Art journal class review

Taught my last art journal class for the year on Wednesday night. We've covered a range of ideas for how to work in your art journal and this was a fun way to put all of that into practice. I had told them to bring limited supplies and that we would work together to create a page from start to finish. They needed to come with a quote or poem or found words and a focal image so they had a focus for the page. Then to choose a limited colour palette and select appropriate paints, markers, stamps, background collage papers and serviettes. This was all I took to class :

Their class notes had the following headings : 
1. Use paint (scrape it, brush it, baby wipe it)
2. Stencil
3. Words (found in the background, do your own lettering, stamp, cut out)
4. Paper (background, serviette, focal)
5. Cover something up with gesso
6. Markers/pencils (outline, lettering, shading, highlights)
7. Stamp
8. Drip/splatter/ink/glaze
I had written these numbers on popsicle sticks and they were in a jar so we couldn't see what we were drawing out. We got started by drawing a number and then doing that prompt on our page with a timer set for 5 minutes. It worked brilliantly - there was lots of laughter and everyone really enjoyed the bit of pressure of limited time to stop them thinking too much and to 'just do it'. They have learned during the year that nothing is a mistake and you shouldn't fall in love with your first layer or you won't want to cover it up!
I took progress photos as I did each prompt
5. Cover something up with gesso - the others already had prepared pages so this wasn't a good start for them, but I went ahead and scraped gesso on my page to cover over the darkest parts of my book pages. Some hadn't thought to use a credit card in that way so a good start

2. Stencil - a reminder that if you do something in one part of your page you should repeat it in another. 

7. Stamp - I used paint and tried to add some dark areas

8. Drip/splatter/ink/glaze - I shared three things here. A : the use of acrylic ink and transparent paint (Golden brand) to create a layer that unifies but also allows the previous layers to shine through. B : flicking paint loaded on a brush to create spatter. C : Drippage : again using ink/paint with flow and adding water. My drips didn't flow as well as they might because not all my background layer was covered and the paint soaks into old book paper instead of traveling. More lessons learned.

3. Words. First I found words in my background which I outlined with black Faber Castell Pitt pen. Then I cut some additional words found on a large print book page - I just brought a couple of pages from a recycled romance novel hoping there'd be something inspirational. You'd be surprised how often serendipitous looking works

The others wanted a little more time so we set the timer for another 5 minutes but I was happy with my words so I just outlined the larger ones with my Stabilo All watersoluble pencil and then smudged it using gel medium so it is sealed from future movement.

4. Paper. I did bring some background papers which I didn't use, but I had a beautiful serviette which had served as the inspiration for my colours and I managed to use it well around the page as my focal images

After that last prompt stick draw, we agreed we were all at the stage to do what felt good to finish our own page. For me I needed a glaze to fill in the gaps uncovered by any media. 

Especially lovely to have the iridescent and metallic paint shine up through this layer.

What follows are the student pages - amazing that we followed the same prompts and got such different results. 

My page was almost complete by the end of the night and I just love the layers but the bright yellow green spot was drawing my eye. I added some Noir iridescent paint around the page through punchinella and it made all the difference. From this 

to happy to call it complete : 

It's been a fantastic experience teaching these art journal classes and one I hope to continue in 2020. 

Fanciful landscape

This art journal spread was all about experimentation and play. I bought some watercolour absorbent ground (a Goldens product) a while ago and decided it was time to try it out in my journal. It goes on white - obviously I had cleaned off some pink from my previous page on this!

Then it was time to add watercolours - I really like that I tried flicking the wet brush to make lovely watery splatter effects. If you click on the photo to see it larger you can see it's not really a true watercolour effect, but it does mean I can mix my media so that's an advantage when I'm wanting a softer background on old book paper.

It seemed obvious that this should be an underwater scene and after looking at a lovely mermaid book from the library for inspiration, I found my mermaids...

I sketched them in with stabilo all pencil = a word of CAUTION : If you've used the absorbant ground, this seems to hold onto the stabilo and I lost the ability to erase with a wet wipe so easily....added some pink acrylic so I can fix her face shape

White pen seemed the best to add next along with a sea horse

My go-to technique next - adding stencils. Iridescent paint seemed the logical choice for mermaid sparkles and magical sea plants

Almost there

Found words required

A little more watercolour wash to make the sea more blue and I'm happy to call it done. 

Pure play and not my usual, so a fun addition to my art journal. You might remember I began the year in this recycled book  

and I'm really happy seeing the transformation

This spread takes me to exactly half way through my journal - 21 spreads so far. 

See all the art in here in my Flickr album or through my blog posts HERE. 

Dream in full colour

I've been loving my last few journal pages because they've evolved from my #arteveryday practice of doing a little and often, listening to my instincts of what I feel like I want to add next rather than following a particular lesson plan. There will always be a place for online art classes, but I'm loving what's been happening this month in my original art. This time I started with a base of paper collage

Day 1

Love these inspiring found words in the background which I have highlighted with Stabilo pencil to be the start of the story

My first roses are starting to bloom at my house. This is the climber "Compassion" - taken on a wet day when I really needed reminding that Summer is going to come

They provided the inspiration for my first layer of colour this week, as well as the use of my next serviette layer

Day 2

Have you used serviettes in your work? I began with this floral one that was gifted recently. Most are 3 layers and you need to remove the back plain layers

Then use a small brush dipped in plain water to outline your chosen piece and lift it out before gluing to your background. 

Add your gel medium to your base page, then put the serviette on top and smooth out with your glue brush

Day 3

Next day I saw where to add my face - I am loving using inky Stabilo pencil for my first lines

Day 4

And I thought I would like a hand to hold something - again in Stabilo which can be erased with a wet wipe...This is in fact what happened next day as you will see - but this sketch was enough to tell me I was on the right track

Day 5

Face now complete with paint and pen detailing

I don't often use birds in my work, but this cardboard collage element was perfect. I smudged the white edges with purple pitt pen to make her blend more and I'm happy with this effect. 

Then I just needed to add some gold around the page

And here is the spread finished (Day 6)

I will definitely be trying to #arteveryday in my journal again this coming week. See all of my art in my altered art journal from this year in my Flickr album or by clicking on the label below.

Believe in Magic

Another journal spread at last. I've been busy since I last shared with you. Will go into detail in my October monthly review but believe me, I haven't been idle!  This spread began by challenging myself to scrape on some colours that are not my usual

Then I felt moved to add some feather stencils in gold

Another several days passed wondering what I wanted next... I decided to try Effy's latest lesson in Moonshine - creating a 'lip up' face

and then I quickly moved on to adding more stencils around 

I sprayed her face with workable fixative to set the Stabilo pencil. Once dry, I was ready to start adding colour - I'm liking the dappled evening feel and think that apart from her face we'll just need some white/light highlights and words to be done. Let's see if that happens. First I needed more gold stenciling to blend out those hard lines of dark blue... which in turn led to gold highlights on those feathers (click on any photo to see it larger)

The dragonfly and words came to me next

Then the face....I've not tried to make her perfect. She's a bit raw - a bit fierce ♥

Once again I love all the stencil layers and textures. Although I tried to start in a different place with my colours, somehow she ended up back in my comfort zone. I guess that's my own style coming through. And here's the finished spread

The photo really doesn't pick up all the gorgeous glimmer from the gold - it glows over the dark behind it. Wishing you a creative and happy week. If you want to see the rest of my art in this altered book, check out my Flickr Album.