Art Journal 2013

Oh, I am so excited about my new journal! There is something very special about hand stitched journals and I want to share with you my journal for 2013. I stitched it together last night and made the covers this morning. 

I had a few sheets of Fabriano Artist's watercolor paper and can not remember the gsm but it's not thick and could be about 160 gsm. The paper is smooth and thin but can take watercolors very well. I think this will be perfect for all the art journaling techniques I am planning to do. I can write, paint with watercolors, acrylics, inks and do sketching as well. For the covers I used recycled cardboard box. I covered the panels with fabric, layered some gesso all over and used my inks, stencils and craft acrylic paint  to do the design.

Golden corners to add strength. A touch of  sparkle here and there with Stickles glimmer glue! 

 Keep well everyone and have a lovely week! :)

Hope

©Ansota

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'

~Erma Bombeck~

Failed

Life isn't always perfect and there are times when no matter what we do things will go wrong. This is the message I want to share today with this page. 

When I started this page I wanted to paint a face from my imagination and everything went well but then I made the mistake of trying to do a stencil on top of it and it was a total disaster! My first instinct was to cover it up and paint over the entire page.

I sat there for a while staring at the mess but then I realized that in stead of trying to cover my mistakes I should keep it and just  let it be and started to make the little failed tag to go onto the page. I journaled about my experience in a white gel pen and decided to share it with all of you. I will keep this page just as is because this is a reminder that there will be days when things aren't perfect but it's okay and tomorrow is a new beginning and I can always  try again! 

The only real failure in life is the failure to try.  

~Sven Goran Eriksson~

Take care

Ansota :)

Today is a gift

Hi everyone!

Hope it's going great with everyone in blogland. It is Monday morning here and I have to get ready for work but first wanted to share my art journal page of yesterday with you. 

I used scrapbook paper, an old photostat copy of a picture I found years ago. Can't remember exactly where I found it but I love the image and kept it and the rest I painted.

I painted a few birds on Friday night, cut them all out and used two on this spread. It's very handy to paint a few small paintings, cut them out, store them and you have small pieces of finished art ready to use in your journal. 

I used diamond stickles from Ranger on the crown and flowers but unfortunately you can't see it in the photo. 

I hope you all have a great week ahead!

Happy creating and painting all!

Toodles :) 

Oh, baby baby it's a wild world.

©Ansota

Catch me a Dream

I painted a few background papers today and played my heart out with all the different colors of paints and inks I love. Unfortunately I just couldn't get my mister bottle to spray which left me very frustrated and meant I had to use a sponge with my stencils. It just isn't the same but I did the best I could with what I had available. 

After cutting them all up to size I felt like playing and started to do some collage on one of the pages. 

I really enjoyed the process today. I will work on these pages separately and bind them all together into one thick juicy journal. :) 

Wild Flowers

©Ansota

Angel

I painted this angel with craft acrylic and used stamps in the background.   I have no doubt whatsoever that I have a guardian angels present in my life.  I believe there are Angels present in everybody's life and they are there to give us guidance and comfort when we need it. 

Take care everyone and a wonderful day to you all!

Ansota :)   

Flowers around us.

There are so many beautiful things in my life that I am thankful for. I may not be rich but I  sleep in a warm bed every night. I may not have a glamorous job but I am there to help whenever you need help. I may not have the beauty of a film star but I believe true beauty can't been seen with the eye. It pours out from a warm and loving heart.  There are so many people in the world who would give anything to have what I have. A warm bed every night, a job, food on the table, my health and friends who support me, a family who love me. What more can I ask for when I have so much.  I am a millionaire!  

Take care everyone and blessing to you all!  :)

Why do I keep an art journal?

Have you ever wondered why it is important to keep an art journal and what you get out of it?  Maybe you are new to art journaling or never tried it or maybe you have been keeping an art journal for some time now. I think we all have different reasons and we use our art journals in different ways too.

  

 The wonderful thing is that our journals are an extension of our true self. It is like a blueprint of our creative journey and reflect a part of our daily life. I have been going through my previous art journals and it is a true reflection of how I went through different stages through the years. When I first started my pages were unsure and child like, the drawings were very simple with only a few words written on them. As I progressed and experimented through applying different techniques my style changed a few times. 

It is necessary to try all the techniques and styles. It is the only way you will eventually come to a place where you feel comfortable with your style. Try different art mediums and test different styles. Experiment and you will find your own voice coming through. 

I made messy pages, neat pages and tried so many art mediums to find out what I like and don't like. I also asked myself the question. If someone would pick up my art journals and page through them what would they tell about me. 

