Another art journal

 I've been working on another little journal as a spin-off from one of the lessons from the art journal course.  It's something I work on every now and again.  

The cover is a 'ghost print' from a gel plate printing session.

This page started as a pastel watercolour background which was decorated with drawn flowers.  The rest of the background was painted with dark blue acrylic paint.

On the right hand page I cut some flaps and added a stamped image.

This page started as a gel print, which was stencilled over, adding paint pen marks and gold squiggles. 

On these pages, there is a collage and a page with a pocket.

Here is the pocket page without the folded paper.  I really enjoyed drawing all the different lines within the circles as it is a very meditative activity.

Wanderlust 2026 - weeks fourteen to twenty-six - Paper Alchemy (part one)

 I was really looking forward to the Paper Alchemy theme for the art journaling course, as I really enjoy working with paper and was eager to see what we would be creating.  It didn't disappoint as these were some of my favourite weeks so far.

Making journals has featured several times in this theme and this journal has pages made using calico, cotton and tracing paper.  The pages sometimes have various layers on them, including gesso mixed with plaster of paris and texture paste, as well as collage.

We worked on the pages, poking through them with an awl and burning through them (this shows one of the tracing paper pages on the right).

We also put items behind the pages and then sanded off the gesso/plaster of paris mix, leaving the image - in this case, paperclips.  The journal is small and introduced me to lots of different techniques, including the binding, where the pages are sewn together, the covers placed over the top and the pages are folded back and glued over the spine. I loved making this!

Another journal made using a masterboard.  The black squiggles represent ancient writing and we had to run the page under a tap before the writing was dry so that the writing was faded and blurred, which worried me initially but which worked well, as the paper had been layered with collage and acrylic paint first and been left to dry.

Collage decorations were added to the pages.

The words on this page were taken from the scrap of book page I used and they jumped out at me.  I love serendipity!

Collaging a scene was enjoyable too, and we added details to our collaged paper. I have a large collection of painted pages, so it was good to be able to use a few of them.

Another journal, but as my main art journal was getting rather bulky, I decided to recreate smaller pages on the page.  (I have since decided to make the extra journal but not add it to my main journal, so this may feature in another post).

Top left is a pop-out/exploding/flower page with stamped art words. 

Behind the starry door is a stamped eye.

The collaged book page door reveals a fold out.

Finally, a gel plate printed door reveals a spinner (with some of my favourite bought tissue paper on the left, echoing some of the colours).

More to come in part two. 

Wanderlust 2025 - part four

The final twelve weeks of the art journaling course have been full of challenges.  The theme was 'Leaps and Bounds' and a lot of the lessons involved working outside a journal, on canvases,  etc.  However, I didn't want to make 3D objects as I really don't have the space for them, so I had to think how to translate them to 2D, to be able to keep them in my journal. (I think I will be doing the same next year when the course is aimed more at intermediate artists and will be focusing a lot more on 3D).  Above was Kate Crane's lesson on inchies, twinchies, ATC (Artists' Trading Cards) and Moos (half a business card size), so working small.  This lesson took me more time to complete but I really enjoyed it.   

Making ATCs from a masterboard was the next lesson and I turned the page over to cut it out, so the images really were a surprise.  Adding gilding flakes to each card made them look even more special.

Making matchboxes and filling them with interesting little bits and pieces, based on a printers tray, was the next week.  My 'printers tray' is flat, but I was happy with how it turned out.  I added a stamped image from one of my hand cut stamps, a piece of paper I made a few years ago with flowers and foil added into it, cut into a heart, some leaves and flower heads from the garden, a key die cut, an old postage stamp, a tile cut from a magazine, a piece of my handmade felt cut into a star and a tiny letter. 

Working with and on teabags was the next week's focus and sewing the teabag and stamping on it was included, so I had a go. It was tricky, but I got there!

This was based on an assemblage in a rusty tin, with another tin containing lots of bits and pieces. I made my own 2D version using die cuts, embossing, texture paste through a stencil and lots of bits of ephemera. 

Making a wrap closure for our journals was the next lesson, so I altered this into making little fabric 'cards' in pockets instead. I kept the same four seasons idea.  I used calico as the base, painted, collaged and sewn on. The backs of the cards have book pages stuck onto them for added strength.  

You can see the 'cards' better here.

A canvas family tree with photos attached inside painted lids was what I transferred into a journal page.  I used an embossing folder to add some texture to the die cut frames.

Finally, something completely different.  There is a load of writing underneath the paint, but no-one can see it now, which was the whole idea. Reflecting on things that have gone well, or challenges overcome was one side and 'what if...?' questions on the other.  I kept this simple and was going to add some words but decided I liked it as it is.

I think next year's course will provide me with more challenges - we'll see how I get on!

Wanderlust 2024 - weeks forty-one to forty-nine - Alternatives

The last theme of the art journal course this year was Alternatives.  For the first page of the theme, we could create different substrates to work on.  I used gesso mixed with Plaster of Paris to give me a textured background and then had fun using inktense pencils and mark making with acrylic pens on the top.

We used collage and pressed flower petals for the next page and added extra colour to the petals with acrylic paint.

I really enjoyed creating the elements for week forty-three.  We had to go for a walk or go into the garden and notice what colours we were drawn to.  We then made little numbered swatches of the colours and a description of what provided that colour.  On the right, we used window envelopes to display pressed leaves. The vibrant pink was from Salvia Cerro Potosi.

Rust dyeing was used in the collage background here.  The photos are of my Dad, aged about four on the left, my Granny in her twenties towards the top and my Mum aged fifteen just below her. I also did some journaling about some of my memories of them.

