RGAJ3 Mixed Medial Art Journal Finished Result

My RGAJ3 Mixed Media Art Journal is all finished. 

To watch the whole playlist, click here.

It was a fun journey and I learned a lot along the way. The biggest lesson I've learned this time is: 

"When you want to create art, 

don't think, just start!"

This is the motto I used for each and every page of this journal. Instead of thinking about what I want to do, I can just sit at my work area and grab what is handy and use that until it's done. The same went for writing the blog posts for each page. Just sit and write, don't think about what you are "going" to write, just write!

Since this blog is about mixed media and art journaling, I'll list the supplies below and how they worked, or in some cases didn't work, for me and the lessons and workaround that I learned. 

Enjoy the art journal flip here:

The Supplies: (The good, the challenging and the workaround)

Recycled product manual as a mixed media art journal: 

• Advantages: You get to use something that would otherwise end up in the garbage
• Disadvantages: Masking tape: you would think it is good to protect the spine, and it is, but the gesso doesn't stick to it and sometimes even wood glue doesn't let your pieces stick to it. My journal is still in one piece, but I noticed cracks in the paint from the folding and now I see that in some areas the masking tape is showing and the paint/medium is threatening to come off. 
• Lesson learned: Think about your binding and what will actually bind with the page and the mediums you are planning to use. 

Recycled paper: 

• Advantages: You get to use this piece of paper 3 times; 
1. Printing your stuff
2. Mopping up paint
3. Using it for collage.
• Disadvantages: I can't really think of any. 
• Lesson learned: In this particular project of an art journal, I found it best to cluster similar colors/shades together before applying hem to my page. This way it is easier to see forms..etc.

Tissue/Napkin paper:

• Advantage: Always goes a bit transparent when glued, especially white background
• Disadvantages: Might stick to your brush when you are applying the glue
• Lesson Learned: Apply a very thin layer of glue to the surface and then the tissue/napkin, dab this down with your fingers and then apply some glue onto that with the brush, or your finger. Just be careful not to soak it or the tissue will tear as you try to spread the glue. 

Transfer/Pattern paper: 

• Advantages: 
• It is always easier to write on the transfer/pattern paper before you apply it to your mixed media surface, as it will probably have a texture that makes it hard to get straight lines with your letters. 
• It lets the color of whatever is behind it come through a little bit, which lets it blend nicely with the page. 
• Disadvantages: Depending on the type of transfer/pattern paper you use, it will not go as transparent as a napkin/tissue will and you'll be able to see it. 
• Lesson learned: When using transfer/pattern paper make sure to cut the size that will complement your page and the form, as it will stand out and you need to have it fit in nicely. 

Nail-Art stickers:

• Advantages: They are ready-made forms and colors that have adhesive on the back and are super easy to apply. 
• Disadvantages: They are tiny and sometimes hard to get hold of with your fingers. The adhesive on it may not stick on all surfaces, especially if you picked it up with your finger and your hands were a bit greasy. 
• Lesson learned: 
• Use tweezers to apply them and your fingers to press them down well. 
• If they are not sticking well enough, you can always apply some wood glue or matt/gel medium. This will let them stay where they are. 

Masking tape: 

• Advantages: It does protect the spine from paint leaking to other pages.
• Disadvantages: Gesso will not stick to it, not the kind I use anyway. And sometimes, if you don't apply enough glue, in my case wood glue, your medium will not stick well to it. 
• Lesson learned: An idea I got for the next time I do this, is to apply wood glue to a strip of paper and then stick that to the spine. I believe this will make sure that the spine stays clean and that all my painting mediums will stay where I put them.  This is yet to be tested.

Wood glue:

• Advantages: By far the best I have used for art journaling (better than water-based as well as acetone-based and glue sticks.)
• Disadvantages: Lets off a lot of chemical fumes when dried with a heat tool or hairdryer, which can cause nausea and headaches. 
• Lesson learned: When using wood glue, always work in a well-ventilated area.  Use a mask on your nose and mouth, so as to minimize any possible inhalation of the fumes, when drying it with a blow dryer or heat tool. 

