Art Journal Collaboration

I was part of an art journal collaboration in 2006. There were fourteen of us, artists and clients of the leader who had a Process Painting business. A condition to join was to take her class which I did. Kind of like art therapy, but it was not for me.

Tiger on the back cover - flower on the front cover

I wanted to be part of the art journal collaboration even though I did not know all the parameters yet. We each had our own book that was passed to the next person every 3 weeks. 

We each picked a theme, mine was Floral Journeys to remind me of where I came from: I grew up in a family-owned flower shop. I had a sign-in page, here I blanked out the signatures. On my first page I had an accordion book, here it is opened.

Perhaps I had too much art instruction in my past to fully engage in Process Painting. Getting psychoanalyzed as I painted was not for me in 2006. 

In February 2007 we had an art exhibit at The Winter Street Studios in Houston. I sent the postcards to everyone I knew at the time. Many people showed up - it was a fun evening.

Each collaborator had to contribute money towards the art opening: food, security, rent, etc. Cost me $250 in 2007. That was the minimum fee to pay the leader, or my work would not be shown. The leader’s daughter bought one of my handmade books. And I sold another handmade book during the exhibit.

Here is the flip page video of my collaboration book:

Inspiration for the collaboration came from fifteen artists participating with art journaling documented in “True Colors” published in 2003. It is a fabulous, awe-inspiring book. If you like art journaling at all I recommend you buy it immediately.

Can purchase at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/True-Colors-Palette-Collaborative-Journals/dp/0971729638 or through Somerset Studio: https://stampington.com/True-Colors 

Please tell me about your experience participating in art journal collaborations.

©Anne Rita Taylor 2017

Art Journaling Online

I made a Beaded Longstitch Placemat Journal for an online class from Kelly Kilmer called A Prompt a Day. The paper is 120 lb. hot press watercolor paper from Dick Blick. Click Link for related blog: https://anneritataylor.blogspot.com/2016/06/repurposed-fabric-book.html

I met Kelly in 2003 in her fabulous Los Angeles bookbinding class in Beverly Hills. Kelly still teaches around the L.A. area.

Kelly has this wonderful class - A Prompt a Day - on her blog site:  kellykilmer.blogspot.com  She gives 30 days of suggestions for backgrounds, such as collage, colors, images and writing prompts - for example: writing about a current life issue.

I enjoyed a prompt about writing a secret and placing it in a sealed envelope tucked away on the left side of the dancing girl page - above.

Finished with 10 Things I Do Every Day on April 30th. On this page I used a photo of my younger self.

Please tell me about your art journaling; and let me know if you have any questions in the Comments.

©Anne Rita Taylor 2017

Swapping Journal Pages

I had fun carving and journaling recently; it reminded me of my past participation in Art Journal swaps.

Before the current layering craze - to paint backgrounds, drop inks, fill in parts of stencils - we recorded daily personal events in our journals; sometimes adding illustrations.

Mostly I used quotes to practice calligraphy plus printed my carvings or used commercial rubber stamps.

I wrote about my travels in my handmade books. For one of the swaps: Twenty-five journalers exchanged Travel Journal pages.

One person would host and send the pages to those participating. Fun to receive photos, sketching, or just words.

I still participate in a carving swap as I mentioned last week:

https://anneritataylor.blogspot.com/2016/10/print-vibe.html

And I am wondering about what image to carve for Christmas cards this year.

I still enjoy playing with calligraphy and rubber stamps in my journals. What are your favorite art journaling techniques?

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

Top Ten Reasons...

I changed the name of my blog this week: from Paper Crafting to Art Craft Share. I was motivated to blog by writing a blog twice a month for Arnold Grummer Paper Making. And I may continue with them; I’m taking a short break from paper making projects. 

My blog remains the same: talking about workshops I have taken plus my varied interests: making books, calligraphy, and all that comes in between including art journaling and DIY crafts.

Here are my Top Ten Reasons to Art, Craft & Share:

1.   Inspiring others.

2.   Developing new ideas.

3.   Learning.

4.   Sharing information.

5.   Going on a rant!

6.   Creating home decorations.

7.   Playing with crafts.

8.   Collaborating with friends.

9.   Exploring an unfilled need.

10. Having fun!

The world needs us! We are needed because we are happy and we do not horde information - we share what we are doing. We are - each of us - unique. Please let me know what you think too!
©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

Collaborative Art Journaling

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

One of my collaborative painted pages

There are many ways to make art with Mixed Media - layering paint is one of them. When you Google: Mixed Media, you get 65 million results! Paint, ink and collage on canvas is the most popular form of art journaling.

Nicole's sample page

Last Saturday I went to a Meetup group with a price tag - $20 - Whole Hearted Art with Nicole Bray. Nicole’s blog showed she was knowledgeable about art and I thought it would be fun too. 

On Laura’s page I wrote “PASSION” plus drew the daisy.

Also I understood the word “journal” to mean writing. I brought a sample of my art journaling for show & tell - there were four us - and they were surprised that I wrote in my journal.

An art journal page of mine from 2009

In this three hour workshop we painted first in either primary or secondary colors for 5 minutes, switched our pages with our neighbor who then painted in the opposite warm / cool colors in our pages.

Laura finishing a page

I was having fun and also was perplexed, my pages seemed over-worked. It was actually fun to throw caution to the wind, playing with Nicole’s stencils. She explained about the color wheel and the use of thirds on a page for a pleasing arrangement.

Valerie painting her page

Besides instruction, Nicole provided brushes, acrylic paints, stencils, and she gave us each a piece of 11 x 15 inch water color paper. She had a great hand-out for us: 18 Must Have Mixed Media Supplies. Plus I found out about a nice circle maker and cutter by Orbis too.

Nicole's page after collaboration

We finished by painting another layer; we could obliterate the entire page if we wanted to…  Or we could find a face, plant or animal to emphasize. --- Please let me know what you think of the layered painting process. Do you use paint layering in your art journal pages?

Bookbinding in Los Angeles

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

I like to take a class when I travel. I found Charlene Matthews Bindery in Hollywood when I visited Los Angeles during Halloween 2010. We emailed to come up with a day when she had a workshop. Turned out I was the only student!

Charlene’s bindery is a storefront on Melrose Avenue where you can see the famous Hollywood sign. Charlene has bound books for movies such as Indiana Jones. We had a whole day - including lunch - of bookbinding. I was in heaven! 

Charlene showed me around her fabulous shop and asked me what I’d like to learn. Even though I was bookbinding for a while I look for alternatives to use. Charlene let me know she was using something new: a fine mesh screen-like material for pages and covers. 

Charlene demonstrated, covering the fine mesh with paper; we each made covers. We made the spine pieces, figuring out which paper to wrap around them; we hole-punched the signatures using lovely watercolor paper, and sewed the text block through the mesh onto the spine.

Since I made two spine pieces Charlene suggested I make another book with a leather wrap-around cover. I learned that the thread does not need to go through every station (hole) that was punched. It was a revelation to me!

I love these variations of the Tightback Longstitch Bindings taught by Charlene. I had not used spine pieces before and the books open flat for art journaling.

Charlene sent me home with some of that fine mesh material which I’ve since found at Ace Hardware. Recently I bought a whole roll of it and I'll use it too.