New Journal Pages in my Moleskine

Really, I am very close to taking back my prior dissatisfaction with the Moleskine.  This new one is showing me lots of love.  I am still waiting to see how the binding is going to hold up, but I think I've helped the problem by gluing pages together.  Remember, this is NOT the purple sketchbook one, it's got the same colour of paper, but much thinner.

Here are a few pages completed Saturday night/Sunday morning:





And check out this yummy texture created by coating facing pages with gesso, closing them, rubbing a bit and opening:



I then painted over it with two different colours of fluid acrylics.

Lots more in the works!  :)

Much LOVE  xoxo

My Travel Art Kit

Hello everyone!  I have made it to Chicago safely.  :)  It took me about an hour to decide what supplies to take, and how to pack it, but I think I've come up with something that works for me.

Here is a picture of it all packed:



Yes, it takes up a bit of room in my suitcase, but it's soo worth it!  :)

Here is the goodness inside:





I also brought a pencil case filled with pens and markers, and a Koi by Sakura mini water colour paint box.  They are not pictured as I took them on the plane with me.  I am not the type of person that likes to attract any attention to myself, but I took a risk and pulled out my journal in the airport.  It was kind of freeing to sit there and paint with my WC's without worrying if anyone was watching.  :)

I'll be back later to show you the pages I'm producing while away from home. 

Much LOVE!  xoxo

Travelling again

I'll be travelling for work again for the next two weeks.  I will be leaving for Chicago tomorrow, then I will be in Minneapolis the week after.  I've been to both places many times and really enjoy both cities, so I'm looking forward to it.  Can you say Mall of America??  I can't wait! 

I've been working steadily in my journals, I now have 14 pages on the go.  It's just how I work.  Here are a few recent completions:



This was a really quick page, I'm enjoying the process and just playing. 



Again, lots of play and a few mag clippings.  I was inspired to use my Alcohol inks from Milliande's videos. 

And finally:



Lots of hand carved stamps, well only two stamps, but lots of repetition.  :)  I carved these out of simple erasers I bought at the dollar store.

I'm spending the evening preparing pages in my journal with gesso for my trip.  I am having a very hard time deciding what I want to take (art supplies that is) as my last trip was a complete fail.  Wish me luck!

Much Love!

My Blue Period

After realizing that most of my pages recently are blue, my tweep Heidi called it "Your Blue Period".  I loved this title!  I just found this great link about what certain colours mean: Check it out here.  This is what it's saying blue symbolizes: 

"Blue is the color of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven."

Hmmm.  Stability?  Confidence?  Something I'm definately striving for, but am definately not there yet.

Anyway, in keeping with this period for me a few new pages completed over the weekend:





Thanks to all that have taken the time to comment this past few posts, much appreciated!!

Much LOVE xoxo

My second Moleskine

Yes, I'm going back on my word.  I broke in my second Moleskine today.  It is the thinner page version that the Man bought me for Christmas.  To make the pages sturdier I simply glued a few pages together with a glue stick. I have dedicated this new journal to trying new things... to play and grow.  I'm having fun so far.  And yes, to those who are keeping count, I now have 3 journals on the go.  :)

Here are a few more pages:





This last page I played with gel medium and a magazine image for a transfer.  I put the gel medium on both the image and my journal page.  I kind of like how "rugged" it looks.  I will try this again.

Have a good evening all!

Much Love

It's Spring!

It's spring!
Originally uploaded by JournalArtista
Good morning all!

Today is the first day of Spring and I couldn't be happier about it. Even though we had a very mild winter with a record breaking lack of snowfall, I'm excited for the warmer weather.

This is a season for new beginnings, new growth. I feel that I am coming into my own with my art and my style.







Here's to new beginnings!

Much Love

Journal #5 WIP pages- Journal Flip Video

Journal #5 WIP pages
Originally uploaded by JournalArtista

First off, thanks SO much for all the sweet comments on my last post. Your support puts a smile on my face, and in some way, boosts me up.

I wanted to share with you all a few videos I shot last night of my two current journals. The vido above is the WIP's from my Journal #5. I have two other videos, completed pages in #5 and all pages (completed and WIP) in the BPJ, Journal #4.





