Pretty much - those three things are all the same thing. It's a collection of paper with your
journaling and representation of that
journaling in art form.
It's using almost anything to play and experiment in your book. there are NO rules. it doesn't have to be shown to anyone - unless you want it to be shown. There can be many layers or just one on a page. it's up to YOU.
It can be a book you purchased. Someday i want to play in Moleskin watercolour book. But for now -
cuz i'm cheap (frugal) i make my own books. I collect envelopes at work and then use the back side of the envelope to make my books.
My basic book (or books) is a bunch of collected papers - everything from envelopes to watercolour paper, drawing paper, old maps, sheet music - whatever strikes my fancy at any given time. and since it's old and recycled, i really don't care what i put on it - it's all good. I've taken a couple of book binding classes at Art Placement and that really helps with figuring out the binding methods. but that's a whole different post.
If i could find an old ledger book that's used -
I'd definitely play with that! you can use whatever you want to
use. An old book, a brand new book (
Strathmore Papers has a visual journal type book that you can get at Michael's) - it's totally up to you. if you want to trash a book - this is the perfect thing. There are NO rules.
Many
journalers use nothing more than an inexpensive composition book, while others use artists' sketchbooks or hardbound journals.
The most important consideration when
choosing a journal is how heavy the paper is. if it's very lightweight it won't hold up to a lot of paint and glue with preparing the pages first with
gesso. Also think about how the book is bound: spiral bound books lie flat when open and are easy to work in. Plus you should consider if the book will expand to hold all the images and artwork you are going to create on those pages.
As for what to do in the book? Well - that's totally up to you. You can use it as a daily journal, write, draw, paint, paste, colour and all on ONE page! it really is an experiment book and there are NO rules!
Basic Art Journal Supplies
Before going out to spend a lot of money on the supplies, take a look around the house and see what you already have. You can experiment with loads of things - like the kids crayons and markers, gel pens, scissors, glue sticks, double sided tape, magazines.
The magazines are really handy for cutting out images that catch your interest and single words that you might make into a title. Cut them out and glue them in your book - add some doodling or paint and write....
Advanced Art Journal Supplies
Gesso - an acrylic primer for canvas and paper - you can also use
gesso as a texture
Watercolour paints (great for backgrounds)
acrylic paints (ditto) and you can use those folk art paints up that you've got stashed in your cupboard from when you used to do folk art painting. once you've used those up, the tubes of acrylic paint that are available in the fine art area are worth the investment.
Watercolour pencils or crayons - colour just like regular pencils or crayons and then add water to create colour washes.
chalks or pastels for adding highlights and shading
rubber stamps
ink pads and re-
inkersstencils - especially if you
don't like your own handwriting
sand paper - to roughen up pages for the distressed look
transfer/carbon paper for tracing images on your page
packing tape for transfers
gel medium - this is an acrylic medium that works as a great glue and sealant
Don't spend too much worrying about exactly what to do - just start doodling or writing
whatever is on your mind. you may find some of your best work happens almost accidentally.
Think of something that happened during your day that made you happy or angry. one of the main points of an art journal is to vent emotions and opinions in a healthy way. You can put down things that happened you can't talk about, things that make you laugh, anything really.
Treat as a real diary if you want, or simply use it to collect your ideas. The whole point is that the journal is for you, by you and its contents are completely up to you . there are NO rules.
Turn off the filters and the inner critic. Don't hesitate to experiment or make mistakes. this is your journal. put in it what you want. if that's strictly drawings, fine. if that's a mixture of drawings, paintings, writing, collage and pasted in prints of your photographs. that's fine too. doodle aimlessly or try a new medium or technique. your artistic journey might not even happen all in one book.
it's all about playing and writing and being creative - there are NO rules!!
there's a lot of information here -sorry for the long post. there's some links over on the right that have some great art journal ideas.
check out Julie
Balzer - she's got great prompts on Twitter for art
journaling ideas. Daisy Yellow has an Art
Journaling 101 feature that's really interesting.
go for it - you never know what you'll create!
Texture by nature
some ATC's that i did for swapping on SwapBot. 
more for swapping - and all spoken for. 
some postcards i did for iHanna's post card swap 
some cards i've been playing with. Mostly i think i'll try out for Anam's design team for sketches 2 scrapbook!
up - cycling (or recycling) for me involves using newspapers and cutting out flowers and leaves and gluing them down and then coloring over with copic markers in my art journal.
it also involves covering a canvas with various inks and paints and sprays and mists and stamps and adding pattern pieces as a ruffle.
and a lot more paint and some scrapbooking paper and old book paper, lace and rub ons - this one definately inspired by Christie Tomlinson at Scarlet Line and her "She Art" workshops.... great classes - very detailed and inspiring!
i made this frame the other day - it's an ordinary frame from Michaels -$1.50 one. then i added many layers of bees wax - one layer at a time - and fused the layers with my heat gun... at some point i dipped my cookie cutter into the warm wax and that made those cool circles... last week i polished it up and then started adding some alcohol inks to the top - 3 different red/oranges, some yellow and some green and a touch of bronze. i think i'm going to have to make more! maybe adding red or green on the wax... hmm.... then i put ribbon around the outside of the frame - i totally got the idea from Suze Weinburg - she works for Ranger Ink and is the queen of the Melting Pot - someday i'm going to take a class from her!
we happened to walk by when they were loading the red piano into the little coffee shop... cool eh? we should be so lucky to find such cool cafe's around here!
and look at that building - it's sooo neat - that's Deanna and Sherrie - and yes it was damp and dreary when we were sight seeing. figures!
This restaurant served the best steak i've had in a long time! and it was Alberta beef - i asked! :) very very tasty and the dessert was melt in your mouth awesome.
we managed to get in a boat tour of the river - it was a cool boat totally glassed in and we sat in comfort and gazed at the sights from the river - that river moves fast! and it's huge! got to see the expo 67 usa pavillon -that big dome and habitat 67 - that's a totally neat building or two...
one street look from the Quay into the city
The Scrapping Nook is holding their Grand Opening, and having an online crop - here's a few of the cards i made for the challenges.
i was honoured to host 2 different ATC swaps this month. One for the Scrapping Nook and one for Scrapbooking Fanatics.
2 tags for the Nook's Grand opening challenges. more like book marks for me!
lately, i've taken a book binding class at Art Placement - this book is about 4 inches tall and 3 wide... ish....
the one layout i've done lately. it's an 8x8 so a bit small, but still, i got the photos on paper instead of laying in my desk drawer.
the flowers were done with Cathie Allen's stamping on black technique. stamp in white, paint with white, stamp with black, color it in, stamp over again in black. She's got a new positioning system for the placement of the stamps, but tape and some blocks worked for me. i used folk art paint to paint in the background, then colored in the stamp with a paint brush and some distress inks. may just have to do this one again! i like the look of it.
Thanks for checking out my blog!