Gesso: 

• Advantages: It gives you a nice clear canvas to work on. 
• Disadvantages: Because it is water-based it may not stick on the surface of the booklet you are recycling. As was in my case, it didn't' stick well and in some areas, it flaked off when I applied other layers of acrylic paint. 
• Lesson learned: When working on a recycled surface, use white acrylic paint instead of gesso. If you need the grittiness, mix gesso with white acrylic paint, more paint than gesso. This will make sure it sticks to the layer below and the one to come above. 

Acrylic paint:

• Advantages: Sticks to almost all surfaces, you can mix all the colors together
• Disadvantages: Can't think of any really :) 
• Lessons learned: Keep using it :)

Fabric paint: (in copper, gold and metallic blue)

• Advantages: I got them because of the metallic colors that I couldn't get in acrylic paint. 
• Disadvantages: They have a sticky top layer once they dry
• Lessons learned: Always cover with a layer of acrylic varnish (matt medium) to stop the stickiness of the top layer. 

Permanent markers:

• Advantages: They work very well on all surfaces.
• Disadvantages: Some of them are a bit transparent, but you can just add more layers.
• Lessons learned: Sometimes a tube of acrylic paint with a small nozzle will give a better effect than when using a permanent marker, it's also cheaper. 

Fluid permanent marker: (the white)

• Advantages: Will work on any surface.
• Disadvantages: You never know when your pen will be empty and sometimes it may not have a constant enough flow to let you finish your work.
• Lesson learned: Keep using it until it goes empty and then replace the ink in it with white acrylic paint. I now also use my tube of white acrylic paint with a thin nozzle that works very well for detailed and gives me a nice texture. 

Ballpoint pen:

• Advantages: Adds instant dimension when applied around the fluid white permanent marker. 
• Disadvantages: May not roll easily on all surfaces, especially wood glue. 
• Lesson learned: When outlining white marker on wood glue, make sure to trace the inside edge of the white marker, this way you are writing on the white ink and not the wood glue and this will work. 

Gel pens: 

• Advantages: They come in many colors and a loofa them have glitter.
• Disadvantages: They will not write on all surfaces. When using acrylic varnish to seal your pages some of the glitters will be lost. If you use god/silver or white the actual paint pigments might move around and ruin the writing. 
• Lesson learned: 
• Avoid writing with gold/silver and white. 
• If you use the colors, try to use them on paper or transfer paper, they work well that way. 

Acrylic varnish:

• Advantages: It is nice to seal the page and make it water-resistant when it is dry.
• Disadvantages: 
• Pages will stick together in your art journal if applied on both pages.
• Gel pens might smudge when you apply a lot of varnish on them.
• Lesson learned: 
• When using gel pens make sure to only apply a very thin layer of acrylic varnish and swipe it only once over the writing.
• After sealing your art journal page with it, use a tea light candle to put a very thin layer of paraffin wax on the page and it won't stick anymore. 

Paraffin wax:

• Advantages: Protects pages from sticking together after applying acrylic varnish
• Disadvantages: 
• Once you apply that you can not apply anything else to your page.
• Your work surface will be a mess with wax bits all over when you use it.
• Lesson learned: 
• Use the block of wax out of the tea light candle to apply it by scrapping a very small amount of it onto the page.
• Use your hairdryer or heat tool to melt it and spread it all over with your hands.
• If you get little pieces stuck to your work surface, just heat it and wipe it off with tissue paper, kitchen or toilette paper will do just as well. 

RGAJ3 | Covers | Mixed Media Art Journal Pages

Finally, I get to work on the covers :) 

I had that messed up recycled A4 paper with blotches of paint on it and I didn't think it would be good enough to cut up and collage with! Instead of collaging this time I went for looking for the images in the paint. It was very messy and decided to just stick it on first and see what I can find. I also liked that little bit of golden fabric paint in the center of it…. but.. couldn't see anything. 

What to do now? Snip snip snip the excess paper and look again! Still.. NOTHING!!!! GRRRRR

OK OK, don't panic, just work on another area, so I go add some paint around the edges to create a border. I'm not sure if I used the combination of yellow and green before, it was usually with blue, so I opted for green this time. And yes indeed, this paint is very dry and when you apply it with your fingers it uses up a lot of it! But, it created a nice texture :) 

Now, take another look and see if we can find someone or something on the page… and YES, We found the screaming man!! YAY :) It reminded me of that painting called The Scream by Edvard Munch, accept mine was not staring at me mine was wearing a nice blue cape, had lovely red lips and sprigs for hair! Don't ask me why he looks like this, this is how he wished to be, I don't decide, I just follow.  Turned out he also had a friend called "thoughts" that is hovering around his head all the time, like a black cloud! Yes, crazy things can be seen in paint!