The good news is that these videos are only 90 seconds. The bad news is that they are slightly dark. I'm still learning daily about all this computer/digital stuff. Tips would be greatly appreciated!

Much LOVE xoxo

Real Journaling, Real Blogging

Good evening all.



Another completed double page spread from the weekend.  As you can see, this is another one of my dark pages, in more ways than one. 

I was reading on another blog about how there is enough negativity in the world, and that blogging shouldn't add to that.  I've thought about it for a few days.  I completely disagree.  For me it simply boils down to "why do I blog?".  Well, I blog to share my art, yes, but in many ways I blog to share ME.  The real me.  Unfortuantely, the real me at this point is still healing.  Yes, my posts and pages may be negative sometimes... but I'm healing.  That's what's important.  I refuse to pretend everything is OK and beautiful in my life.  I am real, a real person who loves to play with paper and paint. 

Enough ranting....  here are the pages seperately:




Much LOVE!  xoxo

I miss my Moleskine

I must confess.  After working on 20 or so pages in my 8x8 journal (the spiral bound one), I now miss my Moleskine.  I know, I know.  Yes, I was frustrated with it before.  Yes, that freakin binding didn't hold up.  BUT... there was just an intimacy about it.  I could take it everywhere.  It was small enough that I could "just play", as this page suggests, and not feel like I have to make such a huge commitment.

I don't know, maybe it's just because I don't have it here with me... and that distance makes the heart grow stronger.  ;o)

I do have a watercolour Moleskine awaiting.... hmmm.

Much LOVE!

A few more finished pages

Like so many others, today I have spent the day inside creating.  I completed two spreads, and feel so much better.  Here is the completed pages from the post below:

The pages seperately:

Again, nothing like what I started with.  :)  That's ok though, the process of layering is, for me, a healing technique.  I can release every anxiety in my mind at the time as a layer of paint or ink.

I also completed these:

It was so fun to create with such bright colours!

Much LOVE!

Paint Cannon (mis)Adventures (pt 2)

Remember this?  No?  I didn't think so.  ;)  It's the completed page of this WIP picture:

It's hard for me to believe, even though I created it.  Adding the blue paint totally changed the look. I kind of wish I had kept more of the look from the before pic, but the layers just took on a life of themselves in this page.  I'm not saying I'm not happy with the completed page, don't get me wrong.  :)  I guess what's important is that I know all these crazy layers are underneath, and that I definately learned something in the process.

Here is another WIP:

And the before:

Again, the blue liquid acrylic paint I used kind of took over the page.  I journaled, added some rubber stamp texture to the background in both black and white ink, and slapped down some scrapbook paper.  I'm looking forward to completing this page with a few more layers tomorrow.

I'm so happy that it's the weekend!  I plan on spending it indoors again.  Thanks so much to all those who have left such sweet comments.  :)

Much LOVE! 

In a funk

What I couldn't find
Originally uploaded by JournalArtista

Good evening all!

I've been in a funk the past few days. Not sure what it is, all I want to do after work is go home and sleep.

Tonight I forced myself to do some art. At first it was a little frustrating, but I just pushed forward and quickly got into the groove.

This page definately represents how I've been feeling, so dark and so complicated... messy even.

Here is another page with a basic collage theme:



More tomorrow, I've been working on my Paint Cannon (mis)Adventure pages. :)

Much Love

Become an Art Warrior!!

Silence/Art Warrior
Originally uploaded by JournalArtista
There has been a lot of chat lately around inner critics, and "ugly" pages. I believe that the former is real, and the latter is a symptom of this "critic". In reading Diana Trout's book "Journal Spilling" (which I LOVE btw) she gives her critic a name. I haven't gone this far, but I think it's a great idea.

Instead, I plan on becomming an Art Warrior (and yes, maybe do a little yoga while I'm at it!). I want to go to battle with my self doubt. I will be using acrylic paints, ink, stamps etc as my weapons of mass creation. I have found that the more I do, the more I practice, the smaller the voice is in my head.

