How To Love Your Art Journal
If you have not been art journaling for a long time, you probably have a journal or even many that you are not satisfied with. Maybe you have even ripped off few pages, just to keep the journal pretty. If you feel disconnected with your journaling, this post is for you.
If your journal is empty, it’s like freezing. “Give me some colour, give me something warm to wear!”, it screams! You won’t get to know your journal, neither your inner world, if you search for the perfect moment to create the perfect page. The pages can be built gradually, layer by layer, and you have to start filling those empty pages.
If you do not know where to begin, take a dry brush and some acrylic paint and paint a thin layer. You get visually better results if you do not repeat one color but make the page as asymmetrical as possible. That way colors get their own space and character from the beginning. You can paint many pages if you feel like to. If you are tired and lack inspiration, this is the thing to do!
The next thing you need to do is to let your journal see the world. Take it with you when you go to library, travel, where ever you have little moments to spend quality time with it.
While on the road, take a black pen with you and draw or write something, it does not have to be special. Remember, the pages can be built within time and even the smallest scribbles help to fill the page.
When you feel more focused you can continue with the pages that have painted backgrounds. I used acrylic paints and thin brushes to draw some doodles and colour pencils to add dimension. If you have nothing else in mind, strengthen the colored areas that you painted. Add more similar hues to each area with color pencils and work with horizontal or vertical strokes. Always work fast as it makes you use more imagination and less rational thinking. The result at this point is like a photo without a focus.
Then decide where you would like the focus to be. Add some details there. I love to use my own hand decorated papers for details. Finally find or create a background for journaling. When I begin to make a page I do not usually know what to write but in the end I just write what I had been thinking while creating.
An art journal is the photo book of your inner world. Like with photos, the pages are not always perfect. But when you have a collection of them, they tell a story. And I guarantee – you will then love your art journal.
Expressing an Aha Moment through Art
Being a visual person I often have problems expressing my thoughts through words. Especially if I need to explain those aha moments when I suddenly understand something that used to be only complex and strange.
The story of today’s collage began a couple weeks ago when me and my husband went to the concert of Depeche Mode. I had bought the tickets as a birthday present for him. Depeche Mode is one of his favorite bands but I hated the music. It was too introvert, strange and edgy for me.
But after staring the band for song after song, I began to open myself up to the music. It sounded pretty all right after a while. Then great. I got it!
I tried to analyze what happened. Perhaps my brains had been expanded! I felt like I had understood the formula how the music was stuctured but could not put it into words.
I saw colors. A sunny day. The window.
Something began to happen at the window sill. I put some ceramic pots there, then a porcelain figure, a horse.
Then the music began to play in my head: “You should be higher …” The party at the window sill began. A surreal world of rigid objects and mechanical rhytms came to alive. The temperature rised and the colors deepened.
One of the best things in art is that it combines the intellectual to the intuitive. This collage is very meaningful for me. It is not only the memory of the concert but also a proof that the world is as full of inspiration as long as I am willing to watch and listen to it.
Inspired by William Morris
As a big fan of art nouveau and arts and crafts pediod, it may not be a surprise that I adore William Morris designs. Our home has William Morris curtains in two rooms. I love how detailed and decorative elements are combined to create repetative patterns in the two fabrics.
The little collage of this post was created after browsing some of the old William Morris designs from a book. I wanted to express the beauty of repetitions without creating absolute symmetry. The dark colors in the background change to shiny yellow to give the expression of hope and warmth. William would have used perfect symmetry and more muted colors. I tried to compensate my lack of technical skills by adding self expression.
Being too self-critical is not a good thing. It stops us doing what we really love. I know I cannot be the reborn William Morris. However, in my imagination I can go back in time and pretend to be his apprentice!
Copying a Pattern on Hand Decorated Paper
My collage art is strongly based on my own handdecorated papers. Making my own papers changed a lot. I began to feel more happy and content with my art. Even if it’s imperfect, it’s all mine.
I feel sad when people tell they hate their handwriting and say that they can’t draw anything. Putting pen to paper is very important. I believe that it’s our connection to the subconscious. For me, drawing and painting has always been a part of self-discovery. Despite of that, I have felt bad with my drawing too. But I have got rid of that by drawing so much that I have found my own style and accepted it’s imperfections.
The little collage shown here consists of my own papers and doodles. But some of the papers are made with the help of a machine. I used ink jet printer to combine layers of doodling by photocopying. Here’s how I did it!
1) I took some of the papers that I had made using watercolors and color pens. (You can see the instructions at the blog post Frugal Crafter’s Guide to Hand Decorated Papers)
2) I put the paper to the printer’s tray. At my printer (Canon MP550) you have to put the paper backside up to get the printing to the right side.
3) Because I love doodling on white paper I have a small pile of these wildly doodled sheets. I opened the lid and put it upside down to use it as a photocopy.
4) Then I pressed the Copy button and here’s the result!
I could not help making more of these!
Some extra directions: Make sure your papers are completely dry before inserting them to the printer. Use fairly thin paper. When making the colorful papers, do not use very dark colours so that the copied doodles will show.
Have fun using those odd doodles again and again!