Serious Play

Art Journal Quotes:: Week 5

So, I realize that we are in the 19th week of the year, and I am only on Quote 5 in my Art Journal.

 

I have decided I am going to keep working away at it regardless. Obviously I will be behind for a while, but I am hoping to have more time to do crafty things soon!

I played around with watercolour pencils for this journal entry. I discovered that they do not really blend well. Perhaps it is because I am using them over gesso...I'm not sure. Anyway, I like the dreamy, smudgy effect overall.

Working with kids in education, it is a constant battle to convince them that they are smart. Somehow our current educational system has messed them up by enforcing that mistakes are bad and right answers are good. Time and time again, I have seen brilliant kids with creative ideas and 'out of the box' thinking drop their shoulders and their eyes when they get "marks" back. Instantly they believe that they are not good enough if they are wrong.

I would like to share this quote with every single child (and some adults) to remind them that it is okay to make mistakes, that it means they are trying, that they get another chance, that they can do it over time. I would like to tell them to try again and again and again...and it's okay.

 

 

 

Art Journal Quotes:: Week 4

So, here is my Art Journal entry for Week 4.

 

My previous journal entries can be viewed here.

 

I have been playing around with chalkboard paint and decided to see if it would work on regular paper.

It works.

I have to admit that the lettering in white is done with a paint pen, simply because I do not want the quote to rub off. However, the pink hearts are done with chalk.

 

This quote is a valuable one. So often our days tick off one by one and we get lost in the everyday of every day. It is easy to think that is all there is to life. However, we are all important to someone... or more than one someone. When I think of being important to someone, it even makes me smile.

Who is smiling because of you?

 

 

On another note... I am still frustrated with how wrinkled the pages become when I glue several of them together. Even though I am using a brayer to flatten everything out and ensure that the gel medium I am using is spread evenly as well as to eliviate any bubbles between layers. 

Any suggestions as to how to avoid the bumpy art journal pages are greatly appreciated...

 

 

 

Art Journal Quotes:: Week 3

So, I have completed another entry in my Art Journal.

 

I realize that I am behind. Drying time on all of the layers of matte medium and gesso and paint is to blame.

This past weekend I prepped a few pages ahead so hopefully I will be able to skip along quickly in the next few weeks until I am all caught up.

If you are wondering what this is all about check out my post from Week 1.

This week, my goal was to use the negative effect of using letter stickers and painting over them, then removing the letters to reveal the quote. Some of my paint leaked beneath the stickers. Perhaps I need better stickers, but I didn't want ones that have a strong adhesive so that I would be unable to remove them. Suggestions?

Overall, I liked the messiness of this technique, especially adding a layer of gold glitter over the paint before it was dry. The picture does not do it justice, trust me.

 

One thing that is bothering me, is the fact that when I prep my pages, I am left with some very wrinkled pages. I know that it is due to the wetness of the matte medium and gesso, but I do use a brayer to try to flatten everything out as it dries.

Am I doing something wrong? Or do I just need to embrace the wrinkles?

Can anyone offer some advice on how to avoid the wrinkled pages?

 

 

 

Art Journal Quotes:: Week 2

So, here is Week 2 of my Art Journal Quotes.

 

I realize that I am behind. However, I have had to find my groove with the drying time between gesso applications. Hopefully, it will run a little more smoothly for me now.

For this entry, my challenge was to use paint. My supplies included: a pre-gessoed page to work on, spray bottle of water, acrylic paints, paintbrush and a straw. 

 

I mixed my paints with water to make them very thin and therefore easy to move around on the page. I found these tiny 'pinch bowls' at Superstore for 97 cents. They are perfect.

 

Recently in the scrapbooking world (especially on the blog of Amy Tan), I have seen this technique of blowing the paint across the paper.

 

After using all of the colours that I planned, I left it overnight to dry.

 

After drying, I used a black Sharpie marker right over top of the paint to write the quote. I noticed that by the end of the writing my Sharpie was really drying out. I think it may be from picking up the chalkiness of the gesso layer perhaps? I will have to investigate what others are using to write with over gesso before doing this again.

Well, it isn't a masterpiece by any means, but I do like the final outcome. And I love this quote.

If you remember, my goal is to collect 365 (I guess it will be 366 this year!) quotes and to choose one each week to put in my art journal. Below, I have captured the rest of the quotes from my week to share with you.

 

I truly am enjoying this little project as it gives me a place to collect quotes (rather than on random sticky notes) and forces me to learn and grow in art journal techniques.

I wonder what technique I should explore next?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art Journal Quotes:: Week 1

So, I am starting a new venture...

 

For some time now, I have been admiring the work of those who do art journaling. As always, there are a plethora of excuses as to why I cannot do art journaling myself. However, I am never one to turn down a new challenge. So I am diving in.

Above, you can see my first attempt at art journaling. It is fairly obvious that I have a long way to go. I am giving myself 52 weeks to improve.

Why 52 weeks, you ask?

Well, at the same time as the art journaling was swirling around in my head, I came across Lisa Congdon. At the beginning of January she took on 365 Days of Hand Lettering. Essentially, she is going to feature hand lettering every day for the entire year on her blog. Last year she featured A Collection a Day.

I have never done something that big. But it got me thinking...

What could I do every day for a year?

After much contemplation and abandonned ideas, I settled on something that pleased me...

Quotes

I love quotes. I have yellow sticky notes all over my office and my iMac that remind me of wonderful things that people have said. Some are inspirational, some thought-provoking. Some heart-warming, some motivational. And I love every one of them.

I could do a quote every day!

But...I don't have time to do something pretty with quotes every day. Sure, I can scrawl them on a yellow sticky note, or in a notebook, but how can I bring them to the level of Lisa Congdon?

And then it came to me...

Quotes + art journaling!

Now, I know what you are thinking. How can she have time to do a quote every day in an art journal when she doesn't even know the art of art journaling? And when will she do other crafts? And when will she do scrapbook pages, and Project Life and other mini albums that she so loves doing?

Trust me, I contemplated each of those questions myself and here is what I came up with...

I will scrawl a quote every day in a little notebook (that I will probably share with you) but I will only choose one quote per week to elevate to the level of art journaling. Each week, as I feature my quote, I am also going to learn (or improve) on a new art journaling technique. That way, I am learning art journaling, and I am collecting something every day.

365 Quotes + 52 Art Journal Entries

And so, I present you my Quote 1 (pictured at the top of this post).

 

 

Who knows, perhaps it will become a book one day like Lisa's...

 

Note: Sorry that the photo is so pale. I am having issues with photographing my work. I leave for work in the dark and come home from work in the dark, so lighting is an issue for me right now! Apologies!

The quote reads...

A year from now, you will wish that you had started today.   - Karen Lamb

I don't remember where I found this one, but it has stuck with me. It is the motivation I need most days.