art journal work

I had a couple days off last week and spend several hours catching up on the free art journaling videos offered by Effy for Book of Days.  She's sharing her process of creating altered books to use as a journal for every day of 2012.  Talk about ambitious!


While I haven't made my altered book yet (I'm working through that with Elizabeth's class that's just starting up-find the info in her sidebar), I am exploring some of the techniques and inspirations that Effy is sharing, just in my art journal.  Here's what I accomplished the last couple days.

 This one is still in progress - I tried my glossy medium for the first time - I like it but then painted a coat of white over it and will layer more on so it was all covered up - guess I was a bit premature so will use it as a final coating.  (I'm thinking something to represent Valentine's since I never work with pinks.....)

 Effy makes the most delightfully complex background layers; I'm working on it....  A technique learned here was to use my Inktense pencils and color/scribble on the page, squirt it with water and wipe it down with a paper towel for a wonderfully smooshy first layer.

The above page is opposite the below page in my journal - I used the left over paint from the stencil and cleaned the purple on my brush as the beginning layers here.

She likes to do lots of tip ins which is to add an extra page or fold in on a page by gluing or taping a different paper (postcard or watercolor or something from the mail) into the pages of the book.  My little foldover flap was a beginner effort on that.  I made it a little bigger than my page size so it would stick out from the pages of the journal.

This is an ongoing class, is well organized, filled with inspiration for topics as well as techniques and has something for everyone.  It's not too late to join in....

Also sharing with Artists in Blogland.