Last Art Journal Page of 2013

Happy New Year! I'm a little late posting this as it's a couple hours past midnight, but here is my last art journal page of 2013:

It might not look like much, but what's not visible is the first layer, which is a hand-written list of the 109 books I read this year. I originally wanted it to be visible in the background, but it didn't look quite right. So I added some spray ink, which looked a bit odd. I sort of gave up on being able to see the list of books and added gesso and let it blend with the spray ink. I added the quote and outlined with black gelato. It looked really bare, so I added the washi tape. It still looks maybe not quite done to me, but I'm calling it finished.

Now that the year is done, I'm going to be binding all these loose pages into one journal. For Christmas, I bought myself a Cinch Binding System. I was a bit hesitant to buy it, but it is so easy to use and I love it! I'm just hoping it won't have any trouble with the painted and collaged journal pages. But hey- the holes it punches will make for some colorful confetti!

Christmas Art Journal Page

Merry Christmas! I've been working on this page all week and finally got it done!

This page started with a layer of self-adhesive gift tags, which I gessoed over. Then there was some painting through stencils in red and green. The tree was made using washi (and other) tape and outlined with gelatos. The Merry Christmas was cut off a gift bag.

The one thing I don't like is the star. I wish I had made the tree come to a point so the star wouldn't look out of place. Or I could have left off the star completely, but by the time I realized I didn't like it, it was too late. I don't really hate it, I just think it looks awkward because it's obviously not at the top of the tree. Oh well! I suppose you learn something with every page or other project you do. I learned to plan my page better, or at least to not glue things down until I'm sure. Of course, I've had this lesson many times and I don't always follow it. My art style is more "do this and see what happens" than any sort of plan. I think it works for me.

I was looking back through the pages I've done this year and I realized there aren't any that I hate. There's a couple that I don't like very much, some I love, and some that are just ok but none that I just can't stand. I think that is awesome because I have such a hard time considering myself an artist after being a crafter for so many years. But, at the end of the year, I'll have a book (once I rebind it) full of art that I did, most of which is pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. So I guess what I'm saying is that I feel really good about the art I've done this year.

New Art Journal Page

I couldn't think of a name for this page, but I'm not very good at that anyway. I wasn't feeling very inspired this week, so I'm pleased that this page turned out so well.

I started by gluing down some paper bits- actually wrapping paper scraps. I gessoed over that, and then used some spray inks through a stencil. I did some random stamping. I cut out a model from a magazine and used her as a mask. The lines were made with gel pens.

The colors in the picture below are not quite true to life, but you get the idea.

2 New Art Journal Pages

I didn't finish any pages last week, so this week I have two. The first one was a lot of fun to do. I recently bought a set of Twinkling H2Os. This page was basically just a way for me to try them out. I originally intended this to just be a background, but I liked it a lot and decided to leave it as it was.

The next page is the result of me giving up when the page didn't turn out as planned. The background was done with gelatos. I can't really explain what I was trying to achieve, but believe me, it didn't work. The pumpkin picture was a free coloring sheet from somewhere online (sorry, it's been a few years) that I shrunk down. It was colored with gelatos and a water brush. I framed it with some paper tape. (I went crazy when I found this tape at the Dollar Tree. I bought one of each design.) The leaves and Autumn chipboard stickers are from my stash of scrapbooking supplies. I've had them for years and have only a very vague idea of where I bought them. This isn't one of my favorite pages, but I don't hate it.

Art Journal Page: Live Out Loud

Here's my newest art journal page. I really like how it turned out!

Art Journal Page: Fashion

The idea for this page came from something I saw on Pinterest. I don't really like the girl I used, but I recently purged my stash of magazines and catalogs and didn't have much to choose from.

 The quote says "Oh, never mind the fashion. When one has a style of one's own, it's always 20 times better." - Margaret Oliphant.

Project Life for October: Weeks 40 - 43