Art Journaling: Bargello Masterboard

Posted on 7th April 2025 by Neil

Regular readers of this ‘ere blog know that I am a quilter. This month at the art journal session, we combined mixed media with a quilting technique (which I have yet to try in fabric). We made a watercolour masterboard and then with a lot of slicing and pasting created a bargello-style background in our journals. With some basic stitched panels as a focal point we ended up with this:

Art journal layout using a watercolour masterboard cut and pasted to create a bargello-style background

Rooted in the historical tradition of the Bargello Palace in Florence, Italy, the Bargello quilt pattern is characterized by its use of long, narrow strips of fabric meticulously sewn together. This technique creates an illusion of dynamic movement and depth within the quilt.

Continue reading →

Art Journaling: Cloth Collage (with step-by-step tutorial)

Posted on 3rd March 2025 by Neil

When I’m looking for potential techniques and ideas for my art journaling sessions, I often reach for analogue sources: books. For this evening’s session, I took inspiration from ‘101 More Mixed Media Techniques’. In the fabrics & fibers [sic] section, there is information on sticking and covering elements and pages. And so my cloth collage theme was born and this is what I came up with:

Fabric collage art journaling tutorial with stamped calico and matte medium.

Continue reading →

Art Journal Session: ‘Industrial Grunge’

Posted on 3rd February 2025 by Neil

This month’s art journaling session was on the theme of ‘industrial grunge’. I thought it would be a great chance to revisit rust effects, drips and runs and also use up some of the matte black vinyl I seem to have inadvertently collected over the years… I also exercised AI skills using Microsoft Designer to create the graffiti and worked with ChatGPT to develop the colour scheme, selecting the base colours with my Nix Mini 3 digital colourimeter. Here’s what I came up with:

Continue reading →

Art Journal Session: Twinchies

Posted on 6th January 2025 by Neil

Back in the day, when there were still many crafting magazines available, free clear stamps were included as a cover gift. Somehow I still have a collection of these, which are all still clear and functional. Finding them in my stash, I came up with this month’s theme for the art journaling session at The Studio: twinchies. For the unfamiliar, twinchies are 2″ square elements for crafting and the giveaway stamps fit perfectly. Using mixed media and appropriate papers, I created this:

Series of 24 twinchies (2" square pictures) arranged in a sketchbook as an art journaling project.

Continue reading →

Art Journal Session: Christmas NBU

Posted on 2nd December 2024 by Neil

This month’s theme for the last art journal session of the year is ‘Christmas NBU’. A long while ago, I suggested the tag #nbu for ‘never been used’. I’m not sure it caught on… So this wintery layout uses items that have not been used yet alongside other bits and bobs that came to hand:

Continue reading →

Art Journal Session: Archival Inks

Posted on 7th October 2024 by Neil

This month’s theme is ‘archival inks’. I’ve just counted how many pads I have, and excluding the mini-Distress pads, I have 62 colours! Many haven’t been used for some time but are still in perfectly usable condition, which is great. It seemed time for them to shine and here’s what I did with them… I’ve worked on translucent Dura-lar on pages from my experimental ‘see-through-page’ journal (which I don’t seem to have posted about before…).

Continue reading →

Art Journal Session: a tale of two halves

Posted on 2nd September 2024 by Neil

This month’s art journal session, “a tale of two halves”, required a little playing to pull together. It became a lesson in contrasts: complementary colours, techniques and reflectivity from varnishes and mica.

A tale of two halves: contrasting colours, techniques and finishes in an art journal layout.

Continue reading →

Art Journaling Session: Watersolubles

Posted on 5th August 2024 by Neil

This evening we are playing with all sorts of watersolubles for our Art Journal Session. I’ve raided my stash for media that we don’t use often in the sessions, with pencils, paints, crayons and gelatos on the menu. The session is all about experimentation and the different ways the water interacts with the pigments on the page. We’re adding some stamping and hand-drawn embellishments to adorn the page:

Watersolubles with mixed media in an art journal spread.

Continue reading →

Art Journaling Session: Washi Tape

Posted on 1st July 2024 by Neil

I unpacked a box of ancient washi tape rolls for this evening’s art journaling session and eventually got them all to unpeel without tearing. We used them to build background collages in black and white and colour, and layered them for maximum contrast in this finished layout:

Washi tape used as a background collage for black and white and also coloured elements in this art journal layout.

Continue reading →

Art Journaling Session: Shiny Distractions

Posted on 3rd June 2024 by Neil

Today’s Art Journaling Session at the Studio revisited working on aluminium foil. Last time, we used thinned acrylic paints to cover the foil with multilayer colour. This time, we played with alcohol inks. The inks are designed to stick to shiny surfaces and really pop against the reflective metallic background. There are various ways to add depth and texture, take ink off and add other inks on to make a very shiny and interesting collaged background for a suitable saying. I’ve included making notes below, along with a video of the techniques.