Back to my doodling, I used a turquoise glitter acrylic paint tube on the yellow and a white one on the green. Had to add two layers for the with glitter or it wont show. Good, now that is the front done, with the main character. 

On to the back and who do I see??? Ohhhhh It's Squidward Tentacles from SpongeBob SquarePants :) Or at least he reminds me of him. He was also wearing something purple. Only difference is that mine was smiling, which is unusual for Mr. Tentacles. I liked this one :) 

For the border I used the same colors as on the front cover but switched the design around so as not to make them all look like one page. This is, after all, the cover! 

Now that the main characters are done, as well as the border, time to see what else can be added. I got the idea to use golden fabric paint to follow that gold blotch that was in the center of the paper I used. Put gold all around. It turned out pretty nice and because of it's transparency it let the paint below show, and it did unify the background a bit better. Made both Mr. Scream and Mr. Tentacles stand out, especially after I gave Mr. Tentacles a bit of a pink hue with his purple skin :) And, that's that, it's finished! The cover is DONE DONE DONE :)  

Happy journaling! 

This is how it looks if I open both sides flat:

You can enjoy the whole creative process here:

Supplies used: (in order of appearance)

• Recycled product manual 
• Masking tape to protect the spine
• Recycled paper with mopped up paint
• Wood glue
• Acrylic paint
• Recycled misprint of another art journal page
• Nail sticker flowers
• Acrylic varnish to seal the page

RGAJ3 Page 9 | Remember To Stop And Smell The Roses | Mixed Media Art Journal Page

Page 9 and the last page in my product manual turned into art journal.

WooooHoooo! :) 

Because the background worked so well with the previous page, using one whole paper that was used to test a stencil and mop up paint, I decided to use that technique again. 

Using a brush this time, I put blue acrylic around the borders. I used a brush because this paint is rather dry and choky and I didn't think it would work well with my fingers… maybe I'm worn, but the brush felt right this time. 

Using a misprinted image of another one of my pages to cut up into little pieces and use as collage for this page. Glue glue and more glue and try to separate the lines a bit…. keep going… 

The camera sees first a parrot…. a duck…a little monster… an angry man…..then some really angry creature and finally I see a Picasso like face :D I outline it with my acrylic paint pushed from a thin nozzle on a tube. I like the feel so much and the paint is flowing so nicely that I decide to give that person, who later turns out to be a woman, some nice curly hair. She also happens to have some red in it. 

Using the "spray my paint with water like crazy and soak the $$$ out of the page" technique for the first time ever, and not ruin the page! YAY!! Really just flowing with it. 

Showing the face, I used skin tone acrylic paint for that which is spread on very thin to allow the colors to show from the collage. I also had those nail stickers that I only ever used once and they are so many little pretty flowers, I decided to put them in her hair, since I had no intention of using them on my nails as I have the tendency to pick at them!  A flower here, another there, and you end up with flowers everywhere! But, those flowers were tiny and are nice accents for the background. That's when I decided to add some roses in her hair. I've never drawn roses before and just went for it and put all my fears aside… I mean.. what can go wrong? nothing did go wrong :) 

The quote was inspired by the roses in her hair. She also reminded me a bit of a gypsy, who would stop to smell the roses in her path. 

The border: seeing that I've used all the colors of acrylic paint that I have in tubes accept for the green, I decided to use it here for the border. Creating nice green leaves that will look good with the roses, and they did. 

I have to admit that this is another texture rich page that I love to touch. That wonderful texture you feel under your fingers when you rung them on the page, you'll feel the curls in her hair and the roses under as well as the tiny little flowers :) I like this one :) 

Happy journaling! 

