Three weeks ago, I started taking Christy’s She had Three Hearts workshop. In the first week, Christy had 29 videos. Most of them showed different products and how they can be used for art journaling. While I had several of the products, there were a few I’d heard of but never tried and I ended up buying a few of them after watching the videos.
I’m a firm believer that talented people can work with whatever they have at hand. You do not need expensive art supplies to create great art. However, I’ve also come to believe that some mediums work better for some people. For example, I don’t like working with acrylic paint most of the time because I am impatient and don’t like to wait for it to dry and it never comes out the way I like. But I love watercolor (on watercolor paper). So I decided that I wanted to experiment some and find my favorite mediums. Christy’s videos not only prompted me to buy some new supplies but they also were the catalyst for me to sit and do some art journaling.
The first thing to do was pick a book. I didn’t want to buy something new and I’m already using the A4 watercolor moleskine for my weeklong pages so I had a few large Sketchbook Moleskines I’d bought earlier this year (for the portrait drawings) and I decided to repurpose one of those.
My goal was to just play so I can find my way of creating art journaling. I also decided my colors are happy colors. I like bright, strong colors on my scrapbooking so I thought I might like the same in art journaling. I slapped a bunch of color on my background using the watersoluble crayons and then I drew some hearts and just went from there. I ended up with this:
The amazing quote stamp is from cat’s life press and the doily one is from My Mind’s Eye. Everything else is just sequin waste and random texture.
I was pretty happy with this page. Didn’t adore it but felt much better than my previous pages. Two days later, I received my Graphtint pencils and wanted to try them out, so the background here is created by those pencils. I then added some handwriting, some lace, flowers, etc and a lot of journaling. I ended up with something like this.
I stared and stared at the page, worked on it for a long time and just did not like how it turned out. I really really disliked my handwriting especially. So, the next day, I covered it up with book paper, recreated some more background, added some more flowers, layers, etc and ended up with this.
which is still not great but i like it so much more. So much.
The next day, my long awaited panpastels arrived and I was in heaven. I had waited so long to get these and I was suddenly so so glad to have them. I love and adore this medium. It’s like it was invented for me. I created this simple page right away. Back to my happy, bright colors.
I used my cricut to cut a bunch of shapes so I could use them as templates and it worked like a charm.
I loved this medium so much that I did two more pages that same night. One of them is now saved for another project but here is the other:
This page also uses the Crafter’s Workshop template I bought. See those bright penpastels? I love them!
And then I used another new medium I adore, the Liquitex Acrylic Ink! to create this page. I had also resisted buying these but I adore them. Even though I don’t usually like acrylic, these are wonderful in that they are very pigmented and very vivid and they dry right away. I love them.
And that’s it for now. More pages coming next week. I haven’t stopped making pages since I received all these products and I am so happy. I love these happy pages. I love creating and I am just enjoying the process for now. Thank you for letting me share.
Your journal spreads are lovely! I too have issues with my handwriting, but my art journaling has been helping me to get over them. I can’t get over all of the fabulous art supplies you have arriving at your house daily! Enjoy!
Andria, how did the art journal help? I would love to know how to grow to love my handwriting.
I always really want to use rubber stamp alphabet sets, but then have problems with the edges making ink lines or not being able to line my words up like I want to. I think that seeing the negative side of the rubber stamps made me appreciate how flexible a handwritten approach is. I am tempted to used alphabet stickers, but I know from scrapbooking experiences that they can be frustrating too, if they don’t adhere well. There are things online–techniques–that have helped me write in new ways, too. And I just messed around with my own writing. I found out that if I write in cursive “old school style” where my letters actually all connect to one another (instead of the crazy cursive/print hybrid I’ve developed over the years), it looks kind of elegant to me. And when I want to print, I started writing in an upper case/lower case mix that feels kind of fun to me. Hope this helps! 🙂
What did you use for the big heat on Joined Hearts I have been watching panpastels for a long time but can’t afford right now, hope they were cheaper.
i just drew the heart with paint. 🙂
Thank you thank you for sharing these with us. It’s been driving me crazy hearing about your painting but not seeing them yet. It was worth the wait my friend. You are doing so well with this class. I love all the different mediums your using and the quotes on them. How fun to play with new paints. I can’t wait to take this class and play too. How did you manage to watch all those videos? Is there that many all at once and then that’s it or is there more later on. Sounds like she would cover everything in the videos which will be helpful for me. Keep painting and being happy and then share some of that happiness here so that I will be happy too,lol. Great job on them all and if I had to pick which would be hard but the first one is my favorite then I think the last one. Happy weekend.
there are many many many 🙂 she has 29 in the first week 🙂 I watched them while I exercised 🙂
by the way Karen please don’t take the first part of my comment to serious in the above comment. Whenever you choose to share your art is fine, I was just so excited to finally see it. Wasn’t trying to complain or make you feel bad, just expressing the joy of seeing it and loving it. It will make me smile all day and hoping to paint tonight when kids settle down.
