Post Card Swap with Artists in Blogland

I recently participated in a postcard swap with a community of artists at Artists in Blogland.

I used a 12x12 piece of brown chipboard and cut it into 4 - 6x6 squares. 

I painted/inked it with different Distress Inks and then mod podged pieces of homemade paper to it. 

The swirl stamp was inked on with Staz On.

I added some vintage ephemera photos (copies) and then edged them with oil pastels.

The last thing I did was add the quotes. I used black Sharpie markers and white Signo pens.

"I did my best and it was enough."

"Believe you can."

"Do what you love."

"Sing your bravest song."

I have received two post cards in return so far and will posts those soon.  I had lots of fun and am always glad to do something fun and creative.

A Year in the Life of an Art Journal| two.

I've been trying to make sure that I make more time for my art/soul journaling.  Even if it's a little doodle or just a bit of paint for a background, I know that I feel better and am happier if I can do something.  So, I sat down and gesso'd two pages.  

I then took my blue acrylic spray and just sprayed a bit here and there on the pages.  Then a little bit of walnut ink spray found it's way onto the pages.  I sat and looked at the paint and ink as it made little streams down both sides of the crisp white canvas.  I decided to hit it with some water, so I sprayed just a bit to see it all start melding together.  

At this point, I was so happy with what I had that I could've just left the pages like that.

Another process that I like to do when I don't have the energy to be super creative, but I want to push myself is look through magazines for useful images for my journals.  There are a few different things that I look for.  I like large bold images that pop with color or geometric shapes. I love circles, eyes and hands.  I look for titles or words that stand out and can be used on my pages.  I just flip through the magazines and tear pages. I keep the pages in a large ziploc baggie and then go through the bag and see if anything jumps out at me and "calls" to be used for that days spread.  I don't always use a magazine image on my page though.  It's good to have it there though when I need something more.

 I had this picture of a hand holding a large pearl, and it was perfect for something I've been wanting to journal about.  I recently took a personality quiz that a friend recommended to me.  It's not even really a quiz, but more of a thing where you read each description of the different gems and decided which fits you best. It's even better when someone that knows you very well can read through them and then tell you what they think.  I read through them and the decision was unanimous.  I was a Pearl. No doubt about it.

 You can find the quiz here.  I'd love to hear which personality type describes you best.

 So, I cut out the picture of the hand and used my gel medium to paste it down. I did some doodling on the picture and added a red heart (my favorite) with Sharpie paint pens.  I wanted to keep the background the way it was. I loved it so much when I first put it together.

Finally, I printed out the PEARL's description and marked it up with some personal notes.  I then used some washit tape to secure it to the page.  I love how this spread turned out.

I am almost done with this journal, but I've got a new one ready to go!! 

Hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit of the process.  Let me know if you take the quiz!!

A Year in the Life of an Art Journal|two

I am happy to be taking part in A Year in the Life of an Art Journal challenge again.

This year the prompts are for photographers as well as art journalers. 

The challenges are given out on the 15th and 30th of every month.

Here is the challenge for January 30th, 2013.

PROMPT: Rainy Day

SHOOTERS: Shoot your mug near a rainy window

Shooters can share their pictures from this prompt on Facebook 02.04

This was the shot I shared for my Monday Mugshot photo.

I was HOPING for rain to get a *perfect* mugshot, but our rain came a week early.  

No worries here! Like Rachel says, you can do whatever you want with the prompts!

(Sharing on Monday Mugshots on fb also)

BOOKERS: drip some paints on your page, 

and share a little bit about what the perfect rainy day looks like to you. 

I think I will actually take pictures of the process of making my page next time, but for now, I will just share some of the materials I used to make my pages. 

• acrylic paints
• Faber-Casteel Gelatos
• Random Alphabet Stickers
• Tim Holtz Crackle paint
• gesso
• Glaze pen for journaling
• ripped magazine pages

I wanted the background to look like a frosty window on a rainy day.  

I must admit that it looks the way I want in real life, but in this picture -

not so much. 

Journaling Reads: When I think about rain, I think about how the water always seems to come just when we need it.  Rain is soothing to me.  The sound of it...the smell it brings.  Even a good storm brings cleansing.  RAIN is like ART to me.   Soothing, cleansing and always right on time when I need it.

“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.”

~Pablo Picasso

Do you art journal or like taking photos? You can join in on the fun twice a month too!  Just head over to Rachel Whetzel's page to play!