I decided to fill in the raven with the words of one of my favourite Beatles songs – Blackbird. Not sure if it is finished yet – I think it is a work in progress.
Raven cover
July 18, 2009 at 5:56 am (Art Journal Pages)
Tags: art journal
I was inspired by Roben-Marie’s stencilling and thought I would create a stencil to finish my blackbird painting. I found an image of a raven that I liked and thought I would try using it as a mask rather than a stencil. After trying it out on a sheet of paper I thought it would be a great addition to the cover of the journal.
My new journal
July 15, 2009 at 3:03 pm (Art Journal Pages)
Tags: art journal
Here are a few pics of my new art journal, it is for a new project that I am working on (more on that later). 
The cover is made from recycled card, the fabric was a gift in a swap parcel. There are 6 signatures of 4 sheets of paper, totalling 96 pages. 
It is bound with embroidery thread – originally I was going to use tacket binding but it didn’t work out, so I devised my own binding through the holes that I had made for the tacket binding.
Now to fill the pages, with art and writing.
Discovery – Maps & Journaling
May 22, 2009 at 2:17 am (Art Journal Pages)
Tags: Art journaling, True North Arts
I couldn’t sleep this morning so I thought I would take the opportunity to create. The above page was created using prompts from Kelly Kilmer’s – A Prompt A Day Classes - from April that I really needed to catch up on. The map and the bird came from an ephemera swap that Kelly organised for the group. I think it is great to use items that other people have selected – there are images and other items that I hadn’t even considered.
I’m also submitting this page to Kathryn – Collage Diva - True North Arts Map Prompt. For map making inspiration check out the blog roll on the TNA blog.
GPP Street Team Crusade #29
March 7, 2009 at 7:27 am (Art Journal Pages, GPP Street Team)
Tags: art journal, GPP Street Team
#75 on 101 things in 1001 days was to Participate in the GPP Street Team Crusades each month for a year. This is the third month this year that I have participated in Michelle Ward’s Crusades.
So this month we are exploring different brush effects in our journals. In a recent post - I was inspired by a fellow crusader Julie Prichard to try painting with wet brushes and let the paint drip down my page. Usually I use a dry brush, so this was a great learning curve. I have used this type of painting when painting canvases, but not in my journal.
Today I tried applied a blob of paint directly to the page – I used a silicon tool to spread the paint around until I was happy with it and then I pressed another piece of paper to it. I was actually able to make two prints, so this is useful to make aditional journal pages. Each print looks different from the first.
The next step was to dry brush colours over it. 
I’m pleased with how it turned out – now I’m off to journaL it and I might do another page in my other journal – stay tuned. In the mean time go check out the Crusade blog and the other crusaders.
My new journal and a journal page.
March 1, 2009 at 1:36 pm (Art Journal Pages)
Tags: Art journaling, journal
I was inspired by Lynn Fisher’s Ginormous All-purpose Journal instructions hers is 10″x10″ I thought that that might be just a bit big for me so I started a little smaller. Mine is 7″x7″. Usually I work in a journal that measures 8.5″x5″. So working in a square format is a new experience for me. When I have filled this journal I might just have to make one that is 10″x10″. I found it so easy to fill the space today.
I used some of Lynn’s instructions for the journal and used binding instructions from the online classes that I have been doing with Kelly Kilmer.
The spine is covered in fabric and the covers have a Jack Daniels advertising poster adhered to them. I knew they would be useful when I asked the bar manager for them. I think they look cool!
I couldn’t wait to try out my new journal, and in my blog surfing today I found that Julie Prichard from The Land of Lost Luggage had uploaded a video to her blog of how she starts a journal page. I was really interested and inspired because Julie’s technique is quite different to what I do. I’m still learning about Art journaling so I like experimenting.
The following pages are the result of that experiementation.
More Portion Control!
February 14, 2009 at 12:55 am (Art Journal Pages, GPP Street Team)
Tags: GPP Street Team, Journal pages
More pages that use portion control – don’t know what I am talking about see this post or check out the GPP Street Team Blog.
After painting the background for this journal page – I stencilled portions of the patterns onto the page. Once dry I could ad images and my journaling. The journaling is done with a white gel pen – I love how the writing appears to float above the background.
For the next page I used a large flower stencil – that I have had for ages but never used. The flower on the right is the stencilled one. The flower on the left is a monoprint from the stencil.
With the collage added.
I write a lot in my journal pages – that’s just me I guess - I’m a writer and I have a lot to say. For this page I tried to write in a more expressive open script and limit how much I wrote – exercising portion control with my writing. I think it worked.
Found Poetry Prompt
February 7, 2009 at 5:31 pm (Art Journal Pages)
Tags: Art journaling, found poetry, LK Ludwig
It’s past 2am here on Saturday night – or should I say Sunday morning – and I couldn’t sleep so I thought I would get up and do something creative. So I sat down at the computer and surfed some blogs. Not creative you think – looking for inspiration – and I found it.
LK Ludwig has just started a Friday Journaling Prompt - Every Friday she is going to offer Journaling tips and prompts.
So here’s what she said to do:
- choose three pages from an old discarded book. Photocopies are fine. Put the book itself away to reduce temptation! (you can tuck what you don’t use back inside the pages after, if you like.)
- Have scissors at the ready.
- Scan the lines of text, not reading for comprehension but for the flavor of the phrases, for the way the words feel. Be like a reading divining rod, looking for a response from inside. Don’t overthink.
- Snip those bits of phrase, those words, those reactions out from the paper right way.
- Arrange, rearrange, respond. Perhaps a second delving into your three pages is needed.
- Adhere them to a journal page!
- This process should be fairly quick- and simple. React, respond, snip, arrange, glue. Then as my littlest says, “Ta- Daaaaa!”
- You can then work the cut edges of paper into your page with a china marker, a stabilo marks all pencil (they blend with water) a watersoluble colored pencil or crayon, charcoal, even a bit of paint on your fingertip, or what-have-you!
Give it a go!
So I gave it a go – well what else is there to do after midnight when everyone else is asleep?
Leonardo da Vinci’s Great Bird
Leonardo visited the marketplace
buy caged birds
setting them free
“Against the wind shalt thou rise easily”
do not
do yourself any harm
“The great
bird will take its first flight
filling the whole world with amaze-
ment
it will bring eternal glory to
the nest where it was born”
The words came from a book called The Shoulders of Giants – A History of Human Flight to 1919. The background is painted with acrylic paints and the words, bird and twig were accented with charcoal.
So – what are you waiting for? – Give it a go!