You can enjoy the whole creative process here:

Supplies used: (in order of appearance)

• Recycled product manual 
• Masking tape to protect the spine
• Recycled paper with mopped up paint
• Wood glue
• Acrylic paint
• Recycled misprint of another art journal page
• Nail sticker flowers
• Acrylic varnish to seal the page

RGAJ3 Page 8 | No Matter How The Wind Blows! | Mixed Media Art Journal Page

Page 8 in my product manual turned into art journal. The paper I chose for the background is one I decided to use as is, since the colors were all in lines and not many of them, they are better serving the whole page in the background. Using my favorite glue, wood glue, I seem to be getting better at this business of sticking whole pages on to an art journal! But I can't help it, it just belongs there :) 

Cutting the excess paper, even though last time I thought that using a cutter would do a faster job, I didn't mention that grabbing the cutting mat and then putting all the stuff away again takes longer than using the scissors for "snip snip" action is way faster! More efficient and I can live with the imperfectly cut areas, as long as I believe that practice makes perfect!

The white border was too much of a contract with the colors on the page, black, green and blue, so adding some yellow to brighten it up yet dim the white down… yes, upside down, like an upside down cake, this is what that sentence sounds like. Anyway, busy fingers, on we go!

Grab the book text paper that had some paint on it and gluing we go. Not following any particular pattern, just glue here and there and see if we can get glue everywhere!

If you watch the video, you'll notice, as I glue the pieces, that first there appears to be a hedgehog in the top left corner… later on a bear sitting on it's behind….then I saw the elephant that was reading the newspaper……. the image kept changing as I went along and while I was glueing those pieces I didn't' see any of those forms!!!! Interesting thing is, that the way the light hits the page for the camera is different from the way it hits the page for my eyes, so what I see is totally different. 

From my angle I saw that little bear with very very long hair, standing with his back to the wind and nothing but laughter on his mind! I went about outlining him with white acrylic paint from a tube and thought that would also be nice to write the text with. It seems fitting, since his hair also appeared like little flat sails.. don't know where the quote came from, but it just came out! And if it fits, it fits!

Using red acrylic paint for some strips on the border to add some color and voi la, it's done!

Happy journaling! 

You can enjoy the whole creative process here:

Supplies used: (in order of appearance)

• Recycled product manual 
• Masking tape to protect the spine
• Recycled paper with mopped up paint
• Wood glue
• Acrylic paint
• Recycled book text paper that was used to mop up paint
• Permanent marker
• Acrylic varnish to seal the page

RGAJ3 Page 7 | Hello World Here I Am | Mixed Media Art Journal page

Page 7 in my product manual turned into art journal. This time I used an old paper bag I had found and kept for recycling. The orange was so vivid that I had to have it and knew it would come in handy one day. I was also running low on collage scraps :) 

Even though I had to use two pieces of that paper bag, it didn't show in the final result, so that worked out well. 

Cutting the excess paper this time was done using a cutter instead of the usual scissors, because I found that in some areas the scissors couldn't get the bit in the middle, but then again it didn't work on the part where the glue was still wet. 

Now that I had a huge orange page… what to do? Grab the next bunch of scraps. I had used some of them before and this time I wanted to use all of them. But first to create a border, I used red and just spread it with my fingers. It is easier to clean my fingers than the paint brush. I liked the red, but was to close to another page I made so adding some green made it look completely different. 

At this point I forgot to switch on the recording again, so you didn't see the start of the collaging, but I remembered when I was about 3rd of the way with it. you don't miss much in the video. I was surprised at how small the area was that I ended up covering, I thought I wold be able to cover more, but I did remove the white parts of the paper that didn't have much paint on it…. this must have done it. However, I did have a little being that emerged from the page :) Outlining him/her was fun, trying to give him eyes, nose, smile, ears and even hair…. then his legs with feet that looked more like hooves :D

Seeing that his features were not that visible I used skin tone acrylic to push back the colors in the face area and that made it better visible… the nose also fell behind, but was easily fixed again. Since his eyes were black, I didn't know what to do for the eyes, so I just made the white circles with the white fluid permanent marker. 

Once I looked at that being it said to me "Hello World! Here I am, ready, willing and able" :) 

I felt that the page was more or less complete, and grabbed some fabric paint in copper and added accents around the border with that. It is not easily visible at first glance, but it does seem to add some dimension, but still, something was missing. 

The eyes were a bit too white, so I used metallic blue fabric paint to soften them a bit. Once all this was done I wanted to add another border to properly frame it and just grabbed the yellow paint tube I have and decided to doodle the frame, yes, it's turning into a habit :) I enjoyed the doodling so much so that I forgot to put a layer of acrylic varnish to seal the page, tsk tsk tsk! Ah well!!

