Art Journals

Today I want to share with you the Art Journals I use and techniques for filling them up.  Art journals are those I use to draw, paint, or sketch in.  These are typically purchased but sometimes I use altered ledger books, record books, desk calendars, etc.  The purchased books I use are Canson Mixed-Media pad or a Strathmore Vision Journal watercolor pad.   

One I have is dedicated to faces. I have always been enamored with faces and love to draw or paint them.  My Faces Journal was created on a 9” x 12” Canson Mixed-Media Pad.  The mixed-media paper doesn’t always work as well as I’d like with watercolor and the acrylics don’t always blend as well as I’d like but it is a good paper for handling various mediums.  I was inspired by various projects and movements to paint, draw, or photograph 100 faces in 100 days.  I haven’t been so prescriptive with my work but I have dedicated one journal to capture faces only.   

Another I call a “scribble journal” as I use it to just free up my creativity – nothing too precious.  I use this journal to draw single line contour where you never lift your pen or pencil off the paper.  The resulting picture is typically wonky but that’s the point of this journal.   

Another I use for urban sketching (still trying to feel comfortable with this process).   I so admire artists who can take their sketchpad into the field and capture scenes and people quickly.  I hope to grow more proficient in this practice and need to be more mindful to bring a sketchpad wherever I go.   

I also have what I call “I don’t waste paint” altered journals where I apply whatever paint is leftover on my palette to practice different mark-making techniques.  One of my favorite techniques is to scrape all the paint off the palette with a credit card or room key and scrape it across the surface.   

Do you practice any form of Art Journaling? Are you interested to learn more? Let me know in the comments below.

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