Bewilderment: Daily Art Journal Page

Hey guys! What's going on? For me, not a whole lot. School has been going good, although today, right before lunch, they had a major pocket/locker search. Six people had their phones confiscated. It kind of stunk, because everyone was storming around in a rage for the rest of the day. None of it really applied to me, because I never have any problems with the rules at that school anyways, but apparently some people do. I don't know. Anyways. Let's focus more on the art now, shall we?

I decided to do another portrait today; for what purpose, I have no clue. For some reason, I've just really been enjoying doing these pages. However, they do take quite a bit longer than any other pages I might do. Because I'm trying to get a recognizable subject matter, rather than a bunch of colors and patterns that look good together. It's not that abstract doesn't take work. Because it does. Definitely. However, for me personally, it comes a lot easier than realism. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I am very impatient. Not necessarily in a bad way, so that I can't wait at all in everyday situations. But when it comes to art, I like these things to be quick. However, if I can see progress, then I might be willing to spend more time on something.

This page took me two hours to create. When you start at 8:00 in the evening, that can become quite the ordeal. I enjoy doing it however, so I make time.

I used another quote today, which I seem to be enjoying. I'm not quite sure what led me to these, but I find that often times another person can express, with much more precision, what I was thinking. Today's quote is as follows, as I realize that the above photograph is slightly difficult to read:

"Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid."

I'm not quite sure why this felt so applicable to me today. It kind of goes along with how I've been feeling about some of the life situations I've been dealing with. However, it would be very difficult for me to try to explain, and I'm sure you people don't want to hear about my high school drama. :P 

Anyhow. I'll leave you guys today with a bit of detail shot of both the background and the face itself. The color and shading of the face is built up of many, many layers of paint; probably around 20-25. Also, I did it all with craft paint. I know a lot of people think it's not worth it to use cheaper paint, because you can't get the same effects. And maybe that's true. Maybe you can't get the same effects. However, you can get different effects. And sometimes that's what makes something unique.

I've also felt myself being drawn to these brighter colors as of late. Maybe it has something to do with my mood. Maybe it's about how I want to feel. However, any way I decide to take it, I do know one thing for certain. And that's that I like it. It's different, that's for sure. Perhaps it's not what I normally do. But maybe my style is developing. Maybe I'm changing into something new. 

Normal: Daily Art Journal Page

Hey everyone! How's it going? Hopefully you all had a good Tuesday; I know I did. However, I do happen to be exhausted. Today I had open gym at my school, and I basically played basketball for at least two hours straight. Like I said, I am very tired. I almost fell asleep on the floor.

Anyways. Enough about that. Let's get onto the art!

Today's page feels quite a bit more graphic to me for some reason. I'm not exactly sure what caused me to go in this direction with the page, but I quite like the way it turned out. To me, it really seems quite reminiscent of Traci Bautista's work. The minute I thought of that, it reminded me of all the old series I used to do on the blog. The work through of the Collage Unleashed book, even though I stopped and started it a million times. And I also brainstormed some ideas for a couple of new series.

I will still be continuing my own challenge, Resize It!, even though I need to sit down one of these days and record. It just seems to be such a hassle. I like doing it though. It doesn't feel like a chore, while, at the same time, it does. It's difficult to explain. It also has a lot to do with the fact that I'm lazy. However, the fact that I started brainstorming a bunch of new ideas means that you guys aren't going to have to simply see my work every day. You get to see my work with some sort of structure. And I hope you'll enjoy that. :)

Here's a better look at the quote I used for this page. I love it. So much. I saw it on Pinterest, which just so happens to be one of the most useful tools I've had for art journaling thus far in my life. And that's saying a lot. I can find inspiration for pages, as well as clipart, free collage sheets, and quotes to put on the pages themselves. I just think it's cool.

Anyways. I've had this quote pinned for a while now, and thought that it would make a good page. This describes me perfectly. I'm not normal, and I'm 100% proud to admit it. I don't have a problem with being different, and perhaps just the slightest bit weird. I consider myself slightly eccentric, though I think my sarcasm trumps all. 