Happy journaling! 

You can enjoy the whole creative process here:

Supplies used: (in order of appearance)

• Recycled product manual 
• Masking tape to protect the spine
• Recycled torn paper bag
• Wood glue
• Recycled paper with mopped up paint
• Acrylic paint
• Permanent marker
• White fluid permanent marker
• Fabric paint (in copper and metallic blue)

RGAJ3 Page 6 | Times Flies But You Are The Pilot | Mixed Media Art Journal Page

Another page in my product manual turned art journal. Today I decided to use a printed map for the background. I have always wanted to do that after seeing so many others use maps for the background. Now I can say I have done it and I like all the colors that are already there. 

I used blue for the border, but then the contrast was too much with the colors on the map itself. What to do? Add water and move the paint to the inside, and it worked perfectly. 

I knew that I was going to use those book papers that I had mopped up paint with, had been wanting to use them since last year, now is my chance. I didn't know how it would go nor where I should start, so I just started in the middle on the top and it seems to have shifted to the right. I just went with it and let the brush pick the paper and that decides which ones I'll use. 

Since I have already learned my lesson about putting the similar colored pieces closer together, I did that again this time. Mainly because I only had two tones of those papers and one of them had loads of red, yellow and green. It seemed to work well though, how it all fit. That woman just popped out of the page and I was so surprised to see her. It was great outlining her, even though her chin and neck where a bit off, but that was easy to fix with some red napkin/tissue paper that I had. I like how the red of the napkin goes so dark and remains so vibrant. Another happy accident moment! I liked her fluffy red scarf :D

I didn't feel that there was much that I wanted to add to this page, so I used another old napkin with little houses around the edge to frame the page, you can't see it in the pictures or the video, but in reality you can see the little details:) I love that! Also the fact that I used the text that was on the napkin for the page :) it seems to fit… I love it when it all flows… they call it art, I call it nature :)

Happy Journaling :) 

Enjoy the creative process here:

Supplies used: (in order of appearance)

• Product Manual as art journal
• Masking tape to protect the spine
• Recycled paper with printed map
• Wood glue
• Acrylic paint
• Recycled text book paper with mopped up paint
• Permanent marker
• Tissue/napkin paper
• Fluid permanent marker
• Acrylic varnish (matt medium) to seal the page. 

RGAJ3 Page 5 | Go Do Something You Can Write About | Mixed Media Art Journal Page

I had this A4 paper with loads of colors of paint on it for quite some time. I've always wanted to use it, but never had the nerve to cut it up. Even now, I couldn't cut it up because it didn't have any big areas with main colors but had loads of colors all over the place. So, this page gets it's own spread, as it deserves. 

Having left over pinkish paper that I can use as a collage I used that on one corner to see what it would show me and how I'll incorporate that with the rich background. 

Having a colorful background presented the challenge of what color to use for the boarder! I went with the lilac color from the background and decided to use the purple with some blue, added some yellow to brighten it up. Looked like a hopeless mess… but…. keep going an don't stop! Started wiping some paint off, which resulted in some pieces of the paper coming off too !!! WAAAAAA!!! But.. keep going.. ad some pink and let it blend and it was starting to look better.. pfewwwww! 

Interesting enough though is that while being so busy with the background, that little pink elephant was happily reading books in that corner! 

This reading elephant: 

I believe it's a she, 

cause she reminds me of me. 

When I have a book in my hand, 

doesn't mater if I'm at sea or on land

I can travel far away in my mind, 

and leave everything, that scare me, behind :)

Interesting, now that I mentioned it, I was distracted and happy with that reading elephant that I wasn't sure about the images in the background. At one point I saw a ship with a huge exploding party on it, but my hands wouldn't follow that image and had a mind of their own. It started with the white fluid permanent marker trying to outline the bottom of the boat, but that didn't' work and it was time for the big black ink tube. This is what turned the background into a huge doodle. I don't know what it is, but once I start tracing the different colors I see in the paint I can't seem to stop until they are all outlined somehow, I believe this can be addictive! And no, I'm not complaining :D That background makes me think of our imaginary worlds when we are reading different books. Because in that space, everything is possible :)

Once all those exploding colors were done with the black it was time for the yellow to use on the border. I really like the way those textures feel wen I'm running my fingers over the page. I almost grabbed the red one to outline the elephant, but thought it might be a bit too much. 

