December Journal II

Oh! Here we go: The front cover of my December Art Journal: For me there has always been a big wind-up to the actual day. So I thought that I might just come out and name the journal after what is going on for me this month. Although, I am not much of a Christian anymore. I was raised that way, but as I grow older I find the Wiccan Winter Solstice traditions to have more meaning. I could have named my journal that ... but I think that I have some exploring to do here. So I am O.K. with the cover as it stands.

Here is the back cover. I am liking the bird.

And now for some of the interior pages. The page on the right is a brown paper bag that I stamped, drew, collaged, and sewed for some ATC backgrounds. I love it and this was about all that there was left.And a close-up of that green page - see that wrinkly part at the top? Well, when the paint below was pretty dry but the red paint on top was still a bit wet, I scrunched up a tissue and blotted the paint a few times. I love the texture.

And! And, do you know what? I often find acrylic painted pages to be kind of rough and bumpy - not excellent for journaling - but when I was painting the page above, and these two below, I streaked the paint down and around with tissues: it made them wonderously smooth!

You probably knew that. Well, as I said, there is always something more to learn.

How about this page? I made it with Traci Bautista's Collage Unleashed technique of dying paper towels and then transferring the dye to white paper.

A page made from an old map:

The center pages are all of a paper doily that I could get to fit. They are so fragile. I may have to come up with a scheme to make them stronger. I am waiting to see what I write/art on them first.

Three yummy photos of two pages that I painted and then stuck against each other - when I pulled them apart (immediately) they made all of these little "prarie grasses" marks.

Look:

And here: (tilt your head to the left to get the prarie grass feel)

This page on the right I painted, rubbed smooth, and then dragged glitter paint across.

So how much fun do you think I will have journaling this month?!

Yay!

December Journal

Eeeeee! I am taking an art journaling class with Dawn Sokol, of 1000 Artist Journal Pages fame. She is walking us through the making of a special journal that she calls 12.31, as in it will be done on the last day of December. This has been fun. A new way to see December and this holiday that is so huge in this culture.

Even though I am familiar with some of the techniques, I am still stretching and learning. So I am here today showing you some of my progress so far ... er, here I am trying to show you ...

Y'know, I have heard of Blogger having trouble loading pictures...

Phooey.

I am going out and in again, that worked last time.