Finding the Courage...

So as I mentioned previously I intend to start sharing images of my art journaling and stuff. The hold up? Right now other than a busy RL? Scanning the pages. It's on my list of things to do.

I've been wanting to art journal for years, even fiddled with it for a time. I didn't start literally keeping a more complete one until I purchased a moleskin journal over at Target. It was a little pricy but hey I've been wanting one for years so I caved and bought one. I've been working in it off and on. I've been doing some journaling, some painting, some sketching and even have just started working on collages in it. It's a slow going process but thus far it seems to be working out. Now to share it with everyone will be my next step.

I've fiddled a bit with several mediums and seem to be experimenting a bit more too, but I'm still slow to dive right in. I imagine others experience this same stall? Either that or I'm just plain unfocused and hitting more brick walls on the creative front. We shall see what results in the coming months.

Oh hey while I'm thinking of it: Happy Halloween everybody! :)

Minor Delays

So truth be told I do plan to start sharing art journal pages and the like, only I find I have a very difficult time actually sitting down and focusing on scanning the pages and actually typing entries. It's been a major stall for years with me and journaling: trying to make myself sit down and actually type out entries. Instead of doing that I get sidetracked by a million and one other things...one of the biggest being that damned Farmville on FB. I play it way too much and it takes up a large chunk of time. I'm trying to draw away from it due to that and sometimes I success, sometimes I don't. All I know is I'll go on it intending to only stay there a few minutes and next thing I know HOURS have gone by and I lost a crap load of time to that game. It's frustrating.

So I do intend to post stuff here as soon as I break myself of that stupid Farmville addiction thing-y.

In other news...

Searching for a community where I can share my works with fellow artists and we can chat back and forth, share ideas, thoughts etc on art in general. You know one of those communities where you can just talk in general about creating and the whole process, but it's got to be a site where we can all share our works, thoughts etc...just not sure if such a community exists. Perhaps I should create one such community but well time is not always on my side and I tend to get distracted by crazy things such as FB addiction. Not cool or good or anything.

A Delve into Altered Art

When I first started art journaling another factor that kept me shy of really starting was the fact that I have a very difficult time delving deep inside to pull out the stuff I've worked on years of healing and getting beyond. My childhood for the most part was good but I faced many a challenge through the years. When I started reading about altered art I decided why not use that as a way to start, I suppose dig, into things I don't normally think of. I decided to title my first attempt at altered art "Fragmented". Why that title? Because when I look back on my childhood, on the things I've faced and experienced I see a lot of fragments of who I was, who I am and who I want to be. I often describe myself as "layered" and that's because I truly am layered. There are layers to me no one's ever seen and there are layers everyone has. There are also layers that certain people and ONLY those certain people have seen as well. I'm layered. I'm complex. I'm full of contradictions. I'm full of dreams. I'm full of imagination and mystery. Some parts of me are so easy to understand while other parts...other parts no one sees, knows or understands. I'm layered with a capital "L".

It wasn't until I delved into the concepts, the ideas of altered art that I found myself able to express well some of that, the hidden layers, and perhaps that's why I stalled again because delving into hidden layers and exploring them in art is not as easy as you all may think. Oh no it takes time and patience and a willingness TO want to tackle it all and for me that's a little difficult. Why? Well you see I'm one of those people who keeps a lot hidden, and I do mean A LOT! I don't share a lot with others and those I do share stuff with have to be pretty damned close to me and have to have earned my trust. You won't get to the inner me by simply saying hi or hanging around me. No you have to work for it because well that's just me.

When I tackled this stuff, the inner me stuff, it didn't last long and now I'm finally getting back to it. I've shared pages from this particular altered book at 1001 Journals but no where else. If you read the passages on the pages, which I apologize may not be the easiest due to this being a digital photograph, then you can probably see the underlying purpose of this particular altered book. This one is one I like but that will take no doubt countless years to complete or progress in. Still I've done a little bit of work in it so that's a good thing :)

Early Attempt at Art Journaling

As you can tell when I first started art journaling I didn't really do a lot. I was a bit nervous, a bit anxious, a bit uncertain. I'd paint a page and then stare at it or I wouldn't paint the page at all just look at it over and over trying to decide what to put on it.

