Quirky Art Journal Sketches/Technique

I had some interest in how I do the quirky journal sketches, and I finally got time to post it. First, let me say that I learned the technique from Judi Russell, whose link I followed from Megan's post on links that she had discovered on Just Be Connected a few months ago.


Judi had a page teaching her technique on her website. She has recently taken it down, but she has a gallery of her paintings and journal entries (drawings and writings), which is very interesting. Some of her paintings derived from her art journal drawings. Visit here to check out her journal pages.


I don't have permission to write her version here, so I'll show you what I learned and took from her page. I appreciate so much her sharing the technique, because it has been so much fun for me, plus it's really helped me to loosen up and enjoy drawing. You don't have to worry about everything being "correct". Just go with it and have fun if you decide to try it.


Judi does three pages of stream of consciousness writing first to clear her mind and prepare her heart before she starts drawing the shapes, which would really be helpful, but I tend not to do that because of time. It would make it more meditative.


Okay, here goes: (my version)

Step 1:
Close your eyes, try not to think about what you're hand is doing, and with a pencil start drawing shapes, lines, etc. very lightly on your paper (dark enough to see, but not dark enough to be confusing). I've found that smooth paper, like sketchbook or journal paper, works best for me for these sketches. I tried them on watercolor and textured paper and the doodle lines were much harder to see, thus making it harder to pull an image out. All of my quirky sketches start out like the example above, just shapes jumbled together.

Step 2:
When you're finished open your eyes and look at your shapes until you see an image emerge that means something to you. Turn the page around if you need to. Sometimes an image will jump right out at you yelling, "Here I Am!" and sometimes they play hide and seek, taking a little longer to emerge.


When you find the image go over the lines and make them darker with your pencil. You can enhance the image by adding a face, feet, legs, whatever. If a line suggests something that you think it needs, draw it. I tend to leave as many original lines or shapes as I can, just like I find them.

Step 3:
Once you have the drawing like you want it, go over the lines with an ultra fine black sharpie. Write down any words, phrases, titles as they come to you while you work on it. These can be added to the sketch.

Step 4: "Magicians and Levitation" (colors are better in person)
Use watercolor pencils to color it in. Then take a DAMP brush and go over the colors to make them pop. You can use the sketch for ideas and you have a pattern to transfer to wc paper, canvas, etc. to do a finished painting if you want.


Step 5:
Write about what the image means to you or what message you get from it.

This is kind of a condensed version, but these are the steps.


Some of the images are more realistic, some of them are cartoon like, some are magical, fantasy, or whimsical, but they've all been a lot of fun. Kind of like Forest Gump's chocolates. You never know what you're going to find. :)

Sometimes I leave all the lines in so it looks like patchwork or stained glass kind of and sometimes I don't, which is why in the ones I've shared here and in previous posts you can see the pencil lines both in the image and background. Since they are journal sketches, and not finished paintings, I feel free to do that.


It's kind of like solving a puzzle and winding up with your own original coloring book. Plus it's gotten me into the habit of doing at least one drawing daily, thus exercising my imagination and drawing skills, and I'm much more relaxed with wc than I was. The added bonus is a ton of ideas for canvas paintings and short stories. :)


I hope you will try it at least once. If you do, let me know. I'd love to see what you come up with. I warn you though. It's kind of addictive once you get started. :)

Sometimes I Just Feel Like Dancing!

This is a page from one of my art journal/sketchbooks that I thought I would share today. I don't really feel like dancing right this minute (I am still half asleep), but this sketch always makes me smile, so I thought if it makes me smile, maybe it will you too. :) The resemblence to Dolly Parton with black hair was not intentional, but it's ok. I like Dolly. I had noticed it already, but it has also been pointed out to me a couple of times. Like I said, it's ok with me. Hope Dolly doesn't mind. :)

I learned a new "to me" art journaling technique 3-4 months ago, and I've had so much fun with it that I haven't missed a day since doing at least one, sometimes 2-3 a day. I've done about 220 so far, filling up about 5 sketchbooks, several loose pastel sheets, a couple of envelopes, and a couple of cards. I never know what the sketches will end up being and they have spawned tons of ideas for painting and writing for me. I never really enjoyed drawing before, but this has sharpened my skills and my imagination and I love drawing this way. The last post also contained a quirky sketch. They aren't meant to be perfect or even "correct." Just loose and fun. I'll share the technique with you, if you like, when things settle around here a little bit. Okay?

