Art Journal Video – Adding Text and Layers to Your Pages

This week is all about art journal inspiration. You see more spreads from the art journal I started a couple of weeks ago, and there’s also a video of making the spread below.

The world needs the kind of magic⁣
⁣where those who are seen as weak appear strong,⁣
⁣and where the future is gentler than the present.
⁣Let’s create that magic!⁣

Including Text in Art Journal Pages

I have a pile of these kinds of small stories about art and imagination. Or maybe I should say “a feed” instead of “a pile” because I post them regularly on Peony and Parakeet’s Facebook page. I have always liked writing, and I have a natural urge to share thoughts about my passion. So it hit me that I should write more in my art journals too. And why not use those stories that are born so effortlessly every week?

I have always wanted to find a genre where I would belong in art.
I follow fantasy artists closely because I love their openness and enthusiasm.
But I guess my genre would be defined more by the process rather than by the result.
Between every painting, I need internal processing by drawing, painting, and writing.
While many artists have sketchbooks, mine are more like creative diaries.
They don’t sketch the next painting but move my thoughts towards it.
We art journalers meet ourselves when we open our books.
Like thoughts, some pages are less finished, some more,
and when the journal is full, one chapter in life comes to an end.

Art Journal Pages with Typed Text Blocks

After writing by hand, I decided to make the next page so that the text would be typed. Not that I hate my handwriting, vice versa, hand-written pages always look great. But when I was a child, I used to write a lot with an old Bijou, and I missed the typed look. I still have the old typewriter, but the possibility to play with the size and style of the letters, made me use a computer instead.

Every person has an imaginary world where priorities and hierarchies change.
In my imagination, plants always win.
Every morning when I look at my houseplants,
remove dried leaves, change their position,
they not only maneuver my hands but take over my mind.
I have tried to battle against these modest and silent spirits, but they always win.
So, when I’m painting, I am at their service!

Here’s the spread with the two pages side by side.

In the second spread, I wanted to play with the orientation and the shape of the text blocks.

Art is not just about being in the present. You can ask questions like:
What would be possible if I were tens of years younger?
If I were somebody else?
If I traveled to any time and place?
Even: if the laws of physics were absent?
These questions may first have a bit bitter tone,
but in art, these ifs taste sweet.
Our real-life can be like living in a pot,
but through our imagination,
we can reach further.
No matter who you would not want to be in real life,
in the world of art, it’s all good.

Mixed Media Art Journal Pages

For the second spread, I printed a gouache painting that I had made for the class Decodashery on a sticky canvas and adhered it on the page.

I really like the yellow-green circles, made with alcohol inks.

In this spread, I also used hand-drawn and hand-painted collage pieces made from the classes Magical Inkdom and Decodashery.

I added green to the cat so that it fits with the rest of the page.

Art Journal Magic – Watch the Video!

See the process of attaching printed text, using alcohol inks, and painting with acrylics more in detail by watching the video below!

I hope the video inspired you to fill your journals!

Draw animals and more: Animal Inkdom, Magical Inkdom
Paint decorative flowers and more: Decodashery