Peony and Parakeet

Fly to Your Inner World and Color the Emotion

Videos

How I Organize My Colored Pencil Drawings

This week, I’m sharing my storage system for colored pencil drawings, and you get to see many art ideas as well.

Organizing colored pencil art, folder cover

How I Organize My Colored Pencil Drawings – Watch the Video!

In this video, you’ll get a look at my work from over the years and see how I keep everything organized, safe, and easy to find. You will find not only organization tips, but also ideas for colored pencil art that tie the pieces together and make your collection more inspiring. This video is for all who want to create more art, especially with colored pencils!

I hope this video inspires you to create! And don’t forget the …

Birthday Sale!

Intuitive ColoringJoyful Coloring, and Mystical Minis are now 25% OFF!

The Birthday Sale ends on Sunday, Feb 15th at midnight PST. >> Buy Now!

Video: Artist’s Life and Inner Inspiration

This week, I made a video blog post where I share what I have been working on lately. This watercolor piece is one of them.

Floral watercolor painting by Paivi Eerola. Tulips and strawberries. This one is called "Taste of Memories."
“Muistojen maku” (taste of memories), watercolor, size: A3

In the video, I also talk about the inner inspiration – that not everything has to come from outside, but there’s a lot within our inner world already.

You get to see my planner for 2026, which is also my art journal. It’s a notebook that has pictures of Jasmine Becket-Griffith‘s art.

Artist’s Life and Inner Inspiration – Watch the Video!

My favorite topics – flowers, watercolors, colored pencils, and abstracts – are all covered in this video.

In the last part of the video, I share my joy about the newest course, Mystical Minis – abstract art with colored pencils – Buy Now!

50 Art Ideas in an Art Journal

This week I have a special treat for you: a flip-through video of my full Dylusions Creative Journal. It has 50 art ideas, not only for art journaling but for art-making in general.

Full Dylusions art journal filled with art ideas. Watch the video!

The pages are mostly made with colored pencils, watercolors, and acrylic paints. I also have many that have hand-drawn collage pieces.

I started the journal in 2020 and finally finished it now in 2025. There are so many memories saved in it. But I didn’t want the nostalgy to take over, but tried to make the video as useful and as easy to watch as possible.

50 Art Ideas – Watch Now!

There’s so much ideas that I thought it would be handy for you to have all the ideas and links listed.

List of Art Ideas and Links to Related Content

#1 Borders

Get inspiration from books and paint covers so that they have borders.

#2 Draw a Tassel!

Draw a decorative object like a tassel rather than an animal or a person.
Blog post: Making the Art Journal More Magical
Course: Animal Inkdom
Course: Magical Inkdom

#3 Forgotten Supplies

Check what supplies you have and use those that you haven’t used for a very long time. At the same time you can decide if you really want to keep them.
Blog post: Art Supplies I Should Not Use Anymore

#4 Introduce Yourself!

Tell who you are in words and pictures.

#5 Title

Give the book a title that inspires you.
Blog post: Adding Text and Layers to Your Pages

#6 Makeover

Paint over any page so that the previous layers show through. Then add details on top of everything.

#7 Alice in Worderland

Paint a place where strange things happen.
Blog post: Painting a Mystery
Blog post: Wonderland Art – Inspiration from Alice in Wonderland

#8 Indoors and Outdoors

Paint a room with large, open windows. Imagine that the outside world floods in.
Blog post: Painting a Mystery

#9 Cafe Bakery

Imagine a lovely cafe where you bake cakes.
Course: Decodashery

#10 Paint with Pencils

Use colored pencils like they are paints and color without outlines.
Course: Intuitive Coloring

#11 Child’s Drawing

Use a child’s drawing as a starting point for a page.

#12 Hole

Make a window from one page to another by cutting a hole.

#13 Scribbles

Pick a black pen and scribble and doodle your heart out. Then use the drawing as a coloring page.
Blog Post: Don’t Just Create Circles
Blog Post: Doodler’s Sampler Step by Step

#14 Transparency

Draw on a transparent film or print your drawing on the film.
Blog post: Creating Wood by Doodling Layers

#15 Safari

Draw animals and use unconventional colors and details.
Course: Animal Inkdom

#16 Time Travel

Combine your art from several years into one spread.

#17 Happy

Collect happy things and write comforting and hopeful thoughts.
Blog post: Mini Drawings on Art Journal Pages

#18 Inner Child

By creating, we cherish our inner child. Let her face appear in one of your pages.
Blog post: Coloring with the Inner Child

#19 Columns

Add drawings and paintings as vertical stripes on the spread.

#20 Free Video: Colored Pencils – Intuitive Approach

Blog post: Colored Pencils – Intuitive Approach

#21 Underwater

Let blue tones dominate the background and create an underwater scenery.

#22 Nighttime

Imagine what can happen in the night when no one is watching.

