Graphic Patterns and Experiments (Week of 3/19/2017)

I'm back today with another weekly roundup of the art journal pages I ended up finishing up. I've been working in this same journal for six or seven weeks, and almost all of its 80 pages have been worked on to some extent. I've been working on going back to previous pages and finishing things up, covering things I don't like, etc. This is the result of some of that.

 I struggled with this page ever since I started it. I had used some Mod Podge to adhere pieces of paper towel to the surface to create a texture, but it was incredibly hard to work on top of.

This week, I finally finished it off. It's officially one of my favorite pages of the entire journal, if for nothing more than the fact that it's completely different from any of the other pages. I love what can happen when you push yourself outside of your comfort zone, and that's exactly what I did with this page.

This is another one of the pages I went back to; even though it already had a title on it, I didn't like the way it had turned out, so I ended up covering almost all of it with white paint. I decided to go simple, and some of the background layers show through (you can see this a bit better in the close ups).

Ultimately, I do like the way this page turned out. As you can see in the above deal shots, there was a title underneath the layer of pink paint that I applied to the page, and some leftover journaling I had done. There's a possibility I will go back in with some more words, but for now I'm pretty okay with it.

I really like the simplicity I was able to achieve with this page, even with all of the layers. Maybe it's funny that I call this simple, but typically I need a lot more layers than this to be happy with a page. Essentially, this was a cleanup page. I took leftover bits of paint and tape, collage and stenciling, and continued to build up this page slowly but surely. The result is bright and I like the general aesthetic of it.

In the detail shots of this page, you can see the details that I ended up putting in. This was probably one of the pages I put the least thought into - I was just cleaning off my tools and trying to create something that I liked in the process.

Maybe I need to do this a bit more.

 This is the only really side-by-side spread I finished this week, since I don't typically work over two pages, and I jump around quite a bit. However, I do like the way both of these pages turned out, even if the page on the left is way brighter than the one on the right.

 On the left, you can see some of my experiments with spray ink. I have some Dylusions spray ink that I hardly ever use, since it's reaction with water is something I haven't quite gotten the hang of yet. In this page, I tried something I had seen in a YouTube video, spraying the ink directly into wet Mod Podge; it was significantly less prone to spreading, which was an interesting discovery.

On the right, I was playing with using gray in my pages. I've always loved the color gray (most of my clothes are actually either gray or black) and the way it contrasts with brighter colors. I wanted to try that out on this page.

In the final page I have to share with you guys today, I was playing with graphic and large shapes and focal points. I find that the process of stamping and collaging and doodling is extremely soothing to me, and serves as a good way to get all of my emotions out.

In this page specifically, I was working with the idea of "doodling" with a paintbrush and paint instead of markers or pastels, which is what I typically tend towards. I like the relaxed effects that the brush gives me, specifically in my art journals.

As for the Season of Art 101 over at Get Messy Art Journal, these are my six favorite pages. I feel like they are all very cohesive as a set of photographs and it makes me feel as though my style is starting to fall into place.

Thank you all for checking out my pages, and I hope you enjoyed looking them over!

Textures and WIPs (Week of 2/13/2017)

For several reasons that have come to my attention recently, I thought it would be nice to start a blog in order to share some of my mixed media projects!

I'm Jordan, I'm 20 years old, and I've recently been extremely interested in illustration. You can see my work on my Instagram here. However, in an attempt to relax in the realm of my artwork, I've recently taken up art journaling once more. Years ago I was extremely involved in the community (I think it was 2011? Or thereabouts) but only recently have I become involved once more. I joined Get Messy, and this is the Art 101 season, which I've been having a lot of fun with. I'm here to share my texture pages from this week.

First and foremost, this is a rather simplistic page in comparison to a lot of the work that I typically do. It's near the front of my new art journal (that I made especially for Art 101), and deals with a few things that have been more emotional for me.

The pages of this book were created from watercolor experiments (which was the first week of Art 101), and that shows through in the background of this page.

This page is a little more representational of the type of work that I typically do. I tend to skip around in my journals quite a bit, but as of right now I'm calling the left hand page complete.

A close up of some of the texture on the page above. This is one of my favorite little parts of this page; the colors and textures and doodling all work together in a way that is extremely aesthetically pleasing to me. I also like the dots of my end paper showing through. 

This is another texture that I was playing with, and the work in progress page it is a part of can be seen above. This is a piece of tissue paper that I crumpled up before sticking it down with Mod Podge. I made a conscious attempt to make sure the wrinkles showed up in the dry piece. I still need to add more to this page, but since it's related to the theme of texture, I thought I'd share.

The final page I want to share is this one; it's rather graphic and vibrant, which I like, and it incorporates a lot of collage elements. I consider this page complete as well, though I'm not convinced that I'll never add anything more to it (some journaling might be in order).

I leave you today with a close of detail shot of some of the textures and doodling on this page; it feels really nice to be back into art journaling after so long and I'm excited to see what the future holds for me and my art!