I never do, please don’t worry. if anything, I am honored.
I’m in Christy’s workshop as well! I’ve been trying to tell myself that I don’t need the pan pastels or liquitex inks… but you’re not making it very easy! I love your pages and all of your artwork. HUGS
i am so sorry! you don’t need them i swear! 🙂
This is awesome! You inspired me before, as you always do but this stuff is simply incredible. Your talent seems to have flown to new heights with these new supplies. Thank you for continuing to inspire me!
These pages are so, so lovely! Thanks for sharing.
thanks for sharing. Love those last 3 especially the bird cage one. Just stunning!!!
Love you pages, and can’t wait to see more. YOu inspired me with your She Art pages to join Christy’s class. I am currently taking the She Art class and having lots of fun! Thanks for sharing!
yey that’s so wonderful!! thank you!!
I adore all of these pages. I do have a few Questions. What pens do you use to write over all the paints and inks? What gesso do you use! And where do you purchase it? I want the pan pastels desperately. How do you blend the colors? Did you layer the colors over each other on the freedom page? Did you achieve all those colors with the set of 20 on amazon? And with respect to the Liam Tex inks? How many colors did you start with? Which ones did you use on that page? Would you consider making videos of some of your weekly art journal processes? Thanks!!! I am so inspired!
i generally use the Pitt Artist Pens they write on most everything. my gesso is liquitex, i bought it a long long time ago at a local art store but you can find it at dickblick.com and many other online stores. you blend by putting them on each other. you can blend on the pans or on the page. i only have the set of 20 so for the pages i used pastels on, the answer is yes 🙂 Liquitex inks i bought in 6 colors: green, yellow, red, orangy red (i wanted orange but the store was out), blue and brown. i can get you the actual names if u want. i then bought a pink and purple too. i think that page has the yellow and the orangy red. i would love to do videos but i need to figure out how to set it up. i work inthe living room so it’s not so easy. i will domy best 🙂 thank u so much for the kind words!
I would love a link to the Pitt pens you have if that isn’t extra work for you. And, yes, I am very interested in the color names of the Liquitex. Do you drop it on and then paint it with a brush?
sorry for the delay Kelly!! here they are: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0025U2TPW dickblick has them, too in many colors. 🙂
the liqutex colors I have are; cadmium yellow light hue, vivid lime green, quinacridone magenta, transparent raw umber, cerulean blue hue, vivid red orange, dioxazine purple, and napthol crimson. i also have one bottle of FW liquid acrylic in flame orange. i use them both with my fingers and by dropping on a mat and then using my brush to scoop it off. i don’t geerally drop on my page because it dries fast and that tends to make goops for me for some reason. HTH!!
Hi Karen! I am in Christy’s class as well and I LOVE your pages. It’s funny, because I got some of the PanPastels as well (only because I had a 40% off coupon) and got a small, basic set. I am not in love with these. Perhaps I have not played around a lot with them, I am not 100% sure. I like the quick ease I can create a scene (grass/sky) but not sure about anything else. On the contrary, I LOVE my watercolor crayons and pencils on watercolor paper. Isn’t it funny how everyone has their favorites? My question is this for the Panpastels..are you spraying your pages with a fixative like hairspray? What is the easiest way that you’ve found to actually BLEND the colors. thanks Karen!!
hmmm depends what kind of blending you want. I just put them on top of each other. there are videos on you tube too i think and donna downey has two videos but they cost $15 each. I love the watercolor crayons more and more too. Learning to play still. You are 100% right though we all have mediums hat are more comfortable i think. After I am done with my page using panpastels, i do spray fixative on it. same for oils, too. 🙂
I just signed up for the next session of this. I can’t wait to get started! These are all gorgeous but I especially love the two with the paper flowers. They are just fantastic! I’m really enjoying these!
Lovely pages Karen! I love your use of color. And wow, no white space. (don’t get me wrong, I love your white space layouts)