Art Every Day – Day 4 (NaNoJouMo)

Today I again decided to use Dawn Sokol’s NaNoJouMo prompt for the day.  Much like yesterday, I knew I would have little time to create so I did not want to think too much.

The prompt, another song title, was “How Far This Road Goes” by Garth Dunlop.  I had not heard of the song so I went to YouTube to see if there was a video of the song and lyrics.  Sure enough, there was.  The song was used in both ‘Discover Ireland” TV commercials as well as a song in the TV series “Separated at Birth”. In it, Garth Dunlop is singing to a woman, asking her to take a trip with him (in life or on the roads).  The bridge of the song is “Let’s see just how far this road goes”.

I decided to draw a long winding road with trees on either side in Autumn colors.  I wanted  a fox to run along the road at some point to show movement.  I started off using Prismacolor colored pencils for the road, the trees, the fox, and the lettering.  Those smudged so I erased the smudges and outlined everything in black Fude pen.  I used a white Signo broad pen for highlights.  I used Adirondack inks in green and gold, blended with alcohol, to created the leaf-strewn ground.  The whole page took me about 30 minutes.

I look forward to next week when I should have a little more time for creating every day.

Advertisement

Id dat a doodle?

Here I go again…doodling all over everything.  Playing with cartoon-ish characters and coloring like a five year old suits me just fine.  My “Art Doodle Love” journal by Dawn Sokol really helps me focus on the ‘play’ insead of the ‘art’ of art journaling.

On pages 24 and 25 the prompt said to scribble something on the page so I did.  On the left page I scribbled a big “S” and then doodled around it and all over the rest of the page.   On the right page I wrote the word ‘scribble’ and went from there.

Art Doodle Love pages 24-25

(If you double-click on the photo it will open up full size and you can see the detail)

I wasn’t trying to do anything ‘pretty’ on these pages.  In fact, all I really wanted to do was to try out some new art supplies:  Sakura souffle gel pens on the left page and Tombow markers on the right.  I won’t tell you which I prefer since I’ll probably use both for different purposes in the future.

Now that I’ve colored in my coloring book it’s time for my nap.  I hope your Friday has been color-full too!

Doodle Do

Sometimes I really want to journal in my art journal, not just create art.  Maybe just speak my thoughts in writing.  Doodle them.  Scribble them.  Therein comes a new art journal called “Art Doodle Love: A Journal of Self-Discovery” by Dawn Sokol. (Find it here on Amazon:  http://tinyurl.com/oslklow )

This journal contains journaling prompts and many already colored/designed pages so all you have to do is write, doodle, paint, or scribble in them using any type of art media you wish.   I got this for those times when I want to do something easy while watching TV or spending a few moments outside or in a coffee shop but I don’t want to take my whole arsenal of art supplies with me.  It’s a perfect size to fit in a purse or a tote.  The provided prompts (which you don’t have to use if you choose not to) give you inspiration on where to start if your Muse has left you for a cabana boy at the Jersey Shore.

I received this journal just two days ago and read the introductory pages.  On pages 20-21 it said to write out your intentions for the journal.  I did that in gel pen, then I over-journaled them and doodled across what I wrote.  These are my very first artsy pages in the journal and were based around two items that were sitting on my desk at the time:  1) a label from a piece of fruit I had just eaten and 2) my young kitty Misty (as opposed to my older kitty Cookie).  I used a black Fude pen, a white Signo Broad pen, an 05 Micro pen in black, and several colors of Tombow pens (to color the doodles).

What creative thing have you done today?

Art Journal progress

How many art journals do I have?  Hmmmm.  I’m not sure.  I have several different sizes ranging from 4×6 to 9×12.  Some are primarily sketch books that I use for drawing and trying out new designs, some are mixed media journals and some are watercolor journals.  In some, I remove the paper from the journal pad and use it separately hoping to eventually bind the bits and pieces together into something cohesive and home-made.

I am in several different art journal groups this year as I experiment with different techniques and materials and determine where my strengths and weaknesses lie.  Many of the groups are led by artists who provide videos of their techniques and hope that you apply the techniques in your journal(s).  Others provide weekly or monthly themes/prompts along with a challenge to complete a journal page within a specified time period.  I have found that I’m in too many groups right now so I am nowhere close to keeping up with the given prompts/challenges.  But I keep coming back to them and trying them out.  That’s the best I can do and is, in fact, the right thing for me.  Moving forward, one step at a time.  By this time next year I may veer away from the structure but, for now, it helps.

In the last week I have completed four art journal pages for two different groups.

Journal52, week 25, Nature Inspired (updated page I started earlier in the year), 9×12 canvas paper, collage, acrylics, gel pen, ranger ink.

Journal52, week 26, Under the Sea.  9×12 Watercolor paper, paper napkin and text collage, acrylics, watercolors, colored pencils, gel pens, Stabilo All pencil for shading.

Journal52, week 30, Positive Words.  9×12 Mixed media paper, acrylics, image and text collage, gel pens for doodles, Stabilo All pencil for shading.

Dawn Sokol’s Art Journaling class (on creativebug.com), week 1, Free-form doodling. 5×8 moleskine watercolor paper, Sakura gel souffle pens, black Sharpies, Pitt big brush artist pens, Uniball Signo Broad white pen.

Happy creating!