The page took a long time, but was enjoyable to do.  We created interesting stamps using string wrapped round cardboard and lids from bottles.  these were then stamped onto various papers and cotton material.  We made a patchwork from all these papers and hand sewed them together.  The photo which is 'trapped' behind tracing paper is of my Granny, Mum (at the front on the right) and her brothers, David and Robert. 

Another enjoyable week, making 'zines' from one sheet of paper, collaged onto, painted and illustrated with stamps, images or whatever you wanted to add, to make these little books.  I chose two of my favourite songs, 'What a wonderful world' and 'What a difference a day makes' for my zines.  I then made the envelopes and decorated them using watercolour swatches.

Dyeing material with plants and flowers was the next lesson.  I didn't have enough of anything to be able to use flowers or onion skins etc. However, I did have some walnut granules, so I used them as a dye and then attached some of the material to journal cards.

The artist's musings week was using stabilo all pencil (which is water soluble) and watercolours.  The teacher had incorporated collage in her page, but I was happy with my simple version. 

The final week was a round up and a bit of reflection, thinking of what we enjoyed, creative breakthroughs, what we would like to do more of next year.  I used a patchwork of gel printed pieces and made a tag flap on the page.  I carved a small birds in flight stamp which is on the tag.  I would like to do more printing (lino and gel), collage and loose watercolour and ink drawing, all activities I really enjoyed this year. 

On to Wanderlust 2025, which starts in January. 

New gel printing techniques and other projects

For my sister's birthday card, I took inspiration from the new collage book I bought.  There is a post about it here.  I used some of my painted papers, cut the shapes out and decorated them.  I hope she liked it!

I have also been enjoying Clare Cosens Designs on Youtube. Her videos are clear and easy to follow and she is a great teacher.  I watched her video on layering using stencils and had a go myself.  My paints beaded up a little on the gel plate, rather than being a flat layer, but I like the end result. The secret with this technique is to let each layer dry thoroughly, before adding the next.

Here is my other experiment with this technique.  It is one I will use a lot, I think, although waiting for the paint to dry takes patience, especially when you want to add the next layer!

I really enjoyed the Gel Printers Summit where every day, a different gel printer presented a different technique.  Some really appealed to me, especially one by Sarah Jane Gordon.  She used seaweed,  stencils and fossils to create a layered print, and by using printing inks, which stay wet for a long time, you could work directly on the plate.   I had some printing inks which I use for lino printing, but I hadn't used them on the gel plate. They wash out with water so are much better than the inks I had to use at school and college, which could only be cleaned using white spirit.   

Here are some of my first attempts, using stencils and stamps. 

I do like the layering effect and I wasn't waiting for layers to dry, so it was a less time-consuming process.  Again, I am sure I will get better with practise.

The ghost prints were still rather nice too.  Gel Printers Summit gave me a lot of information and I shall revisit some of the videos as they were packed full of tips and techniques along with the projects. While gel plates are very forgiving and a beginner printer can make some amazing images, I hope that as I improve, I will make more considered decisions and end up with some lovely prints.

Wanderlust 2024 - weeks seventeen to twenty-four - Writing

We started this theme with a patchwork of all kinds of writing.  I really enjoyed this and used a photo of my Granny aged around eight as a focal point.  We added words which we had stitched too.

The next week was lettering with a paintbrush.  I used a waterbrush as for some reason, I seem to get a better end result.  We did lots of practise for this one, using different paints and pens.  The lettering is much more effective in real life, with a lot of shimmer - sadly it looks a little flat here.

Being bold with our writing was the next lesson.  Underneath this black paint is a whole page of writing using swear words - we were told that this is a good way to get people to loosen up - especially if the  whole thing is going to be covered up!  We were encouraged to using big swoopy writing, no gaps, and move our whole arm while we wrote. It was a very freeing exercise.

Underneath this page is more of the loopy writing, which was dictated to us. There is no swearing in this one. We had to write one way and then cross the writing, so that even though I know what I wrote did make sense, it is quite difficult to make it out.  I did enjoy the loopy writing and you might notice it appearing now and again in future pages.

We used stencils, pens, gel plate, stamping to create the next page, in my favourite blue/green colours.it also features my favourite numbers.

This page was based on a stage of our life although mine ended up being all about the garden in April/May with alliums.

Lists were the focus here and I took the opportunity to crate little cards with the lists of some of my favourite books, films, food, plants and music.  I used some of my gel prints stash to cover the pockets and cards.

I 'cheated' somewhat with this page. We used brush pens to create the background smooshing and then to draw the wreath.  We were then shown how to create lovely brush lettering.  I did try, but wasn't happy with my attempt.  I wasn't surprised as with many things, you do need to practise, practise, practise.  I decided life was too short and I wasn't particularly desperate to learn, so I used some brush lettering stamps instead.  I was very happy with the end result.

The last page for this theme was the 'artful musings' and we were given prompts, together with a collage sheet of images to choose from. The prompts were:  Use a watersoluble pencil to make marks and activate it with water; Spread inks/watercolour on a page and blot or move it with a paper towel; Add a little black; Add a collage element (for me it was the owl on a branch and the mushroom); Yellow; Extend your collage element (I extended the branch and made a tree); Use a skewer and ink and make a fine pattern; Add some words; Turn the composition upside down and add something to it based on what you see upside down; Use something on your desk as a stamp (mine was the base of a glue stick which gave me the red circles).  Considering I had no idea what this would turn into when I started, it looks a bit like a rather abstract forest to me. 

Next we move on to Printing - I am really hoping this will be right up my street!