Years ago I joined an LJ (online journal) community titled "alternate_books". The purpose of this community was to make a journal and mail it around the world so that others could add to it. The first year or so was great I'd mail out journals and receive others journals in return. I'd add my artwork and mail them onwards, but soon journals I had signed up for would become "lost in transit" whether it was the original creator who decided never to mail it to begin with or if it were someone else who had kept it and not sent it onward or if the thing just simply got lost somewhere in the mail I didn't know. It saddened me. All these journals people had going missing and quite a few of my own as well. I pretty much gave up on that community and well so did most of the other members. The comm still exists but no one really does anything anymore.

I started working then on making my own journals and started reading up on altered art, but again I'd often (more often than not mind you) would find myself in a familiar dilemma: staring for endless hours at a blank page or paint a page and stare at it not wanting to "mar" the pretty colored page. Crazy I know but so true.

Soon I delved a little more, started writing in some of those journals though I didn't much care for my own handwriting. Added a drawing or sketch here or there and threw a date on it so I could remember when it was done.

More often than not a lot of my earlier work is very similar to the picture above. I drew this one for a journal titled "In the Wild". It was a journal that I created for a website titled 1001 Journals. Sadly this one like so many of my other started journals for communities such as this is now forever lost. Either someone kept it, the mail lost it or it got tossed in someone's box and they forgot to mail it back to me :(

Needless to say I've since grown a little cautious about such communities as this having added to tons of journals only to ever see one or two come back to me and one or two make it back to their original owners.

I still like the idea of the community I just have a very hard time with the loss of so many journals that it saddens me enough to only cooperate on the very fringes of the community...meaning I send journals to those I know who will return them and sign up for a few and that as they say is that.

Anyways I digress...

So when I first started art journaling I took pictures with a digital camera or the pages I did (the photo above was a digital camera) therefore lots of the early works I've done if shared here will most likely be taken with a digital camera and thus not the greatest. It was several years later that I started scanning my work so hopefully the overall quality of the pics will improve... :)

Anyways so now I'm working on my actual own art journal and finding it fun but challenging. I will share some of those pics here in the future for now I think I'll just start by sharing a few older works :)

And if I ever figure out how to add multiple pics to a post here I shall do so. As I mentioned above this journal page is from a journal titled "In the Wild". The main premise? To journal about animals: your favorite animal, anything related to animals. I have more pics of this particular journal of the front cover, inside covers and the rest of my journal as well as pics of pages of journaling from other artists. As I mentioned above though this journal ended up lost somewhere in Arizona and the person who had it never replied to any attempts at contacting so sadly the journal is probably forever lost :( That folks is the downfall of journal comms I fear.

Back in the Saddle

Yeah so I had an original purpose for this particular online journal and some where along the way lost it...or rather that thing called real life entered in and kind of took over. Well so in between real life, work, travel, finally finding and buying my own home and a sorted collection of other things I drifted, actually drifted from just about everything there for a time. My writing stalled, my art stalled, my internet surfing stalled...as a result a lot of my other things stalled. I created this journal with the purpose of using it to share my artwork, my art journaling, my photography and all that. I kind of had an epic fail with that I fear but now intend to remedy that.

Since settling into my new home and getting myself sort of back on track I've thus returned to some of those things that were "left by the wayside". I have recently started writing again. I have started settling down and relaxing more. My job seems a little calmer and I have again picked up a paintbrush and pencil.

The other day I bought a moleskin journal, been wanting one of those for ages and figured hey why not now? It's a bit expensive but it'll do. I've been reading more art journaling stuff, thinking more about life in general and brainstorming ideas for both stories and art. I plan to now, hopefully, make an attempt at using this journal for its original purpose: sharing my artwork, chatting about it and talking about life in general.

