{a little peek & taking inspiration and creating something new}

I am just finishing up a project and wanted to be able to share at least a peek of it before sending it off!

I’ve been inspired by a whole host of artists lately, and incorporated their techniques or basic ideas into this journal page. I wanted to show you how you can learn from someone else but make it all uniquely your own.

Ruth Rae creates the most amazing fiber artwork, an I just adore her work. There are a few pieces of hers in Inner Excavation by Liz Lamoreux, and I just had to try some stuff out! Above are pieces of muslin left over from my messenger bag alteration that I stamped on with Staz On ink. I would have never thought of this unless I’d seen her artwork with stamped images on it!

I’ve been totally inspired by Traci’s Art Journaling Daily posts, expecially this one, where we get to see her write! It got me pulling out my own dip-pen and ink, and I just spilled onto the page all that was on my mind.

Roben-Marie’s gotten me into the Liquitex Ink! And several books talk about painting with the dauber in the ink bottle. So I colored things in and was amazed at how cool the white bled into the purple.

The flower is a die-cut shape from sticky-back canvas. I seriously love that stuff and use it all the time to embellish my artwork!

DJ’s amazing journals gave me the idea to use the fabric to hinge the pages (her word, and isn’t it just the perfect one?). So here’s what a spread looks like!

At the top is the positive of a stencil I was using. Dina showed me her way of using both the positive and negative of stencils when I played in her studio! You get double milage out of one application, and can get a new page started while working on another.

Inspiration can come from anywhere! What makes amazing art is taking that you’ve learned and putting it through YOU as if you’re a processor. Inspiration comes in and BONDS with who YOU are and is instantly transformed. By putting it all together, you begin to experiment and create something that not only pays homage to the artists and images that first fired you up, but synthesize a UNIQUE creation.

Don’t be afraid to use a technique you’ve learned or seen. Just make sure, when you use it, it becomes YOUR VERSION. That is why journals are amazing - they are safe places where you EXPERIMENT and PLAY and ultimately discover yourself!

From comments I’ve gotten in the past, I can safely say that my artwork doesn’t directly copy or rip off other artists. I used to worry about that in the past SO MUCH! But now I know I can take it in, play around, and create something wonderful.

I could really use the kindness and help of strangers today, as I finish up preparations for a major reveal and online workshop. If you like this content or any of my videos, please donate a little bit via the sidebar!

{points of two week #50: m is for map!}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

This week's theme was "M is for Map." I decided to draw a little map on some fiber paste, and show that you can redefine the map of your life by using your wings. I was in a self-pep-talk kind of mood when I did my page.

Can you believe we only have 2 weeks left?!

(be sure to check out Roben-Marie's blog for her story!)

{points of two week #49: on the dotted line}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

Our theme for this week was On the Dotted Line. 

My page doesn't have any words. While I was working on it, I was amazed at what came out, at how much my subconscious mind was able to capture how I was feeling so perfectly. That's one of the great things about art journaling - the ability to so succinctly capture what cannot be said with words. 

So there I am, balanced on the dotted line, between serenity and feeling particularly ucky. The page says it all. 

Be sure to check out Roben-Marie's blog for her story!

{points of two week #48: strengths & weaknesses}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

When I started this spread, I wasn't intending for it to be part of this project. But as I continued to work (and whine on Twitter), I realized it was a perfect representation of what this week's theme is all about.

I started on the right side, trying to think, to get back into the groove after weeks of quilting and fabric art. I had all these plans in my head, and just got in my own way. After awhile, I knew I had to just give in and stop trying so much and just play. So I glued in the fabric and started randomly painting. I didn't know where it was going, and yet, when I finished, I knew exactly what it was saying.

Be sure to check out Roben-Marie's blog for her story!

{points of two week #47: wings}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

This week, we focused on wings. I actually had this piece of Amy Butler fabric with wings already stitched on it in my scrap pile, so I rescued it and used paint directly on the fabric. Embellished with Copic markers and a cool silver pen I found.

And here's Roben-Marie's page! Check out her blog for more!

{points of two week #46: self-portrait}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

For this week’s theme, we did self-portraits.

I’ve been doing a lot of art educating, seeing as I never went to art school (I went to an art school, but didn’t major in this kind of art!), and knew that a self-portrait didn’t necessarily mean a picture that looked just like you. Rather, I wanted to do something that represented how I see myself and my life.

I decided to focus on the dichotomy of my life, the mask I wear to appear “normal,” and how I truly feel inside. I used only acrylic paint, a stencil (the girl cut out from the front of a sewing pattern), spray ink, & a plexi heart I got in a clearance pack of shapes. And of course, a sewing machine, because I just adore mine now that it purrs. (Oh, and my Martha Stewart punch, because it's just fun.)

So this week’s page and self-portrait is dedicated to my sisters and brothers who live with chronic illness in whatever form.

And check out Roben-Marie's blog for her story!

{points of two: inside plastic}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

We’re back! A personal matter kept us from updating last week, so we shifted that prompt to today. And what is the prompt, you ask?

Inside plastic.

Roben-Marie and I both used clear vinyl stitched onto journal pages for this one, but in very different ways. While she used it to contain fortunes from fortune cookies, I used it to cover my entire background.

Originally, I only sewed it long the side with the fabric, intent on allowing the plastic layer to be peeled away to reveal the original, but once I started working on it with Copics and saw the amazing effects I could get working on the vinyl with the alcohol-based markers, I decided to sew the plastic down permanently to make it part of the final piece.

I just love experimenting and finding out something new! If you use the colorless blender on the vinyl, it works as an eraser, or if you just put down the tip, it works like alcohol and clears a tiny space.

The messages in this piece are hidden under and above layers and are still very personal - I don’t think I’m ready to reveal what I’m thinking, which is what the page is about, anyway! - but maybe working with the ideas/feelings some more will help me build up the strength to “come out,” as it were.

On this page, I used acrylics, vinyl, Copic markers, fabric, and stitches:

And don't forget to visit Roben-Marie's blog for her story!

 

{points of two #44: between the lines}

Points of Two is an experiment in journaling with myself and Roben Marie! Check out our archives to see the previous weeks' pages.

This week's theme was Between the Lines. While Roben-Marie did a wonderful, colorful page with lines to write between, I went a different direction and journaled about my weekend.

My mom was feeling really under the weather, as was I. We we Sick enough to deserve the capital S. And while I was getting a bit better by Monday, enough to run some simple errands for must-haves (like food and medicine), she wasn't. And while she didn't say much, I had to read between the lines of what she DID say, or what she seemed to need, relying more on silent communication than words.

So I decided to follow that when creating this page.

Materials: Acrylic Paint, Copic Markers, Liquitex Ink!, Black Sharpie Poster Paint Pen

And here's Roben-Marie's page! Check out her blog for the story behind it!

I just ADORE her use of color here! Don't you? XD