New Journal, New Classes

I have been negligent of my blog! Then, again, I have been busy with life/work things.
I have finally settled in to begin my Art Journal. I have many pages brimming with background color thanks to a investment in Dylusions Ink Sprays. I have all the colors sans black and brown. I admit to getting the stuff all over my hands when I use it as I apparently have very poor aim. I tried wearing gloves but then the ink doesn't dry on the gloves and it drips or wipes off into places I may not want it. Sigh. I'll just have to hope that on Monday mornings, after a weekend of playing with ink, that no one notices my London Blue or Crushed Grape stained hands! I had a spot of Bubblegum pink stuck in my fingernail bed for days. I don't really mind but I don't know how well it goes over at the workplace. :)

Overall, I'm very happy working with the ink sprays. And my first art journal is a combination of me just experimenting and a Smash journal. I discovered that I like to use up little bits of things that I have been holding for some project that I have since forgotten. Especially old stickers. CONFESSION: I was once a Sticker Addict. Yes, I was. Every new sticker set had me in a tizzy. But I have since kicked the habit. I have replaced it with Rubber Stamps! Don't get me wrong, I still like stickers, but not the way I used to. I still like little bits of glitz, small corners, and epoxy dimension but feel that I have moved on. I no longer want to rely on other people's art for my journals. I want to Create my own.

The same is taking hold of me with Rubber Stamps. I don't like a rubber stamp that has so many elements in it that it looks "complete" when it's stamped. Like those ATC sized stamps of Tim Holtz. (the Component stamps) Don't get me wrong, I LOVE how they look. I just want to be able to create it all for myself. Give me the elements and I'll arrange them, I'll color them, I'll embellish them, I'll do what I like with them. Give me versatility! I get brain-locked with those stamps because it looks like it's all done to me. Ink, stamp, mount, done. That doesn't make my heart flutter anymore. It's not about completion for me; it's about the ride.

I digress.

So one thing that I have learned about my Art Journal is that I need to, at least, get my background inked the way I want them before I start to add my other stuff. I started the journal and finished off a couple pages...like in a previous post...but realized that I probably shouldn't have. I have discovered that I am very messy with inks and water sprays. And despite the videos of Dyan Reavley just opening a page in her journal and mashing it in ink, I realize that I get a lot of drippage along the wire binding and along the edge that doesn't thrill me. At least, on a "finished" page. If all the pages were incomplete, I can just cover up or alter what I don't like from any drippage. My completed pages seem to have developed strange colored edges and blobs of ink from the binding. SO: I will do all my inking, painting, dipping, spraying and what-all to all my pages until I think I can do something with the background. THEN, I will finish off the pages with my scraps and bits and stickers.

See that BLOB of purple ink...it just soaked through the holes where the journal is bound. Had the page not been "finished", I easily could have covered up most of it or turned it into a butterfly. So, live and learn. But so far...ITS REALLY FUN!!! And I look forward every weekend to messing around with the pages and backgrounds.

As for classes...I was so amazed by the stuff I learned in Creative Chemistry I decided to take a few more on-line classes. I signed up for the next class at onlinecardclasses.com...called Stretching your Rubber Stamps. I look forward to some new inspirations for stamps I just can't seem to part with. That starts next month, I think. I love their classes as they provide lifetime access to the material. Then, I don't have to print out a bunch of sheets and wonder where the heck I put them when I need a go-to technique or idea.

I think the class will be beneficial for me in that, I have a bunch of stamps that I just don't know what to do with. Stamp it, color it...it looks the same every time. I hope this class will inspire me to leave my comfort zone a bit and use my stamps from a different point of view.

I'm also taking an on-line class through joggles.com another one of my FAVORITE places to get fun stuff. I really love the video tutorials that they put out...really wonderful stuff! Anyway, the class is An Altered Journal and taught by Sarah Whitmire. The picture of the completed project was simply beautiful so I hmmmed and hawed over whether I should or not...but should won out when I read the part about learning the basics of Fluid Acrylics. I have wanted to learn more about these kinds of paints FOR AGES! I had a bottle of red that I played with a bit and loved the look but couldn't justify the cost for just a little hobby of mine. Then a year ago, I bought a bottle of a blue color in hopes of using it in a Ocean project which I am only now beginning. This class came along at a good time and made me "justify" the purchase of several other colors. (As well as other fun stuff like gesso and heavy body acrylic paint... things of which I have only heard tell...)

I'm sure I'll learn a lot from the class and hope to be able to apply it to my altered book addiction. And maybe my art journal addiction as well. Here's to not having a goal...here's to not having to produce anything for anyone but me!

Wy
"Layers are an artist's way of starting over."