To find the answer to this question I took my old art journals and started to go through them. It was surprising to me to see that the pages where I have written about things that happened that day were the pages I found most interesting. 

Those were the pages where it almost felt like I was paging through a magazine with all the interesting bits of my day, lists and happenings with illustrations or pictures that I added. The pages with only 'art' work were the pages I paged through quickly. Yes, some of the drawings and painting are nice but it didn't capture my attention. What captured me and made me stop to really explore the page and remember, were the pages where I wrote things that had meaning about what I did, or went through on that specific day or week. 

The conclusion.... I want my art journals to reflect my entire life. I want them to tell the story of my life with all it's ups and downs, all the days that are meaningful, sad, good and bad. I want them to reflect all of me. 

  I also found that I love pen, ink, watercolors. I love to draw and color. I love to illustrate and this is the way I feel most comfortable when I play in my art journal. I love to draw faces. I love to draw every day happenings and the things I see around me. I love doodling, stamps and stencils. I don't need a lot of materials to keep me happy. 

I have been keeping separate art journals. There are art journals dedicated to watercolors, to drawing, mixed media with lots of paints and layers and many more but I have been thinking of incorporating all of the ones I love to do into one journal from next year. I will keep you posted. 

One thing is for sure. I adore my art journals. I love them and treasure them because they are an extension of the person I am. They are almost like one of my body parts! lol  I can not imagine my life without them at all! 

I am passionate about art journaling and want to encourage everybody to start keeping their own. It will help you more than you can ever imagined. My art journals have helped me to work through emotions, my drawings improved so much. I have grown and learned so much about myself.  It is a place where I am free to be just me. 

Take care and happy journaling!

Bye :)

Art Journal Page 4 November

©Ansota

Monthly Calendar Challenge

The monthly calendar challenge is something I have never tried before. After reading about it and seeing all the wonderful pages on  Kate's blog The Kathryn Wheel I decided to join in the fun. I stitched a book together with enough pages for every month to last me up to the end of 2013. I don't know if I will keep up with it but at this moment in time I am very positive and hopeful that I will do them every month. The preparation to do the page takes a while but once that is out of the way all I need is 5 minutes every day to write something in my little one an a half inch square about the day and I am done. Now that doesn't seem to be too much don't you agree? :)

I took pictures to show you how I created my page for November. 

This is the front and back of the cover looking at the book side ways.

 I first prepared my background by painting greens and blues mixed with dabs of pink and yellow. 

The next step was to use stencils and drawing ink. I have my drawing ink in a mister bottle and it works like a charm. 

And then I did some stamping! I love stamps. It just add something special to any page.

I then went through my papers and found a sheet with a color that I liked, printed out the days of the week and the word November 2012 and cut and glued them with the thirty squares into place. . 

I needed to add my own touch to the page and started to draw one of my butterfly folk at the empty space at the top of the squares. I like how his little blue face turned out. 

And of course I just had to doodle it up a bit as well! The last step was to use my number stamps to stamp each date onto each of the squares. And my month is ready! :)

My month has been prepared and all I need to do now is to fill in my little squares every day.  

 Byeeeee!!

Ansota :)

Just Let it Be

There are days when life is trying its best to get the better of you. On those days it is better to just let things be. Life is about living through the good and bad days with the hope of a better tomorrow. Tonight I am thankful that this week is over and I have time to relax a bit after running around at work. It has been an extremely busy week but it's over now and I can breathe again. This week I want to share with you two of the pages from my art journal. 

On the first page I decided to paint my own picture. I messed up her one eye because I was tired and made a booboo so i "fixed" it. I used a clipping from a magazine which had the color to match her dress and created a hat to cover that part of her face. 

The second page was one I did by using no magazine clippings at all. I started by painting my imaginary butterfly girl. I call her Annie and love to draw her. I love anything with wings! lol and my Annie brings out the child in me. 

I did a lot of writing on this page and painted the flower, doodled the hearts on a string and then used scrapbook paper to add a bit of interest at the top of the page. This page is more like my traditional everyday style I use in my everyday journaling. I will do a tutorial in a future post discussing how I approach these pages. 

I do like some structure in my work and will discuss layouts and how and what to write as well in the future. 

I wrote Archetypes on this page because I have a workshop starting this coming Sunday and received my email from Anne Marie from Kaleidosoul to remind me of that. I have been doing Soul Collage for some time now and try to do as many workshops as I possibly can plus I love Anne Marie's soft and gentle way of teaching. 

Well that is me for the week. Wishes to all for a wonderful creative week filled with blessings and laughter. 

Take care

Ansota :)