More Artful Amblings pages...

...caught up with my Artful Amblings - Year in the Life of an Art Journal pages. Not really thrilled with most of these....the prompts didn't flow easily for me. But I decided to soldier on and post nonetheless....

UN: this one was really tough for me...wanted a positive word (but you can see my mind wasn't cooperating...lot of negative "un's" in there!) I knew I wanted to try a tape transfer - and tho' it didn't turn out exactly right, I liked it for this photo...so I went with it.

SOAR: I had recently read this quote and thought it perfect for this prompt....an inspirational reminder to me to be my authentic self....

MOVE: Stole a line from Len on Dancing with the Stars when he scolded the "Stars" to listen to their dance pros when he told them to "show up, shut up and keep up!" Struggling with ENERGY for quite a while now...need to keep reminding myself to just KEEP MOVING.

TEARS: Was in the mood to collage and these colors are my favorites right now....the little yellow sub-page is for some private words on the topic....I think this needs more work but not sure what I want to do to it. I may doodle a bit more....love the layers.

TANGLED: This didn't come out at ALL like I envisioned....loved my idea of the entangled circles - first thing I thought of was the TANGLED MESS inside my jewelry box (no matter how many times I re-re-re-organize!) - and I liked the bold black word across the page...but then I tried to use my Portfolio oil pastels to highlight the lettering and ugh, I just don't like it now.

....and now I off to watch the LOST FINALE (so sad!)

Artful Amblings...Prompts 2, 3, 4

I am so behind in my posts! I've been spending lots of time with my art journals...(neglecting my stitching/quilting!)...and have been so inspired by the group participating in A Year in the Life of an Art Journal.

Over the last week or so I caught up with scanning my pages for the prompts.

The Jan 30th prompt, "Hope":

This started as a blue painted page (big surprise there! blue?!?) and didn't like where it was going....so I painted over it with some pink acrylic paint and sprayed some Glimmer Mist over the masked word "Hope" then outlined the letters before removing the mask; decoupaged torn pieces of napkin on the left (covered some messy stamping!), added some stamped butterflies and dots, the word "hope" repeated down the right edge, and my favorite part - some book text words to write out my thought. Love using gel medium as glue and sealant all in one...for these teeny words I used a small paintbrush to apply the gel --first to adhere the text to the page and then to paint over the words with the gel to give them a bit a sheen.

And the Feb 15th prompt, "The Unknown"

This started as a blank white page....I spilled some ink while playing with my calligraphy nibs, and decided to just leave it and doodle around it (not happy with how that came out....but there you have it)...the photo is from an ad in a magazine....the journaling is done with an UltraFine Point Sharpie marker....love how they write over the watercolor paper and the glossy magazine page. Very tempted to paint over those dang doodles/ink splotches....would have liked to see this as all black/gray/white....hmmm....

And the Feb 28th prompt, "Silence"

Right, right....we all know how LOUD I am and that I don't like total QUIET....so true to form, this page did not come out in soothing, pale hues. Loving the white pens of late....trying to find the ones that write smoothly without BLOTCHING....no luck with the paint pen versions -- is my technique the problem? How do you keep the paint/ink flowing without pressing out GOBS of it? I do like the Galaxy Marker in Milky Way White by American Crafts....broad point (used it to color in the doodles and outline the word "Silence" - but it isn't as opaque as I'd like. And it feels like it is "running out" already after only a few uses.)

Still working on my page for the March 15th prompt...will post it soon as it is finished and scanned.

Happy Sunday...and whoever took Spring away....we'd like it back, please.

Prompt 1 - Artful Amblings Art Journal

The first prompt of 2010's A Year in the Life of an Art Journal was posted on the 15th. (Prompts are twice monthly, on the 15th and 30th.)

The prompt is: "WHAT? What is holding you back? What is stopping you? What are you afraid of? What is keeping you from your potential? WHAT?!?"

I answered in relation to my art journaling process. Even though I love to sit down with any of my journals - even if it is just to doodle a bit while watching TV or relaxing...sometimes that WHITE PAGE just causes me to freeze. And especially when the plan is to share it on a group site. Rachel's idea to write out all the reasons holding you back and then PAINT OVER THEM to take away their power was a great exercise for me. Originally, I started with a watercolored page, wrote all along the border of the page and filled in with some circle stamped images. But I really didn't like the end result...so I gessoed over it all and added two shades of acrylic paint as a base to start again. I used a Sharpie fine point pen for the journaling, and markers to fill in the letters. The stamps are a sheet of stamps I bought eons ago and cut up and foam-mounted myself (not very well!) The circle stamp is 7gypsies. The collaged bits are cut from a paint chip flyer. I love that I can still see a bit of the journaling peeking through the layers around the edges.

Art Journaling...2010

Ever since I participated in Emily Falconbridge's "Deck of Me" art journal group in 2007 - I have loved having an art journal (or two, or three...) going, and especially having regular prompts to keep me company along the way.

This year, I am participating in "A Year in the Life of an Art Journal" - with Rachel Wetzel.

This is the book I will be using (watercolor paper signatures, the cover is a patchwork of Anna Maria Horner fabrics - inspired by the journal Pam Garrison created from Mary Ann Moss's online class The Remains of the Day (which I have signed up for but haven't received yet....I CANNOT WAIT!)

And so...the first PROMPT was posted on Friday...my morning has been spent layering some paints and textures on the page - I think I am going to go with some stamping and collage....all subject to change as the mood strikes! Will share when it is finished!