Thursday, January 6, 2011

My First Art Journal Page of 2011!

Well I started working in my art journal. The first page was for the class I am taking through the free online class at Strathmore.com. The instructor, Pam Carriker, had us take copies of other pieces of art we had made and use them in our journal page. I am not a big drawer or doodler, and this is my first art journal so I asked myself, what do I have that I could use in an art journal?

Two things came to mind; first I have my girl's school papers - first graders and preschoolers bring home more paper than a paper factory. I save them in a large bin (important ones get filed away) and I use them for collage. The second thing I had was lots of digital pictures...

I took a picture that I had taken a couple of years ago of some sunflowers in our front yard. A yellow warbler was enjoying the seeds. I took the picture and manipulated it in Photoshop to look like a rough painting. I then cut different parts of the picture out and used them in my journal. The whole process was very stress free! I also found it very enjoyable to play around in Photoshop with no real pre-set ideas of what I wanted to do with my picture. I can't wait for week two of this class:) I hope everyone stays warm, dry, and safe this week. Happy Winter! It is snowing and is 19 degrees here in Norwalk tonight...



4 comments:

Grace said...

Oh, those yellow sunflowers. A beautiful page.

Nadia said...

That is beautiful. It was a great choice of colors.

Katie said...

This turned out wonderful! I'm so glad you posted this. I went and signed up too! I have been doing some journaling, but really need to learn some techniques! thx

Anonymous said...

Great idea with the kids school work, and digi pics.
It is really pretty.
I am not much of sketcher myself (OK I can't really draw period). Good for you for "creating" outside the box. I recently came across some blogs that showed how they used "monoprinting". It is another very pretty and interesting alternative to doodles and sketching.
Keep up the good work with the on-line class.
I have been trying to muster up the enthusiasm to finish my daughter's curtains.
Thanks for the comments too.
I have to be a honest, even if it is kinda lame...it is a secret thrill of mine, to have someone follow and comment on my little blog that is not related!
And yes, Hubby is spending more and more time in his man cave these days.