The picture quality is not good, but you get the idea. Hope it makes you smile.

I'm Still Around

I have been on kind of a hiatus from writing this summer, but I'm in the process of re-vamping my blog, hopefully making it better, plus sharing more pictures, art, and tidbits. Please do visit again.

Until then I'll share one of my quirky journal sketches titled, for now, "Red Birds", which started off as a page with a lot of shapes doodled onto it, then an image drawn out. I've left the pencil lines in the background on purpose. More about that later. Sorry about the not too good photo. Happy creating! :)

Iris...Is it Real....Or Not?

This one is real (see the rose from a couple of days ago). Mama found it growing volunteer in the end of the garden last week. Don't you just love the color? It's the large variety. Notice the fancy vase?

She has several flowers blooming right now. Her lilac bush is really pretty this year, and her little bunch of red tulips too. Her pink peony is loaded with buds, but her white one only has a few.

Irises are pretty, as are all flowers, but the white peony is my favorite. I absolutely love the white peony scent. The other colors don't smell the same, although they are just as beautiful. When my maternal grandparents were living they always gave me their first peony bloom every spring. If I didn't stop by, Papa would bring it to me. Now Mama does, and one of her first daffodils.

I have a white peony bush, but it doesn't do much. My fault. It hasn't been worked or taken care of for a few years. I'm surprised it's still living. It had a couple of buds this year, but the frost killed them. I'll just help Mama enjoy hers. :)

Most of my flowers have gone to flower heaven, as I have accumulated a few cats and they think I pot and plant flowers for them to dig in, lay on, or swing in. I even tried putting a long planter of cacti on the outside kitchen window sill over the sink. I got up one morning to find a cat laying on the cactus. He thought I'd fixed him a bed, I reckon. I just gave up trying. I miss the flowers (good therapy), but I like the cats too (also good therapy). I guess sometimes you have to sacrifice one thing in order to have another. Anyone know how to keep cats out of where you don't want them?

I don't know how I got from irises to peonies to cats, so I'll quit while I'm ahead...or behind...or whatever. :) Have a great week!

Inchies Swap Returns

I received my inchies from the first swap I ever participated in the other day and thought I'd share them with you. It was in the Mojo Art Group, and there wound up being only three of us playing, but that was okay. It was fun and a good experience. Each of us made twelve 1" x 1" square original works of art and sent to the hostess, Tammy, who divided them up and mailed us back twelve from the other players, thus I have twelve more tiny original works of art from friends to add to my collection.

Tammy also included a delicious bar of her favorite organic spice chocolate candy with the return. I had never eaten organic candy, so that was also a first experience. It was very tasty. I'm trying hard to save J (hubby) a piece of it. :)




Anyway, here is a photo of the inchies I received. Lori's are on the left and Tammy's are on the right. Click on pic to enlarge. Sorry, the photo doesn't do them justice (they have glittery accents), but aren't they gorgeous?

I selected twelve from the batch in the photo in the archives to swap. Just click on inchies in the labels list and it should take you there if you want to see them. Sorry I don't have a seperate photo of the twelve I swapped uploaded.

Thanks Tammy and Lori. I enjoyed swapping inchies with you. Maybe we can do it again sometime. :)

Rose...Is it real...or not?

Isn't this rose gorgeous? Our niece, Kristy, put it in my gift bag Christmas, and I just love it. She had even put rose scented oil on it to make it smell real. She is so talented and creative, and a sweetheart to boot.

Kristy, her mom, and a friend hand made over a hundred of these for Kristy's daughter's wedding last summer, which I didn't make it to. I saw the pictures when we got together for Christmas though, and it was a beautiful wedding. There were several arrangements made out of these roses, and they looked amazing.

Can you guess what they're made from?