These pages were started from a prompt at A Year In the Life of an Art Journal, but just took on a life of thier own. The small add-in page was a wonderful discovery. I have a small water colour paper book that has the same sized holes/spiral binding as my current journal. For this I carefully put a bit of tape on the edge of page so that the tip in would stay in place, as I had originally ripped it out of the WC book. Clear as mudd? hehe

Here are a few more views:

I would love to hear how YOU are becomming an Art Warrior!

Much Love!

How NOT to use the Paint Cannon

Hi all!

I broke down yesterday and bought a Tulip Paint Cannon.  I already had some of the graffiti stencils, which I love, so I thought it would be cool to turn my acrylics into spray paint. 

Well, there must be some secret formula that I don't know about.  Seems like I don't get a nice mist/spray, but rather a stream.  I'm a little frustrated, but I plan to press on and try differen't mixtures.  Here are a few pages I "created", hehe

And finally, this mess:

This last page I was a little sad about, the paint was so thick it covered all the wonderful things going on in the background.  I did use the end of a paint brush to scrape into it a bit.  Since this picture was taken I have been working more on the page, and am happy with it.  I will post the finished pages to all of these soon.  If anyone out there knows something I don't about this, please share!  :) 

ETA:  I have watched the Pam Carriker videos, but so far she hasn't given any hints about paint mixtures.

I wanted to send a special shout out to a friend... her art inspires me daily!

And yes, that is Simon underneath that wonderful post card.  I think he was eight there.  I use post it's for title/prompt ideas.

I also finished this page tonight (among others that I will be blogging about in a few days):

Thanks again for all the love and support you've given me.  For those who've asked, I will be in Art Journaling Magazine this July.  I hope I wasn't supposed to keep it secret.  Yikes! 

Much LOVE xoxo 

Get your motor running

Get your motor running
Originally uploaded by JournalArtista
I must confess, I'm not that good at prompts.

This is usually because I do not sit down to complete one page at a time. I can have up to 10 pages in diffent stages of completion at any given time.

This is why I am loving the March Challenge over at ArtJournaling ning. You can link to it on the right if you'd like to check it out. There are daily prompts that I can incorporate into one page, or use many prompts for the same page. What you see here is a combination of the two prompts "Get your motors running" and "Credit Card".

Kelly Kilmer, who I love, posted this great post today on her blog. I completely agree with her. Check it out here.

Until later, Much LOVE

Some fun stuff

Baby Loves Watercolour Crayons!

I don't pose these, I swear.  I do leave the weirdest things on the couch though!

Another new page:

Lots going on here... It's going to have some serious journaling in the little transparency pocket.

And last, but not least:

I found this jem from 2002 in an old journal I used to keep that documented all my new supplies, and how I tried them out.  I guess I've been art journaling for awhile and didn't know it!

Good night everyone, Much Love!

One of the boys

One of the boys
Originally uploaded by JournalArtista
Ok, I confess, I'm a smoker. Yes, it's a dirty habit. YES, I know it's bad for me. Yes, I plan on quitting.

That being said I created this page in response the a prompt on Gutter Girlz. I absolutely LOVE this site, probably because I enjoy being in the gutter. ;)

Check it out at: Gutter Girlz

Lots of other art going on in my room right now that I'm excited about. Speaking of being excited, I'm going to be published!!!!! Dreams do come true people!

Much Love!

I'm Home!

Wannabe
Originally uploaded by JournalArtista

And it feels so good. I enjoyed my time in St Louis, but I've missed my art room. I brought a few basic supplies (and yes, bought some supplies while I was there) but I just couldn't get myself to do any art. It was a combination of being too tired once I got back to the hotel, and the "fear" of starting a new journal. I didn't bring either of my two current journals, I think that is where I messed up.

Anyway, I have a three day weekend and am looking forward to catching up on a lot of online stuff, and spending a lot of time playing with some paint.

The page at the top was completed last weekend in my BPJ. I wanted to incorporate some of my current faves, the Harajuku Perfume and, of course, Miss Piggy. :o) If only I could wear a pink hard hat like hers at work.

Much Love!