Art Journaling My Pants Off!

my happy place

Although I fully intended to begin Volume II of my Book of Days* on January 1st, it seems my journal had a different plan! In a last-minute rush to complete Volume I at the end of December, something-? made me decide NOT to tear out the last few pages of my altered book and let things unfold, organically. 

8 single pages and 3 double-page spreads later..

I finished almost exactly at  MIDNIGHT on January 31st. Ha!

So on Feb 1st, I began another fabulous journey to lose myself and find myself, through art, by just LETTING GO  

* current Session #1 with Effy Wild ends march 31, next session #2 runs: 1 Jul - 30 Sep. For more info, check out  bookofdays.org. You can also sign up via her NING commuity, theglitterhood.org free of charge and discover all sorts of fabulous art journaling FUN! 

Art From My Heart

Tonight, as I was browsing through my flickr collection of the same name, I recalled many fond memories of the wonderful mixed media artist friends I've made over the years through collaborations of all shapes and sizes. We met through flickr, our blogs, Ebay ATC groups, Yahoo groups, NINGs from 6 years ago, challenges, swaps, skinny books, art-e-zine and SO MUCH MORE. So.... here is a random selection of a few of my older art pieces that were part of all that "coming together!" 

I am happy to say, many of us still keep in touch!

Thank you for inspiring me, dear friends! (Art is from June 2007-Nov 2009.)

Cover Play

I had so much fun making this cover for my (daily) written journal. The old-skool, composition notebooks are my top choice for the size, the value and for the durable binding that allows the cover to be folded backwards for support while writing.

Simply done with:

• composition notebook
• chipboard letters/numbers (or make some) and tacky glue

• aluminum foil and modge podge 

• 2 colors of acrylic paint (white + a mid-tone)

• add black acrylic paint, allow to semi-dry, then remove from surfaces
• requires touch-up where paint gets removed 
• rub-n-buff or any metallic paint to add highlights

• i used glossy accents for my chipboard "slide mount." .. or any embellishment.

Yep, super simple and look at the results  P.S. and charlie helped!

Art Journal Page 17April2012

 i am evolving, a photo by cookievf on Flickr.

I Am Evolving

side panel reads:
"when i'm feeling frustrated, knowing this will bring me peace... and when i think i have to have all the answers, it will help me to slow down and enjoy the ride"

bottom left: paisley design was hand "carved" simply with pressure from a mechanical pencil on craft foam w/staz-on ink
hand painted paper: black & white acrylic paint, spot made with foam "spouncer"

Art Journal Cover 9Mar2012

Enjoying Effy Wild's "Book of Days" course via the facebook group. I've found that not only is it convenient to have easy access to the lessons and videos as well as being in regular touch with her, but the community has turned out to be a blessing for all involved!

My book, as posted earlier, is an old Time-Life Book of Nature Photogrpahy and is approximately 10 x 10". The size is a bit large for me and, darn it, the pages are glued, not stitched. So I have been adding reinforced packing tape where-needed and that has worked out perfectly! I just used a few mixed letters from my chipboard collection, gessoed over the painted serface and just had a BLAST decorating with my sharpie paint pens, mini pom-pom fringe, etc!

DOBEDOBEDO

Altered book BEFORE

45 days could very well be my all-time record for days between posts which became the PERFECT EXCUSE for procrastinating, with "Where do i start???" ..at the beginning, of course.

After hearing so much around the idea of selecting one word for focus and growth in the coming year, I finally did it AND enjoyed the process of trying to distill all of my do's and don'ts to come up with one!

My choice for 2012 is MOTION

Altered book AFTER

As a matter of fact, movement of ANY kind is just what the doctor ordered as I get stuck inside my head with way.. too.. many.. hours creating ideas instead of creating art!

I can already sense a shift in energy:

~ There's been a thunderstorm of activity w/art journaling, doodling, sketching,

~ Enjoying Effy Wild's Book of Days (free) course
~ Learning much from Samantha Kira Harding's Journaling Deep
~Had fun letting loose with Traci Bautista's Doodles Unleashed
~ Reorganizing my studio (lots of "so THAT's where it was!")
~ I've begun to take "micro movements" towards a list of personal goals
~ I want to add dance to my list of physical activities (getting there)
~ I will NOT come up with any more excuses to stay inside due to the weather
~ My photography is on overload: 1001 pics so far this year.. that's 33 days!
~ Planning to introduce a new line of jewelry for sale, locally
~ Created a valentine-themed display for current jewelry line

All-in-all, my plan for this year is to DOBEDOBEDO!

special book = special course

Over the weekend I signed up for Juliana Coles' first online "extreme journalism" course, titled ALTERED STATES. More info is available on her website! The initial cost, being her first, is only $50 for 3-months of access to the artist, discussion group, PDF, audio, video and more!

First step: find a book!

I purchased a vintage record collection "book" (circa late 40's) at a tag sale about a year ago for a few bucks, never IMAGINING I would be guided by Juliana through the altering process!! I'm excited that the cover has torn off so I can work on that in lesson #2! So far I've cut 10 manilla folders in half, deciding to sandwich each sleeve with them leaving the top open for use as pockets. And I've taken the book apart and removed cardboard spacers, only to put them back into use... who knows!

There are sleeves that hold ten 33rpm records and an Index listing a mix of artists. What I got were 10 Perry Como EP or extended play singles, so someone already "personalized" their collection to be different from the original. Kind of cool, since that is what I plan to do ~ make this my own!

Wouldn't it be a great tie-in to incorporate some of the lyrics from the records?

"I hear your haunting theme
And I begin to dream"

"Each tender note you play
Will be my serenade"

Can't wait to jump right in!

~ follow up post ~

Last year, 17 artists participated with me in this artezine board book swap with Christine Shebroe as the hostess. You can view the swap in its entirety here.

It was WAY BACK in July 2009, that I posted a few steps here to illustrate the WIP on the cover. I always meant to share the rest of my pages and I guess, better late than never! As with any first attempt, i still recall my inner critic was in "over-drive" and, in the end, I produced something I was very happy with! Moral of the story??? ... SILENCE that pesky inner critic and you will be surprised to see what lovely things can happen!

Altered Book Swap!

I participated along with 16 other artists in this fab/fun swap hosted by Christine Shebroe. Take a peek at all the lovely pages that have been scanned and recently posted over at ART-E-ZINE!

It was my first attempt at altering a children's "board book" and I found it to be an easy project due to the small number of pages required for this swap.

Lucky me, I received my TRAVEL-THEMED book from Carol Barnes, all the way from Down Under! Be sure to take a closer look at the second spread featuring her a-m-a-z-i-n-g fabric art representation of Ayers Rock/Uluru, one of Australia's most recognizable natural icons!!

Next post: some of my work-in-progress pages.



cover detail "flower girlz"

Wonderful Book Art

Still a work-in-progress, the cover is always so much fun to make! We made a mini book by covering cardboard with torn (vintage) book pages that were inked, distressed & glazed. Created a cover design on the computer, printed and then cut it out. A large, decorative brad was used for the "doorknob" and a leather strip to secure it. A "hinge" was created on the inside by linking the two covers with a piece of card stock. The inside describes what it means to have a raven as your totem. "Healing" was the part we liked the best and "moving from the dark into the light."

- upper left corner is made with mesh from a vegetable bag.

- lower right corner was made from black foil from a wine bottle.

Making a mess is a pre-requisite, it seems. Cleaning up.. not so much!!!

l-o-v-e taking pictures of children's hands!

- Distressing a piece of striped, green paper we added for the "end papers."

- stamping foam letter stamps on our tag book and then embossing in Diamond Black.

"Let's make more!"