Fashion Runway & Art Journaling

I am not a fashion designer or connected to the fashion industry in any way but I had a thought the other day that the fashion runway is similar to art journaling. The high fashion runway clothing is daring, imaginative, and creative. These fashions don’t typically show up in everyday life but seem to influence the clothing sold at stores that people do wear every day.

I have been experimenting with art journaling, although at this point there isn’t much journaling happening since I am mostly trying to learn techniques. The videos I have been watching encourage experimentation with different mediums and their applications and show the process as organic, happening naturally. I admit it doesn’t come naturally to me to just play with the mediums without having an idea of the outcome but I have been practicing. Using what you have on hand, recycling packaging, and combining everyday items into your creations are approaches I have been trying.

I like to add many layers to create dimension and interest and have been using gesso, paint, and ink sprays under and between the layers. This page is one that I just played around with using some extra rings from making ornaments last year; there are punched papers underneath them and some random scraps of paper. I don’t think this is a fabulous page but it does show how I got to the layout below.

I like the circles and the bit of interest they give to the background without being the main focus of the page. Keeping them white with a little white gesso over the top of them helps emphasize the white flowers in the photo using repetition. The layout doesn’t have a title or any journaling yet and I will probably add the title above the photo and the journaling below.

Mixed Media Journal

This YouTube video inspired me to make a journal out of envelopes. I didn’t have the same size that Marta (in the video) used, but I went ahead anyway. My envelopes were made out of kraft paper and were a rectangle size. They didn’t have very long flaps so I had to use adhesive to keep the pages together. I used gesso, paint, and stains on the front cover and liked the way it looked. I taped the binding with some flowered washi tape.

I decided to try some smudging/outlining and I hated it. Then I had the bright idea to add glue through a stencil to have clear dimension. That was a fail – you couldn’t really tell I had done anything. So while the glue was wet I added some silver glitter. Now it was really really ugly! But Marta says to keep going so I did. I found this paper stencil-like piece and added it with gesso to the front. I tried to re-create the original colors that I liked with some stains and paints and came pretty close.

I couldn’t decide whether to cut off the top part that didn’t have the stencil on it, and I still might. I think it looks funny like this. If I cut the top off the envelopes would be open but if I wanted to put something in the envelopes I could just tape them shut with washi tape. Or I could just leave them open. No, I won’t just leave them open – too loosey-goosey for me! Anyway I added the little heart paper and it looks a little better, but I still think it looks unbalanced.

On to the back. First I put down some tissue paper with gel medium as the glue. Then I gessoed lightly over that. I had cut some feathers on my Cameo and decided to add those. I thought they should be colored to go with the tissue paper, although that doesn’t show up in the photo. Next I splattered some white paint and added a little Ferris wheel with the same colors. Now I guess I won’t cut off the top because it would mess up the back. Sigh.

This is a practice journal so I guess it doesn’t really matter what it looks like. I am just a beginner at art journaling and the process is the fun part. Although it is weird not to have an idea of what I want the final result to look like.

One Little Word Mini Canvas

Many people make several resolutions at the beginning of a new year with the best of intentions to  improve their life. It can be difficult to make many changes all at once, and this is why I find the One Little Word concept helpful. I learned about this idea from a memory keeper named Ali Edwards and have chosen a word most years since 2006. This year my word is choose.

To make my word visible I created a mini canvas inspired by this art journal page  and this mixed medium canvas by Shari Carroll. I love the color, texture, and contrast of her page and canvas and I was inspired to create something with these features for my word. I started with some gesso and scraps of paper, lace, and chipboard. The gesso acts as an adhesive as well as toning down the colors.

I didn’t have all the same materials on hand so I improvised. I used some clay and molds to create the flower strips and some of the single flowers. I cut the shanks off some old buttons and added some random beads and some little stones from an orphan earring. While hunting through my crafty stash I found some Dew Drops I had forgotten about and added some of them too. I had the chain from an old light and I used my tin snips to create some of the little balls. I also had some new chain and I cut some of it apart as well.

I used some clear liquid glue to adhere the buttons and beads since I wasn’t sure if the gesso would hold the heavier pieces. It doesn’t look very pretty before I add more white gesso.

I decided to create two mini canvases since I had all the materials out and was making a huge mess. After the white gesso was dry I used some Distress Inks with a water brush to put down some color . I also used some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Heidi Swapp Color Shine Sprays. Adding water with the colors and tipping the canvases let the colors run. I wanted to have the effect of an old piece that had been weathered and stained.

Waiting for everything to dry was the hard part – I am impatient so I used my heat tool to speed things up. Since I had my heat tool out I decided to add some embossing powders. I have some Distress Embossing Powder in the Verdigris color and it is one of my very favorites. It gives the look of metal that has been left outside for a long time.

Time to add my word. I didn’t have a die for choose so I used my Cameo to cut ‘choose’ out four or five times. I glued them together to make the word dimensional and painted it black ( I cut most everything out of white card stock on my Cameo.) I added some liquid glue to make it shiny and added it to the smaller canvas. Tying some twine on the end finished it off.

I did have a die for the word wonderful so I cut it out of black card stock four or five times and glued them together for the larger mini canvas. The twine didn’t look right so I just left it off. The wonderful canvas doesn’t look as balanced as the choose one but it was okay considering I was making it up as I went along.

I had fun making these – until it was time to clean everything up. Yikes, I can really make a mess but I didn’t get any photos of that.

Thanks for stopping by!