Art Journaling

This is in the Inspiration Wednesday journal from Donna Downey

Close up of the insert

The stamp didn't come out correctly, but I like it

Back side of insert

The cover for my 2017 planner

I follow a lot of blogs from artists, and the trend that will hook me is grunge. Layers upon layers of stuff adhered to a page or canvas. It just appeals to me. I want to do that. So after watching a video from Nika in Wonderland, I decided to this spread.

Inspiration Wednesday is a year long class that you can take online from Donna Downey. Last week was the last post for 2016. I fell off the wagon of keeping up with her projects around August. Sometimes this happens, you get busy or what she has done does nothing for you. It was a combination, so there are empty spreads left in this journal. My goal is to fill it by year's end, and I really need to get busy here.

The previous spread had large chipboard pieces all over. They would not stay glued due to warping, so I used the Tim Holtz mini attacher stapler to put, oh, 100 staples down. I exaggerate, but you get the idea. First thing when I decided to adhere some dry wall joint tape to the new page, one of the staples caught my left hand. Blood everywhere. Hurt like hell. So, out came the masking tape, and I just taped over every staple, layering, not worrying about how it looked. I knew I was going to glaze the spread to bring out the texture, and decided the more the merrier. I added antique dictionary pages to the insert and opposite page, along with some drywall tape. I started looking around in my stash of shit for more texture, and ended up cutting a piece of twine/yarn type ribbon off and fraying it. It is adhered with Liquitex Gel Medium and another piece of masking tape. I then started to paint, in colors that didn't really go with the grunge look. I just wanted to see if you could achieve that type of look with pastels and bright colors. Last step was a glaze of black paint, wiping it off with baby wipes. Then some stamping.

The planner is from Michael's, and had this awful black and white cover that you were suppose to color with markers. I did. I hated it. Put gesso over the entire thing, which made the markers bleed. Used black Dylusions paint to stencil the woman's face with a Stencil Girl stencil, then added the small squares stencils with 2 other colors. The lesson here is if you don't like what the industry is trying to shove down your throat, change it. Doesn't take much, and I now have a planner I do like with an entry for each day of the year.

Onward. I have yet to choose my word for 2017. 2016 was "Fearless", due to the breast cancer diagnosis on December 16, 2015. And I was fearless all year, right up to November 8th. Sigh.What is your new word for 2017?
Linda