An Underwater Storybook

Book Page Art Journal Page for Lisa by Jenny

I'm not fond of ripping up books, even ones I don't like... so I'm grateful to have been given a few sheets as part of a swap. Plus if I (we) ran out, Lisa has kindly put a few unusual book sheets inside the back pocket of her book for us to use.

To start my page in this fantastic book, I lightly sponged some Tim Holtz Distress Paint in 2 blues (Peacock Feathers and Tumbled Glass) over the page, leaving speckles here and there of the paper. A smart girl would wait for things to dry... I then splattered Dylusions Ink Spray in Lemon Zest and White Linen over the page before misting with water and splattering Dylusions Ink Spray, London Blue. I used the seasponge to mop up the excess liquid.

When it was almost dry, I lightly pressed a sheet of paper towel over the whole page... ours has wavy lines embossed, so any marks left behind would look like waves.
Still not dry, but why wait? Next I used a spiral shaped foam stamp with light blue Distress Paint (Tumbled Glass) and printed spirals over the page.

Now I had to leave it dry or the page would just get soggy! While waiting, I created my scenery and characters.

On one of the pages I drew daisies (because it was going to be a garden until I opened the bottle of paint) and dozens of scribbly circles with blue pencil (a regular pencil so it wouldn't disappear if (when) it got wet). Each circle was cut out by hand with scissors, drawing more circles until I felt I  had enough and putting leftovers to one side (they ended up being rocks and seaweed).

I don't have a before and after photo of the stamped narwhals, crab and books... but this is how they were created ...
I stamped the narwhals and crab in black Archival ink and the books in brown Archival ink. The crab was cut out and had his edges and feet inked with Distress Ink (Walnut Stain, dark brown), while the narwhals had their edges and tummies inked with a grey Distress Ink (Pumice Stone).
The books were blended all over using a warm brown and very dark brown Distress Ink (Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso) and spattered with water, then had black ink brushed over them. The pages of the open book were blended with brown and grey as well, only lightly though as it was really absorbent paper.

FYI, the stamps I used were ... Narwhals by Jane Davenport, Crab by Dyan Reaveley (Under the Sea collection), books by Darkroom Door (Bookworm collection and Open Book frame stamp).

The background was dry and so to add more book themed elements and create the illusion of seaweed, I used stamps by Tim Holtz and a mid green Archival Ink Pad. The writing you can see is the background image from Tim Holtz's Entomology Set (the gorgeous insects collection) and the halftone dots along the bottom is from Tim's Psychedelic Grunge Set (groovy background images).

Using a gel matte medium, I glued down torn pieces of Tim Holtz collage tissue "Melange" (its beautiful, full of butterflies, moths and music, perfect for this page). I then fussy cut and tore some rocks and seaweed out of the leftover book pages and stuck them down before gluing down the crab, books, narwhals and bubbles. All with the gel... thankfully it takes a little while to dry as they moved around a bit until everything was where I like it (or was too stuck to move). I then left it to dry overnight, crossing my fingers that the colour of the pages dried much lighter (and it did, phew!).

The next day... totally dry and the colours were ok again :) The quote on the right hand side are stickers by Finnabair (Sentiments pack), altered to say "Give a Voice to Your Story".
At this stage, I added some of Ranger's Glossy Accents (a 3D shiny varnish) and used Distress Inks to add a bit of extra colour here and there. I also added a tiny paperclip from Tim Holtz's Idea-Ology collection with a Distress Ink stained piece of muslin.

Glossy Accents was added everywhere... even the books have "water" dripping over them!

The narwhals had a pretty glitter glue on their horns then a splash of Glossy on those as well. The crab was given shiny eyes and his book dunked in "water" aka Glossy while the bubbles were coated with a Gloss Texture Paste.

This is when I thought it was finished, ready to post to Sharon... then I had a delivery with a whole new collection of treasures... Tim's Baseboard Dolls and Transparent Wings! The page didn't feel finished anyway! lol :)

The paper doll sitting on the stack of books is one of Tim's Idea-Ology Baseboard Dolls wearing a pair of his Transparent Wings (with glitter glue underneath). The doll has splashes of Glossy (it got everywhere) and a Distress Ink stained hat. I glued the doll down and lifted her to add the wings, then lifted her again to add the glitter glue to the wings... then once more to add the ends of string underneath. I don't recommend this "technique" but luckily she's a tough dolly and didn't hurt her a bit!

The yellow string (some sort of paper twine) was stained with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and sprayed with water to get it to blend. Before it dried, I had it curling around on the table, hoping it would dry how I shaped it. Five minutes later it was still damp but I couldn't wait any longer... I glued it to the page using matte gel medium. Then finally, left it all to dry.

So here it is... my finished art journal page. Its the story of a little crab sharing his books with his fairy and narwhal friends. With the name Tolstoy at the top of the pages that I used to cut up, it could be a real epic!

Thanks so much for reading and checking out my journal page for Lisa. I hope it makes you smile too!

Have a wonderful, happy creative day!
:)
Jenny

Janies play in Lisas Music and Lyrics.