I actually have three online journals with even my main one having drifted to the wayside. One I share mainly my writings and fandom-y stuff, one is just there as a back up with hardly a thing in it and then there's this one. I still can't decided if I should just make my main journal and all inclusive or not. I don't know that remains to be debated...oh and I have a fourth journal that was supposed to replace my main one but never did so yeah lots of online stuff that hasn't seen the light of day in ages.

Still for now I think I'll stick with this being mainly for artsy stuff and who knows maybe eventually stuff contained on my main journal will end up here or vice versa. We shall see, for now though let's just call this all and experimental affair and leave it at that shall we?

For now I shall sign off but plan to work on making updated posts of my older art journaling and my newer stuff and who knows perhaps THIS TIME I can stick with it. Keep your fingers crossed people! :)

1001 Journals

For the longest time I've been wanting to find a place where I can post about my adventures in this particular community. I've had about 50 journals come my way so far and still more en route. I've been wanting a place to post the entries I made, talk of other peoples' entries and just plain talk about/share it. : )

I finally decided that maybe it's time I start so here I am again *waves*

What is 1001 Journals for those who don't know? It's a community in which people all over the world circulate their art journals. They make their entries and once done the journals get mailed on to the next person on the list and so on and so forth. Some journals have successfully made it back to owners, some are still traveling and others unfortunately have gone missing : (

This is where my creativity and such got started...a long time ago when I first got an LJ I stumbled on a community titled "alternate_books". It was the same basic concept and I created journals as well as recieved many others. I had a blast doing it but sadly the interest for that particular community died so I scoped and searched for similar places. I found 1000 Journals and was sad to see no journals were open any longer then I found 1001 Journals and joined. After that I started getting others journals and even circulating some of my own. I then scanned what I did because you can for the site but due to having so many scans I started deleting them off my hard drive and found it so sad that there really was no other place to share what I had done with them and what others had so an idea formulated to work on this newest online journal knowing/planning to eventually get to this post. Now that I'm here I'm ready to share a bit. : )

For those interested in looking into the 1001 Journals site here's the link:

1001 Journals

And now I'm off...but plan to be back soon. I'm not entirely sure how I intend to share these scans and such but getting this post up is at least an official start.
: D

Hooray for Experimentation!

So as I said in the previous post experimentation seems to be my new word. :)

Trying a new technique for me is an adventure in itself because sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's a miserable failure and other times it leaves one with amazing results. With this second Chicago journal I have found I'm not so hesitant, not so afraid to try something new, try something different. I have also noticed that I don't seem to get angry when some experiment turns out to be a complete and utter failure. Instead I find that I'm enjoying the simple process of creating and attempting to create. I've taken a completely different approach to art journaling with this newest journal and am finding the journal to be quite rewarding.

When I first started the journal I kept saying it would never work out, it would be a complete disaster, and I had no idea what days I'd be journaling where. I like order and organization, and I always (in the first Chicago journal) did pages as I did entries. This journal is a wee bit different in that I just went with my gut instinct having no idea what I would be journaling where. The end result has turned out to be a reward in and of itself that has me squeeing as I stare and say "I did THAT?"

Yeah so I'm finding the fun and enjoyment in experimentation and am loving every minute of it...it's almost like playing : )

And now to a share a few more pages of my newest journal...

Oddly enough this second journal picks up at the tail end of the sci-fi convention I attended. The first page is what you saw in the previous post. The second and third pages are painted pink and just have journaling on them. The fourth page is a photo op I had taken with one of the guests Joe Flanigan and that is where my experimenting for this journal began. The end result?



So here what I did? I played with ink pads and scrapbook papers. I'm not one to use stamping much in journaling. I just haven't really developed much of a desire to fiddle with them, but I do so love those distressed inks by Jim Holtz. They look awesome when used correctly but for me that can be a challenge in and of itself. I'm not a stamper yet I found myself fiddling with it a wee bit here. The background paper is simply a special design sheet for scrapping. Due to the color of the background paper I thought of making it look kind of antique... I ended up using the "vintage photo" ink and rubbing it over the edges then just glued the pic on top. The end result? I love it!