For the quote on the page, I did a lot of searching to find something to say about reading, but then ended up using part of a quote and telling you all to go do something worth writing about :) 

Happy journaling!

Enjoy the creative process here

Supplies used: (in order of appearance)

• Product Manual as art journal
• Masking tape to protect the spine
• Recycled paper with excess paint
• Wood glue
• Acrylic paint
• Permanent marker
• Fluid permanent marker (didn't work, but at least I did try!)
• Transfer paper
• Gel pen (glitter, pink)
• Acrylic varnish (matt medium) to seal the page. 

Around The World We Go | Mixed Media Art Journal Page

Another page, another chance to play!

So, lately I have been thinking about trying out a new technique. It is simply putting paint on the page/canvas and then doodling according to the lines of where the paint meets at different colors. 

Having a black background to start with was going to be a bit of a challenge, but I decided not to think and to just do and see what happens. 

I remember seeing a video from Christy Sobolewski (http://www.youtube.com/user/GulfSpr1te) of how she put dabs of gel medium and then stuck pieces of book paper on it, then she ripped them off and had nice patches of that text paper. I tried that out, using my wood glue instead of the gel medium. It didn't seem to work this time. Not sure if it was the amount of glue I used or being too impatient and ripping the paper off before the glue completely dried. Anyway. cutting strips of text paper and sticking them worked ok, in the end. 

Now, for the technique of paint then doodling. I just went crazy, seriously! Letting go of all inhibitions and control, I just started playing like a little kid would. I also didn't apply any of the acrylic paint with brushes here (only used that for the gesso). I like not having to clean a brush so often. 

Enjoying the application of the different colors I reverted to some finger painting of blobs, or circles... as some call it. 

The time then came to test the white fluid markers I had, since I had to use white for doodling instead of my normal black. I was pretty lucky that day because the white marker I had with the fine tip, had it for over a year, hadn't worked before! BUTT!!! It decided to work that day and I got to get carried away. 

By just following the where the colors meet, the page ended up looking like a map. A completely "naturally" made map (LOL). This map was the inspiration for the quote of "Around the world we go!" :) 

I just kept going with it and kept stopping my mind from thinking. Whatever came at that moment to do, I just did it! Grabbing different pens and BAAAAM just doing it :) some worked, some didn't, but that didn't stop me. 

I got loads of pleasant surprises while working on this page. For instance, how I doodled with a red marker and then outlined that with white, while the background is yellow, and got a great effect and the colors changed completely... I was AMAZED :) Love it Love it Love it!!!

There was a lot of detail work on this page, but it was worth it. It felt like meditation! I must do this more often :) 

When was the last time you felt like that while doing a piece of art, or anything else that you enjoyed so much?  Please share your experience :)

This is the full spread: 

Check out the video for the full creative process: 

Supplies used: (in order of appearance)

• Wood glue
• Transfer paper (recycled)
• Black gesso (homemade from black acrylic and white gesso)
• Text paper from an old book
• Acrylic paint
• White fluid paint pens
• Permanent markers
• Acrylic varnish (to seal the page)

RGAJ3 Page 4 | We Are Who We Wish To Be | Mixed Media Art Journal Page

Another day, another page! 

This time instead of using collage for the background I decided to first put a Gesso layer and then make my own with acrylic paint. I chose for skin tone and red ocher, since I have a lot of that red. This time I also used the collage pieces by clustering the color/shade to make it easier to see the image/shape that will appear out of it. 

I have to admit, it took me over an hour after I had put the collage pieces to finally decide which image/shapes to use. At first I saw a baby rhinoceros but couldn't find all it's legs, then I saw one face and wasn't sure of the other. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Decisions decisions decisions!!!