I thought that I would leave you guys with just a few detail shots of the background. I did a collage initially, using a bunch of pieces of paper and things that I normally would have thrown in the trash. That's something else that I've been experimenting with a bit. Keeping all of the things I'm tempted to throw away. And USING them. That's the key word. If I don't use them, then there is no purpose to it, at all. It's just clutter. However, if I do use them, that's just more fodder that I can use in my collages and art journaling. 

Just one last thing; I used all kinds of shapes in today's piece; hearts, flowers and circles. Though they normally don't go together very well, I like to think that it works. You can't be afraid to play. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If I would have stopped at the precise moment I thought I should, only because I was scared of ruining it, then I would have missed out on this great page. If I didn't like the way that it turned out, I always could have tried to cover it up in some way. There are no mistakes in art journaling, only opportunities.

Anyways. I hope you guys enjoyed today's post, and I'll see you all next time. :)

Flight of the Butterflies: Daily Art Journal Page

Hey guys! What's going on?

I didn't have a whole lot of time to create today, as I had to study for an Anatomy test I have tomorrow (I still need to do some more of that) and I also had to clean my room. So even though I didn't really go anywhere today, I was pretty busy. However, I did manage to carve aside a tiny bit of time to create; a lot of my pages as of late seem to have been created later in the evenings in the time span of about an hour. Sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less; I don't really time myself. It's pretty much just an estimate. 

Here's a bit more of an up close of the title. There is a bit of deeper meaning to what I have here, I promise. I'm not just talking randomly about butterflies migrating. I actually just watched a movie by the title of this in an IMAX theater the other day at MOSI. I was so inspired by their colors that I just had to create a page around them. However, the black and orange of a monarch butterfly were just too halloween - like for my taste. So I added in the blue. That really helped me.

Also, one of these days, I need to show you guys the method I've come up for organizing the letters that I've cut out from magazines and newspapers. I used to store them in plastic baggies, but that got really annoying to try to mess with. One day, I promise I will show you. The sorting itself is very tedious, but I generally do it while my mind is busy doing something else; watching television or the like. In fact, just this evening I was watching a recording of the All-Star NBA game that came on last night, and was sorting out the letters while watching that. However, I need to try to find the last two periods of that game online somewhere, as they didn't record on my VCR. That makes me sad. 

Anyways. One last picture for you guys before I go; a detail picture of the background itself. I can definitely see myself pulling out the typewriter and putting some some simple journaling inside of this star. Why not, right? It looks like it would fit perfectly, if I'm being completely honest. Maybe a quote from the movie, or something about the emotions that I felt while I was watching it? Again, I'm not really sure. However, sometimes I just need to let things sit for a while before journaling. I think this is going to be one of those pages.

Thanks for looking guys! And I'll see you next time! :)

Linking to Mandarin Orange Monday and Creative Every Day.

Beauty: Daily Art Journal Page

Hey everyone! I know I wasn't on here yesterday, but I actually do have a legitimate reason for that. I was gone all day, and didn't have time to do any art at all. It was a Saturday, my dad was home from work, and we all just wanted to hang our as a family. Every now and again I'll have a day like that. A lazy day, when I don't feel like doing anything. Nothing at all. Just going out and having fun as a family. And I'm not going to beat myself up over something like that. Yes, I miss the blog when I don't do it for extended periods of time. But a day here and there isn't going to kill me. I hope you guys understand. :)

Anyways, now that I've gotten that cleared up, let's get on to the actual art now, shall we?

I decided to go with a face page today. I know I don't do a whole lot of these, and I'm hoping to change that a bit. I'm not quite sure what inspired me to create this page, but I quite like the way it turned out. It just so happened that I'm actually not horrible at creating face portraits; I just feel intimidated by them. I'm not sure why. I just always have. 

Here's a bit of a close up of some of the facial details. I didn't use a tutorial, or use another photo for reference. I did this completely on the fly, from the top of my head. For that, I would say this is pretty good. Of course that's me. And I'm extremely biased. It's not a problem. It's just a fact. My biggest problem with creating faces, at least that I've found, is matching the colors. I'm not quite sure what it is about it, but I have the most difficult time matching hair and eye colors with the colors of lips and clothing. I think it might have something to do with the face that I don't wear a lot of make up. Because of that, I tend to have difficulties when trying to make it look like my creations are wearing some. 

