Forgiven - Daily Art Journal Page

Hey everyone! How's it been going for you guys today? Hopefully good.

For me, it was a Monday. For the most part, I don't have a problem with Mondays for the regular reasons. Most people wake up, not wanting to go to school. Or work. Or whatever it is that they have to do on that day. For me, my biggest problem is just the getting up. I don't mind school. Not at all. In fact, I quite enjoy school. I just don't like an alarm going off in my ear at 6:30 in the morning.

Anyways. Enough with the complaining about getting up. Let's move onto the art.

For the most part, I've noticed that art journal pages I create during the week are generally quite a bit simpler. For example: Peace. I created that page in the middle of the week because I didn't have hardly any time at all to get anything else done. And I wanted to collage. However, art is still art.

Today's page is fairly simple as well. The original idea for the page started when I thought it would be interesting to work with watercolor on top of newspaper text. I used much bigger pieces to collage this background; a total of three pieces in total. Generally, I work with smaller pieces, gradually working up to a nice collaged background with lots of depth. However, today I wanted to try something different. And different I did. 

I used another heart on this piece today. I'm not exactly sure why, but they seem to keep showing up in my work. I'm not doing it on purpose, I swear. I know it's a bit coincidental, as it is February, and Valentine's Day is this month. However, it is not on purpose.

I think it might have something to do with my 31 Hearts project. Even though I didn't finish it, I think it might have leaked into my everyday art style. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me. And I'm not sure that I actually have a problem with it. Maybe I should try doing a personal 31 Hearts project. I know I wouldn't mind experimenting with it a bit more. However, I am interested in doing the 29 Faces challenge this month. I know I'm a little late to the party, but I know I could still do it.

Anyways. That's what I have for you guys today. I was just messing around with paint, trying to see what would come out of it. I personally like the way it turned out. Even though I initially intended for the heart to be a bit brighter than it is, I think it just adds to the page, seeing that it is a bit darker. 

So I thank you guys for looking, and I'll talk to you next time! :)

6.20.2012 Art Updates and a Color Challenge!

Hey everyone out there in blogland! Hope you guys had a fun, art filled day today. I know that I did. I have been really enjoying the arting everyday thing that I've been doing. AND I've loved coming here and sharing all of the things I've been doing with you guys! Just today, my blog got over a hundred hits. I don't think you guys understand how much that means to me. It's the first time that's ever happened too. And it might just be a coincidence, but today is my 150th post! And it's the first day of summer. I know that it's not a super hefty post amount. But, just next month, I will be approaching my 2 year anniversary for art journaling! And I'm excited for that day. I don't know why. It's just a day. But it's still a milestone. And it makes me happy.

Today's ICAD was based around the prompt 'Your Name'. Now, when I first read this prompt, the first thing that came to mind was my Doodle Your Name card from earlier this month. But I wanted to find another way to interpret this. And I wanted to do it in my own way. This is what I came up with. I didn't really know what I wanted to do when I was starting it out; I had a sort of basic idea in my head, but not all that much that I was super stuck on. I like the way the card came out though. It's somewhat basic, but I still enjoy it.

Today's 30-30-30 page though, is pretty much the complete opposite of basic. I was trying out a bunch of new techniques/concepts that I had dreamed up, as I was trying to figure out some ideas for an ecourse that I'm planning. Stay tuned for more details on that; I think there will be a free one and a paid one. If you buy the other one, you get some bonus features for the free one. That's what I'm thinking. But I'm still not completely sure.

There were a lot of layers involved in today's page, and I was working on it right down to the last second. I always love when that happens, because it shows me just how much I've been sucked into the work. Sometimes I just completely loose track of time, check my watch, and realize I have two minutes to wrap it up. It's all part of the thrill factor. And I've really enjoyed it.

The title of this page though, might not make sense to anyone but myself. I personally feel that the role of a director, or leader in any type of situation would and can be difficult. Maybe even rough. That was the basic concept that I was trying to reveal in this page.

Okay. So today the prompt was too late for me to be able to work on it for the In The Sun class. So, instead of work in that journal anyways, which I was considering doing, I worked on some art journal backgrounds instead. In my big, fat art journal that I really haven't worked in since I've started journaling again. I'll do two pages in my In The Sun book tomorrow. :) This journal (the one I worked in today) is actually almost finished; at least the painting parts. I still need to go through and put some titles and journaling on a lot of the pages. Though that'll be fun to do. I can't wait to actually have a completed journal in my possession. I think that will be fun. To look through an entire book of just my art. Something that I did. Something that I created.

This, like my 30-30-30 page, was composed of a lot of layers and experimentation. I had a lot of fun on these pages, and, even though I'm not really sure where I really want to go with them, I'm not sure that it really matters. I was using up a bunch of paint that I had leftover on my pallet from doing my ICAD (since I used all of those colors), and this was the result. See? You can't throw away that paint. At least I can't. Especially since I've seen this kind of stuff come from throwaways.

I think that I kind of like this circle page a bit better than I like the heart page shown above, but I honestly think that has a lot to do with the colors instead of the overall design of the pages. I like blue a bit better than I like green. Green is my second favorite color, but still.

So yes. These projects are the result of my creative endeavors in this day and age. Tomorrow will be different. And new. And will hold new possibilities.

However, for now, I do have one last announcement. Some of you may remember when I did the color challenge with Dede? I'm doing another one! At least something similar. I'm doing it with Barbara this time, from Reptitude, and we are going to be doing a total of five projects, with the same color pallet, over a time period of slightly less than two weeks. The final reveal, with all of the final projects will be on the 30th of June. I thought that was really fitting. The end of a month, the beginning of a new. Plus, I think it will be fun! If any of you would like to do a color challenge with me after the one with Barbara, please let me know in the comments! I'd be more than willing to do one! :)

Anyways, that's all I have today, and I'll see you guys tomorrow! Bye!