My latest, in Lisa's Music & Lyrics journal. I didn't realise how hard it was going to be to choose a song I loved, and that I would love to interpret 2 dimensionally. I loved and enjoyed a number of Aussie songs, but 2/2 artistically depicted had already been chosen. I thought it best to go in another direction, so I eventually chose to go with Send in the Clowns by Stephen Sondheim. I had been saving images for three likely  to be used songs, so already had a number of nice pics collected. I cut them out, and started playing with them on paper, until I saw in my mind's eye what I wanted it to look like. A dark moody background was called for and this was achieved with Lindy's starburst sprays, printed tissue & stencils. Once an interesting depth was achieved i stuck down my collage elements into a predesigned picture. Below are the 3 finished pages

Outside of the flap I created and stuck on.

inside the flap - the lyrics to the song. The water blotches represent tears 😢

The main finished double spread; faces you can recognise.....?

AAJS 4 'Jan's Favourites Journal' Wrap Up

This lovely journal wended its way home in December 2017. Everything went so smoothly and I can't thank all who worked in my journal enough. You all did a superb job and I will treasure this journal.
Here is the cover. It is a small journal made out of an old envelope for the cover and A4 pages of card stock folded in half.

I did a couple of pages to get things started.

And then posted it off to Pam and she did a wonderfully colourful page -'100 weeds-100 wishes'

Then it went to Colleen who did her quirky birds- how cheerful are they! And another lovely butterfly page.

Next I am assuming was Joanna's page as it isn't signed but is next. A beautiful delicate page of fairies - I know this is a favourite of hers.

Joan did a lovely Winnie the Poo page that is pretty and whimsical.

Than Lisa worked her magic with a U2 song and page and also did another really colourful page with a riot of flowers.

Last but not least was Lesley's really beaut page of characters and flowers. Love the colour!

Thank you all to the wonderful artists who worked in my journal.

Jan makes a Homage to Art

Jan makes a Homage to Art in Lisa Jones Journal

I decided I wanted to do a page that paid homage to Gustav Klimt. I have a lovely book about him and his art and it has wonderful full colour plates. So plenty of inspiration. I am amazed when i look closely to his art that he was so adept at mark making. He could really teach us modern artists a thing or two. Here is a close up of one of his pictures. Awesome.

I was also inspired by Sue Davis, a wonderful American artist. I love how she gets her backgrounds, so I used this for the base of my page.

Then I created my tree and went to work. I did a bit of stenciling and doodling to tie things together.

Hope you like it Lisa.

Lesley's Homage to Art

LESLEY ALEXANDER'S PAGE IN LISA JONES'S ART JOURNAL..JULY 2017.

I was excited to be the first person to paint in Lisa's art Journal. The theme of Lisa's Journal is Homage to art.The artist I decided to pay homage to was BANKSY even though it is not really known who BANKSY actually is ( there are a lot of suspicions ) he is quite famous for his street art.

I started my page with some torn papers..

followed by the use of lots of stencils and acrylic paints to randomly fill the page.

I then drew my circles and gave the rest of the page a light covering of white gesso, I used gesso instead of white paint because I wanted it to be more translucent .

I then used my favorite BANKSY stamps to fill the rest of the page.

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• I also decided I would do a matching tag for each page that I do as an extra for the owners of each journal for them to use some other way .
  
  
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  Thank you Lisa for sharing your awesome with us.

Deb's entry In Lisa Jones- Summer Journal- Round 3.

I'm late with this entry (story of my Life lol!)

For someone that loves Summer this one was hard for me as I always think Beach when I think of summer...but Lisa's journal was full of gorgeous beach scenes already.

So I actually asked my students to help me do a "summer in Perth" brainstorm on my classroom blackboard when our content was sending them to sleep:)

So..my perspective is looking through my imaginary Art Studio window, in my imaginary home where the family and I will retire (which will be on a beach somewhere in beautiful W.A....Hey! Dreams are free right??) We are looking out the window at my dream backyard with green lawn and an opening in my fence (made from corrugated cardboard, complete with bore water sprinkler stains) so that I can just walk down to the beach whenever I want. There will be a tree house, cricket,  BBQ's (with Shrimp cocktails) and cold drinks and all my family and friends are welcome to come and visit any time they like! A bit of nostalgia is the lace and crochet curtains framing my window.

the sunset and background was painted with water colours. The paper piecing and title was designed and cut on my Pazzles Inspiration machine.  the tree house was a chipboard embellishment I have had for so long that I no longer know where I got it from.  The 'tiles' on the windowsill were paper scraps, and the tap was hand cut. I have put 2 small shells my son, Jake, collected on that windowsill as decoration too. I hope this mixed piece survives future travels and that you enjoy it as much as I do Lisa.

                                                       

                                                                           Perth Summer
                                                                         By Deb Stephens

Lisa J - Working in Wendy's Aphorism Journal

I know I keep saying this, but I'll say it again: I've discovered I love working in art journals!  Particularly other people's because I have a guide on what to do in them.  In my own, I fluff around looking for inspiration...

