Finding Your Identity
I am often unable to put my thoughts into words before I see them as a visual image. When creating this art journal page spread I had a strong feeling, a specific set of colors and a visual sketch in my mind. When I transfered the image to paper it became easier to catch the words that I was chasing: The Glass Gate.
Finding what you are and what makes you happy is like traveling in the fog. You see things that you are drawn to. Often they do not seem to make sense. Once you spend enough time for searching it becomes more and more clear that all those things do have a connection. There’s something what you’ve made for. You only have to find this glass gate, standing in the fog. You pass by it, you are so close, you just don’t know it. Once you see it, it’s all so obvious. The gate is huge and the pilars are shining. You can walk through and it’s not a big task at all.
I strongly believe in this. By listening yourself and analyzing things around you, you will find your own style, your own mission and your true identity. It might be a journey that takes the whole life but once you are on a right track it feels so good.
For me one mystery has been the watercolor paper. I have always loved it but never really cared for painting watercolor landscapes or still lives. Now, when I began to used it as the foundation of my art journaling, I feel more free than ever when creating images. A very small little detail, not even very philosophical, but it has made a big difference for me.
Combining Acrylics with Watercolors in Art Journaling
This summer has been sunny and warm in Finland. It has been great to spend time outdoors, gardening! Our garden is still work in progress. I think about it constantly. And it shows here in this art journal page, as well as the hot summer days!
I love the combination of acrylics and watercolors. They make a great background. Start with the acrylics, leave some unpainted areas and the add watercolor to them.
I continued by adding some handdrawn papers and wrote: “For someone this would be only a house and a garden but for us it’s the whole world.”
Coming up in Espoo, Finland: art journaling courses by Peony and Parakeet (in Finnish). The first evening (19th September) is about creating pages about landscapes and places!
Inspiration from Journal Fodder 365
I love this product: Dylusions Journal book. It has thick paper pages and it’s good sized. The only minus is that I had to order it online and as it’s pretty heavy the postage was high.
When I got my empty book I knew it would be perfect with another product: an art journaling guide called Journal Fodder 365.
I have many art journaling books, too many! I honestly regret buying some – but not this one! I love how it balances between the sketchy style and details. It shows the essence of art journaling by giving tips for writing, illustrations and inspiration.
I also love how structured this book is. I like order and find many art journaling books a big mess but this one is packed with information and idea in well-organized manner. And it still looks artistic and beautiful!
Here’s another page inspired by the book. A little detail that I like here most is the photo from my watercolors. I printed it on a sheet of paper that I had painted with watercolors first and I think it looks so much better than if I had used white paper instead!
With Journal Fodder 365 I will continue using more photos in my art journals.
Illustration Basics
When looking at skillfull illustrations, I often remind myself:
It is all about the …
* * *
Just basic shapes and some doodling makes it all look much more complicated and creative than it really is.
