Posted by: Mary @ 8:32 am
Connie of Dirty Footprints Studio has invited everyone to participate in the 30 Journals 30 Days project today, July 31. Every day for the month of July she has interviewed a different art journaler and posted it to her blog. Today is our turn to share our enthusiasm for this creative mode of expression.
How has Art Journaling impacted, changed, or enhanced your life? Art journaling has allowed me to be more spontaneous and free in expression. It has given me the opportunity to try new things and in a format that I love - books. It is very nice to have a record of my work in one place where I can flip through the pages. A very important aspect of art journaling is that it allows me to combine different media in one vehicle - painting, drawing, writing, photography, collage. It has also been a more portable and easy way to bring my art with me wherever I go - even if that’s just out on the front porch or relaxing on the couch. Art Journaling lets you work just about anywhere.
What are a few of your favorite Art Journaling materials? It is hard to choose just a few as I love all art supplies. First would be my paint brushes and I keep my watercolor and acrylic brushes in separate small fishing tackle boxes with their respective paints. Next would be papers and ephemera of all different kinds and a good pair of scissors. Mark making materials like pitt pens, gel pens, and colored pencils are important. And I can’t live without mat gel medium, UHU glue, gluestick, an old credit card scraper, and things to add texture like bubble wrap, plastic canvas, and a comb. I really love fiber and related items too - fabric, threads, yarns, beads.
Who are some of your favorite art journalers? This is another challenging question as basically I like everything art journaling that I see, even the things that don’t appeal to me directly. Because it is a means of personal expression, I can accept and understand that the person is taking me inside their world. My point of discovery for this type of artistic expression was Somerset’s Art Journaling magazine in Borders and I read these magazines over and over again, never tiring of the images shared inside. Since then I have discovered an explosion of art journalers online which adds to the sense of community. All that being said, here are a few of my favorites:
Connie, Dirty Footprints Studio
Lynne Perella
Pam Carriker
Teesha Moore
Daisy Yellow
Diana Trout
What kind words of encouragement would you say to an Art Journal newbie? The hardest part is getting started. Treat yourself to an issue of Somerset’s Art Journaling magazine, start clicking around art journalers’ blogs and YouTube videos, and get inspired. Gather together some supplies and a sturdy art journal that work for you. When you are ready, start with one page and don’t worry about finishing it. Then start another page. Go back and forth and work on your pages. Do what pleases you and won’t worry about making the pages “perfect”. Letting go will come with time. Remember that you are doing this for yourself… this is for you. Later you can choose what to share with others.
Where can we contact you… give us some link LOVE!
My blog is at maryart.macilvain.com
My web site is at www.macilvain.com
Short Bio
My grandfather gave me my first camera when I was 8 years old and I have long enjoyed capturing that special moment on film. I learned to sew on my mother’s old Singer sewing machine at the age of 11. Quilting and sewing have been a passion for many years because of my love for fabric and all things fiber. Watercolor painting and drawing is something that I do when inspiration comes. Recently I have been getting into scrapbooking, book arts, collage, and mixed media. I absolutely love books and read quite a bit and also enjoy trying new things.
I live in a small town in the northeast or New England part of the United States. My son and daughter are both in college and we have a mischievous cat named Tangerine who was adopted from the Humane Society animal shelter. My career world has touched many areas including computer science, research, web design, graphic design, administrative, marketing, and volunteering. The best part of all has been the people I’ve met along the way.
Enjoy in the doing and be happy in following your own path to express yourself creatively.
Mary
Posted by: Mary @ 6:48 pm
Last week I discovered that there is an art retreat in Connecticut in October and I’m going! I am so excited! Art Is You is the annual east coast art retreat and promises to be a wonderful mixed media adventure with many creative spirits. There was a local get together this past Saturday and it turned out that there were 4 people at the brunch who I knew, 3 of whom I hadn’t seen in close to 10 years at a doll makers group! Connecticut is a small state but it was still really cool to have our paths converge once again. What a happy moment for me with both new and old (who are you calling old? LOL) friends sharing their artwork and their stories. This is the art journaling page I created when I returned home to celebrate the special and magical day. It was like floating on air.
