Altered Book: pink.yellow

20x12" art journal spread from "tekenfilm" altered book project

I've been journaling like crazy, but not so good at photographing and posting my work for NaNoJouMo (National NonStop Journaling Month) at D'Blogala. So I will get caught up posting today & tomorrow. For these pages, I started with map and phone directory pages as a base. Used a lot of fun stuff here, including Golden heavy molding paste, Golden Fluid acrylics with a credit card and a brush, neocolors & gesso. I'm into this cheerfully grungy look. Some day, in a future galaxy, I will collage... what are you up to?

More art journaling stuff:

• Kick-Start Series art journaling & creative prompts
• A list of Art Materials for Art Journaling, Doodling & Beyond
• Plaid Backgrounds with Acrylics
• Post your journal backgrounds to my Flickr group Art Journal Pages {Unfinished}

2 CHALLENGES. 30 DAYS. 60 CREATIONS. GO.

Threaded Mandala

"Knitting is a boon for those of us who are easily bored.
I take my knitting everywhere to take the edge off of moments
that would otherwise drive me stark raving mad."
~ Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

An in-process shot, without final details...

8x8" cold press watercolor paper, mandala in black PITT pen (XS)

Are you getting in on the incredible creative energy Art Every Day Month, NaNoJouMo (and of course NaNoWriMo) are creating around the world? On Flickr, artists posting their works in the groups for the challenges. Tweeting updates on daily artistic endeavors, cheering each other with positive feedback, folks creating blogs to track progress, posting challenge survival guides, and lots of comment love at Daisy Yellow. People are creating. Painting. Coloring. Collaging. Writing. Drawing. Experimenting. Having fun. It's not too late to join (a great time for creating, just before holiday chaos ensues in many homes).

Thank you to everyone for your comments, each and every comment is appreciated... they help me understand whether I'm making any sense here and what new experiments & techniques to try!

For DAY SIX of AEDM, I finally finished a mandala I had started with a bare outline and had gotten to a sticking point and wasn't sure how to proceed. The mandala was started in response to my own prompt (which will be in the next Kick-Start Your Art Journal post) to create art that looked like it was fiber art, but was not. It's part of the square mandala series in my magical 8x8" Clairefontaine cold press watercolor journal. This paper doesn't photograph or scan like other paper, so I am working on improving the images. The paper is not white, it's more of a soft ivory, so the white balance is off and and if I knew more about photography I could fix it. I tried to give it the look of hand stitching using little lines for thread and thinking about the thread and fiber patterns. I really liked this challenge!

2 CHALLENGES. 30 DAYS. 60 CREATIONS. GO.

Collection #6

If you only look at the art of other people, whether on blogs or Flickr or in museums, you miss other sources of inspiration. A great way to develop art that is your own, pull interesting bits from the patterns and colors in the world around you and use them in your creative designs.

glorious metalwork in Bruges, Belgium inspires wicked swirly ribbon doodles, an icon or personal symbol, an oxidized silver jewelry charm, a character in a cartoon

stained glass windows edge the Saint Bavo church in Haarlem, Netherlands, brings a funky color palette, abstract symbolism, patterns for quilting, doodles, the center of a mandala, an intertwined silver bracelet

the fall aster in our garden with leaves and flowers in the background, a palette of lavender, magenta, lime green and pale yellow

the stone edging embellishing a palace wall in Munich, a handmade eraser or FIMO fabric stamp, an embroidery detail, doodle-edged art journal pages or a mono-print

in the spectacular starburst ceiling of the Saint Bavo Church, Haarlem, The Netherlands, i see a mandala, an embroidery design, a sunflower art journal background, a handmade eraser stamp, a scrap paper collage

 the urban graffiti art on a door in Amsterdam (clearly not in a legal zone), an art journal background, concept for an industrial font, a doorway sketch

Photographs can snag a composition in a store window, typography, a palette of colors in a garden, a juxtaposition of colors in a weathered sign, the colors of the sunset, little designs for doodles & embroidery.

