How I'm Doing: The Minimalist Art Journal

The Minimalist Art Journal course has quickly become one of my favorites now. When Caylee first mentioned it was coming, I was interested because it's so far from what I consider my spreads to be. But I was also very interested because it launched during the Christmas season, and with it's focus on expressing with less, I thought it would be perfect to try. I used a journal I had bought from Vanessa's Esty store, as it had a great floral cover and a mix of papers. I ended up taking the binding apart to add a few extra pages. I love the pages I've made so far as it's great to just let a page be.

Get Messy Gifts - Week 6

For the last week of Season of Gifts, I'm sharing a spread that I actually started after Christmas. I used my favorite wrapping paper, one I've actually had for a few years now. My plan was to paint in the left half and I might go back and do that still. But for now I'm sharing as-is because I also like the contrast between the lines and wrapping paper. 

This is a technique I learned in high school. Where you trace half of a sheet of pattern paper and then use the piece you traced to match the colors and paint it in. In school we used a light box, but I just used graphite paper. It's a great way to practice color mixing as well. 

For all of 2016, my Get Messy art journals have been handmade out of mixed media paper and all the same size. As much as I loved making them, I want to change this up for 2017. Work in whichever journal inspires me or in an altered book. I also just found sheets of watercolor paper, 22"x30", and I need to decide if I want to bind a journal out of or use it full size in some way. 

Colour Blast - Minted

OMG! It's another jump up and down and dance situation! Like when I was asked to collaborate with the Zine Squad.  I was so excited when I was asked if I'd like to be a part of this year's version of 2016's Colour Chaos. This means we all pick one color to be the focus of our art journals. They are then mailed from one lady to another until making their way back to it's owner.

We're all introducing our colors and the pages we made today, so please be sure to check the list below to find out this years colors. It's like getting seven more "colors of the year," but way cooler since you get art journal pages along with it!  Oh and since this in an international group, I'll probably be interchanging color and colour.

Moriah

Vanessa

Julia

Lauren Brown

Riet

Lauren Blood

My color is mint. That perfect mixture of blue, yellow and white that brings Spring to mind.  And if you read my pages in order, they are a section from the Tao Te Ching.

The art journal itself is made from a small Moleskine cahier, that I took apart and rebound with a variety of papers. There's Moleskine paper, scrapbook paper, watercolor and mixed media paper. Also some tracing paper and a transparency sheet. I hope everyone has fun with it!

Get Messy Gifts - Week 5

It's been a quiet start to 2017 as my maternal grandmother passed on New Years Day. So instead of making goals and setting up for the year ahead,  it's been a bit more melancholic.

My grandmother lived in Wisconsin, and I always associate red-winged blackbird with the fields behind her house. It's not a bird I see often in New York, so it has an extra special meaning for me. 

And to go along with the Season of Gifts, I made a page to honor my grandmother's gift of growing roses.