Inspirations for Art Journaling

Inspiration for these journal pages came

from a fashion magazine, the phrase

"pear-shaped figure," and an affection for

paper dolls and interesting quotes.

I couldn't resist putting the pear-shaped

body beneath the fashion-ad inspired head,

when in the glossy magazines, they

are usually pencil-thin!

The woman's figure was painted in

watercolor on watercolor paper, then cut

out and glued onto the page.

A watercolor background was

shaded with soft pastels after

adding the text in Sharpie marker

and mauve gel pen.

The pose of the figure is not ballet...

I have been in physical therapy for a

frozen shoulder, and this is a

painful reminder of the stretches I

must do to get back my mobility!

Again, a page motivated by a fashion magazine.

I find the graphics, layouts and photography

quite inspiring, though the clothes are 

often just weird.  The turban is inspired

by African styles, and the flowers are

inspired by American folk-art designs.

If you've ever looked at Pennsylvania

Dutch designs or early American

birth and marriage certificates, 

they can provide a wealth of ideas for

art journals and decoration.

THE PROCESS-- Mixed Media Collage

MATERIALS:Recycled cardboardGessoArtist's chalk pastels"Suave" max hold hairspray (or any inexpensive brand)Scissors, glue, Sharpie markerPapers, paint, fabric, ephemeraHole punch, if desiredRecycle cereal box or other cardboard for substrate.Cut to size & shape desired. Apply gesso, 1-2 coats.Apply chalk pastels in desired colors."Fix" with inexpensive hairspray. (This isto help prevent smearing of the chalk)

Choose scraps of fabric, paper, painted papersto include in the composition.Color contrast was a main considerationfor this piece. Lay out without gluingand try several compositions.Cut, tear, and overlap shapes.

Begin gluing shapes after experimenting withcolor contrast, overlap, and how your eyeis guided through the page.In the western world, our eye is usuallytrained to "read" the composition from(upper) left to right, top to bottom.Try to guide the eye through the pageby the balance and movementof shapes, colors, space & contrast.

I usually repeat some colors and shapesthroughout the surface, often usingsomething an odd number of times,as in 3 times, or 5 times...but it's not an absolute...My process is intuitive.

"Connected" - Pink & Blue CollageOften, it is difficult to know when the composition is finished!Some artists suggest that the artworkis never "done" it just stops in an interesting place...I added layers of undulating linesto suggest "strata" with an extra-fine point Sharpie marker.I used a hole punch to punch holes in this pieceto put into a "ring binder art journal."Ingrid has been recycling cardboardto create stunning journal pages ina recycled ring binder. She has inspired meto create my own version.Please visit Ingrid's blog to see herbeautifully executed journals!

Shape Up!

Michelle Ward's GPP Street Team BlogCrusade No. 27 is calledShape Up!She challenged us to explorea shape: think positive & negative,large & small...

These Art Journal pages were first paintedwith watercolors for the background.Primitive bird shapes were cutfrom paper and then pastelsapplied to the bird shape. I laidthe shape onto the journal pageand rubbed the pastel fromthe stencil onto the journalpage, creating a stencil of the negativeshape. Hand-carved bird stampswere added & quotes in calligraphy.I also included the stencil shapesby gluing them to the page as well.