ICAD 8: Black and White

Hey everybody! Today was my last day of sports camp at my school; so my official first day of "break", otherwise known as having nothing to do, starts tomorrow. Today, I once again struggled to work in my art journal, but for a different reason today. Yesterday I slipped really badly when I was outside playing basketball. And I got a really deep wound on my hand. It's in an extremely awkward place on my hand, so I'm having difficulties doing anything, including doing art, or writing this blog post right now. But I did manage to push through to create this doodled ICAD. The prompt that I used today was "black and white". Tammy just released some new prompts today, so that's extremely inspiring. A fresh new start to the week!

So I created this card today with Pitt Artist Pens. I used a bunch of different brush tips, that were included in a Manga kit; lots of different grays and blacks in order to do that type of graphic drawings. Anyways. The background of this card is a little bit wonky and darker in some places than in others... I think that adds to the charm. When I was working on the card, I made the decision that I wasn't going to care about the direction of the marks. I could have made it a whole lot smoother if I would have desired to, but I decided that it would be a whole lot more me in this way. 

I hope to do a little bit more art tomorrow, since I won't have a whole lot to do, besides play basketball and read. And of course do art. Which I am sure I will try to do, even with this injury. :) Of course I could clean. I should clean. But there are so many other things to do... ANYWAYS. That's all I have for you guys today, and I'll talk to you later. See you tomorrow.

"Extreme" and "Artfest - Cover"

Okay. Today I have two pages for you guys to see. And they are both very, very different. That's the way I like to work though. I feel that if I'm not limited by just one style or medium, then I'll always have countless ideas running through my head; endless miles of ways that I might be able to roam. I love that aspect of it. It's so inspiring. Anyways. The first page I have to share with you is from a prompt, like the last few pages have been. 

Today's prompt asked me the last thing I had said. And that was a single word. Extreme. I know it's kind of weird. But then again, I'm kind of weird too. And I'm proud of that. I kind of took this word out of context however, when it came time to work on the journaling. When I had actually said it, I had used it in the context that the case of hiccups that I had just got over was kind of extreme. But in the journaling, I focus more on the aspect of my personality that forces me to go to extremes to get things done.

For example, I was supposed to leave my math exam at noon today, but I wasn't finishes. So I stayed two and a half hours afterwards so that I would be able to finish. My teacher didn't mind. She said that she liked the company.

I wasn't super fond of this page personally. I like the way it looks, but it really doesn't seem to scream me - not the way the rest of my pages do. It's too subtle. Too delicate. Plus, I think the title "Extreme" kind of calls for something more bold and edgy. But it's too late now. I do think it's pretty. I just don't think that it goes with my style.

 Here you can kind of see, on the right side page, a little bit of what MIGHT be coming tomorrow. Since the flowers are in the very first layer, they could very well be covered up by the time I get to the blog. However, I do have a little bit of a plan. So we'll see. Those flowers, by the way, were made up of the excess paint around the edges of a stencil I used. Just flip the stencil over, and you get a negative space image. Pretty cool, huh?

And here we are. With yet another page. Actually, it's a cover. But that's beside the point. I made these magazine journals a little while ago, and I posted them on the blog back in August. And they have just been rediscovered. By me of course. The moment I saw them, I knew that I had to work in one. A new one. Brand new. From the start. And I wanted it to be interesting. I had just finished the previous page, and I knew that I needed to do something bolder. Edgier. More me. And this certainly accomplished that for me.

The colors are a little bit darker than I've been using lately, but I really like the way this turned out. I love how the circles are so imperfect and wonky - I dislike everything being even and perfect. To me, this is just more appealing to the eye. More interesting and intriguing. If you think otherwise though, that's fine. Not all art journals need to be messy and put through a lot of wear and tear. If you want your art journal to be even, pretty, and have everything to a tee, then that's part of your style. This is a small part of mine.

And I'll leave you guys tonight with a bit of a better view of the title for this journal. I printed this out from an online source; it has the title "Artfest" being signed out in ASL (American Sign Language). I just thought that it was cool, and it really jumped out at me when I was searching through my little box of collage goodies to find a title for this page. And with that, I wish you a good evening, and many more happy, arty days!

Creative Experiments 1.6

Here I am, back with you guys today with yet another creative experiments post. I love these posts; I guess that I just love being able to find the versatility of a certain supply. As you guys have surely seen before, I've done a bunch of different things with this particular supply. White acrylic paint. That's one of my favorite things to use to tell you the truth. Today I decided to do something with stamping. I already had a page in my art journal that had a dark blue wash on it. I had been making another page and had a dark color of paint. Then, when I was finished working on that page, I still had some paint leftover. So I wet down my pages, and then just painted over the top of it. Then I let it dry. That was a few days ago. Now today, I decided that I wanted to do this Creative Experiments post, and this page was just calling to me.

Basically, I just poured some white acrylic paint onto my pallet, painted it onto the bottom of a paint bottle, and stamped random circles all over the spread. I really love the way that it is looking, even though I don't really know what I'm going to do after this. Sometimes when I'm working on art journal pages, I don't really know exactly what I'm going to do, because I really like the way a page looks after just a few layers. So sometimes I'll force myself to add more layers, and other times, I'll just slap a title on and be done with it. That's sort of what I was thinking I was going to do with this page. I'm still not so sure, but we'll see. We will see.

ICAD Day #1 - Circles

Just a quick second post today; I did a doodle on an index card for ICAD (Index Card A Day) that is being hosted over at daisyyellow. I used prompt # 8 - circles. I love the way this turned out... just thought I'd share!