Art Journaling

 I've tried art journaling several times, but never seem to stick with it.  When I saw this challenge on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's blog awhile ago, I decided to get onboard and start out the new year with a resolution to try to journal daily.  I like Julie's approach - no stress, just trying to carve out about ten minutes a day to nurture your creative spirit.  Well, maybe I can do that!  And, I was the first to sign up!  Now there are over 250 participants!

So, the hardest part is getting started.  I've had an inspiration journal I purchased from Donna Downey at least a year ago and never dared make a mess in it!  I took it out and just stared at the first white page for awhile.  I decided I just needed to get something on the page, so I pulled out my water-soluble pastels (inexpensive Portfolio brand - love these) and scribbled two colors on the page.  Not very pretty but a start!

Looking a bit better after brushing with water.  I also spritzed with water and let it drip down the page.  I was at a loss at what to do next, so left it - I'd already spent more than ten minutes anyway...

The next day I decided to stamp this large foam stamp from Prima with black paint.  (This photo shows the true colors - the first two were taken in bad light.)  Now what?

 

I decided to tear some flowery shapes from book text but they looked too stark, so I painted them with a metallic paint.  I dried that with a heat gun and then a happy accident occurred - the paint bubbled and I liked the texture.  

Here's the finished page after outlining the flowers, adding gold centers and writing with India ink.

It's not a masterpiece, but then art journal pages are supposed to be more about the process than the finished product.  And this took me four days of playtime!

What's next?