Travel journal

I have been very busy in the past ten days. A lot of time is being spent on a gift for someone (that's not finished yet by the way), so I can't show that here or I'll ruin the surprise. Also I am continuing to make backgrounds in the sketchbook like the ones I showed in my previous post. I want to show you some more of those, but I thought if I did that right now that would be too much of the same.

The past weekend however I have worked on a little project however that is something different and can be shown here without wasting surprise effects or being too much of a repetition.

Very soon I will be going on a five day trip to one of the neighbouring islands. I had to cancel a trip to London that I had planned the first two weeks of november and I just wanted to get out at least for a few days to get that vacation feeling that I like so much. So I figured I'd stay close to home, but not AT home ;-) I booked a last minute in a rather luxurious vacation home originally meant for six people! So I won't feel crowded all be myself out there ;-)

When I go on vacation I usually designate a special book to be the journal for that trip. Other times I have made journals out of loose index cards that I bound together afterwards and that worked really well too. This time I wanted to try something different and make my own journal before the trip started.

 

Instead of using (just) index cards this time I used pretty double sided scapbookpaper that I tore into four pieces. So the pieces/pages measure 6x6 inches (approx. 15x15cm). I used 8 sheets of paper so the book has a total of 64 pages. Most of these pages will probably be filled with writing and photographs that I plan to take. I like the different patterns next to one another.

In between the patterned paper I put some index cards made out of paper that is suitable for watercolor, so I hope to fill those with drawings and watercolor sketches. I like that I bound the journal with book rings so I can just rearrange things if need be or take stuff out to work on it.

I also put in a couple of envelopes here and there to put in loose stuff for safe keeping, like tickets and leaflets and things like that. Or maybe I will find some pretty shells or leaves. You never know.

The covers of the journal are made from pieces of an old cardboard box that I cut to size and then covered with more pretty papers. On the binder rings I have attached some labels with the destination and the date of the vacation. When the trip is over I may add more decorations to these rings like ribbons or string and maybe shells or something, but on the go it's more practical to leave those things out for now.

So, all in all, I'm quite happy with my little project and I hope that after my short vacation I will have a wonderful memory book compiled. Can't wait to go and fill my new travel journal!

Background love

I love making backgrounds so much that sometimes it's all I do.     

I think the pressure is completely off when you're making backgrounds, because they're....well...just backgrounds. They need to have no focal point, in fact, they need to have no point at all! ;-)

 

I spent some time this week starting to collage backgrounds into a spiral sketchbook, that will become one of my next journals.

It's just patterns and shapes and structures and to me it's the purest form of art play.

The pages of the sketchbook are A4 size, which means they measure about 21x30 cm.

The samples in this post are just the beginning and I intend to put other stuff on these pages and little interactives things like envelopes and tags and tabs and stuff like that.

I have no idea yet how I'm going to do all that, but for now I'm just having fun with paper and gel medium. Just tearing it up and pasting it down.

All the paper in these backgrounds is from the big K&Company paper pad that I told you about in an earlier post. I have no affiliation with them, but for some reason I always buy their pads 'cause they're just so beautiful. The thinner paper in this big pad is just perfect for collage. I love it.

Finally I'll show you the front cover of the journal. This is not K&Company paper, but from a pad of really thick doublesided paper by Tilda. I chose this paper, because the cover of the sketchbook was a lot flimsier than the sketch/watercolor paper inside it. So I needed some thickness for the cover.

I like the paper, but I'm not too thrilled with what I did with it. It's just too....scrapbooky. I mean no offence to all you scrapbookers out there, but what I mean is that it's so straight and neat. It just doesn't feel like me. I tried to make it a little more playful with some stamps, but it's just not working for me. I may go over it alltogether and do something completely different. We'll see.

Some works on paper

Well, I've been having lots of fun with these two works on paper that I made. I just love love love this new style I'm adopting and I have already always loved layers and mixed media, so this is perfect playtime for me.
Both are A4 sized and made on beautiful Fabriano paper.

The first one is called "Artsy love" and was made for a friend with whom I keep a very irregular mail art exchange. By now she has received it, so I can put it up without ruining the surprise ;-)

The second one is called "Three of hearts" and was made starting with the remnants of the paper I used for the journal spread I showed you in my last post. Nothing gets wasted in my studio, haha.

For some reason I am very into these heart shapes nowadays. They seem to return on all the works in this style, but I am also considering maybe using different forms in the future. I want to keep the focal forms themselves simple, but the background and layering complex. I am not a minimalist!

Journal spread and more on the small art project

I'm having a wonderfully creative weekend and spent all of yesterday in my studio. One of the things I did was a new journal spread in my ALMBH journal. Last week I splurged on an incredible amount of art supplies on the internet (I had a little financial break, so I could afford it, yay) and I got this big paper pad by K&Company that had all their favorites in one special pack. This meant the pad was 360 pages! Yes you read it right, 360! The paper in this pack is not as thick as their regular paper (they usually have really good quality thick almost cardstock like paper), but that is exactly what makes it perfect for collage, so I didn't mind at all. Thinner paper is much easier to handle, and it's not really flimsy either, so I'm pretty happy with all these papers. Anyway...I just had to try some out in my art this weekend and this journal spread was the first use for them.

By the way: no, I am not a man hater, this spread just kind of evolved from the pictures and some found text. I just couldn't resist being sarcastic! ;-)

I also received my art from the very talented Kelley for Samantha Kira's small art swap. I'd take a picture of it, but why not just visit her blog where she put some much better pictures of it than I could ever take. This also gives you the chance to check out the other work on her blog, because she does some really cool art journaling. Go check it out and be in awe! She also put up some great pictures of my art work in another post which will only prove to you that she's a better art photographer than I am, haha.