Art journalling

Yeah, yeah, I've tried yet another craft recently, (and I'm afraid that's not the last one in my life... *^v^*) - I fought my "fear of the white piece of paper" and started to write in one of the notebooks I bought not so long ago.

My first impression was that it's SO EASY to create an art journal! ^^
No, I'm not saying that I'm so very talented and it's easy for me - I believe it's easy for ANYBODY (if I could do it, everybody can! ^^), so if you have an empty notebook and you don't use it because you don't want to spoil it, just fight your fears and START (just like I fought my notebook demons - "I don't know, what to write...", 'I'm not sure, which technique to use...", "I'm scared it won't be good enough...", ect, ect, ect)!

Make the first step, place the first splash of colour, write the first word, you cannot go wrong with anything you do on the white page. ^^ You can't go wrong because it's your journal, nobody's going to judge the final result. Everything that you'll put on a single page comes from your inner self - so it's beautiful, and true, and artful, and yours so it's different from any other journal other people may create.

You don't know where to start? Create the first page around the theme of not knowing where to start, and you'll see that the ideas, the choice of means, the colours will start to fill your head very soon! ^^

In fact I feel I may create a journal page with what I said above! *^v^*

Now, my first art journal pages (my media - pencil, watercolour pencils, watercolour paints, ink, coloured markers): I started with some thoughts on journaling itself, I wrote about pouring ourselves onto a piece of paper, thoughts flowing like a river. (Look, I couldn't really draw the figure of a person with a jug like I had her in my mind, so I sketched her roughly! ^^)


Then I was soooo busy just before leaving for the cottage, so I felt I needed to stop for a minute (or for eternity...) and grow the roots like a tree, so I wouldn't have to rush so much and meet so many deadlines, phew...

Second day at the cottage - I felt the big NOW, so I wrote all the things that were happening to me at that very moment.

This is the quotation from the Stitch'n'Bitch calendar page, "There are no shortcuts to any place worth going" by Beverly Sills. I think choosing some sentence or even a word and working around its theme is a good journal subject. ^^

This is the page inspired by something that happened to me in the morning on the second day at the cottage - I got up, took a shower, washed my hair, and so very clean and fresh I went outside and picked up an apple from a tree, delicious! *^v^*

Here I wanted to try a new technique - I collected various leaves on my way from the grocery shopping (walking through the woods and fields, yikes! *^v^*), and then used them as stamps, covering them with watercolour paints - I think acrylic paints would make a better job here, but I also like the result I achieved.

This page says "I overslept!...", and I did one day... We were supposed to get up early and pick up our friend from the nearby town, and we slept very long... Fortunately he left home later then expected so we were there just in time! *^v^*

When the sun didn't shine, we had some periods of very heavy rains, and the outside looked like that:

I still have some blank pages in my journal among the painted ones, because I had some ideas coming but they haven't formed properly yet in my head, and with the feast coming I didn't have enough time for journaling, but I hope to fill them soon.

And as for time i discovered that you don't have to finish a page at one go. In fact, it's even impossible to do that - I put gesso first and it has to dry, then I put paints and they have to dry, and then there is a more or less final stage, when I put words, details, ect, but even then I may leave it for while and look for some inspiration or just let it rest and get back to it later. ^^

My favourite medium so far are the watercolour paints - I can add more and more layers of different colours, dip the brush in water and smudge them into many shades, yummy! *^v^* And what a coincidence - this week's subject on Inspire Me Thursday are watercolours! *^v^*

I'm still hesitant about adding some scraps, but I have no fear of writing in different colours and directions, yikes! ^^

It's fun each evening to cover the notebook pages with a gesso layer, so it's ready for the next morning to be filled with new colours and ideas! ^^