LET'S TAKE A RISK AND START AN ART JOURNAL NOW!

"Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly."

Robert Schuller

Grab your books and let's get inspired.......


Supplies you will need before you begin:

journal or altered book
paint, can be any that you like working with, watercolor, watercolor pencils, pens, or inexpensive craft paint
gesso, this is a white, flat paint that dries with a rough finish, makes a great ground for pages. Pastel or white craft paint works as well.
scissors
brushes
pens or pencils
matte medium or glue stick for adhering papers
variety of thin collage papers: these can be from magazines, junk mail, old book pages, painted papers, etc.


















Here are a few recent journal pages as examples.




This is a minimalist page with paint and very little collage, without text










These pages are just some doodles with a fine line micron pen. It's a great to get you warmed up and get your right brain in gear.





A page with collage and paint
Art journaling can help us to express our emotions, or be about something that is troubling us.




This page is strictly collage and I added the word art and the stripes with a marker.


Don't forget to follow me on instagram @lynncorsibland for the #stayathome Journal Challenge, May 1st in my stories.

#STAYING HOME

What a crazy time we are living in today! I felt this would be a great time to connect with all of you, since we are spending time at home, with no idea when we will be able to see the light up ahead.

As an artist I am enjoying spending more time making art. Art can be a solitary practice, so I am pretty good at social distancing. I do miss time with friends, and family. It is important for all of us
to be serious and stay away from others for the common good.

I enjoy working in my sketchbook or journal every day, and have been doing this for the last 16 years.  I never kept a diary or journal growing up but loved to make art. So when introduced to Art journaling I had found a perfect match. The beauty of this is anything goes because it it for just you!
If you feel the need to write a few words, thats great, if not, paint, draw, scribble, anything that motivates you. After keeping an art journal for a while it becomes habit, and looking at completed ones you have done will show your progress in art and life.

I would like to motivate you to start one in the coming weeks. I will be posting photos and prompts to help you get inspired. I will be sharing lots of journal pages on my instagram feed and hope you will follow along with me. @lynncorsibland.

First step is to find a physical journal. They are available in all sizes. There are many out there to purchase online and delivery is right to your door. Altered books, old day planners, and handmade books make great ones. The only prerequisite is sturdy pages that can take mixed media. Thin sketchbook paper does not hold up. I prefer a spray bound book but it is up to you.




Here are some ideas using old books and calendars to alter. I always check thrift stores for children's
books, especially board books because the pages are nice and thick.





Coffee table books also make good  altered journals. I haven't done the cover yet. this next photo shows a gessoed page ready to work on.



This one is an old do it yourself book from Goodwill. I liked the size, the pages were a little thin so I glued two of them together to use.




Below is a journal made from cereal box cardboard bound with a simple coptic stitch.

Don't forget to follow me on instagram. @lynncorsibland for my journal challenge and journal pages.

Paper made from stones!

A friend of mine had a new product for me to test out that she had just received from Cheap Joe's.
It's a new kind of paper for artists and is made without using trees. Terraskin is totally fabricated from stone.

This from their website:

"TerraSkin is a combination of Calcium Carbonate (>75%) with a small quantity (<25%) of non-toxic resin (PE – Polyethylene) to create a strong sustainable substrate. Together these materials create a substrate that is both water and tear resistant!"

I've noticed that because of the fiberless quality of TerraSkin, it does't absorb paint like traditional paper and has a unique texture and feel. Images stay much crisper and cleaner because the paint sits on the surface. Color can be lifted very easily and areas can be wiped off and repainted.

Here are my first attempts using acrylics on Terraskin!

Acrylic paint on Terraskin paper available from
cheapjoes.com 

This one is in process, But I loved the way the paint created the bubbles on the right. I have chalked in 3 figures and I'm not sure if I'll keep them.

February's Work

This is acrylic on crescent board with lots of texture. I did a grid composition so I could experiment with texture in the different boxes. I used Golden Crackle Paste, Light Modeling Paste, Gesso and Matte Gel.
They each give a very unique surface, and take the paint so differently. I especially love the way the crackle came out when the paint was thinned before applying. The designs are hand carved stamps I made, and the text is from old book pages collaged on the surface.

Also acrylic with a textured surface of Matte Gel and Gesso. This is definitely in process and I may cover the whole painting with an opaque mask.

This one is acrylic with collage and ink on canvas. I added some marks and line drawings with pencil.

This one is on Crescent Illustration Board that I covered with collage, stamping, and lots of drawing.  I used stencils for the numbers. Then I negative painted around the shapes to create the composition. I am
happy with this one and it is finished.

January's Projects

Off to a slow start , but have a few works to share. These are all in process, soon to be complete.

I like the composition, I want to add more shading to the background

This one may be very close to complete

Really like the shape of this, but where to go with it? And the framing will be quite a challenge.

What I'm working on this month

I would like to share some of my work in progress, something I haven't done in the past but feel it might be a good way for me to document what I've done. I hope it will help me grow and develop and show me when a painting is completed. 

These are acrylics combined with collage, since it's gotten cold here and my wax area is not heated, I'm inside where it is warm. I would love to be able to use some beeswax with these mixed media pieces, but acrylic and wax to not mix and cannot be combined. Oil paint is the only paint that works, but for me it takes too long to dry. I am an impatient and spontaneous artist!

Ink and paint underdrawing

I have covered most of my drawings with paint

These paintings are in process and not really ready to say they are finished.  

My Workspace and things I like to create with!

Welcome!

My reading area

Fun Stuff

Inspiration

Colorful Fabrics

More Fun Stuff

Sewing Corner

And more fun stuff

my easel

Mediums

Some Acrylics

I didn't show my wax area as I've shared it before in this blog and can be viewed in that earlier post. I love my studio and would rather be here as anywhere else. Although my flower gardens are strong competition at this time of year.  

And my books ( just a small sampling) I can't resist an art book or any book for that matter. Right now I am reading,
Dreams of Joy, by Lisa See, a wonderful account of China when Mao took over and it became communist, Ape House, by Sara Gruen, and Art and Fear , by Bayles and Orland (which I re-read often and I recommend this to every artist)

Sketchbook Project 2011

This is a detail of one of the collage pages. Antique book pages were glued to watercolor paper and then glazed with acrylic paint.  After it dried I lightly sanded the surface with a scotchbrite pad. This gives a nice sheen to the paint. The large numbers are black paint dry brushed through a stencil. At the top heavy gold yarn is stitched through the paper as an embellishment. The scratching on the surface is made by making a heavy application of paint and glaze and scratching through with a stick.

Collage pages

Pencil Drawing of mushrooms used for the spore print

This is an image transfer made from a copyright free book.  I've lightly antiqued
the image with a stamp pad in a yellow ochre color to help it blend in.

On the Way to Brooklyn

I actually sent my book off this week ahead of schedule....so unlike me. For a last minute, fly by the seat of my pants person, this was quite a feat. They have even extended the deadline because of all the extreme winter weather. So I'm really actually very punctual. But not so at posting the photos, so there will be a few more to come in future posts.

Post card

Bold and Bright

Testing some colors
. 

Back to the Sketchbook!

I have been busy working on my book, and it's a good thing as the deadline is fast approaching. January seemed like such a long way off but with the holidays in between it isn't. Because the pages in this book are not as paint friendly as the ones in my regular journals, it has taken me time to adjust my style of art journaling. I now glue or sew heavier paper or cardstock to the page and then begin.

My Little Corner

A glimpse into what's been happening on the inside:

more pages......

and more pages.....

Close detail of colored pencil drawing