Flowerhead and other newly finished Art Journal Pages

I have had renewed energy for my art journal since I returned from the States. I have been collaging and writing in my 'old' art journal and beginning some backgrounds in my new art journal. Here are some recently finished pages.

It might be a little strange but I finished off this art journal page with writing that I did quite a few months ago. It is a kind of writing where I ask questions and then write down whatever comes. Often I find the 'answers' helpful after months or even years later. And I find my art journal a great place to put them.

(The drawing I am referring to in the art journal page is called "Kikuyu Grass". If you want to see it go here.)

 This is a page about a repeating dream where I am exploring a specific 7 story house. In this dream I remember the house and am excited to be there again. I explore the first floor.

The woman in the transferred photo is my mother. She is talking to a neighbour girl.

Finally this page is a little embarrassing. I ran across this question in my saved quotes and realised that the answer for me is "no". I live for creativity yet it didn't even cross my mind to bring it into my social life.
Now I am fascinated by the idea.

I looked up "creative social life" on Google but there was nothing (so maybe I am not the only one.) I wrote down a few suggestions from related searches but I really think we could do better. (See how subtly I bring you into this? haha)

What do you do with your friends for fun?

By the way, the little girl is actually on the next page. She is in a cut out window.

Back from Overseas and Back to Blogging

I am back from my overseas trip, happy to be posting in real time again. Thanks for those of you who stayed around, or came back.

I have had some intense and challenging family time in the States and am looking forward to absorbing and integrating it over time. You know how it is sometimes when so much is happening that you hardly have time to think? I realise that many people live their lives that way but I never have, always having been the introspective type. But that is how it was while I was overseas so I am looking forward to some time to contemplate and integrate.

One of my main tools for the integrating is my art journal. I did journal while overseas, I spent time everyday just writing what had happened that day. I don't have a great memory and I want to be able to recall all that happened. It was a simple journal with mostly writing and some drawings.

Now I am looking forward to something more introspective. And to do that I am starting a new art journal (yay!)

It is a shape I have never used before. I like changing shapes, A5 - (8.3" x 5.8") to A4 - (11.7" x 8.3"), landscape, portrait, and now square! They all effect composition and how I put together the page. Because these pages are square, I might be inclined to create them as two pages rather than using a spread as one composition like I usually do. I have begun some backgrounds.

Reasons Art Journal Page

I am taking a blog holiday, so forgive me if I don't get back to your comments. I am reposting some older art journal pages that I created when I first began.
Here is a page that I don't know what it means. It is almost like there is some message about my father's side of the family, maybe about him and his mother? But I don't know what it is.

I tell you though, I think symbolic stuff can work on us without us understanding what is going on. Like dreams do. And when I look at these pages there is a feeling of healing though I couldn't tell you what it is about.I began these pages by writing down a dream.

I put a coat of gesso over the writing so that it wouldn't show as much. I painted both pages with a watered down layer of raw umber acrylic paint. The thin paint goes blotchy on the moleskine paper. I don't mind that in backgrounds.

But for my next journal, I am going to try a different book with different paper. I want to do more painting in the next one.

The moth is a magazine cut out. Again, no plan for these pages. I am working completely on impulse. I went through a bunch of images I had cut out and felt drawn to the moth. Butterflies symbolise transformation, I don't know what moths symbolise.

I like her little fuzzy body.

This is a photocopy of a photo of my grandmother on my Dad's side. I never knew her. This was her wedding photo. 

I tore it rather than cutting so the edges would blend into the background more.

That's a picture of my Dad in the canoe when he was young, maybe 19. The star is foil from some chocolate. I drew on the other side with a ballpoint pen that was out of ink, then glued it on. 

The border is water soluble crayon linking cut-out patterns from a magazine.

The writing is gel pens. Love the gel pens. The white is the wonderful ZIG opaque writer that seems to go over anything. 

Time Never Exists Art Journal Page

I am taking a blog holiday, so forgive me if I don't get back to your comments. I am reposting some older art journal pages that I created when I first began.

I have 16 double-spread pages "on the go"; meaning started but not finished. How does that feel? Good! 32 pages of possibility.

These pages started with removable masking tape and black gesso. I wrote a post on this and other methods to begin pages here. 

I found it a little difficult to know where to go next with such a strong black and white contrast. Next time I might do it with a softer colour to have more options.

I ripped strips in a magazine picture and fit them inbetween the grids. Now it is no longer checks.

I added a photocopy of an old photo of my mom and dad together when they were young. And some words from a computer print-out. Just what I felt moved to add, there was no thinking or logic to my choices.

My childhood photo in the bottom right was photocopied onto clear acetate. So the grid reads through the photo.

The writing is from the folk song "the Drowners"  written down in the book "the Ill-made Mute" by Cecilia Dart-Thorton.
After that, I added the silver line border.

Once again, I didn't plan these pages. I just slapped down what I felt drawn to. And once again, I feel there was a message for me in the pages. A message about letting go of the past, that the past is not real. And that this is bringing the Quickening. Yippee!

Perhaps doing pages like this is kind of like dreaming. Dreams bring messages too.

Creativity Art Journal Page

I am taking a blog holiday, so forgive me if I don't get back to your comments. I am reposting some older art journal pages that I created when I first began.
These pages were a long and convoluted journey. Strong background colours can be very limiting. You need to come up with something that will still read over the top. I don't think I have succeeded here, but it was fun trying.

First I started with cutting a window. You are looking at the previous page here. It is fun to have this communication going on between two sets of pages. You might need a bit more planning than usual to make it work.

You start with water soluble crayons and lay down the colour thickly. This wasn't thick enough, I had to go back for a second time to get the strength I wanted.

Then go over it with a brush and water. Because the crayon is thick, you won't be able to write over the top of it unless you seal it with matt medium (just brush some over the top). I was very happy to find out about this trick as I have 'killed' a few pens trying to write over water soluble crayon.

What do you put over colour like this?

I thought I would try a black line drawing. I started with the furniture and the portrait 'painting' (magazine cut-out). But it seemed too delicate. 

Then I read about 'zentangles' and thought I would try them out. It's fun. Really it is just doodling. You start with an outer shape and fill it in. Don't think about it too much.

I used my new Identi-Pen for a strong line.

The crow is a photocopy from another journal page.

I decided not to do the writing in black, cause I wanted it to fade into the background a bit.

Click on the picture to read the writing. You will be amazed by what it says.

Oh yeah, and I added some colour into the doodles.