The facing page is the start of my journaling on the Chicago Art Institute and again I wanted to stick with the vintage/antique look since the pages are side by side. I used a different scrapbook design sheet for this one and used distress ink again this time the color? Walnut stain. Not one of my favorites though in books I've looked at I love the results...it's just a bit too dark for my liking. The end result is this page...ended up looking kind of neat when I chose the photo I took. The photograph is a shot down Michigan Avenue. You can see the two lions that sit right outside the Art Institue. I'm fiddling a lot with photography lately too and deliberately took this photo for the angles and such. I'm very happy with the end result! : )



The pages that follow this page are inside the art institute. Well one is. It's a drawing that's on the top floor of a cat. I took a picture of it then cut it down to include in the journal. The second page is a scan of my ticket stub and a picture of the brand new "Modern" wing of the institute. The journaling was done with glitter pen in hopes that it would be readable over the background decoration. What's the background decorations made of? More distress ink this color weathered wood. How I made those little designs? You'll never guess... Did you ever try crumpling up a piece of aluminum foil wrap and using it to stamp on a page? Neat effect indeed...at least I thought it was : D





I think I may continue posting pages to this journal and doing a little chat about what I put into each page in case I'd like to try the same thing in the future or someone else might find it of interest. Hey it doesn't hurt to document how you do something, especially if you can't remember everything...I seem to have issues with that : D

Expanding My Horizons

Breaking out of the mundane...


Recently I completed my first full Chicago journal, well it's not fully completed yet but I'm at the end of it. : )

The Chicago journal is a journal that I started several years ago on the city of Chicago and all the trips I have taken to the wonderous city through the years. I like to label the journal as my "official" first art journal (well personal art journal), but other than drawing and doodling in it, journaling a bit, painting a few pages and adding a few pictures from said trips I didn't really do much else with it.

Now I have officially started my second Chicago journal and my exploration with art has kind of...exploded I guess...in a way that I never would have ever imagined.

I remember searching for the perfect journal to continue my Chicago trips in. It had to be easier to keep flat (my other journal is hard back and way wider than it should be :D ), and it had to be durable also, one in which each page would be relatively easy to work with. With trepidation I settled on a small spiral bound hard back journal not sure if it would be a good choice or a horrible mistake. I always worry that with spiral journals the pages will tear to easily out thus a major reason why I've not used many in my artwork.

Once I got the journal home and debated a bit I just started to decorate it not sure where it would lead, if it would hold up, if I could make the journal work out, if it would be better or worse than my first one...

Now? I've decorated approximately 10-15 pages and am going back to add in the additional pics and journaling that will complete each page. I did the same thing in the other journal but with this one... Well, let's just say it's become what I have always envisioned an art journal should be and I absolutely LOVE it!

Each page of this journal is decorated differently some with paper, some with paint, some with tissue paper and some with stamp pads. The end result? The journal looks great to me and I'm so loving it! So why did I just have to post and squee a little about this??

Because I just had to!!

I don't know when it happened, where the official "transition" actually occurred but somewhere along the way I took a basic starter art journal and have progressed into a pretty, fancy decorated one. My confidence and enjoyment in toying with paints and such have literally exploded. Where the transition happened I don't know, but I'm loving the end result! : )

Practice, practice, practice...

Okay so like I said in previous posts I started working on art journals several years ago, mainly ones that belonged to other people. One day I decided why not create one for myself, a travel journal that I can take, put pictures in, items I find and that I can carry along with me when I do travel. My first attempt at my own personal art journal is this Chicago journal. I decided for my next two pages in the journal that since I spend a lot of time on the El (CTA trains) why not incorporate a map of the CTA system in the pages. The main line I travel is the O'Hare blue line.

