All About Art Journaling

With my coursework deadline now out of the way, (and despite having an upcoming exam on Monday eek!), I feel like I should post on here.

I came with the idea for this post not too long ago, (haha quite spontaneous!) I was sat at my desk, like I am now, with my art journal open in front of me and I was surprised when I realised that I have not talked about it on here at all, so now the time has come for me share all about art journaling and why I love it so much.

I started my art journal on Monday 18th March, and it is an A5 sized, cheap one from The Works. Despite what you may think, this has A LOT of pages, and the quality really is not that bad at all.I have had no issues with using acrylic paint and watercolour, however like with most paper sharpie does show through, (apart from when you use acrylic paint underneath.)

Before I properly begin, just a little hack, I have been using a wooden clothes peg to hold down pages when I am painting them/working on them. I just find that this especially helps to stop the pages from sticking together, and overall makes it a lot easier.

Supplies

It's in the name, ART journaling. Like with anything creative there are supplies that are required, some type of book or paper being the main need. I am lucky enough to own quite a lot of different supplies. The main ones I would use most often are acrylic paint, watercolours and fineliner pens. You could also use magazine cuttings/book cuttings, pencils, sharpies etc... Recently I have been buying my paint from The Works pretty cheap, and the quality is great, but I do also use the Amsterdam standard series paints. The watercolour palette that I use was £5 from Tiger, and what I love about this is that I can buy the Windsor & Newton refills when the current pans run out as they are the same size.

I am not saying that you need all of these, even a pencil or pen will be enough. The main point is that you have something that you feel happy using to create art. I would also just like to clarify that YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A PICASSO TO HAVE AN ART JOURNAL. Yes, I know that when you scroll though Pinterest it is full of A* grade piece that are gallery worthy, BUT the literal google definition of art is "the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form."

This was my first page

Starting

So, now you should be all ready to begin, but, where do you begin? The main thing about any art is that whatever you are doing you just need to start it. Don't waste time thinking about what could go wrong, after all, it is an ART JOURNAL, a place that is CREATED BY YOU, FOR YOU, and it can take form in whatever way you wish, using a whole range of colour, words, or pictures. In a years time the last thing you will be thinking about is the accidental drop of red paint on page 5. Just create whatever you like, and whatever inspires you, even if it is just writing out some song lyrics from an artist you love.

But, if you really are stuck then scroll through pinterest, instagram, watch youtube videos, take pictures, look in magazines, or even read a book. Do whatever it takes to get you inspired.

Why

You may have guessed by now that I like art, but what I love about art journaling specifically is how much freedom it contains. The lines do not have to be straight, the writing can be sightly wonky, and it can be of anything that you want. And sometimes this can work out really well and you have created a masterpiece, and even when it doesn't, it really does not matter, start a new page and move on. If you want to replicate a Monet painting then do it, if you want to write song lyrics do it, even if you want to paint a page pink and write on it 'just a pink page' DO IT, (in fact this is what the content of my most recent page is).

I also love that art can give me so much inspiration, (such as this blog post), and just in general is is SO MUCH FUN to be creative, not matter how 'gallery worthy' or not you may think your work is.