I believe she said she saw Martha Stewart make them on her show and found the pattern and instructions online. After the petals were cut out, they were put together, hand colored, and scented to fool the eye and the nose.

The rose brought back memories of my Granny P teaching me to make paper flowers and leaves from crepe paper and colored tissues when I was little. I loved making them with her and taking them to put on graves at decoration time. Wonder if I can still make them. Good memories.

Have you guessed the material yet?

Hint: Most of us use one at least once a day, particularly in the mornings.

Okay, I'll tell you. :)

They are made from used coffee filters. Isn't that something?

Well, enough about the rose, but I just love it and I'm honored to be the recipient of one. I found a pretty little vase and though I moved it to make this picture, it's usual place is on the fireplace mantel with the family photos.

I had a rose bush this color once, and I couldn't wait for it to bloom every year. Now I have one that won't die on me. :)

Isn't the color beautiful? Bye for now.

Happy Holidays and Computer Freeze

Hi all!

I hope you are all having a safe and happy holiday season.

Hubby didn't get to be home this year for Christmas so Mom and I spent a quiet day together yesterday (we live next door to each other). We both got cards and phone calls from family members and friends, which we enjoyed very much. She cooked and I helped her eat it. :) I did fix a banana cream pie, but we got too full of cornbread dressing, dumplings, and mashed potatoes to eat it yesterday, so we'll have leftovers for a couple of days. Didn't bother with a turkey since it was just the two of us.

She gave me a gorgeous Aigner purse and I gave her a new toaster oven, things we had both said we'd like to have, plus we had a few stockling stuffers for each other. We will have Christmas again in 2-3 weeks, when hubby gets home, with his family and with Mom again. Believe it or not, I still have a few Christmas gifts to buy, hubby's included (no idea what to get him, but hopefully I'll come up with something).

One of my best friends came Christmas Eve evening and stayed a while with me and hubby got to call that night. I also got Christmas cards done and mailed at the last minute, however, I didn't get any hand made this year again. I still can't get my mind wrapped around the fact that it even is Christmas for some reason. Maybe I'm getting too old or scroogy or something. :) I'm just thankful for all my friends and family whether we're actually together physically or not.

I still am not writing or creating any art much right now. Maybe after the holidays I will get settled enough to pick up a pen and brush again. I have finished reading two good novels though, which I will post reviews about later. I have several more stacked up to read. Reading also inspires me to write, so not only am I reading a good story, I'm priming my writer's pump! :)

First I have to get my laptop pc fixed. The Windows XP operating system locked up on it just like it did my desk top pc last spring. It won't even open up. I wound up having to completely reinstall the operating system and all other programs on my desktop after hours on the phone with tech support trying everything, so I"m pretty sure I'll have to do the same on the laptop.

Fortunately I have all the photos and my writing saved to a disk, however I didn't think to save my email address book and favorites list, so they will have to be re-compiled, because I never put them back on the desk top when I got the laptop. So I'm in for some time and work to get it going again. Those of you that are in the habit of getting emails from me, if you don't get any for a while, it's because I lost your addy in the crash and I don't know it by heart, so I'll have to wait til you send me something to add it to my list. Next time I'll save them to a disk too, in case of another freeze up. Freeze ups are definately not fun, especially if you lose a lot of stuff because you haven't taken the time to back it up to disks or something. Hard lesson learned. :)

The locked up pc is another reason you haven't heard from me much on the blog, groups, or email. It's been locked up for a couple of weeks now. I'm on the desk top pc today, but it's a hassle to use and it's cold in the room where it is so I'm only checking email every few days and not online much. I'm grateful that I have it for a backup though. I'd be lost without a computer and my internet buddies. :)

Anyway, just wanted you to know that I'm still out here, it's a gorgeous, cold, sunny day here, and I'm loving sitting by my gas fireplace reading or dreaming while siipping on a cup of coffee.

I'm signing off for now. Mom brings my mail and visits a while every morning, and it's about time for her, so ya'll HAVE A WONDERFUL, SAFE, HAPPY, AND BLESSED NEW YEAR, and I'll be back soon with something more interesting, I hope. :)