Here's a bit of a close up of the background, just so you can see what's going on. There is a very likely possibility that I will go back and add into this background in the very near future. I'm not very satisfied with it personally; I don't think it covers up enough space and seems very random and unfinished to me. A few more layers, working it into the hair, would probably do the page a lot of good. And journaling, as always, will be added later. 

Here you can see the hair a little bit better. I'm not exactly sure what made me decide to go with an orange hair color, but I'm glad I did. I think it fits the mood of the page perfectly, and really goes with how I was feeling at the time I made it. 

And now, just one last photo for you guys before you leave. A close up of the facial details themselves. I think the nose is my favorite part. It just turned out so nicely. I was really worried that it was going to look overworked in the finished piece; there was really no way of knowing for sure, and I was kind of going out on a wing. However, everything turned out in my favor in the end, and for that I am grateful. 

Thanks for coming to visit me everyone, and I'll talk to you again next time! Goodbye everyone. 

Linking to Try it on Tuesday.

Joy: Daily Art Journal Page

Hey guys! What's up? Hopefully you had time to get done everything that you wanted to today, and, if not, I hope you enjoyed yourself anyways. :P

Today I had a half a day of school, so I got home at noon. However, I was exhausted, and passed out on the couch, not getting up until around four-ish. So it was like I had a full day of school anyways. I managed to push that aside, and got to doing some art, using a concept I had come up with yesterday. You see, for Valentine's Day, I received a red carnation from someone at school, and a whole bunch of white ones from my dad. So I put them together in a vase, and I really liked the way they looked; the red contrasting the white. So I decided that I wanted to paint them. Which was strange for me, as I'm not much of a realistic painter.

However, I really like the way they turned out. Somehow, even though they barely even resemble carnations, I still was able to express the emotion that I had wanted to through this page. I also was able to document a moment in my life; one that I would have written down in a journal if I would have had one instead. That's what I love about art journaling. It's a documentation of your life through pictures and art. That's cool to me. It gives me a chance to keep a consistent journal, without having to forget about painting, which I also really enjoy.

Something else I love about this page is that I was somehow able to keep true to myself in the creation of this page. Just by looking at it, I can tell that it's mine. That makes me happy. And definitely gives me confidence; a desire to move forward in my work. 

I had a lot of fun in the creation of this page, and was glad to see it through to the end. In the beginning, when I first started it, I wasn't sure what was going to become of it. I wasn't sure if everything was going to work out in my favor or not. But I had to be willing to try. That's the thing about art journaling, I think. You cannot be afraid to try new things. To try to incorporate new and different things into your work. You just can't. If you are intimidated, then you can never proceed. You can never grow as an artist. That's why I keep working in areas like this. And in the area of painting faces. Because I'm not good at them, I try them anyways. I was actually considering doing a face page tomorrow. We'll see.

Anyways. I hope you guys enjoyed looking at today's art, and I'll talk to you all again soon! Goodbye everyone. 

Linking to Art Journal Every Day and Paint Party Friday. 

Heart Investigation 1.3: Wild

Hey guys! Heart Investigation is back, for it's third installation. And it's Valentine's Day! I feel like that's kind of cool. I hope you guys had a good day today; I know I did. I didn't think it was going to be too different from a regular day of school, but it was actually pretty fun. I got a carnation and a chocolate bar from one of my very good guy friends, because he's awesome. And know's I like chocolate. Or food in general. :P

However, getting away from that, and the day in general, let's focus more on the art. I played around with a concept that I've been considering for a while now; two overlapping hearts of different sizes. I was playing around with some cutouts the other day, and I thought it would be interesting to try and build a page around it. 

