June challenge wrap-up
In week three we added some collage to our background. You could add any collage you wanted. I love the look of words in my backgrounds, so I tend to use book pages. There are so many options for collage though....magazines, music pages, your kid's old schoolwork, a used crossword puzzle, wrapping paper, junk mail, product packaging, tissue paper, paper doilies, old calendars, scrapbook paper.....any paper in my house is free game for being glued down.
One important part of collage is glue. What to use to glue down your collage? My preferred glue is matte medium, either fluid or gel. You can find brands that are more economical. Currently my preferred brands are Liquitex Basics Matte Gel Medium and Amsterdam Gel Medium Matt. Both of these brands are smooth and easy to spread with a brush, scraper or your finger. I like to use a layer of medium under and over my collage. I also keep a glue stick close by for tiny bits.
Coming in July….
building a creative habit
Thank you for joining me for my challenge this past month. I selfishly decided to do this challenge to get myself back into my art journal. I have been distracted by house projects, family time and a big decluttering project. My mini book collection has grown, but my journals had only grown dust!
We started the month by gathering our favorite supplies. Keep the list simple so you don’t overcomplicate it. Our goal is just to crack open a journal and get something down.
With that journal open, we got started on some backgrounds. I recommended picking your favorite color and a few colors close to it on the color wheel. This reduces your chances of creating “ugly brown”. Plus, why not use your favorite color??
Focal points were next. A few years ago I gave myself the challenge of creating everyday. One thing I found myself making was focal points for later journal pages. I would stamp images and color them. Or sketch a face and cut it out. Or create a few tags to attach in a journal. I quickly had a box full of these and I noticed that when I did have time to work in my journal I enjoyed looking through the box for a focal point image for the page. It made my art journaling practice feel easier and more fluid.
Finally we finished our pages with some mark making. My go-to is always dots, but you can add any shape. You could also add shadows to your focal point, or edge your pages with black or even add some gelato in areas to brighten the color.