Nasty
Angry
Black
White
Plain

The finished page will be beautiful in some manner. If you don't like it you can always go back to it, reuse it, gesso over it, collage it into another page, glue the pages together and further manipulate the page. 

Make it yours but don't hold it to anyone else's standard of beauty. Don't compare your pages to other people's pages. They are yours.