Day with an art journal...Visual Art Journaling part 1.

 We first started off with packing tape image transfers...here I found a row (3) of monkeys, one of the image I have laying over an old book page...You use packing tape over an image, burnish it on by rub the tape over the whole image really good and put in a small tub of water to soak..(5-10 min.) and then rub the back while keep it mosit...rub off all the paper on the back and then it's ready to use in your journal. 

The whole class session we gave coats of medium to another magazine image...we made sure to let each coat dry...total of 5 to build up a skin. we will soak in water next Thursday an see how the look..there are a great varity of image transfer techniques out there but we stayed to the simpler ones. we will glue in our journal hopefully next week if they seem to call for it.

 Then cut out stencils using image from the magazine or cutting out our own Idea.  here you see the shape of the pear which came out of an artist magazine I brought. You can you the positive of this or the negetive of the shapes.  We played around with them to see which worked better and some of us, me included just glued down the shape on the journal spread.

 Here you can see the makings of a house stencil and next to it while things were drying we used our stamps we carved out of the gum easers last week to get a feel of how they work and to play around with a board...just incase the spread was calling for that.. we would be prepared.  I did bit of writing and then used some water crayons and pastels...I had to spray it with a fixitive so it wouldn't smear.

I had everyone pick a spread...(two page that open up next to each other) and use some found papers and book pages..I had them glue down the papers in any which order and over them them too.
Now you see the page is cut out already as of a big circle on both pages.. that can be done after you glue about three pages together then cut the shape out and I make a few spreads like this and move that hole over just slightly...so you can see through the next spread.  Not everyone did this it was an opinion..

 After the papers that have been glued down are dry I took a bit of sandpaper to them with a sandblock like in the photo above this one...and added a bit of charater to it before I ready to bring in color. Then I used a bit of gesso here and there...just enough to kind of cover over some of the words and I even played around and added a bit of texture too. Make sure this is all dry before you bring in the color.

You can use acrylics or watercolors...You can spray the surface with a bit of water to add some moisture so the paints move around or you can just brush it on..then pull off some of the color with a paper towel then come in with a baby wipe that is moist and pull off a bit more here and there...it's helps great some value in your journal spread..one of the Basic Elements. 

if you look closely you and see some of the textures and value already...I didn't coat the whole spread just areas...but you most certain can if it's call for you to do so..

Working with an art journal is very intuitive...follow the flow and listen to your gut.

I have some deli sheets between the other pages in the journal so that the colors and gesso don't get on the other pages.  A house stencil from the shapes I cut out of the magazine cover...from above.