#23 Fairytale

Make up a fairy tale while you draw.
Blog post: Picture Prompts – Creating Art Journal Pages with Handdrawn Animals
Course: Animal Inkdom

#24 Wings

You can draw wings on almost anything.
Blog post: Picture Prompts – Creating Art Journal Pages with Handdrawn Animals
Blog post: Angel Drawing for the Inner Child
Course: Magical Inkdom

#25 Four Seasons

Express spring, summer, fall, and winter in one spread.

#26 Seed Flower

Start with a single flower.
Blog post: Flower for Your Art Journal
Blog post: Expressive Watercolor Flower Collage

#27 Floralize!

Leave some happy parts of bad art visible and then paint flowers on the top.
More ideas for revamping:
Blog post: Revamp Art Journal Pages So That They Spark Joy!
Blog post: Revamping Watercolor Painting with Watercolor Pencils
Blog post: Art Makeover – Revamp Your Old Paintings!

#28 Carve & Stamp!

Carve a lino plate and use it as a stamp.
You can also use a gelli plate.
Blog post: Gelli Plate Meets Fine Art – Monoprinting Ideas for Art Lovers

#29 Lemons

Express your appreciation for lemons or other fruits by painting or drawing them.
Blog post: Painting And Drawing Fruits
Course: Fun Botanicum

#30 Vermeer Girl

Re-create the face from Johannes Vermeer’s painting Girl with Pearl Earring.
Blog post: Vermeer Girl with Heart – Draw with Me!

#31 Glow

Make a drawing that glows without using any glitter. Use soft transitions from light to dark.
Blog post: Bringing Old-World Feel to Abstract Painting

#32 Spirit

Visualize the person’s spirit, not only the face.
Blog post: Intuitive Art Journaling
Blog post: Coloring an Intuitive Selfie

#33 Puzzle

Glue a couple of small drawings on the page and continue their outlines so that they form a new image.
Blog post: Mini Drawings on Art Journal Pages

#34 Easy Start

Paint the background with watercolors and then use it as an inspiration for coloring.
Blog post: Why Draw in the Ready-Made World?

#35 Stripes

Paint stripes of your current favorite colors.

#36 Scan, Print, Collage!

Scan your drawings and print them smaller. Use the printed images for a fun collage with stripes.
Blog post: Making the Art Journal More Magical
Course: Magical Inkdom

#37 Block

Paint rectangles and triangles to make a design.
Blog post: Building and Breaking – Revealing Artistic Potential
Blog post: Art Quilts in a Modern Way

About Paul Klee
Blog post: Paul Klee and the Art of Learning
Course: Floral Freedom

#38 Chapter

Make a themed chapter of several pages for your art journal.
Course: Hearts and Stories
Course: Fun Botanicum

#39 Storybook

Make a storybook page.
Blog Post: Art Journal as a Storybook

#40 Childhood Memories

Get inspired by your childhood and draw things you loved back then.
Blog post: Maximalist or Minimalist? Style Experiments in Art Journal Pages
Blog post: Choosing the Word for 2025

#41 Dolls

Rather than drawing a realistic person, design a doll with all the accessories.
Course: Decodashery
Course: Doll World

#42 Dark Background

Make an impact with the contrast between bright flowers and dark background color.
Blog post: Imagining Flower’s Spirit

#43 From Back to Front

Add more than one color to the background and, at the same time, adjust the shape of the foreground objects.
Course: Freely Grown
Course Wild Garden

#44 Modern

Make organic shapes more angular and thus more abstract and modern.
Blog post: Making Florals More Modern

#45 Letters

Imagine that the letters are fictional characters and add expression and decorations to them.
Blog post: Making the Art Journal More Magical
Blog post: Draw Your Own Fonts

#46 Watercolor Love

Paint flowers with watercolors.
Course: Wild Garden
Course: Freely Grown

#47 Castle

Imagine a building that is full of fun details.
Blog post: Intuitive Art Journaling

#48 Experience

Imagine being in an imaginary place.
Blog post: Intuitive Art Journaling

#49 More Is More

Be a maximalist, and get inspired by nature’s abundance.
Blog post: Maximalist or Minimalist? Style Experiments in Art Journal Pages
Blog post: Following the Inner Color

#50 Jewelbox

Divide the page into small compartments and color the compartments one by one.

Need More Than These 50 Art Ideas?

See the blog post from 2020: 75 Ideas in an Art Journal

I hope you enjoyed this post and put the art ideas in use. Let’s keep creating!

Abstract Watercolor Flower Card

This week, I invite you to paint with me. Let’s make an abstract watercolor flower card!

Small abstract floral watercolor painting by Päivi Eerola.

Abstract Watercolor Flower Card – Watch the Video!

In this video, you see me both creating and talking about abstract floral art. Watch the video and paint with me!

I hope my love for abstract florals is contagious! Here’s the finished card again.

Abstract watercolor flower card by Paivi Eerola, Finland.

Watercolor cards are just precious. You can never have too many, and there’s always someone you gan give one to. That’s why the new course Wild Garden has many card projects.

Wild Garden – Paint with Me!

In the upcoming course Wild Garden we will paint flowers freely, intuitively, and expressively in watercolor. Sign up here!

Wild Garden will begin on September 22, 2025. Sign up now!

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