I see art journaling as a form of escapism.

There are no rules, rights or wrongs. It’s only for my eyes, I don’t have to show or share it with anyone. It’s just for me. It’s a way of playing and experimenting. It’s about feeling free and having fun.

Take this day. I started work early and had stopped briefly to put dinner on later in the day. Whilst dinner is cooking, I shout to everyone that dinners ready in 20 minutes…this 20 minutes is now mine.  I take my art journal. The day before I had spread a little white acrylic paint over an open page. If you don’t own spreading tools you can also use an old credit card.

My page is nice and dry. The paint has dried and I can feel the lumps and bumps where the paint has overlapped. This is a great texture and gives me an idea. I take my water colour pencils and inktense blocks. These are both wonderful to use.

I take an inktense block. These feel a little like chalks. I use one of the blocks and rub down the page with the block on it’s side.

It really highlights the unevenness of the dried paint. I love how this looks. It’s all about playing you see. I add a second colour here and there too.

Using the blocks, I roughly start drawing shapes to resemble butterflies.

And now I started drawing and adding more colour over both pages.

I take a paintbrush and a little water and start to brush over areas of the page. I don’t go over the whole page though. I love how the colours run and blend. They just come to life.

I add a little water to my butterflies now.

I take the inktense blocks once again and run them back over the wet areas over my page. The colours intensify even more so now.

I carry on adding a  little water and more of the inktense blocks.

I now start using the water colour pencils. Just scribbling and doodling. Remember, there are no rules. I love how the look of the pencil varies by using on the wet and the dry parts of the page.

More colour!!

Dinner is now ready, so I leave the book open to dry. I feel refreshed and revived after my little break from work/family. It’s the perfect escape. I don’t come back until the following morning and then finish off my page. You can use a heat gun though if you want to carry on and speed up the drying process.

I grabbed my pencil from this months kit….doesn’t it look pretty? I write out my words in a basic script and keep going over and over adding extra lines and swirls to make the script start to flow so it ends up looking joined up.

And then I go over with a black pen.

I’ve added the mini alpha stickers that are also in this months kit. My page is now finished. It’s so colourful!!

Art journaling for me is a way to escape and forget for a while. I really enjoy it.

Lisa x