Blog: Art Journal

Buried Hopes – Art Journal

Sometimes when I paint on canvas and have leftover paint on the palette, I get real stingy and add it into my art journal. And that may or may not be good, but it always kind of pushes me to think of the next thing to do and acts as a starting point :)

Here I added some marks with a brush and black paint, as well as some gesso texture with pressed cloth.

Then I stamped the Fan-tastic Small rubber stamps using a grey Versafine ink pad. The Journaling is done with a black Signo ball pen. Fun!

Here are some of the supplies that I used:

Nat

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Mad Magic – Art Journal

On a lightly painted background using acrylic inks, I added a sheet of grafix on which I had mono printed using the Central Ave foam stamp and some lids. I had this in my collage drawer for a while and I thought it would be perfect layered onto the background here.

I added some shadowing with my fav water soluble graphite pencils around the sheet and then also a little scribble with a signo ball pen.

I stamped again with acrylic paint and the Central Ave foam stamp to tie everything together with the background. The letters are from some old letter sticker sheets – I have always had a soft spot for those grungy letters.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Shut the Front Door – Art Journal

Here I was playing around with some sketching and my new Caran D’Ache water soluble graphite pencil set.

I also added some Art Graph for extra color and then made marks with acrylic paint.

I used a small wooden alphabet stamp set for the title and a Sharpie ball pen for lines and my journaling.

I also added a bit of white Heavy Gesso by Liquitex for some texture and contrast as it was getting a bit overworked with the graphites. I’m still practicing the right moment to stop with those :)

The journaling reads, “Every time I start to forget, I open the door and you dim the light and I remember, you are not worth it.”

Sometimes you just have to shut the front door – LOL ;)

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Oh Nat, I love this so much!

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Awesome Side Effects – Art Journal

“Weird is a side effect of awesome”

Here I used acrylic paint and dragged it with a palette knife across the art journal page, added in bits of sewing pattern, and also used Liquitex White Gesso for even more texture.

I created marks with my favorite new supply – Caran D’ache water soluble pencils.

I finished things off with my Cardboard stamps and Embroidery stamps.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Follow Your Path – Art Journal

For this page I used some tissue paper with printed quotes and a sewing pattern for the background, all adhered with acrylic paint.

I added stamping with my E-Train rubber stamp…

…and collaged in a piece of an old calendar which had some of my paintings in it – the Path train (my local subway system) was part of it.

For the mark making I used my new favorite water soluble Caran D’Ache Pencils.

The journaling reads, “It often takes funny turns, slows for no reason, skips a beat and always arrives” …well kind of just like the Path Train LOL ;) I hope I didn’t jinx it for my next ride into or out of the city ;)

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Last Heard – Art Journal

This art journal page began with another one of those pages from the 2022 Artist Almanac calendar. (It’s sold out but the 2023 is in the works and you can join my monthly newsletter for word on when they’re available).

I’m still playing with old letters as well, and I added the sentence “That is the last heard from either of them”. It is interesting to think of the times of no phone or social media or email – you would have to just wait and wait… Again this was from a letter from the 1860s.

I recalled that I had used some sewing pattern tissue for the original art journal page that I made with Frida and so I pasted some down and instead of gel medium I used the actual acrylic paint as the adhesive underneath the tissue and on top.

I also added some patterned areas with my Amsterdam stencil. I like the grungy background – I always find it so freeing to just play with the paint and layer it all up.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Pressing Questions – Art Journal

This is another art journal page with some inspiration from an old letter from the 1860s. This sentence said “I want to know if you have seen much of the sun lately?” It struck me as funny.

BTW reading all those letters and creating with them made me think about how much I loved to receive and send letters. I have a lot of letters that I kept from dear friends and family members and it is a funny thought that maybe in 100 years someone will make art with them hahaha.

I used my Art Deco Summit and Art Deco Empire stencils with Ranger distress oxide inks and a blending tool through the stencils.

On top I adhered a piece of Grafix acetate on which I had stamped with my Fan-tastic rubber stamps and Versafine ink. It was a leftover from a project and I thought it would be fun to use. I just added some double sided adhesive tape to the back and pressed it down.

For the letter I used my fav Coccoina glue stick.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Wouldn’t it be wonderful for someone to use one of your letters for art…absolutely a delightful thought!

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Calculated Probabilities – Art Journal

I had more fun with old letters in this art journal page – in this case I stumbled across the words “calculated probabilty” and I cut the rest out of the letter to form the journaling “there is a calculated probability you remain where you are planted, affectionately your poppa”.

Now the original 160 year old letter didn’t say anything of that kind but it did have at parts a little bit of a condescending tone to it, and I gathered well meaning Poppa was writing to an adult daughter. In any event, that is what lead to this page.

I also tried my new Caran D’Ache water soluble Graphite Pencil set. I love it – the green and blue graphite pencils are so cool. I did add some yellow acrylic ink on top of the face which I honestly regret, it looked way better before… but that is fine – I learned about the pencils and I broke them in. They might be my new favorite thing.

I finished things off with my Solid Triangle Small and Numerals stamp – just stamping the triangle part of the Numerals stamp.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Don’t be a Litterbug – Art Journal

In this art journal page I took advantage of some painty grunge on a deli paper piece that I had used to dab off some excess paint from a gel plate, as well as some stamp marks from my foam stamps.

I adhered the piece for a background into my ledger art journal and stamped on top with Versafine and the Lady Liberty foam stamp. Next I stamped the Lady Liberty rubber stamp in green on an old letter and adhered that too. The “Don’t be a litterbug” is from an old road map…a paper road map… wow, what a blast from the not so far past LOL.

The journaling is supposed to read:

“Beauty is not in the face; Beauty is a light in the heart!” The pen died on me though and I made a little mistake, but oh well ;)

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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