How to turn your art gallery trip into a goldmine for your art journal

Above is my page I did last summer after being at a seurat exibition.Here are some fab ways to do similar stuff in your art journal.

• Take notes of what you think of the paintings; this can be techniques, colours, tralent or motiv.When you get home use these notes to write about it in your art journal.You could also add your favorite painting as a postcard.
• You could get inspired to paint you own picture.Either a complete copy or just copy the colours, motiv or technique used.
• Grab all the free broshures about the exibition and make a collage from them.
• Pick your fave picture and buy a postcard of it.Look at it and write down all the colours used, the motiv and why you would chose it.Why do you like this painting?What could have inspired the artist to do this?At the end you can combine this info to a wondertful page full of your thoughts about your fave picture.
  

A close up of the above. You can see I have tested his dotted technique.

• Learn about the artists life and use this as a preompt for your art journal page
• Copy the painting in a diffrent medium. So for example if the original is an oil painting recreate oit in clay, embroidery , collage or watercolour.
  
  

Close up of how I think he does his horses.

Tip: Buy a guide to go round the gallery with as you will gat a lot more out of it if you know what
each painting is about.

9 Reasons why you should doodle

This is a rose doodle i did on top of a journal page.

"We can mourn because roses have thorns or rejoce because thorn bushes have roses." Abraham Lincoln

9 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD DOODLE

1.Its fun

2.It will make waiting for longperiods of time seem to pass a lot quicker

3.It will improve your drawing skills and control over your pen

4.You can do it on any piece of paper-no matter how big

5.You can do it any where(so alwys bring a pen and doodle on a recieppt or napkin if you don't have any paper.

6.It will make you relaxed

7.You dont have to be good at drawing to do good doodles

8.Doodling hepls you take in information-your mind processes things you are thinking about while your hands are in a mindless action

9.It helps you unwind before you go to bed

DOODLING TIPS

• Dont think about it to much, just sit in a comfy position, grab a pen and paper and just start.
• You can dooodle on anything, but it would be nice to have your own little notebook(tht is small enough to fit in your handbag)to carry round with you.
• You can use any kind of pen or pencil to doodle with, but i recommend finding a pen you love and buy a extra one(in my case the fine artists pITT pen) as it may get lost in the process of taking it any where
• if you find it hard to start check out daisy yelllow (see link below) for some fab mandala doodles and also check out sue doodles(http://suedoodles.wordpress.com/)
• Use a waterproof marker the you can upgrade your doodle by colouring it in witha water coulours
• Another way to upgrade it would be to collage around your doodle or to colour it in with another medium
• Doodling in neocolour is diffrent but fun!!!!
  

I have been reading daisy yellow a lot lately(http://daisyyellow.squarespace.com/).On it you will find lots of prompts , quotes and links.So almost every post has high value.So go check it out.

Buying materials to start embroidery

My grandma has came to stay and she is going to teach me how to embroider.So we wênt out together to buy the supplies.Here is what you need to get started.

Embroidery scissors

Embroidery floss(in a few basuc coulours)

Embroidery hoop

Embroidery needles

Something to embroider such as a napkin, handkerchief or tablecloth

Some chall to draw on your own images to embroider

And we also got a cute stencil for some simple shapes to draw on and embroider

I love my new crochethook and my palette knife

What do you think of teh face above?I bought myself a palette knife and i am learning to use it.Well i am just experimenting really but its fun and thats all that matters.The way i use my palette knife is to just grab a dooleb of paint on to it and then to smear it to the page.




I am working on a little croched stripy bag....




This is the crochet hook i am using.It has like a padded area so when you hold it , it is softer on your hands.You should really try it sometime soon

Gift Guide: 12 days tell christmas

So with twelve more days tell christmas you shoule get a move on making presents , so here is a quick roundup with links and ideas pf my own to make and buy.Merry Christmas!!!

For...

...Your best friend:
How about these pretty FIMO friendship necklace?;http://www.cutoutandkeep.net//projects/clay_best_friends_lover_necklaces
Or some nice bath soaks or something(search in google)

...Your Mum,Grandma...
This cute http://bugsandfishes.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-appliqued-succulent-sachet.html sachet

...Wrapping paper
http://ilovetocreateblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/knit-print-wrapping-paper.html cute!

...Your gameaddictat friend(joke)
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Case-for-Your-DS-Lite-Games/

....Yourself
this fab skirthttp://soyouthinkyourecrafty-tuts.blogspot.com/2009/11/when-it-comes-to-being-turkey-its-best.html

...Knitting Friends
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=285832.0

...Your cat
my cats have tested these toys and love themhttp://myfantastictoys.blogspot.com/2009/05/cat-toy-plushies.html

...Your Tee loving Friend
http://weefolkart.com/content/tea-wallet-little-birdie-branch so they can take their teabags everywhere

...Any one who loves cts and tea
make them a catteacosyhttp://bustleandsew.blogspot.com/2009/11/sleepy-cat-tea-cosy-tutorial.html

....a lovely gift
This shrinky dinks necklacehttp://lilblueboo.blogspot.com/2009/11/teeny-tiny-shrinky-dink-leaves-necklace.html


So get crafting!!!

