Taking the Plunge - Art Journaling

I've been a big fan of both Donna Downey and Julie Balzer for quite some time.  Each has been a big proponent of art journaling.  Theoretically, I love the concept but never got around to starting an art journal.  Instead I worked on projects as I had the time and inspiration.

While taking one of Donna's online pan pastel classes, I purchased and worked in an art journal to complete the exercises and experiments.

Now I get it.

An art journal is so freeing!  Doing something creative on a regular basis makes you even more creative.  I experienced that first hand when I used to teach rubber stamp art classes many moons ago.  The great thing about an art journal is that you don't have to share it with anyone if you don't want to.  It's all for you and your experimentation.  Best of all, if you don't like what you did, turn the page and start again!

I've been art journaling regularly for about a month now and I haven't been this creative or inspired in a very long time.

I picked up one of Dyan Reaveley's creative journals.  I liked the larger size.  So far it's been great.  I usually apply masking tape to the center seam and gesso the pages before beginning (tips I picked up from both Donna Downey and Julie Balzer).  Sometimes I finish a page in one sitting and sometimes I work on it a little at a time.  It all depends on how much time I have that day.

Here is my first page.  If you've been thinking about art journaling and are still on the fence, I highly recommend taking the plunge.  No one has to see what you create and I guarantee you'll get more and more creative the more you do.  But best of all, it's just plain fun!

Page 1 - Change

I'd been thinking a lot about change and how people handle it differently.  It seemed like a great theme for my first page in my journal.

This page started with layers of neocolor water soluable crayons in green, blue, and yellow.

 

I used both the 12x12 and 6x6 sizes of Julie Balzer's butterfly stencils to create the butterflies on watercolor paper. I began with molding paste.  Once dry, I used gouache and india ink markers to paint them before cutting them out and adhering hem to the background.

 

The larger butterfly on the background was traced from the 12x12 stencil with a silver pen.

More stencils, stamping, and drippage created background interest.  The word change was created with bright pink letter stickers.  I used india ink markers to change (no pun intended) their color to match the layout.