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!