Another Flip-through video!

I finally finished my latest journal, Art Journal number seven already!
I made this one during Less Herger's workshop on Artjournaling.ning, using pages out of an old book I found at the car boot. You can still see the pictures and text shining through on some of the pages, which makes for a cool first layer I think.

At the end of the video I give you a quick look at my brand new Art Journal I made the other day. I used the covers of the book I took the pages out of to make AJ7 and added file folders, bounded in a way Samantha Kira taught in this video.

I already have a feeling that at least the first couple of pages aren't going to be all pretty. I have some personal stuff to work through and where I used to keep that out of my Art Journals, dear old no.7 taught me not to. Thank you Art Journal Seven!

Anyyyywayyy.. enough talking, here's the video. (Completely filmed and edited while Tye was asleep. In fact, he is still sleeping as I write this and he has no idea I just uploaded a brand new video. Woohooo! I'm so proud of myself!)

30 Journals 30 Days

If you haven't been to Dirty Footprints Studio lately, you have been missing out.
Connie has started a fun project called '30 Journals in 30 Days', in which she features a different Art Journal artist every single day for a whole month.

And yesterday it was my turn. (And of course yesterday my internet connection decided to be poopypants and not allow me to check it out, much less blog about it...)

Thank you soooo much Connie for including me into this amazing project!

Ohnooo!! Sticky page!

Last night on the Artistic Biker's Ustream show (I felt a bit silly about how I was slightly nervous before the interview started, because as it happens, I had nothing to worry about. The interview was soooo much fun, and I'd love to do it again! Missed it but want to see it? Check the recording here. My interview is about an hour into the show, but don't skip straight to it because you're going to miss tons of great information and a lot of fun!!) we were talking about pages sticking together, and what I do to prevent that...

I showed him, and everyone in chat, this page:


It's on the Vuvuzela, the annoying horn that people at the World Cup have been blowing and that makes it sound like you've got some angry bees stuck in your telly. I figured, ten year from now, I might remember the horns, but not the name, so I'd best put it in my journal.

And then I left my art journal out on the windowledge overnight, and forgot about it until the following evening... and when I opened it up I heard that horrible sound that I'm sure lots of art journalers are all too familiar with... the sound of having to rip apart pages that have stuck together..!

It even ripped a hole into the page!!

Now, I could've prevented this, but putting some waxed paper between my pages, or by not using too thick a coat of paint in the first place. But you know, it's my journal and I don't think about these things...

So what to do now?

You know what, I'm not sure. I might paint over it. I have already stuck a bit of paper on the other side to cover the hole up, so that would be no problem. But then I'd never get it the way it was, and it will look odd anyway.
I might draw over it. Lightly sketch the vuvuzela back and maybe add a bit of colour, and add the text that I have lost.

Or... I might just leave it like this!

In my written diaries I kept since I was about 10, I sometimes stuck bits of daily life stuff in with ordinary tape. And yes, it yellows and it doesn't stick anymore. But that's what happens. Like yellowing paper, you can't stop that unless you keep your journals in an air tight box somewhere and not take them out ever. But then what is the point.

My Art Journals will hopefully stick around for a long time. If I'm lucky enough to have children some day, maybe they will look at them and wonder what I was thinking and feeling when I did those pages. But I don't worry about using 'archival' materials. Paper will turn yellow, paint will crack, tape will lose its stickiness.

The word 'vuvuzela' is still visible. So the page still serves its purpose. The inevitable decay happened a bit early, that's all...

Very Important Announcement!

The show is tonight, July 8th 2010, from 7 - 9 pm Central (or 1 - 3 in the bloody morning here in the UK) and you need to go here to watch it and join in on the fun!

Twitter links:
@Blade21292 (told you I always get the numbers messed up) and @EvelineTimeless.

And ArtisticBiker/Blade's blog is right here.

See you tonight!!

Now where's that labrador of ours?

We should soooo teach him this!

It's good to look back

Here's a flip-through video of my very first Moleskine, only the second Art Journal I ever did. It's good to look back sometimes. I had forgotten about my three favourite pages, the little girl with her animal friends, the blue face and the fish. I had also forgotten all about the ugly stuff I did and how I sometimes did not even know what I was doing. I hardly added text in those days, and when I did it was silly stuff like 'I don't need anyones permission to be happy'. While that is true, it's also very sickly sweet and Hallmark-ish. Not something I would write in my Art Journal today. But it's nice to see how I've evolved as an Art Journaler and how I slowly become more confident and comfortable.

So here it is, the flip-through:


Lesson for today: it's not about the single page. What I find so much fun about flipping through an old Art Journal is the collection of pages all together. So don't get too worked up over 'ugly' pages and pages that don't 'work'. In the end, they're all part of the collection called Your Art Journal and they are just as beautiful for it as those pages that you do consider pretty.

It's too hot to paint....

so I just draw!

First lines:


and then comes the fun bit; adding shades and shadows.


But ohhmyyy hands are difficult!



So let's try that again!


Here I thought I was finished:


but even though in the picture I used you could not see two fingers on each hand, it looked 'wrong' in the drawing. So I added them:



When this sketchbook is finished I'll be sure to do a flip through video, so you can see the bad and the ugly too.