I didn't have a whole lot of time to create today, unfortunately.  So I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do for today's page. Normally I would have done some in depth collaged background. However, I knew that would take quite a while to do. So, instead, I just did a subtle collage. I let some of the lines from the original paper show through in areas, and put down random pieces of paper I had lying around my desk. It was almost a clean up sort of project, even though I'm not even close to having a clean desk. I used some graph papers, a couple of different kinds of tissue paper, a couple pieces from a magazine page, and some newsprint. Also, I used an ATC sized piece of cardstock I had written a few notes on. 

I didn't need it anymore, and had layered a bit of paint and india ink doodles on top of it. I just pasted that down and used it as yet another layer in the page, which I quite enjoy the concept of. Something that I would have otherwise thrown away being used. That's always nice. 

In this photo, you can see the layers quite a bit better. The cardstock piece is the one with the doodles on it. I collaged stuff down until I was satisfied with it, then used my fingers to paint in the rest of the gaps with pink and white layers. Of course, there was more done than that, but, for the most part, that was the general gist of it. 

Also, just as a bit of a parting farewell, I thought I would share a picture of how bulky the tabs are starting to get. Personally, this is my favorite part of my 2013 journal so far. Of course I love the individual pages, as it really expresses how I've been advancing as an artist, even over the course of just this new year. However, the collectiveness of it all is what really makes me proud. When a journal starts to get full and bulky, it just makes me well up inside. It just looks so cool, and is so fun to flip through the pages, just to see what's going on. What was happening in your mind when you did the things you did. And now I can tell when I was thinking those things, which is a cool aspect.

Also, I'm thinking that sometime over the weekend I'm going to be working on the cover for this journal. We're already halfway into February, and I still haven't done that. I think it's going to be a necessity, and I'm looking forward to creating something I'll be able to look at with pride for years to come.

However, before I go, I would like to thank you guys. I've been really enjoying being back with you guys again this year; I've missed art journaling in general, more than is even possible for me tho humanly explain. It's something that keeps me grounded. And when I separate myself from that, I'm lost. I'd like to thank the followers of this blog. The people that visit me and read what I have to say. The people that look at my art and leave me comments about how inspired they became after seeing my work. That's amazing. It makes me feel good, and is literally the highlight of my day. However, even though I may inspire you, it's you guys that inspire me. So thank you! And I hope you all have a GREAT day. :)

Compassion: Daily Art Journal Page

Hello everyone! I'm here with you guys again today, with a page that holds a bit more meaning to me personally. I don't know if I mentioned it here on the blog, but yesterday, on a field trip through my school, I went to the Holocaust Museum here in Florida. It was my first time being in a place like that, and even though it wasn't extremely morbid, graphic, or anything to that extent, it still had a pretty emotionally draining affect on me. I didn't quite know how to react.

For as long as I can remember, I've always felt very deeply for people. It's just something that I've always had. Even fictional characters. I cry in movies and television shows all of the time, even though I HATE to, because it messes with me and gives me headaches. Anyways. Basically the entire trip, I was close to tears. I was trying my best to control it, as I knew it would be extremely awkward for me, and for everyone else if I just started bawling. I realized that I needed to wait until later on to get all of that emotion out. And that's what I did. however, I did it the following day, and through art. 

This spread is what I did. The idea for the tree actually came from a painting that I saw AT the museum. I liked the simplicity and the meaningfulness of it. There was jut something about it that drew me in. So I decided to work with it a bit in my own work. I actually will be adding journaling to this page as well. This is one of those pages that DEFINITELY needs some. To make sure that I don't forget what I was thinking when I made it. However, the journaling that I typed out just so happened to be extremely personal. This is one of the few pages I'm not going to be able to share the fully finished thing with you guys. Maybe eventually I will. But I think I need to let the feelings relax a bit before that point.

The page itself was extremely relaxing, and nice to work on. I had about a million layers before I was finally finished with it, but I like the end result, for many different reasons. I love the meaning behind it, as well as the documentation of a major event in my life.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. A perfect day for my Heart Investigation series. That page should be quite a bit happier, just for that reason. However, I like using art as a way to express myself, and my emotions, as well as what I've done and been through. So there are going to be a few sad and depressing pages every now and again. However, that's all I have for you guys today. And I'll see you tomorrow! Bye everyone!