Documented Life Journal 2015

I'm starting my New Year's resolution early.  

In 2015 I'm going to try to take a little more time for my own art.  I share my studio with several young art students during the week.  My art form has always been assisting children in their creativity.  That in itself feeds the creative soul.  In 2015 I intend to carve out a "me" day.  Let's see how that goes.

I have completed the cover of my 2015 Documented Life Journal after looking at the Cover Story Workshop at Art to the Fifth.  I looked at Roben-Marie Smith's videos and a portion of Rae Missigman's.  What I saw was so motivating that I will savor the rest of the series for inspiration later. 

My cover is mostly inspired by Roben-Marie's  example.  I collaged old letters, ledgers, patterns, and scrap paper.  I added acrylic (Martha Stewart multi-surface satin) , gesso, and layers of Inktense wiped with baby wipes.   My date was stamped with  Random Acts, an alpha-stamp set I designed for Stampotique.  I originally had the date on ledger paper exposed under an envelope window.  After a late night I noticed I transposed my numbers and had to come up with another plan.  An image floating in the bottom right corner was also not working for me.  My solution was to add the due date with a date stamp to commence the beginning of DLP 2015 .

The back cover is much of the same. I used a liner brush with black acrylic paint for my line work. 

The inside cover was screaming for some coverage.  The base of the collage is Rae's technique.  I layered over it with sequin waste stenciling, and more layers in Inktense.  I really like the transparent layers that are created by wiping it down with baby wipes.  It seems to add depth.

A small cigar box of hand carved stamps from a day working with kids were begging to be used. They were applied with Momento ink and Inktense blocks.   Sharpie paint pens and graphite pencil scribbles are added throughout.

My scallops are cut from Gelli prints on deli paper.  Deli paper is such a perfect weight to collage with.

Roben-Marie and Rae had so much more to their techniques, so I encourage you to take advantage of the workshop.  You can borrow some great ideas and incorporate your own.

Thanks for taking a peek.