Art Journal Class Updates

Well hello my lovelies!

Its been a little while between drinks, in fact since I got back to Melbourne from Perth at the end of January -  6 weeks has just flown by!

I have been a bit of a busy beaver over these 6 weeks - I arranged and commenced contract work and my Dad came over and we had a working bee to get my house ready for a Melbourne winter (replacing guttering is a horrible job).  On an arty front I finished off one of my art journals, and completed all the preparation for the art journal classes with Crafters Cupboard and ran 2 of the 6 classes - only 2 left now. I will be sad to see them finished as I have a wonderful group of students this time.

So this post is to tell you all about what we did in art journal classes 3 and 4.

Class 3 - Words and Lettering. 

Lots of people do not like to write in their art journal. I have found that it is usually either from fear of revealing too much, or because they hate their handwriting. I think this is such a shame.

So in this class, we did some Diana Trout Journal Spilling. Journal writing is not about reading, it's about getting it (whatever it is) out of your system. It's writing for writing's sake. It's the act in itself that matters. It's expression. You're clearing your head by putting your thoughts down. That's all. You're not writing a novel here. You're not trying to win a Pulitzer or a Booker Prize. Don't look at your journal as some kind of sacred spot where only the most profound and deep feelings have a place. Look at is as a dumping ground for everything that's in your head. 

After 15 minutes of journal spilling (which some people in the class found very difficult), we then painted the page, and filled it with a very short quote that students had found over the previous month and was meaningful to them in some way.  

We concentrated on lettering techniques and how to like your handwriting - a tough ask...

So here is the homework page for Class 3: cutting pages and using lettering and doodles to emphasise shapes.  Journals are not sacrosanct objects - you don't have to keep every page squared off.

Class 4 - Collage and Ink.

This was a great class for me to prepare, as collage is my favourite "go to" thing when I am stuck but want to feel like I am doing some art.  It allows me to get some things onto a page without having to think too hard about it!  There is something very therapeutic about chopping up magazines.

We prepared an ink background, and collaged the bejeesus out of it.  The class created amazing "people" collages with weird bodies, strange heads, legs and arms.  Everyone then got out the paint pens and went mad integrating their body parts into a single figure. Everyone's work was fantastic!

Here was the page I had prepared as the class sample:

This class has 2 pages of homework to be completed. The first is another collage page but this time using more random cut shapes - triangles, circles scallops:

The second homework page focuses more on using ink and less on collage - ink washes & stamping on a collaged book paper base.  The class also has to use heavy paper bags (almost cardboard weight) to make flaps that fold around the page, and are cut into.  Again this is about not making your journal a sacrosanct space, but rather a fun and interactive viewing experience once it is completed.

Here is the page with the flaps folded in: 

And here is where I used the natural folds in the bag to cut around a stamped image and create a fold out - a'la the old Mad Magazine back pages. (Am I showing my age by saying that?) 

And here is the whole spread - its a little difficult to fit into a photo because it is so wide!

Thanks for stopping by. Now that I have finished this journal in its entirety, I'll be able to post some pics over the coming weeks of the pages not being used in the class. 

'Till next time!

~Liz