Posted by: Mary @ 7:08 pm
Pockets, flaps, and envelopes were added to the pages begun in the art journaling workshop at Dirty Footprints Studio a few weeks ago which was a lot of fun. The pages are starting to look more interesting now that details are being added to the layers of texture. The pages I have been using for this workshop were separate sheets of watercolor paper folded in half. Today I sewed them together in signatures of one page each so that I can paint on the reverse sides as double pages. It looks so cool!
I am taking an awesome art journaling workshop with Connie of Dirty Footprints Studio and really enjoying myself. There are a lot of talented and creative people in the class. Connie shares so many incredible ideas and she has created a supportive, caring environment for us that encourages interaction and sharing. My painting experience has been with watercolors and I am learning to use some new materials such as matte gel medium and acrylic paints. Here are the results of my work for week 1, which actually took me two weeks to finish. Fortunately this is a self-paced workshop with no pressure, making it really enjoyable.
Posted by: Mary @ 7:32 pm
Here is a southwest theme mandala that I drew in my art journal yesterday afternoon. The freehand drawing started in pencil with eraser in hand and then was inked with one of my new Pitt pens. After inking, the drawing was colored in with my Staedtler fineliner markers. The idea for this piece came from memories of conchos I have seen over the years. The center part represents rivers flowing outward in different directions which are paths in life. The small circles surrounding the center are jewels that light up the sky and the wavy blue band contains the energy of the radiating center. The radiant energy appears to float on the turquoise background.
Posted by: Mary @ 1:09 pm
There is something about art journaling that draws you in. I have been studying the Somerset magazine since it came out last year, but I just didn’t get it at first. The public ranting and complaining about everything and anything under the sun that can go with this mode of expression is both fascinating and unappealing to me at the same time. Although I did not intend to rant about being sick for a month when I spontaneously picked up my art journal and a pencil yesterday and started to draw, somehow the frustration of it all came out quietly by itself. This was very surprising to me to have this come out in this way as I am very stoic, don’t complain, and try to take everything in stride. Interestingly enough, I felt better when I looked at my finished art journal page. Still, I have gone back and forth this morning with Gaussian blurring the image slightly to blur the text and finally decided it looks better as it is and to stop fussy-budgeting with it. 
The tree pollen is really bad this year and in a few more weeks breathing will be much easier. The writing was done
in a spiral and then colored pencils were used to color in bits of the spiral, forming a subtle mosaic. It was not until I added the jagged edge to the outermost ring of the design to frame the piece in an off-center way that it came together and made visual sense.
Posted by: Mary @ 7:11 pm
This is something I have wanted to do for quite a while now and I finally did it! My sources of inspiration were several Somerset Magazine publications, Lisa Engelbrecht, and a library book - Hand Lettering for Crafts by Sandra Salamony. Then I came up with my own idea and ran with it.
Basic Supplies: Colored pencils, HB pencil, hand sharpener, eraser, art journal/sketchbook
Painting Supplies: water color paints, brushes (small or medium flat wash and small round are good), palette (i have several kinds but you can even use a disposable plastic plate), water container, mister bottle (an empty pump hair spray bottle works well), natural sponge (if you have one), and paper towels
First I drew a shape, in this case a circle but any shape will do. Use light pencil marks as you will erase the lines later. Next, draw a line across the page somewhere above the top of the shape. Curve or bend the line as you go. Then you echo the first line drawn moving down the page and keeping the lines about the same distance apart (equidistant). Let the line disappear inside the shape (or erase it afterwards) as you are going down the page. Stop after you get past the bottom of the shape, leaving some white space above and below your design. This does not have to be perfect but you can always erase and adjust some lines if you want.
