Tuesday Tips and Techniques: Instant Journal Prompts

Instant journal prompts are only a magazine or newspaper away.  Every article begins with an enticing title to peak your interest.  Why not use these titles to spark your creative journaling?

Ways To Use These Titles in Your Journaling

• Use these titles as part of your page background.  Cover with gesso to push them visually into the background.
• Cut these phrases into single words and use to form different meanings.
• Find interesting fonts.  Cut the words into separate letters to form that "ransom note" look.
• Take color cues from these titles and use them as inspiration for a color theme.
• Use a phrase as a main element on your page.  Illustrate your viewpoint.

Storage

Hundreds of words and phrases can easily be stored in a zippered sandwich bag for easy storage and use.  That's my preferred method.  I like to pull a handful out and choose a random phrase to play with.  You can also tack them down on a sheet of copy paper and keep them in a notebook if you prefer to see lots of titles at a glance.

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

Anatomy of a Journal Spread

I'm still in a "play with lots of stuff" mode, and I decided I needed to use some of the images I've torn from magazines and the scraps of paper I have stacked in messy piles.  As usual, I didn't really have anything in mind aside from just having fun and letting the page evolve on it's own.

I began with paper randomly painted with left over acrylics from previous projects, and scrapbooking paper.

I continued with more torn paper - this time I used images torn from magazines and catalogs.  I applied all the papers with Mod Podge.

Using colors in the torn paper as my color cues, I scribbled on water soluble crayons in all of the white areas and over some of the torn paper.

Then I looked for an image for my main subject.  I remembered this image of an ancient sculpture that I had torn from an old National Geographic.  It seemed to fit perfectly with the colors and feel of the torn paper.

I moistened my fingertips with water and began rubbing the crayon into the pages, blending the colors together without obliterating all of the marks and lines from the initial application. 

I applied the face and added a bit more water soluble crayon to add further depth of color.

Then I took an old CD and loaded it with a watered-down mixture of black craft acrylic. (I saw this trick using watercolors in a Milliande video)

Using the CD like a stamp, I applied it to both pages in a random fashion, reloading the CD with paint as necessary.  This technique produces lots of yummy, textural marks.  I lifted the right hand side of the page before it dried, and got a horizontal run.  Not planned, but I liked it.

A few words of wisdom from "the ancestors, and a few more brush strokes and markings were added.  I used the CD to make a few random circles and mimicked the design on some of the magazine pages.  I added the number 3 to add more visual interest to complete the spread.


I hope you've had a great week, and as always, I hope you're finding time in your busy life to "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"

My Beautiful Balloon

I've been trying to let go of some of the piles of "stuff" that I have to "use for a project someday".  A lot of these piles contain precious magazines and catalogs full of delightful images that I KNOW I'll need as soon as the waste management company drives off with them!  However, I do step into reality from time to time, and on one such occasion I realized that if I don't get rid of some of these precious piles, the "project" is going to be an episode of "Hoarders"!

I was flipping through the pages of a circa 1990's, The Artist Magazine, and I came across these lovely pages of the work of artist, Mitchell Johnson.  I tore them out and set them aside, but there were so many other lovely images in this issue that I couldn't get myself to gift it to garbage can just yet.

Something about the top image immediately reminded me of a day last summer when Keith, my son, Nick and his girlfriend, Heather and I went to a hot air balloon launch at a local winery.  It was gloriously bright, sunny day in June perfect for a balloon launch and crowds of people sipping wine and taking photos. While the people in this painting are wearing long sleeves, people at the launch were half naked in halters and flip flops; a small detail I'm willing to overlook for the sake of art!

I cut along the heads of the people so they would have a definite line, and tore the page along their feet so it would blend in with the page.  I then began laying in the background with a beautiful blue sky and a gently rolling background hardscape.  After that, I painted in some balloons.  I decided that I wanted to split the crowd up a little bit more, so I separated the image just about in half.  I also removed a figure from the second painting to add balance to the right side of the spread.

I completed the spread by adding further highlights to the balloons, trees and foreground. I also smudged in some facial features on the male in the foreground.  I had to laugh when I finished because there's only one person that looks like they're even aware of the balloons, and that would be the gentleman in the red-striped shirt who appears to be taking a photo. 

This spread was a lot of fun to complete as it gave me the opportunity to relive the experience of the great joy it brought me to watch all those beautiful balloons float off into the distance.  Don't be afraid to use images of an artwork that moves you.  Alter it and make it your own.  If you're not selling the artwork that you complete and it's for personal use, you're OK.  Just remember that inspiration is everywhere if you're paying attention, and you might just find it waiting in an old magazine.  "Happy Creating"!

Materials For Creative Journaling

PART TWO

Most of the materials for "Creative Journaling" are easily found at your favorite local dollar store or super store.  You may need to visit your local craft store to purchase watercolor pencils.  If you are already a practicing artist, you probably have most of these materials on hand already! 

1. Composition Notebooks.  I recommend using the original black/white Composition notebook. I have tried some of the composition notebooks with cute, brightly colored covers, but I found the quality of the paper to be too poor for extensive handling.

2. Watercolor pencils.  Buy the best you can afford.  You'll be happier with the richer pigments.

3. Colored pencils. It's possible to find satisfactory colored pencils that are on the inexpensive side.Try Crayola's.  The pigments are rich and they have a smooth texture.

4. Pencil Sharpeners. Yes, I said sharpenerS as in multiple.  Years ago I used to watch an oil painter named Bill Alexander on PBS television.  He believed in washing his brushes frequently to avoid muddying his colors.  He used to say, "First, you are brush washers, then painters."  I say, "First you are pencil sharpeners, then journalists!"  There will be lots of pencil sharpening!

5. Colored Markers.  Once again, as with most art supplies, buy the best you can afford.  You'll be happier with the quality.

6. Fine or extra fine point Sharpies.  I use these for writing in my journal.  They write nicely on almost any surface.

7. Old Magazines, newspapers, junk mail, receipts, doodles. Don't limit yourself to the types of magazines you like to read.  There are amazing photos and fonts in that "Guns and Ammo" magazine that you would NEVER dream of having in your possesion.

8. Glue sticks.  I use Elmer's. I found a mega pack of them at our local wholesale club for around $6.00.

9. Scissors. A small pair for cutting single letters and other details.

And there you have it!  The basic list of materials to get you started on your way to "Creative Journaling".  I'll talk about each item in further detail as I explain the method.  See you next week!

NEXT WEEK: PART THREE "EXPLORING THE METHOD"