Tuesday Tips and Techniques: Formula One

I received a very nice email from one of  my subscribers that read in part,  "... I thought I would be a natural, as right handed people are suppose to be naturally artistic, but I can't even get a journal going!  It's really frustrating and depressing.  What can I do to get started?  Sometimes I want to scream!"


I was happy to send her my favorite journaling formula, and I thought you would enjoy seeing this formula, too.  I use this formula when I want to work in my journal but don't have anything specific in mind.  In today's post, I'll show you the formula I used to create this two page spread as well as many other spreads.

1.  Begin with a gessoed page.  Gesso will give you a nice surface to work on and will also add texture to the page as well as increased sturdiness for all of these layers.  After the gesso has dried (perhaps with some help of a heat gun or hair dryer), add a block or more of text with a Sharpie, gel pen, or your favorite writing pen.

It doesn't matter what you write.  I like to use this opportunity for whatever is on my mind at the time.  It could be a rant, lyrics to a song, or random ideas.  I usually write these block of texts upside down or sideways.  When you've finished writing, cover all or most of it with a thin layer of gesso or acrylic thinned with water.

2.  Once this layer has dried (it shouldn't take too long), apply a wash of two colors.  I used craft acrylics for this spread.  I selected neon yellow and neon green.  This wash ties your pages together with cohesive background color.  Have fun with this layer!  I apply the paint directly to the page in swirls and drips and add water directly to the pages.  Let the paint swirl and blend together by holding your journal up and tilting back and forth.  Make puddles of your selected paint colors and drop them into the wet background.  Blob areas of color with wet paper towel.  Flick paint specks on your pages by running your thumb across your loaded brush.  Make prints with your finger tips.  Have FUN!

3.  While your wet pages are drying, pull images from your photo files, grab scrap off your work area.  Do it without any rhyme or reason.  Just pull images that appeal to you at the moment.  Be spontaneous!  Pull more than you know you'll use.  That will give you plenty to play with.

 4.  If your pages aren't dry at this point, help them along with your favorite drying device.  Begin tearing and cutting images that appeal to you.  Don't give it a lot of thought.  Just let the magic happen - put The Muse in charge!  Pay attention to composition.  I tend to work in threes with pattern:  I tear each different patterned paper into three unequal sections and place them in an arrangement that's pleasing to me.  I use Mod Podge (no surprise to my avid readers!), to apply everything to my pages.

5.  Once this has dried, add another wash of two colors.  I selected more yellow and burnt sienna for my next wash.  I use the same technique for application as I did with the first wash.  This also helps to tie both pages together and pushes everything into the background.  Don't forget to let some of your original wash show through.  This helps to add depth to your page.  At this stage, I begin looking for imagery.  When I looked at these pages, I thought the checkered pattern on on the left looked like hair.  

6.  At this point, I begin making my light areas lighter and my dark areas darker.  I also begin adding more opaque layers of color, especially near the collaged items.  I don't want the collaged items to look like they're just stuck on - they need to blend in with the rest of the pages and become part of the whole design.

7.  Now it's time to add details.  I added splotches of transparent, raw umber acrylic ink.  I dribbled and smudged the ink along the outer edges of the pages to add depth and a nice border.  I completed the details of the face, and I darkened some of the areas.  I usually also add two or three other collaged elements at this point - mostly just because I like the way it looks!  The final step is to write another couple lines of journaling. At this stage, I generally write only one or two sentences that reflect the imagery on my pages.

And there you have it!  A journal spread that's cohesive in color, pattern and composition.  More often than not, you'll find items that you've incorporated are both symbolic and literal in relation to what you initially wrote in your first blocks of text.

I hope you find this formula for journaling helpful as you continue your own journaling endeavors.  If you give this method of try, I hope you'll show me your results.  If you have any questions or additional thoughts, comments are encouraged.  I love hearing from you, and I do believe I have solved the annoying word verification issue!   Happy Creating - and Happy First Day of Spring!

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

Dine & Dash

I love this time of year and often enjoy creating from our back deck where I can keep an eye on the orioles and other "Geographic moments" that happen to unfold.  I'm often gifted with surprises (and horrors!) from mother nature among as assorted creatures stop in for a visit. (I count praying mantis larger than hummingbird among the horror!)

Friday was a lovely day perfect for creating on the deck, so I gathered my supplies and several projects and headed outside.  I've been working on another "Outside the Book" journal project, "I", and finished that to near completion. ( I know you can't wait - I'll be posting that later on in the week!) I then turned to my journal. 

I really had nothing in mind when I started.  I only knew that I really felt like writing about some of the things I had been thinking about as I worked on my "I" project, so I used a marker and began to write.  When I finished writing, I covered my writing with a thin layer of  yellow, white and orange colored craft acrylics.  I like the look it creates.  What I wrote wasn't important to my finished spread, but it added great texture and I got my thoughts out on the page.

I still wasn't certain of where my spread was headed, but I knew I wanted more paint dripping, oozing and splattered.  I wet the left vertical edge of my spread and dropped in blobs of turquoise and purple and let them run in horizontal streaks across the entire spread.  While I was waiting for it to dry, I watched the orioles come in to feed.  They had been amusing me all afternoon as they swoop in, chatter at me, and indulge heavily at the feeder all in a matter of about 40 seconds.  That's when the idea of "dash and dine" came to me, and all the turquoise and pumpkin colors in my background were a perfect background for a jar of grape jelly and the bright orange feeder and orioles.

I began by adding "Dine & Dash with white acrylic.  I then lightened an area for the sun and sketched it in lightly along with the feeder using a marker.  Next, I added a rough sketch of my generic grape jelly jar.  After those items were completely painted, I added the birds.  Lastly, I added the white highlights in the lattice and around the bird on the feeder.  

I included 2 other regular feeders and lovers of grape jelly; the house finch and the cat bird. The orioles have begun to take chunks of jelly with them as they fly off - I think the babies are here!  The finch are very fleeting and don't like their photos taken, and the cat birds are comical and brazen and have no fear of me.  I love their little "mohawk" hairstyle.  They all get along very peaceably at the feeder with the exception of  the occasional squabble.  I think there might be a lesson in that for all of us.  Happy creating from my fowl friends and me!

Photo:  Nick Thompson