Now think about words flowing across the lines that you’ve drawn. If you don’t know what to write, copy a passage from a book that inspires you, excerpt song lyrics, or combine different phrases together. Sometimes if you start writing the words will just come out. In this case I intermixed remembered phrases with my own thoughts. Pick up one of your colored pencils and keep a small hand sharpener nearby. Get comfortable and loosen up. Relax your hand. Take a cleansing breath and just start writing, slowly, one letter at a time. For reference I had alphabet sampler pages printed in various fonts but I put them aside and did not use them. Instead I decided to embellish my own letterforms. I took my time and thought about each letter and word as they slowly flowed from my hand. I totally lost track of time and was pleased with the results. The hardest part is getting started. Once I get going I am in the zone. And yes, I made a mistake in there but it’s OK. Not easy to say for someone who counts proofreading as one of her many job duties
I put the piece aside to think about it and decided to put paint down the next night. When I am going to paint or collage in my art journal, I gluestick two pages together and run a brayer over them (you can also rub them together with a wooden spoon) for better support. At some point I erased all the original light pencil lines. I was not so sure about doing this but the colored pencil letterforms remained intact. There was paint on my palette from a previous project - a red, a blue, 2 greens, a yellow, and a tan - so I spritzed them with the mister bottle and they were usable again. My intention was just to put light washes down so that the lettering would show through, so I watered down the paints and dipped the wash brush in first the red, then the red and blue, and so on. Closer to the bottom are muddy but interesting colors which is what you get when you mix colors that contain all of the primary colors (red, blue, yellow). If it gets too wet you can blot it with a paper towel. Put the paint down lightly and try not to go over it too much as it will look fresher, cleaner, and more spontaneous. It is easy to overwork watercolor and it is better to stop before you think it’s done. Less is more. I used the natural sponge to dab paint into the circle, first blue and then green. If you don’t have a natural sponge try using a household sponge or a crumpled up paper towel. This was so much fun and I plan on continuing on with this form of expression. Enjoy!
Here are some pages taken from my sketchbook/art journal this week. One thing that I have noticed is that drawing brings me to a special place of heightened awareness. It is hard to describe exactly what happens but it is an unconscious way of losing and then finding oneself. The process of drawing or physically making marks on paper causes a shift from left brain to right brain thinking and lets you tap into a whole different type of seeing and opens up a new perspective.
When I stopped at Staples to buy computer paper, I spotted a canister of gel pens on sale and brought those home too. While playing with the gel pens I realized the differences between the concepts art journal and sketchbook overlap for me.
This abstract swirl drawing started out as a way of dividing space in an interesting manner. Just letting the pen move on the paper can lead to interesting results. The writing around the edge was spontaneous: Time waits for no one. Better to seize the day than lament the passing of the dawn, leaving only regrets for what might have been. Awake to a brand new day, going forth in the sunlight to shine your own light anew.
This drawing of SpongeBob Squarepants done from memory needs reworking - the proportions are off and the details are not right. The important thing is to get started and keep going.
Posted by: Mary @ 5:03 pm
It was such a beautiful day today that I decided to drag some collage supplies out on my front porch and work with my masonite painting board in my lap. Somewhere on the web I remembered seeing a book made of paper lunch bags, so I have been saving Dunkin’ Donuts muffin bags for an occasion like this one. I took 6 bags and folded them in half, nesting them. I measured in about half an inch from the center edge and marked holes down the fold spaced .75 inch apart, then used an awl to make the holes. There was a small ball of variegated chenille yarn in my basket of embroidery threads so I used that to loop in and out of the holes from back to front to make a simple binding. I cut 4 lengths of the yarn spanning the book to be sure it was long enough to make it all the way back and forth. Then I got out a used puzzle I had been saving for collage work and glued some puzzle pieces on alternating pages of the book. Next I used my old typewriter rubber stamp alphabet to stamp some letters and some words. This is just a beginning and I plan to play with and work on my book some more as this has been a lot of fun!
