Art Journaling Inspiration
Dear Wonderful, Creative You:
It feels important to sometimes just share my art with you. My hope is that you will find art journaling inspiration in seeing another artist’s work. Perhaps you’ll try new techniques or materials. Just looking at some of the blogs of my favorite artists is important food for my artistic soul.
I created this piece with no brushes. Yup – finger painting! I hope I can inspire you to try out using your materials in some new and playful ways too. You’ll be amazed at what you can do if you let go of some of the expectations of “good art” and just allow yourself permission to play.
The circles are all in white gel pen* and black Faber Castell Pitt pen.* The black pitt was previously drawn on the page and I mostly covered it to integrate it into this piece. This spread is in one of my Strathmore tan paged journals,* which I LOVE.
Come on, spend some time smearing some paint. Choose 1 – 2 similar colors plus white, and see what emerges. Don’t be afraid to work in layers until you are pleased. Remember to stand back frequently so that you can truly see your piece. This helps me a lot.
The last thing I want to tell you is that this art journal spread is also a part of a very, very special surprise that I will be revealing next Wednesday. I can’t wait. Until then, talk to me in the comments about your art journaling adventures, would you?
And if you are looking for more art journaling ideas, check out my art journaling tutorials page.
[bctt tweet=”Sometimes the best art pieces are the simplest. #couragetocreate #artjournaling”]
Creatively Yours,
Amy
*This is an affiliate link. If you choose to click it and purchase something, at no extra cost to you I will receive a small commission that helps support the work I’m doing to promote creativity and artistic empowerment. Thank you!
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Amy, you have seen my recent first attempt at using my fingers to paint. It is something that lends itself to quick work, which I need. And, in the past I have been frustrated by how realistic I painted and I wanted a freer expression. Well, I think this is the kick start I needed. I really want to explore it more.
HI Barbara:
YES! There is something really powerful in quick work. I think it doesn’t give the inner critic time to get in the way! I can’t wait to see what you create.
Cheers,
Amy
This is beautiful!I like to use my art journal as a place to do an “artistic brain dump” once each week. The rest of the week is filled with drawing practice and skills development so it is nice to have one day to play with mixed media.
Hi JLC!
I loved looking at your blog, Drawn to JLC and seeing your lovely drawings and paintings. I agree that having a place to share your work and talk about creativity is so important. I also love how journals welcome the “dump,” and are a place I consider an artistic playground. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, and have a great time playing!
Cheers,
Amy
I’m loving this page, and the calm feel of it. I’m inspired to try 😉
Hi Cheryl:
Thank you so much! I too was inspired by another artist’s work when I did this, so I can’t wait to see what you come up with. I hope you share on Creative Self Care!
Cheers,
Amy
Beautiful! What type of paint did you use.
HI Diane:
How lovely of you to drop in and say hello! I keep a set of small tubes of Reeves acrylic paint in my art journal. Nothing fancy, but they are small and easy to carry in my art kit. You might not believe this, but I was attending a full day training and brought along my kit and journal and this piece was the result! I think better when I can create while listening all day! I’d love to hear about your art too. What do you like to create? What do you wish you were creating?
Cheers,
Amy
Hi, Amy
Every time I visit I return to my paper inspired and encouraged thank you???? Jo
nice!
Thanks Jennifer!
XO
Thank you for your video’s and blog posts, etc. Art Journaling is quickly becoming one of my favorite things to do. I need lots of help with letting go and letting things develop along the way, and art journaling is a tangible way to practice that.
I was inspired by your shared Art Journal video, and recruited some of my friends to start shared journals with me. One friend has a daughter, age 4 or 5, who helps work in the book. Her pages are my favorite so far because it is just uninhibited creativity, I hope to learn some things from her in all of this.
Thanks again!
Jesse – This sounds like so much fun! Have you and your friends ever tried art journaling in the round? Everyone does 10 minutes on a page and then – ROTATE! Pass your journals and at the end you get your own back with a big collaboration all over it.
And yes, I LOVE creating with little ones. They teach me so much about letting go too!
Thanks so much for being here and being a part of the Mindful Art Studio community.
Cheers,
Amy
OMG! Art journaling in the round sounds AWESOME! Most of my friends (okay all of my friends) who are artistic live in different states than I do, but it might be worth rotating a journal or (lots of ’em) through them via the mail. Another great idea! Thank you.
HI Jesse:
I have done that with another artist. It’s so fun. You can see our process here: http://mindfulartstudio.com/shared-journal-reveal/
Have fun!
Amy
I will try to fo my journal like this . Hope it helps me as i am not one for words i cant express my self in writing with words will try tks charmain
Hi Charmain:
Words can be so hard sometimes – especially when are feelings are deep. Thanks for being here!
Amy