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
