Put You in Your Art Journal

Hi y'all,

Since art journals are supposed to be either personal art expressions or technique experiments instead of a displayed piece of art, we should be in evidence in our pages.  Using a photo, journaling right on your page, or adhering a personal memento right inside are great ways to make things personal.

I've discovered that daily pressures are relieved a bit when expressed in art form.  I love to scribble journal so my thoughts are veiled a bit.  When you start journaling, you might find your thoughts can come streaming out and clear your mind.  That happened on the follow pages which deal with big changes that may eeffect my life a lot and the constant struggle to find balance in my life.

Changes

balancing act

I'm going to walk you through one that uses a photo and a smidge of journaling (a song lyric).

 I usually start by adding gesso to a page.  I didn''t this time for no apparent reason.  I began by sticking down some paper numbers from my box of bits and things.  Then I covered them with gesso so the colors on the numbers would not be so strong.  I didn't even bring the gesso all the way down the page.  Then I used Night paint and sprayed it liberally with water tilting the book so the streaks of diluted paint would stream down.  I liked the look because it was like a thunderstorm.

After  the paint dried completely, I used one of my very favorite stencils Spaced Dots and pounced some Picked Rasperry first and then with the stencil slightly offset, I added Mustard Seed Distrees Inks.  I splashed some of the two inks on the page with a bit of water mixed in and then spritzed a little water to get it all moving.


Then I added a picture of me.  I wanted a full body image and honestly I didn't have a lot of recent choices.  Seems we've been slacking in that department.  I chose one and printed in in grayscale, because I wanted it to be darker like the top of the page.  I actually printed it out on regular printer paper and stuck it down in the middle of the spread.

I stamped a clock on a piece of white scrap paper in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and stuck it right on my face because time is often the biggest pressure in my life.

I looked at the dark colors streaming down and the dots rising up and thought that there is always hope and that bouyed my spirits. That inspired me to cut out a little heart from a scrap of mono print. I pulled out my new Paper Faith stickers and found the word hope.  Those two little things finished my page.
 I entered this in the Media Challenge on the Dina Wakely Mixed Media Tribe.  The people there are very supportive and encouraging.

The last thing I want to share is that my faith comes through in my art a lot.  Here are a few examples of that.

Our lesson this week is of course to put a bit of you in what you create.  If you feel like sharing, I'd love to see it.

Blessings,

Carolyn

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