Art Journal Adventure: December 2017

Another Journal Adventure finished though I still have pages left in this large Dylusions journal. I will just be doing my own thing on those pages to fill it up.

The Art Journal Adventure is on the Joggles blog and Facebook group and is wrapping up for the year. I've followed (to the best of my ability) the weekly prompts. So here's the line-up for December:

Week 49: Make a List: Santa's List:  So I decided to just go holiday. A naughty list and a nice list. Used my "I never use these" Inktense pencils. Something simple because I just wanted to color.

Week 50: Pick a Quote: Marbles:  I love quotes and have a little book dedicated to keeping some of my favorites. But I decided to go with something snarky as I never seem to have the occasion to use these stamps of Dyan Reaveley. Once I had the quote I knew what I wanted to do. I sprayed the pages with ink and used a stencil to add large circles of transparent texture paste. I like the glossy version best. Once dry the paste will resist more watercolor/ink. Naturally though, I wanted to use black paint to cover the background. It will wipe off rather well when still wet but the paint does dry on top of the paste. This page isn't entirely finished yet. I want to add more circles on the black background with some gel pens. Quote: "You may not have lost all your marbles but there's definitely a hole in the bag." (NOTE: I was doing the last page for these prompts and discovered that these pages had stuck together!!! I'm not sure what happened exactly to make it do that. The paste was dry but the sticky surface made them stick to each other when I closed the journal. I ripped up some of the circles trying to force it open so I decided that I will not put any more effort into this page. I did add some Dorland's wax to the surface and hopefully that will keep them from sticking again.)

Week 51: Trees: In the Forest:   I found these cute little forest animals on a Joggles collage sheet and decided to just make a forest for them. It gave me the excuse to use my Mermaid markers as I haven't really decided whether I like them or not. I REALLY like the new colors of them that are now available but if I don't use the ones I have what's the sense in getting more? So I'm trying to make up my mind about them. So this was good practice.

I'm still not sure about the markers. I can't decide if I like how I use them...is it the marker or the maker? I may just keep practicing.

Week 52: Endings...and new beginnings: End of the World:  I remembered this quote in part and realized that I had not written it down in my quote book, so I looked it up and added it. It seemed perfect for this prompt and a good way to finish off the journal.

I had a good vision in my head of what I wanted but I just wasn't certain what media to use for it. Should I collage the focals or just draw/paint them in? Should the background be more mixed-media like or like a scene? When I answered these questions, the page came together rather quickly.

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the Master calls a butterfly."  --Richard Bach


So that finishes off the Art Journal Adventure for 2017. I will probably play with it for next year but I'm undecided how committed I'll be.

My next post will be my annual lengthy overview of the past year and a declaration of my upcoming goals. I will evaluate my previous years goals and see where I stand. It's always a good thinker project for me. It may not be exciting to read but for me it means a lot. It puts down in writing my vision for the upcoming year as well as a reflection on what happened in the last year. I usually write it off the cuff but I'm hoping since I had my "projects" complete, I can use my time to really process where I've been and where I'm going...and the things I want to change.

Thanks for checking out the photos this past year, readers.
Thanks for reading the posts, visual procrastinators.
Happy New Year!
--Wy