Posted by: Mary @ 9:40 pm
Tonight driving home from work felt like the luge in slow motion with the coating of ice on the roads. It took me almost 2 hours to get home and I spun out a few times but I made it somewhat shaken but safe and sound. After quickly shoveling the sidewalk and back walkway at home I had homemade chicken soup and then settled in to watch the Olympics. Yesterday I started an abstract sketch of a skater in motion in my art journal and was able to finish coloring it with my markers tonight. It feels like the drawing might need something more but I wanted to keep it fresh and simple as a sketch. Am really enjoying Creative Every Day on Twitter #ced2010. Seeing what everyone is doing is very inspirational and motivating me to be creative every day. Thank you everyone!
Posted by: Mary @ 12:26 pm
I am taking the True North Arts Vision Journaling Workshop with Kathryn Antyr and am finding it very helpful in facilitating my creative journey. At this point I have created the journal collage for the first week which is pictured below and have started on making the ATCs to go with it. I wrote out a list of intentions for the ATC cards on my lunch break at work and keep a notebook handy there to record creative thoughts that come. This whole vision journaling process has given me more awareness of things that I am struggling with and how to address these things.
- The cat jumped up on my work space, sniffed the flame of the candle and ran away, startled but uninjured.
- I am just not comfortable with candles anyway due to the fire danger and need to honor my own feelings.
- I am having problems locating my tools and supplies (where are my markers, where is the spray bottle, etc).
- My creative supplies are still scattered around and I need to take the time to go through everything and reorganize.
- It is an effort to carve out a block of time, create a work space, and get focused on one thing, but I am doing it.
- Once I get started I am fine and lose myself in the process. The dining room table seems to be the best place to create.
Happy Thanskgiving everyone. Just wanted to share an inspirational YouTube Video on art journaling with you today.
Journals come in all shapes and sizes and can be used to express yourself with words, drawings, photos, ephemera, and many other ways. The Moleskine journal project features 13 artists who were asked to record and express “A Week in Your Life” in their journals. The results are both surprising and delightful.
1000 journals are traveling around the world and being passed along in a monumental collaborative journal project. Each person adds their own stories and drawings to the journal before passing it on. The 1000 Journals Project is an incredible concept and experiment.
You can make your own journals to use as you wish. Elise Blaha shares some wonderful directions for making small blank books on the Tuesday Tutorials section of Ali Edwards site. Below is a small ring book that I created with easy step by step directions.
The dust has settled from graduation and the college quilts have all been washed and aired on the clothesline. My journal quilts project has finally begun, with the theme journey. You can see inspirational journal quilt exhibits at quiltart.com, an internet mailing list for contemporary art quilters. Journal quilts are usually the size of a regular notebook, and can express many different things. My quotation book started out as a journal page last year and ended up being trimmed down for a book cover. Here are my first two journal quilt beginnings sewn down to a muslin base. Next they will be machine quilted onto peltex and perhaps embellished after that. I have a tendency to plan things out and am working in an intuitive manner here as that can be quite freeing and leads to interesting design solutions.
When my daughter saw my art journal open and covered with wet paint drying on the table, she asked me if I had been finger painting. That was not something I had thought of when I laid down the acrylic washes for a background to get started. It only seemed fitting to cut out cardstock paper tracings of my hands to express the idea of finger painting not quite.
This is the beginning of the art journal I started last week. I have kept written journals for many years and sketchbooks as well. After seeing and reading about the wonderful art journals that people are creating, it seemed only natural that I should add art journaling to my palette. Here are my first pages…
Here are some art journal pages for inspiration:
*e*: mini art journal challenge
Flickr: the 52Q a year of mini art journalling Pool
Flickr: art journal challenge
Daisy yellow blog
ArtJunk Girl~
journal junk
You Tube - Art Journal Workshop: Layers
a girl & her journal
illustratingstories.com: Art Journal