Wendy's journal is hand made and about A5 size.  To be honest, before this I'd never hear the term 'aphorism'.  I learnt that it's a witty saying or proverb.

I decided I wanted to do a saying that I've used before, so came up with that old classic that's dished out when you've just had a break up: You'll be okay; there are plenty of other fish in the sea!

This was quite simple in execution: sponged background with circles dotted on for bubbles, painted mermaid and some grasses and fishies at the bottom.  Outlined the writing in Micron pen and filled in with paint plus dots from a silver pen.

and a closer up look at the mermaid: 

Hope you like it Wendy; it was a quick one but lots of fun to do!

Cheers, Lisa

Lisa J - Playing in Deb's Pinterest Journal

Deb's theme is Inspired by Pinterest, and when I saw this, I was thrilled.  I have been a Pinterest devotee for ages and agree with Deb; you can stop for a quick look and still be there hours later.  Yes, it's even worse than Facebook!

Despite the addictive qualities, Pinterest is fantastic for finding inspiring things.  For those that haven't checked it out yet, you can set up your own 'pin board' of things that you like (e.g. art journalling), and pin pictures, recipes, links to websites there for future reference.  Pinterest gets to know what you like, and you'll see more of those things on your home page - your feed.  I use Pinterest regularly to find ideas for journal pages or illustration challenges, recipes, and inspirational (or just funny) quotes.

Deb has not made an actual journal, rather she has provided a stack of good quality A4 watercolour paper, to be folded in half - similar to a Deconstructed Art Journal but a tad bigger.  This means 3 opportunities to make art on - the front, double sided middle page, and back page.  Woo hoo!

For my front page I decided on an old book page with a tree on it.  The idea is to paint out the background, so the words on the page become your focal point.  I'd seen a few of these on Pinterest and thought it looked fun, and I love painting trees, so voila!  This page was done with acrylic paints and a Micron pen.

My middle page was a labour of love.  I'm (pardon the pun) drawn to faces; I love drawing and painting them and trying to improve.  The work of Australian artist Toni Burt has always interested me, so I decided to use one of her mixed media pieces as an inspiration.  Well, I like how her face has turned out, despite my daughter insisting that her eye is too big.  Bad luck!  I always find it more difficult to do a face when you're only doing half of it for some reason...  

I'm not sure what Toni uses to draw her faces, but I like experimenting with water soluble pencils, so had a go with that.  The flowers are painted with acrylics and modeling paste, with some white gel pen.  Bit of collage in the background, and more water soluble pencil.

For the back page, something different.  As I've said, Pinterest knows what you like, so recipe wise, my feed is full of delicious but fattening sweets - primarily things with chocolate, peanut butter, and/or caramel in them.  My downfalls.  So scrumptious but so bad for me...  So instead, I decided to do a drawing of a luscious looking fresh fruit tart, compliments of Sally's Baking Addiction.  So decadent but - it's fruit, so it's not bad for you, right?  Right?!

I recently splurged (birthday money - yay!) on some arty stuff, including gelatos (which I haven't tried yet!) and a new Koi watercolour set, which I used for this page.  Tiny pans of colour but the colours are so vibrant!  Love them.  Can definitely see why I should move on from my kiddy palette...

Thanks so much Deb for thinking up the Pinterest theme - I had such a great time doing these pages and will definitely do some more experimenting!  Hope you like it! xx

Lisa G G - Working in Deb's 'Inspired by Pinterest' Journal

Lisa J here blogging for Lisa G G!  

Lisa has had lots of fun with the wonderful roll out of the NBN, so has had internet troubles.  I'm helping out as I have Deb's journal to play in now.

The theme of Deb's journal is 'Inspired by Pinterest', and she's provided everyone with good quality A4 paper to be folded in half, similar to one of the Deconstructed Art Journal swaps we've been doing; only a little bigger!  Deb intends to bind all the pages together when she gets them back at the end of the year.

This means you get 3 pages to do! Front, double sized middle, and back.

For the front, Lisa has gone with a heart theme: Never stop loving...

For the middle pages, more hearts.  The left hand side is a brick wall made using texture paste through a stencil, with the heart drawn on top.  The drips could be in blood... but most likely are paint. :)  The right hand side features a musical background with a luscious heart - Dylusions paint I believe, with the saying "Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage..."  Too true!  The heart is a gorgeous magenta colour.

The rear features more hearts, this time done with watercolour pencils. 

This journal has been a great way to try new techniques and mediums!

Lisa's Wonderful Summer Journal

I have finished working in Lisa's beautiful journal.  What a wonderful job she has done.  Beautifully made, wonderful art and little personalised parts as well.

A few years ago, very early in my arting adventure I did a post card swap and I used a beach theme so I tried to re-create that.

I did the background in sections and tried to include a textural component as well.  The water is a technique with glad wrap over wet paint, the sand is glass bead medium mixed with paint and the sky is done by dabbing a sea sponge.  WIP

After I worked out where I wanted the collaged pieces I stuck them down and added some details and journalling.

Some close ups of the details.

I really enjoyed this journal and I hope Lisa likes my spread.