I stay in a hotel fairly close to the airport and the nice thing about this particular hotel and this particular airport is that there's a 24 hour free shuttle bus that runs from the hotel to the airport about every 15 minutes. Also in what I call the "basement" of the airport is the entrance to the CTA blue line. O'Hare is the end of the line and it's very nice and convenient to take the El right out of the airport. Due to this particular set up you can enter the airport and head straight downstairs. Two trains pull in and out of there throughout the day and boarding the CTA is way cheaper than a cab, even though the trip from O'Hare TO downtown Chicago is approximately 45 minutes. It's the cheapest and easiest way to travel to the city, which makes seeing a very busy city relatively nice and simple. :)

When I first started this particular journal I was leery about experimenting. I didn't want to mess anything up, so I stuck with using my scanner and gluing what I scanned into the journal pages. As I progressed, learned some new techniques, bought more magazines on art journaling and continued to work on art journals from the 1001 Journals community I found myself daring to delve into more complex things...I drew a CTA train, painted some pages and fiddled around with ways to make the journal more appealing, more exciting and more interesting. After working on this initial first trip I decided to label each year I spent in Chicago. I used one word (or two) to basically describe in a nut shell how the trip was and I used some water colors and paints to express it. The more I worked on the early bits of this journal and the more I experimented the neater and more interesting each entry became for me.

Now I tend to do a lot of drawing and journaling in this particular journal but I have also started working on my own sketch book and my own personal art journal that delves more into my feelings, emotions and such. The more I learn about art, painting and sketching the braver I become in daring to try new things.

What's actually starting to happen? When my writing muse is slow I find myself picking up an art journal and going to town with it. Some of the entries turn out amazing while others not so much but each new "project" I undertake seems to be better than the previous one and I'm quite satisfied that I seem to be improving and expanding.

Art Journaling at its beginning...

Okay so I was originally planning on starting by sharing some of my scrapbook pages, but have to scan them first and probably won't get to that until the weekend so I'm opting to share the start of my Chicago journal. Now you must be patient with me as I haven't quite figured out how the displaying image bit goes on over here so images may be a bit...whacked. : )

I started journeying to Chicago for a sci-fi convention several years ago. It ended up becoming a yearly event and remains one to this day. It started back in 2004. It was my first year actually touring the city and seeing it. I had been to Chicago in the past but only as a stop off for layover flights so I had never seen beyond the Chicago O'Hare Airport. I decided when I went to this convention I was going to see the city. After doing some research and such I found out that a CTA train went to the city from the airport and since my hotel provided free shuttle service to and from the airport I had a way to get there. The first year in the city I stayed for approximately 10 days. I usually stay about ten days each time I travel out there. After taking a yearly trip out there since 2004 I now have tons of pics from each individual trip but again like those conventions pictures I referred to in the previous post they were all placed in albums that are rarely looked at, so I decided to try my hand at a travel journal. What I now have: a huge overly stuffed journal full of pics and such from my last five years of vacations to the wonderful windy city of Chicago.

It's proved to be fun and interesting trying to make each year's entries different from the past years of entries. I've dabbled a bit with acrylics, a bit with drawing, a bit with colored pencil and even fiddled some with stickers in the journal. I admit the first few pages look a bit "rough around the edges" but they are some of my earliest attempts at creating a sort of art journal (keep in mind the only prior experience before undergoing this particular project was from an LJ community in which you mailed journals on to others who each contributed to the journal with their own stories, artworks and such). The Chicago journal has proved to be an interesting way to "wet my whistle" so to speak, my way of "getting my feet wet" and breaking past the initial "I don't think I can do this" phase.

Now? Now I find it extremely interesting to go back and see what I've learned and how my journaling has changed. I'm glad I started the journal and though I'm not always in the mood to work on it and it seems to be an unending work in progress it's something that keeps my creative muses flowing even when my writing muse stalls. The other big advantage to creating one such journal? I have a great unique album that I can cherish and hold onto for years to come! Who could ask for more?