I also couldn't think of a proper quote with a baby rhino, so I opted for the faces. They didn't really help much, but the sentence is what I felt they were telling me. We are who we choose to be, not who you decide we will be :)  

I had to laugh at one point when I thought I saw Darth Vader :D)

What I learned from this page is that perception will always be there and it is personal for each of us. What we see is just a mirror of our own internal categorization system. If you don't believe me, take a friend to see an abstract painting and compare notes on what you both see :) 

Happy journaling every one :) 


Enjoy the creative process here: 

Supplies used: (in order of appearance)
- Recycled product manual for the art journal
- Masking tape (to protect the binding)
- Gesso
- Acrylic paint
- Wood glue
- Recycled paper that was used to wipe off excess paint
- Permanent marker
- Fluid permanent marker (white)
- Acrylic varnish (matt medium) to protect the page

RGAJ3 Page 3 | It Is Written, If You Believe, You Shall Triumph | Mixed Media Art Journal Page

My journey with my mixed media art journal page "It Is Written, If You Believe, You Shall Triumph"

Having used a lot of collage pieces in my last page and not having much luck with an image, this time I decided to use less.  I took the plunge and talked myself into directly using gesso on the manual page, which is pretty thin for mixed media, but it seemed to be strong enough :)

It was also nice to hear the crackling of that paper while I was applying gesso and then the acrylic paint for the background :) I don't know what it is, but the sound of paper movement and tearing is so nice to me, probably because it's part of the creation process :D

This time I also decided to use only one "shade/color" of collage pieces to see if it would make finding an image easier. It was successful, in my opinion! I also just centered the collage because of the background to cover the paper in the middle, no other intentions where there other than creating art with no direction in mind. 

I've been busy organizing a lot of stuff at home as I have to downsize with everything. Discovering that I have a lot of paper that I kept for recycling, this then prompted me to use as much as I could in each page, as long as it fits, so as to use up my current overflowing supply. This is when the thing sheets of written paper came in. This was part of my "gratitude" writing that I wanted to use and I think it gave a nice effect and contrast with the blue color :)

I'm always amazed at what becomes of each page in this journal in particular, since I've taken the leap to starting with only the intention of creating something and without knowing what that will be. 

For instance, this time the collage looked a bit like King Tut from Ancient Egypt :) He just popped out of the collage, one line at a time :)

I also had no idea what the text for this page would be, but when it came it seemed to fit perfectly :)

This time I also used my acrylic paint in a tube to doodle on the edge and even wrote with it and it went very well. I might do that more often too as I like the textured effect to the touch. Feels nice all those lines under my fingers when I feel the page. The same goes for the text. 

All in all I believe this is one of my favorite pages up till now :) 

Please feel free to comment and share your opinion and suggestions :) You can also check the final picture of this page on my blog, the colors are better there. 

Here is the actual creative process as it happens: 

Supplies used: (in order of appearance)

• Masking tape to protect the spine
• Gesso (to prime)
• Acrylic paint
• Recycled pieces of paint covered paper for collage
• Wood glue (watered down to make it easier to spread)
• Recycled notebook paper (my gratitude lists)
• Permanent markers (for outlining and text)
• Fluid paint marker (gold for the Ankh on his headdress)
• Acrylic varnish to seal the page (Matt/gel medium)

RGAJ3 Page 2 | Who Is Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf | Mixed Media Art Journal Page

Lately I've been into using collage, but not in the real sense of the original meaning of this term. I like putting bits and pieces of recycled paper (with paint on it already) and see what images I can see that I can use. For this page I could only see one mean Red Riding Hood :) She really looks vicious!!! But that was the only thing I could see on the page after all that gluing! 

I realized, a bit too late, that this technique works best if I bunch up the colors together as it will give better distinction between the colors, compare to if you just put everything all over the place as what happened here. 

Nevertheless, this challenge didn't stop me and I kept going and trying to find something until I decided to stay with only one figure, seeing there was no wolf visible :) 

Even though I only managed to find an evil looking Little Red Riding Hood, I couldn't stop singing her song from the story, thus the quote on the page :) Because there was no known wolf, I had to stick with "a wolf" :) You never know what can be lurking around the corner :) 

You can watch the creative process as it happens here: 

Supplies used: (in order of appearance)

• Recycled product manual (as my art journal)
• Recycled paper, used for exess paint (including an art journal page I didn't like)
• Wood glue
• Acrylic paint
• Permanent marker
• Fluid permanent marker (the white)
• Black gesso (homemade from black acrylic and white gesso)
• Ballpoint pen (blue to outline the text)
• Acrylic varnish to seal it all

RGAJ3 Page 1 | You Can Not Stop The Waves But ... | Mixed Media Art Journal Page

The first mixed media art journal page in my new art journal RGAJ3. I decided to call this one "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf", thanks to the surfer that appeared from the collage :)

The journal I'm using is a recycle hairdryer manual. I was not sure if the paper would work because it has a layer of plastic on it. Turns out that this layer was pores so the paint will be able to stay on it, and the wood glue.

