Journaling by 5s - Intro and Session 1

I want to get back to art journaling this year. The past few years I've been doing a lot of "memory planning" in Traveler's Notebooks and it's taken a lot of my time. So my goal for 2018 is to do more art in journals.

Sometime last fall I discovered an interesting concept on You Tube which was started three years ago  by Shannon Green. It's called "Journaling by 5s" and is designed to quick-start the journaling process. You can find more information in Shannon Green's video here.

Briefly, there are five sessions of ten prompts, each done in 15 minutes on 20 pages (5-10-15-20) Shannon and many people did this in a composition book, glueing together groups of five pages to strengthen the paper. I didn't want to go to all that effort, so I found this album in my stash which had exactly 20 pages (perfect!) and the paper is quite sturdy. Some people have done this exercise on loose papers and then bound them together. This is great for spreading them out to dry. I just placed loose deli paper sheets between the pages as I worked.

You set a timer for 15 minutes for each session and do two prompts during each session.

Session 1: Use paint and inks (creating background)

Session 2: Collage and recycled materials (for texture)

Session 3: Use stamps and stencils (for pattern)

Session 4: Add images and words (focal point)

Session 5: Pen and pencil work (for details)

Being a bit rushed keeps you from overthinking the process. There is no time for decisions - you don't think, you just do! It is spontaneous and you have to go with the flow.  After all 5 sessions, you will have the makings of 20 journal pages. Some might be "finished;" some might need more work. Not every page will be a masterpiece but it is amazing how the pages evolve and turn out.

So, ready, set, go! Here are the results of my first session using acrylic paint (Dylusions) with both a brush and a credit card "scraper", Distress stains and a few spray inks (Adirondack and Dylusions). I limited my paint colors to yellow, blue, red and pink; stains to blue and orange; spray inks to green, orange, turquoise, red and purple.

Pg 1

Pg 2

Pg 3

Pg 4

Pg 5

Pg 6

Pg 7

Pg 8

Pg 9

Pg 10

Pg 11

Pg 12

Pg 13

Pg 14

Pg 15

Pg 16

Pg 17

Pg 18

Pg 19

Pg 20

As you can see, none of these are particularly pretty! Thank goodness they will have four more layers! I did well with the time frame, even having an extra minute or two to go back and add more on a few pages.

Stay tuned for Session 2!