Find more photograph prompts in the Collection series!

Disco Mandala

"Truth is never pure and rarely simple."
~Oscar Wilde

8x8" watercolor paper, mandala in black PITT pen (XS),
Sakura gellyrolls, brush PITT pens, Sharpie poster paint markers

The sunny sunflower mandala from earlier this week has officially morphed into the funkier Disco Mandala. And yes, you can re-Title Your Art because... it's your art. I usually don't change names unless it's a fairly new piece only because it creates confusion in my naming conventions.

I've just started using the awesome STACKS feature in Apple Aperture, which allows you to basically make digital stacks of similar photos ad hoc. No folders, tags, necessary, just drag and drop. It helps me keep photos of work in progress together - i.e. the art journal background with the finished page. They usually look sooooo different and I often work on stuff weeks or months apart so this will make documentation easier. And I love documentation.

This is today's work for the totally FUN Art Every Day Month, continuing the square mandala series. And yes, still a lot of pages remaining in this 8x8" journal so more mandalas to come!

Purple Thoughts

"A positive habit or ritual
gets you doing your art, not just talking about it."
~ Developing Creative Momentum, Creative Liberty

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap,
but by the seeds you plant."
~ Robert Louis Stevenson

"The pessimist complains about the wind;
the optimist expects it to change;
the realist adjusts the sails."
~William Arthur Ward

Are you an artist if you simply create artsy stuff? Are you a writer if you don't sell your work? Are you a poet if your work resides in your top drawer?  I believe that have the right to define yourself as you wish. A writer, an artist, a poet, a chef. You are the only one who has a say in this, so give it some thought.

Joker Mandala

"Things which matter most must never
be at the mercy of things which matter least."
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

8x8" watercolor paper, mandala in black PITT pen (XS), Sakura gellyrolls

A new day of Art Every Day Month and a new mandala in the square mandala series. After a cough wouldn't let me go back to sleep, I decided to get up at 5am (I am NOT a morning person) and pour a cup of tea with two tea bags and my favorite honey from New Zealand. At the breakfast table, I drew this mandala in black PITT pen (XS nib), adding color with PITT brush nib pens and Sakura gellyrolls. I've been doing B&W mandalas for quite a while; suddenly I want color. I don't get up early very often,but earlier this year I did Art Journal: Morning.

2 CHALLENGES. 30 DAYS. 60 CREATIONS. GO.

Altered Book: pink.turquoise rev 1.1

"With color one obtains an energy
that seems to stem from witchcraft."
~Henri Matisse

20x12" art journal pages from my altered book project "tekenfilm" plus detail of inked background

Starting with a slightly wet gessoed page, I dipped a brush in J. Herbin Rose Cyclamen and Bleu Pervenche fountain pen inks and added a bit of color. This is a base layer of color... gesso next, to calm down the colors. The wrinkly page gives the gesso/paints an interesting texture. I'll keep you posted. The first annual NaNoJouMo (National NonStop Journaling Month) at D'Blogala is going strong!

Learn more about the 'tekenfilm" altered book project:

• orange.blue rev 1.1
• pink.blue rev 1.1
• rainbow.gold rev 1.1
• orange.peach rev 1.1
• kid-made journal backgrounds
• purple.blue rev 1.1

2 CHALLENGES. 30 DAYS. 60 CREATIONS. GO.

Sunflower Mandala

"We especially need imagination in science.
It is not all mathematics, nor all logic,
but it is somewhat beauty and poetry"
~ Maria Montessori

For day #3 of Art Every Day Month, continuing the square mandala series with a mandala that actually has a square inside! Drawn in black PITT pen (XS) in an 8x8" Clairefontaine cold press watercolor journal. I'm adding color with PITT pen (brush) this week for another creative adventure.

This mandala has undergone a significant change (not covered by insurance, drats)... check out Disco Mandala.

2 CHALLENGES. 30 DAYS. 60 CREATIONS. GO.