Tag Archives: art journaling

Art Journaling: Bargello Masterboard

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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.

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

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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.
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Art Journal Session: ‘Industrial Grunge’

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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:

industrial grunge art journal page
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Art Journal Session: Twinchies

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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.
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Art Journal Session: Christmas NBU

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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:

Christmas NBU - the completed layout.
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Art Journal Session: Archival Inks

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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…).

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Art Journal Session: a tale of two halves

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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.
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Art Journaling Session: Watersolubles

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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.
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Art Journaling Session: Washi Tape

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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.
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Art Journaling Session: Shiny Distractions

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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.

A very shiny colourful textured foiled background for an art journal layout
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