Wednesday, 23 October 2013

Have you ever bought arts or crafts supplies because you have seen it advertised or a demonstration somewhere and you simply had to have it? I have to confess that I have a room full of products - some of which I have never used.  That was until I discovered the exciting world of art journaling!

Art Journaling is a way of expressing yourself through writing and creating visual art at the same time.  You can use a variety of art supplies to create mixed-media art. You can either buy pre-made journals or make your own custom journals to record everything from your travels to art techniques to your deepest secrets.

An art journal is whatever you want it to be.  There are no rules in art journaling. You can doodle, collage, stamp or paint. Create chronologically or not. You can have a central theme or not.  There are no mistakes in art journaling!  If you do not like something cover it with paint or paper! Gesso will become your best friend! The most important thing to remember is:  HAVE FUN! The wonderful thing is that you art journal just for you; there is no need to share, unless you want to. You need to experiment and discover what works best for you – what makes you happy.

To some an art journal, or a visual journal, is simply an artist’s book containing mixed-media work, such as collage and painting.   To others it may contain paintings, drawings, photographs, collage, stamping, writing or ideas for future art projects. By combining the words and visual images, you create something with meaning - a visual documentation of your life experiences that makes up who you are and where you’ve been and how far you’ve come.

Work freely; don’t waste time and energy on finding the perfect picture or piece of ephemera or art supply. Working in your journal is not about making a pretty picture or creating a piece of art.  It’s about exploring what you need to express and just seeing where the page takes you.  Don’t have any preconceived ideas of how your page is suppose to look like.  It’s an added bonus if the page turns out to be fantastic!  Keeping your hands busy with collaging, painting and stamping sets your mind free. 


To be continued…

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