Pretty Layers

This is my latest art journal page.Its done with loads of layers.Ive been watchîng lots of art journaling video, reading lots of books and surfing the web a lot.Many people are posting stuff about layers, so I thought id give it ago to.And this is what came out.

My layers:

1.I cut some pages out of an old book and after cutting em done to fit on the page i glued em down.

2.I painted over it with a watery gesso (just add lots of water)

3.Then I coverd the page with some light pink ink from my ink pad

4.And stamped down a celtichorese design in dark pink.

5.I dripped some blue paint down

6.I added two layers of blue paint, not painting over the stamps

7.Next I added some tipex stars and some pencil stars

8.Then using artists pitt pens I drew the girl and gave her a tipex bow

Done!!!!

To get more inspiration about layers go to:http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=art+journaling+layers&search_type=&aq=f

Have fun and Happy Art Journaling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Inspiration

A problem a lot of art journalers are faced with:You sit down to art joournal but you have NO inspiration and art journaling with no inspiration is not fun!!

So where do you get some?

Well in your day to day life you can find an applethera of inspifration if you know where to look.Go through a day with me and I will give you ideas to inspire you:

1.The colours or theme of you cereal packet

2.Newspapers:Cut out intresting photos . word and headlines plus you can use the text in your background check out ihannas post on more ways to use text in your art journal pages(http://www.ihanna.nu/blog/?p=998)

3.Adverts can give you inspiration

4.A material can inspire you to, like a pretty paper

5.A cd may inspire you

6.Or a magazine( the magazine was staring at me begging to go in my art journal)

7. Someone elses blog or art

8.A film or book or tv show

9.Food packaging

......

pretty much anything that you like the colour, texture, writing or whatever can inspire you.So once you find something that appeals to you in some way , how do you go about using it?

Well you can just let yurself be driven by inspiration.Or you can take your Magazine (or what ever inspired you) and look at it again...Ask yourself:

1.what do i like about it the colour, the theme, the font, the context, he images ...

Now find a way of using this in your page.You could simply cut out the word or image and stick it in in some special way .Or you could try to draw or paint a face like the one in the photo.Or you could write you opinion and add cut out quotes on the artical.Or you could just use the colour that is so inspiring.Do you get the picture here? Basiclly:

Find out what it is that you like and think of creative ways to use this in your page

______________________________________________________________

So above you will see the 3 photos from my art journal. The first one the giraffe is what inspired me to do the giraffe page beside it .The giraffe just keept looking at me and asking to get in my art journal so I did. This is a simple collage with doodling:Things like this can be preped and then taken to a cafe and you can journal there.The second one is based on Avril Lavignes album The best damm thing.

Happy journaling!!!!!

Tips for your art journaling space

As I got more and more into art journaling, my stash of pens, papers, old books,paints and so on grew.At first I kept all my supplies in a big box, which I took out when I did art journaling and put away again when I was done.But soon this was impossible as my supplies no longer fit in the box, so I decided to make my self a crafty corner.

Your desk
DO NOT go and buy yourself a new one, as you will spill paint , glitter and tea all over it!!!Just use an old one you would other wise throw away or go and get one in a second hand shop. It should be big enough though for all your supplies.Also it helps if it has drawers and lots of room underneath to store supplies.

Lighting
Your best option is to get two lights - one coming from the left and the other from the right, but if you only have onê put on the left if youre righthanded and on the right if your left handed. Otherwise your hand will block the light hitting your journal properly.

Chair
Make sure it has a backrest so you can journal for hours on end .And it should be comfy!!!

Storing supplies
Tins or jars are a great sulution for storing paint brushes, pencils, pens and scissors.
I pile my books I use for art journaling on my desk, but you may want to put up a shelf for them.I think the best way to store stamps is n a drawer.I just arrange a lot of my stuff on my desk. But I do keep paper in a basket under my desk- I have 3-One for pretty patterned paper, one for Junk paper and one for old magazines.


Inspiration
Their are many ways you can get inspiration from your work space:
Create an inspiration board or file-simply fill with images you love but dont know how to use yet.Hang up lots of pictures and postcards that inspire you.Keep your fave books close.Arrange your supplies in an inspiring way.Have lots of magazines around you.Cut out random words in adveance and when you dont know what to journal about let them inspire you. Have some kind of music player near so you can get inspired by your fave music whilst art journaling.

Propmtfile
Keep a notebook or file to record all the great quotes and prompts from the web near so you will always have an inspiration kick!!!!

So that was just a few tips based on the way i have my artsyden organized.Tip: Have some comfy seating solutions near you, so can do the page at your desk and then journal in a nice comfy space:)
Happy art journaling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!