Friday, April 1, 2011

Mission Accomplished!


I got bit by the art journaling bug a year or two ago, and bought a bunch of books on the subject. I read text, looked at pictures, took notes….and did nothing toward creating an art journal of my own.

A bit later, I revisited some of those books, and had fun painting background papers and making image transfers (love!), but never made it past a few scattered pages with no real “journal vibe.”

And then came the new year, a new interest in reading blogs, and the discovery of an astonishing number of people online who either are “masters” of the art journal genre or “newbies” like me, truly dedicated to taking a stab at it. I was inspired to make it happen.

I began an art journal in earnest at the beginning of February, and at the end of March, I found myself with one of those mysterious books filled with wrinkled pages, too fat to fully close, layers and colors peeking out from the inside. And this time it was MY book!


I thought I would share some of the “innards” of my journal. It is FAR from the beautifully finished artistic product I see on some of the published art journalists' web sites. But the truly amazing thing is: that doesn’t bother me!

I have spent my life with a streak of perfectionism that has kept me from doing things that I didn’t think I would excel in, or if I tried those things, I certainly wouldn’t share any less-than-perfect results. I’m not sure what has changed in me in the past few months. I think it might be seeing so many people “putting themselves out there” online for the world to see, enjoy, and judge. I admire that confidence! I am going to follow the principle of “fake it ‘til you feel it,” and emulate that confidence by opening my first art journal for you to see. It has a little bit of everything….

Some pages are collaged:

Some pages show my efforts to practice drawing and sketching:
{This bubble-blowing woman appeared on the cover of
the Daedalus Books catalog.}

Some are heavier on rubber stamping:
{On this page, I tried out some of the new supplies
I bought at the StampScrapArt show.}

Some are just note-taking or quotation-collecting:
{These are notes from the latest Somerset Studio Art Journaling magazine.}

The back is fancy packing tape. Who knew packing tape is so pretty these days?

I have always been more of a “product-girl” than a “process-girl”; I want the prize at the end! But now that I have a finished art journal, which will take up a place in a cabinet or on a shelf, I can fully appreciate that it is, in fact, the process of creating the art journal that matters much more than the final product. I think I had to get to the end of the first one to make that discovery, and I think it will make my next art journaling experience (beginning today!) even more enjoyable and valuable.

Thank you for sharing this first art journaling journey with me!

12 comments:

milkcan said...

What a wealth of wonderful and amazing journal pages! You go girl!

Joyfulploys said...

Thanks for sharing your pages...the thing about art journaling...it's all yours and it's so much fun. Like you, I tend to suffer from perfectionism...the thing that has been freeing me the most is to journal in a composition notebook...that way I don't have to worry if I mess up. I learned a lot watching You Tube videos too.
Mary

NLT said...

I really enjoyed looking. Love your handwriting and creative experiments, very inspirational!

Sarah said...

I smiled reading your intro, I too bought a ton of art journalling technique and inspiration books around 2 to 3 years ago, loved them, used many of the techniques in my other creative endeavours, but never started art journalling 'properly' until this year. It's fun isn't it! Love your pages, what a lot in just 2 months!

laurie said...

wow! you are definitely a natural. :-) so many beautiful pages. please continue to share.

Beverley Baird said...

Loved your journal pages! You've created some lovely pages!
I received your postcard today! Thank you so much for the gorgeous Bird/song quote card! I have always loved this quote. I checked back and really enjoyed your posts on the creation of all your cards!
Thanks again!

Parabolic Muse said...

These pages are so yummy! Who cares about the published journals! These are great and they have a lot of variety and layers, but a cohesive tone, and I like them.

send them over.
Thank you!

Anne said...

Love love LOVE the cover -- to me the essence of an art journal is about how you feel (artistically)on any given day and that's what's great about yours. Each day you woke up with a new idea to think about and you explored it in a deceptively simple way. You have talent.

Design Elements said...

beautiful! happy weekend

scrapwordsmom said...

I would say you are extraordinary at art journaling! The bug bit me last year...I am buying everything!! Currently I am sketching...which I am terrible at but trying just the same. I am also joining the challenge to art journal everyday in April....that's how I found your blog!!!

Carin Winkelman said...

wonderful journal, good job!

Andria said...

Thank you so much for your lovely encouragement, everyone! I appreciate that you took the time to look at my pages and comment on them. It is definitely fun to get this underway as a daily practice.

Beverley, I'm happy that my card made it to you safely. I'm glad that you like it!