When I started art journaling i used the following materials: pen, glue, tape and my journal. Sure some of those pages are pretty damn ugly but there is a truth and raw honesty in those pages that is powerful. When I look at pages online I'm often drawn to pages with a similar make up. The ones where the maker's raw emotion is visible.

One of the things I've noticed now that I've gotten rid of TV is that I don't want so much stuff. The truth is I don't need it. The same goes for art journaling. For awhile there I was getting caught up in stuff and materials and this and that. I kept telling myself if I just had THIS or that THING I'd be able to reach some further imagined potential.

If I can be blunt here, it just blocked me, drove me into a rut I couldn't get out of. I was always looking for the next best thing, spending money on crap I didn't need and falling into the trap of companies that thrive on a person's need to keep up with the joneses art supplies.

A couple months ago I dialed it back, picked up my journal and a pencil and just started to draw and write.

I felt free. Free.

So here I am 3 months later and I've still kept it dialed back. the materials I used on a regular basis: pencil, watercolor crayon and acrylic paint. My work has progressed further than when I was collecting stuff, and lets face it that's what it was a collection of crap I didn't need or want.

A few days ago I cleaned out my upstairs "crafting drawer" and took out all the Tim Holtz's masks, the spray inks, colored pencils, stencils and other stuff I wasn't using and put it in a box and took it to my downstairs studio and shelved it. Some of the materials have great uses but for now, I don't need 'em, they simply help to clutter my space and mind.

So I implore you to simplify, if only for a day, grab only one mark making tool and your journal and see what you can do with just that one tool. Be free with me.

Ustream Love
Originally uploaded by JournalArtista

I love Paula's work and now she's on YouTube, that means 2 nights a week you can turn off the regularTV and turn on UStream for quality Art Journaling entertainment.

Growing up my grandparents listened to Johnny Cash, mostly his devotional stuff. I hated it mostly because my tone deaf grandmother sang a long. Like her I feel the music deeply but I'm completely tone deaf and have zero rhythm. Unlike her I chose NOT to sing along for the happiness of all who are around me.

So for the longest time I had this really negative view of Cash. It was funny anytime I'd hear his music I'd kinda tap my toes then think, "Ack, its cash, yuck!" Then I got a little older and liked his stuff, but I was never a huge fan, that is until I got this crap job.

The summer I worked part time I got this crap job working at a group home for elderly adults with developmental delays. Most of the time my job was pretty easy, I cooked, I cleaned, I made sure people took their meds, watched TV and brought my art and craft supplies for evening shifts. It was pretty sweet now that I think about it. Part of my job was to drive a minivan around to where ever these people wanted to go. I used to plan picnics to the park, drives around town and trips to the qwickie mart.

These trips were always a lot of fun mostly becuase this one old lady was seriously obsessed with Johnny Cash. When I mean seriously obsessed she had just about every Cash album ever made, on cassette. Some of the stuff was vintage and some of it was bargain basement $1 bin junk. Every trip she'd bring 2 or 3 tapes and we'd pop 'em in. I'm telling you right now you've never felt pure joy until you've ridden in a van full of special old people singing along with Johnny Cash at top volume.

Seriously it really got me loving Johnny Cash.

A great video on how one art journaler started to art journal and learned that messy is okay, how to let go  a bit and just be int eh art journal.

I  admit I have a deep love of Hazel Dooney and Amanda Palmer both for the same reason*. They have both been labeled as aggressive and shameless self promoters. I won't get into my women's studies feminist rant on how wrong I think that negative label is when they are simply doing what men have done for ages. I wonder, and I'll wonder this out loud, why is it when men self promote its okay but when women do the same, it's aggressive, and seen negatively?

Female artists have to put food on the table and pay the bills just like their male counterparts.

What is aggressive self promotion?

When/why does it seem un-feminine?

Why do I care? Truth is I don't, its just a thing to think about, mull over a coffee.

The truth is I look up to Palmer for how she uses her blog and twitter to reach out to her fan base. I love how Dooney blogs about herself; things in her life. She's open, raw and amazing. I admit I dislike her large pieces and love her smaller works; her intimate little watercolors fill me with awe and emotion.

Dooney makes me wonder if I could, for a hanging, rent 3 or 4 rooms in a storage rental unit for a week set up and do a show. It's warehouse-y industrial, you could go big you could go small. You know what I mean? AFP makes me want to make more YouTube videos of me making art. 

Shameless, aggressive self promotion or are they simply documenting a process and big part of art?

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To create this texture I took a manila junk mailer and folded it into strips and then triangles. I sanded some of the creases to make them more prominent. In doing that I tore some of the creases. I unfolded the paper and used gloss gel medium to adhere it to the pages of the journal. I was not happy with the edges so I tore up some envelopes and framed the page with the torn envelope.

Still not happy, I mixed up a glaze of 1 part gel medium and 1 part paint. Mixed it well and used a bristle brush to spread it over the painting. I used a rage to remove some of the glaze.

After the glaze had dried I wanted to darken the edges some more so I used a brown watercolor crayon to darken the edges. I used gel medium to blend it into the rest of the page.

In this page I realized I do NOT like glossy glossy pages. I like it when my paint STICKS to the page and doesn't SLIP around on it.

Wish You Were Here.
Originally uploaded by David Fullarton

Love David Fullarton's take on things and love the rough lettering and use of odd papers.

point pinos lighthouse
Originally uploaded by petescully

PeteScully's work is always nice, like a cool cup of iced tea on a hot summer day. I love his use of color and little details. Lovely

This has been an amazing summer for me. I started the Facebook Face Experiment a few weeks ago and I've gotten a mass amount of faces to paint. Many aren't on facebook as the senders have emailed me the image. I'm working my way through the stack. Next week on my Ustream I'll be doing a face in color, I think anyway.

I also started the Twitter Hand Experiment which you've read about on here a lot. Good stuff too. I feel a lot more comfortable with drawing hands now and I've developed a technique of blending graphite with acrylic to make a wonderful cool gray.

I was featured on DirtyFootPrints-Studio.com 30 Day 30 Journals project by the wonderful Connie. Each day of this month she's featuring a different art journaler, we've all been asked the same questions, so it's really neat to read all the answers. The other great thing is that she's got people like myself who have been art journaling for 10+ years and those who have been art journaling for 3 months. Great perspectives. 

Jonathan Manning bought a building to turn into a gallery, artist's studios, teaching space and all sorts of awesome. I'm looking forward to visiting OK and teaching a class there. He is also doing the Artistic Biker Live a live UStream broadcast of him art journaling, it's not so much a how to show but a romp around people chatting, discussing art materials, and Jonathan working in his art journal. The other great thing is that often his daughter will join him and make art with him. It's pretty amazing. He broadcasts every Thursday night at 8pm EST and the show lasts about 2 hours. It's great stuff.

Following Jonathan's lead and tutorial, I started UStreaming myself. I have to say it's pretty awesome and addicting. I'll be streaming live content every Monday at 6pm EST. Right now i'm chatting with people and painting faces from the Face Experiment. You can check out the recorded stuff here.

I've decided to do another class. I wont' be ready to run it until Sept. but I'm well into writing the lesson plans and outlines. Once I get that done I'll be able to work on the PDFs. The idea behind it is that it's a beginners drawing class. It's old skool style drawing exercises that teach you how to use your tools and train your eyes to see. I'm planning on a ton of downloadable PDFs with step by step photos as well as live streaming broadcasts set up class style. the whole idea is to give people confidence in their use of tools and get them practicing drawing.

underwater
Originally uploaded by koigirl

This is a lovely little image. The swirls in the background are quite nice as is the painterliness of the torso. Love it!