Two New Journal Pages

Here are the two latest projects from my online workshop, Artistic Journaling, with Jodi Ohl.  The lessons involved creating a painted background, adding collaged paper elements, and then writing or adding additional embellishment as desired.

The background for this page in my Moleskine was painted by young friend Joey, age three, who blobbed black and brown paint in my journal during an outdoor painting session.  After that I wrote in marker that he had painted the background, and that I loved children's art ...although these pages, not so much.  So I used the dark background and added fun words and shapes that I cut from magazines and catalogs.  With the whimsical flowers and critters, and the reference to kid's art, I decided to add a little drawing by my Kindergarten grandson, Avery.  I love the big belly buttons and the creative "journal-writing" of our last name.  The big figure in the middle is the Easter Bunny.

The next one is another ocean-themed page.  We go to the beach with the whole family for a week every June.  When I was still teaching, it was always the week after school was out for the summer.  True bliss!  The week of swimming, sunning, reading, eating fine seafood dinners, and enjoying sunsets and Margaritas on the deck inspired this page.  The sunset picture was on the cover of one of the endless Coldwater Creek catalogs I get in the mail.  The background is watercolor, and the collage elements are cut from catalogs (except for the word TIME, made from those adhesive scrapbook letters.) The surf is a piece of lace.  I added doodling and accents with markers, gold and copper leaf pens, Tsukineko inks, and Sharpie marker. 

                               

I should have a lot of new ideas for art after this weekend.  We are off to Merlefest, a music festival in the mountains featuring many well-known and also up-and-coming musicians.  The festival was started in honor of Doc Watson's son, Merle, who was tragically killed when his tractor turned over on him.  Some of the artists who traditionally drop in include Allison Krauss, Emmy Lou Harris, and Bella Fleck.  This year there will also be appearances by Dierks Bentley, Zac Brown Band, the comedian Steve Martin and his blue-grass band, and the Avett Brothers.  I am looking forward to browsing the vendors and checking out the crafts.  Will report in on Monday!