Sleep With The Journal? ….. No Way!!!
Sleep with the Journal? …. No Way!!! It’s much too lumpy and there are far too many sharp bits sticking out!! Instead I altered the instructions and created new ones!!
It now has a series of statements/ instructions:
Sleep is something we all need
Are you happy with Life?
Experiment with the book!
Journal your thoughts …
Descibe how you are feeling …
Play with the art
All experiences are useful
Leave your comments here
I then coloured the pages using a water colour pencil wash, and added an explosion of colour to the left page! I may well add some more comments to the right page as I think of them 🙂
This next page evolved as my doodles are inclined to do!! I had no intention of drawing a face when I started out … it just ended up that way!
The left page evolved after I used it to try out some new rubber stamps I got from the SSP Guild on Saturday morning. It just reminded me of these words from an old Dave Clark Five song called Here comes Summer (Showing my age there!!) Only trouble was … the page got really wet after I wrote the words and they bled everywhere!! So I wrote over the top again. I think it looks even better now!! What was that I was saying about accidents improving artistic content? (see bottom of last post)
Following another set of instructions …
… I coloured the edges of the pages using Perfect Pearls from Ranger. It would have been easier to do at the beginning before the book got so fat!! 🙂
Back to Wrecking My Journal …
I got back to wrecking my journal yesterday. The instructions on this page say “This page is dedicated to internal monologue”. For someone like me who struggles with words, this was a bit of a problem … but when I really thought about it – I knew what to do!
I splattered paint over the pages, squished it between the pages, then combed it with a small makeup comb! I used the colours that are currently a major influence in my life right now – red, yellow, gold and green. The scan really doesn’t do justice to the amazing sheen of the the metallic gold paint and the vibrant tones of the colours peeking through from underneath!
I started this next page a while ago, I drew the castle tower with a soft water soluble graphite stick and washed over it to smudge the lines; but when the ink from the following page (four-letter words) bled through all over my drawing, I couldn’t decide what to do and just left it half finished. Inspiration came the other day! I created a grid of lines with the graphite stick, smudged the lines with water, then filled the gaps with sharpies to give an abstract stained glass effect. I coloured in the letters on the castle page and inked over the bled through words to accentuate them.
It’s one of the main things I have learnt from this journal … things don’t have to be perfect to look good … accidents often improve the artistic content of a piece of work 🙂
….. A Bit Early for Christmas …… !
I know it’s a bit early for Christmas …. but I’ve been making paper chains!
Not full size ones, just one mini paper chain made from a page of my Wreck this Journal book! I coloured the strips with Sharpies, then drew flowers on them using Sakura Souffle pens. Lastly I glued them together and attached them to the journal using mini brads.
I started this doodle ages ago during a long telephone conversation with my brother. Then it got put aside and I forgot about it for a while. So when I stumbled across it the other day I thought it was about time I finished it!!
I used a very fine Copic Multiliner pen.
The word I chose for this next page is the Artist in me acknowledging her presence!
I used some cheap Calligraphy pens from Asda for the calligraphy (which as you can see – write beautifully), and a mixture of other markers for the rest of the writing.
The journal is getting soooo thick now …. I have a job to hold it and I still have loads of pages to do!!! So much fun 🙂
Jigsaw Pieces, Thick and Thin Lines, Gesso and Gel Medium
Jigsaw pieces, thick and thin lines, gesso and gel medium …
I had great fun drawing the thick and thin lines with my water colour pencils. I’m still considering giving it a wash to soften and blend it … but I can’t make up my mind … so I’m leaving it for now!
The jigsaw pieces weren’t meant to stick to the page!! I was trying to make a raised jigsaw outline, but I used a bit too much gesso and when I came to remove the pieces… they were stuck solid!! So I turned them into a collage instead and added some thick gel medium to create some great textured ridges in the pieces!
After I scanned the image of these pages into the computer, I created an A4 print of the coloured lines pages and printed it out.
I used this to cut up and make a sort of collage/mosaic fill for my traced hand. I coloured the background using a black water colour pencil.
I’m having so much fun with this journal and learning so many new techniques; but most importantly i am learning to be more experimental in my creativity.
Losing, Tearing & Four Letter Words ….
Losing, tearing and four letter words …. yes … I’ve been wrecking again! But I must confess …. I haven’t actually lost the “Lose this Page” yet …
… I just tore it out of the book and got it ready for losing, which of course involved writing messages on it and splattering paint all over it’s other side! I may add some writing on the painted side before I lose it [maybe the secret message to hide] but only the person who finds it will know for sure!!