I chose this booklet because it is already bound and only has a few pages in it, and after the long journals I have made so far (yes, I know they were only two) I felt like wanting to do something that only had a few pages, for a change. 

Recently I've been interested in discovering the images that pop out at me from the pages, so it only seemed natural to start this page with collage. There is also a possibility that this whole journal will be started in the same way as I can't use too many layers of media because of the binding.

The collage is made out of a complete recycle A4 sheet with left over paint from other projects and some circles cut from book text. It was actually used as a paint pallet. I just tore up the paper, as you can see in the video, and glued it randomly with absolutely no direction at all. 

I was very, pleasantly, surprised at the form that popped at me after drying the glue. Once I started on his head and his shirt, I noticed the surf board. Once the form of the surfer and the surfboard where outlined, and some doodling took place, it was easy to  just use black (more like grey) gesso to push the background back enough for the surfer to be visible. 

I really had no plans and was just following what the page was guiding me to do. That is also how the waves then appeared :) Seeing all this reminded me of the quote that my mum posted on Facebook a few months ago that says "You can not stop the waves, but you can learn to surf!" And that was how it came about. 

Even trying to write the quote with the nice white fluid ink pen that I used a few pages ago, this time it refused to be part of this project, so I opted to write with white acrylic paint and this also decided that it was not going to be used for writing.... not resisting and just going with it, I then smudged the white paint and decided to use a thin black marker (water based) that later smudged when I used acrylic varnish on the page..... OK, I'm OK with that, I have a black permanent marker, no fine tip but, it will do the job. So I did that and put acrylic varnish on it for sealing. 

So, as you can see, sometimes your art supplies can turn into challenges. That is a fact, but it is how you work with them that will make your page flow :) 

From all the arr jounaling pages I have done so far, and the mixed media I have used, I have learned to surf with it and just keep going. That is what it is all about, to keep going and work around the things that might make you want to stop :)

I hope you manage to work around the obstacles you believe you have to face in your art and in your life. They are just there to show us that there is another way to your destination, so enjoy the journey :)

Here is the creative process as it happens ans as the surfer appears: 

Supplies used: (in order of appearance)

• Recycled product manual
• Recycled paper with paint on it
• Wood glue
• Acrylic Paint
• Permanent markers
• Black gesso (homemade from black acrylic and white gesso)
• Acrylic varnish

Mixed Media Art Journal RGAJ1 is now Complete! :)

Finally, the first art journal I ever started is now finished and bound :) I have created a video for the Flip for a quick flip through. You can always watch the whole playlist here: 

Supplies used in this art journal: 
Note: If I have missed anything or you have any questions, please feel free to comment and I'll reply with the info or an update :)

• Colors: 
• Acrylic paint
• Color pens (for kids)
• Fluid marker
• Permanent markers
• Soft pastels (mostly for backgrounds)
• Spray color pens (for kids)
• Water color paint
• Water color pens

• Glue
• Acetone based glue
• Water based glue
• Wood glue (the best option)
• Primer
• Gesso
• Special Effects: 
• Glitter
• Napkins
• Recycled book paper
• Recycled paper that was used as paint pallets while painting
• Recycled tissue paper
• Stencils (all homemade)
• Transfer paper
• Page Sealing/Protection: 
• Acrylic varnish (for sealing and gluing in the old days as matt/gel medium)
• Hairspray
• Paraffin wax to seal the pages after applying the varnish (I use that from the small tea light candles)
• Equipment: 
• Paint brushes
• Hairdryer
• Jar of water to clean brushes
• Surface protector (I ended up using a cookie sheet which is water and heat proof)
• Video making equipment: 
• Video camera
• Tripod
• Daylight lamp bulb
• Computer with video editing software (iMovie is what I used)
• Royalty free music (This is my best source)