My Top 3 Art Journaling Videos

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Whenever I need some inspiration or just general arty cheering up – I head over to my reliable favorite videos. It’s not just the art journaling of these three mixed media artists that cheers me up; I love their openness and honesty of their creative process.

Pam Carriker in art journalling mode

There is also something about actually watching the process of the art journalling unfold! Seeing how the paint moves around the page – watching as the layers are built up. It really does bring art journalling to life and makes my fingers itch to get messy and get creating!

Pam Carriker and her “Hear” page

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In the bluey-green art journal layout, Pam uses Gelli plate printed deli paper to build up the collage layers and her hand carved prints. Pam then adds detail  with water resistance Faber-Castell artist crayons. The colours are then added with the Derwent Inktense blocks – this video was the inspiration for me buying my own set of Intense blocks!

You can see more of Pam’s work per at her blog – Living Art at the Speed of Life

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Traci Bautista

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I love Traci’s use of bright colors and stencils to create the base of this vibrant art journal page. This background is then collaged over to create the foundation for quick sketching with a charcoal pencil and then highlighted with acrylic paints and various markers – all of the ingredient for a fabulous mixed media art journal page!

You can see more of Traci’s work per at her blog – Kollaj

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Donna Downey with “Imperfection is a Form of Freedom”

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Donna never shows fear in the face of colour – here she uses orange and turquoise to create this fun art journal layout. Again, it’s great to see the layers being built up with all of the different coloured paints, as there are spots of colors that aren’t as noticeable when looking at the finished picture, but once I’ve seen them added during the process, I notice them. donna finished this layout off with charcoal pencil lines and some stencilling.

You can see Donna’s weekly videos over here at Inspirational Wednesday

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Gratitude Journal Prompts

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Here we have used our Mixed Media Art Ephemera Sheet 16 ~ Gratitude Journal Prompts to create this Gratitude Journal.

Tools and Materials

Process

1. Gather up your art journal and print a few copies of the Gratitude Journal pages

2. Using a steel ruler, tear out the journal panels. I do this as I like the teared edges – you can use a cutter or scissors if you prefer straight edges.

3. Get out your art journal with prepared pages

4. Add two strips of double sided tape to the back of the journal panels

5. Stick them into the journal

6. Decorate as desired

7. Continue with other pages.

8. Each week, take a few minutes to reflect on your world and note the things you are grateful for

Note: this art journal isn’t finished – I will add more pics are things progress.

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“Art at the Speed of Life”

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Today we are reviewing Art at the Speed of Life by Pam Carriker. Published by Interweave Press 2010

Overview of book:

In Art at the speed of life, Pam has outlined how to fit our creativity into our busy lives. She, along with 18 contributing artists, present mini essays on different aspects of this; narrowing down our supplies, setting limits with computer time, giving ourselves permission to create rather than work/clean/other tasks.

Mixed Media art team reviews Pam Carrick book

Each of the 7 chapters contains a range of these essays, along with a contributing artist project. Pam then uses these project prompts to create a simpler method to produce similar results. Each of these projects are lovely and continue in Pam’s usual style of rich colours and multiple layers.

Favourite part:

There are two elements of this book that will stay with me and I have already adopted into my creating:

1. the first is making your own art journal from a large piece of watercolour paper. I had a lot of fun making my first two and have already bought another two sheets of paper to make a few more. The idea of using any leftover paint or ink on a stamp while having it out to add colour to this journal is a great idea. But I do need to do this with conscious effort; at times I am so focused on my main artwork that I move through the layers, rather than pausing to add colour and layers to the journal. I will continue to practice.

Pam Carrick Mixed Media art journal

2. the second aspect is to be working on more than one piece at a time. I have tried this with two pieces and found that it work okay but I still find the disruption between pieces a little frustrating. Now I have three bland canvases, ready for a larger project.

Pam Carrick Mixed Media book

Least favourite part:

For a couple of the projects, I felt there could have been a few more photos to accompany the steps. Some needed re-reading a few times to understand the process being used.

Overall recommendation:

I would definitely recommend this book. Each section is easy to read and the projects are a good range of mixed media art techniques.


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