journal girl is going through a live website realignment. grow along with me as I endeavor to refocus my creative energy to better serve us both. ;)

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Check out my stamp line over at Paperbag Studios!

Tuesday
Jan242012

Happy, Smashing Discoveries

Week two of the Smash book. Roughly. I cheated and chose two photos from the 14th, which means this is four days' worth of journaling. Or photoing? Is there a word for this? 

A few happy discoveries:

  1. I already have a perfect stamp for this -- that written 'date' is from my line at Paperbag Studios.
  2. The itty-bitty cloud punch I got for $1.25 at Tuesday Morning makes the cutest clouds. I punched them out from a painted paper cast-off on my desk. 
  3. The paper takes watercolors pretty decently, so I decided to write with them across the paper as a "background" on the plainer pages. 
  4. I made my own tagged paper-clips with a bag from Staples and little banners I picked up on clearance years ago. (Here's what the Smash version looks like.)

The other fun part about finishing this spread was using Google Hangout for the first time. I was still a little sick over the weekend, so instead of going out to Becca's, I added her in the video hangout, as well as a few other art friends. We chatted and doodled and painted. I find I'm apt to spent more time in the studio when working along-side someone -- not talking, necessarily, but while they, too, are creating. And ever since Skype made three-way-calling a premium service, I've not used it as much. I'm pretty sure I'll be 'hanging out' more now that Google's version has proven tons of fun!

And here's something I realized as I worked in the Smash book:

People say these are art journals for scrapbookers; I think they're also scrapbooks for art journalers!

Saturday
Jan212012

Creating a Spray Ink Textured Art Journal Background (video)

Remeber that photo I posted a few days ago? Here's the video that goes through how I created it. 

Let me know what you think; I tried something new in chatting while I worked so you could see and hear my process. 

Monday
Jan162012

Truly Connecting

 

My first visual journal was a large lined Moleskine I recovered from the bottom of a desk drawer in 2005. 

Being sick most of last week kept me out of the studio (and often off the computer as well), and I had little energy to do anything more than doodle or work with basic watercolors. I found this Moleskine sketchbook tucked into my bookcase, and found it was the perfect size to settle on my lap. The paper is butter-smooth under my Copic multiliners; it took two days to finish the zentangle, my spiraling, mushy thoughts leaking out around the edges. 

The simplest tools can deliver the most awakening of thoughts. 

 

Settled on my bed, large, funny headphones over my ears, I found myself writing out lyric fragments as I listened to the new Snow Patrol album. Snippets jumped out at me as I slowly wrote and re-wrote the words in terra cotta watercolor, parts of the page resisting the paint. 

This is your life. This is your time.

A symphony, slow music of longing

If this is all you’ve ever asked for, then this is all you’ll get

Every eye trained on a different star

Suddenly, all these fragments made sense. When people ask me what I do for a living, I often joke and say, “I write art and inspiration articles. I guess I wasn’t specific enough when I wished to be a writer!” 

 

And it’s true. Maybe right now, I’m not wishing hard enough. Or big enough. I sometimes feel fragmented by all the things I love doing that my week often ping-pongs around from one media to the next, never settled long enough to finish anything long-term. I have, as they say, my fingers in too-many pots. 

But there was magic that night, sitting on my bed. I spent two hours working on a spread of words and images — an evil queen fading but still watching a princess — getting lost in the motions, the process. I wasn’t creating a dynamic art journal page full of bold colors and layers and all that jazz. No, instead, I was truly connecting

Has this happened to you? Have you gotten so caught up in the fads and the colors and the myriad of materials at your fingertips that you’ve forgotten your roots? When was the last time you checked in with yourself?

I would love to know in the comments below.