When I first tore the strips on this page…
… they curled up and looked really pretty, but by the time I got round to scanning the page they’d got well and truly squished … much more wrecked looking!!
I thought I’d make my four letter words colourful …
… I used my nice new sharpies which look really great here … but they bled through several pages on either side … definitely journal wrecking! I’ll have to find ways to incorporate the back to front words into those pages … maybe rename the pages and call them the write backwards pages!! …. Keep watching 🙂
Make a Mess ….
‘Make a mess, clean it up’. That was the instruction on this page …
… and I know it doesn’t look very much like a mess, but if you saw how I made it you would have have to agree that I followed the instructions!!
I had been working on the Kelly Rae inspired journal that I’m currently making and had various surfaces covered in leftover paint lying over my desk. I should have taken some pictures … but it was the early hours of the morning and I was more concerned with getting cleared up and into bed. But I hate just throwing things away! Then I remembered this page in the ‘wreck my journal’ and I knew what to do!! I used a very wet paintbrush to loosen all the dried paint and plonked the journal into the wet paint. I did this several time until all the paint was used up … et voila!! … one completed jounal page and nice clean surfaces … mission accomplished 🙂
The scan of this next page really doesn’t do it justice.
The page instruction said to ‘Draw lines using abnormal writing utensils dipped in ink or paint’. I went for the paint option and dipped into it a paper clip, a hair grip, a make-up brush/comb, a cardboard tube, a plastic covered wire tie, a lolly stick, a bottle top, a button, and a staple remover. It looked Ok … but I wasn’t finished! I added a thick layer of glossy gel medium and used a small comb to make lots of ridges in it. Then I left it to dry. I love the way it turned out … it has a really great texture … the only problem is that the gel medium sticks to itself when the book is closed and it is quite difficult to prise the pages apart … but it make a wonderful noise when you’re doing it!!
Burning, Making Coffee and Licking the Page!
Yes! …. I finally got around to the burning page in my journal.
It was quite scary how fast the page burned … I had to use the coffee I’d made for the next page to douse the flames!
As I don’t drink coffee, I thought I’d add my own twist to this page … I made the coffee and spilt it over the page (and the rest of the book – it really is a multi sensory book now!!) then shook some coffee graunles onto the page and gave them a good stir with my fingers. Result … one very smelly, sticky page!!
While I was in the kitchen I thought I might as well do the tongue painting page!!
I used food colouring straight from the bottle …. quite a colourful result!! The journal is getting quite hard to close now …
… in more ways than one!! It’s so freeing and inspirational … and I’ve still got loads of blank pages!!
More Inspiration from Kelly Rae Roberts
I started reading Kelly Rae’s book nearly two months ago and have been meaning to have a go at making the art journal in chapter one for ages. I finally made a start this weekend! I started by making the fabric tags for the spine.
I’ve been using wonderweb and iron on interfacing to create material collages for some time now, but I had never thought to paint on top of it! You need the clear gesso as a base, but once that’s added – it really is like painting on paper.
The letters were added using a black Sharpie and a white Sakura Souffle pen. The eyelets were added using a Cropodile Big Bite. I really love this process and the way the tags feel!
Next I made a start on the front cover of the Journal. I was a bit nervous about adding a person, and wasn’t sure which media would be best to use as I don’t have any oil paints …. but in the end I plucked up my courage and just used my acrylic paints.
Considering it’s my first attempt at anything like this – I’m quite pleased with the result 🙂
This is the inside of the front cover all ready to be written on!
Challenge – Use Ordinary Household Objects to ‘Fill This Page With Circles’
I’ve always been a fan of recycled craft projects and using everyday objects in unexpected ways, so when I saw the instruction to ‘Fill this Page with Circles’ I took on the challenge to use ordinary household objects to create these effects.
I started off with a bottle lid, then moved on to a wine cork and its cover. Next I used the cardboard tube from the centre of a roll of tin foil followed by a small roll of electrical tape. Lastly I used the top of an empty jam jar. I’m quite pleased with the finished effect and will probably use the image to create some background papers.
Golden Gel Mediums
I’ve had my eye on them for some time now … coveting them!! Yesterday … I gave in and treated myself to this starter set of Golden Gel Mediums!!
Having waited so long … I just had to have a play, and what better place than on the Draw with Glue page in my ‘Wreck this Journal’ book. I wasn’t too sure how to go about using them, so I tried a few different approaches … but the one I liked best was using an old rub-on stick (like an old fashioned lolly stick but made of plastic) to dob the gels onto the paper and then add some colour in the form of lumiere paint. The scanned image really doesn’t do justice to the amazing textures …
… I just have to keep stroking the page 🙂 I can’t wait to use them on a serious project!