Finding My Art Journal Style – August

I’m struggling to find my art journal voice, my art journal style.  Do you have this problem?

I’m inspired by the work of many artists, but I don’t want to mimic someone else’s work.  I want to express my own point of view. I have plenty to say and could write for hours, but I’m unsure how to get all that down using images colors and shapes.

What happen is that I’ll read a book, magazine or blog, be hugely inspired but then don’t know where to start. I get overwhelmed with information and inspiration, and then I’m paralyzed. The fact that so much inspiration is available through blogs, Facebook and Pinterest is great, but to move forward I need to focus on just one thing.

I’ve decided to embark on a journey to discover my own art journal style.

I’m picking one artist each month to draw inspiration from. I’ll read their books (if they’ve written any) and blog posts, try their techniques, take one of their online classes and replicate the elements of their style that speak to me.

The first artist I’ve chosen is Dina Wakley.  I’ve never taken an in person class with Dina, but I recently bought her book Art Journal Freedom and fell in love with her use of silhouettes and white space.

The elements of this first page that were inspired by Dina are the female silhouette/mask with the black paint and white journaling, and the row of collaged circles.

I was also inspired by this week’s The Documented Life Project to incorporate a fortune cookie into a page.  Isn’t that such a great idea? This is a fortune cookie that’s been stuck to one of my kitchen cabinet doors for 3 years. I love the advice and thought it was appropriate to my current state of mind.

Here’s how I created the page.

• I started with a layer pink Dylusions spray ink
• Added some stenciling in purple and white Dylusions sprays.
• Once dry, I cut a model from a clothing catalog and using it as a mask, sponged black acrylic paint over it.
• Removed the mask and outlined the silhouette with a soft pencil
• Glued the fortune cookie to the bottom of the page
• Included the collaged circles and outlined them with soft pencil.
• Added drips of white Dylusions spray and more stenciling.

The final step was to write the journaling with a white gel pen. The journaling talks about my search for a voice and style in my work.

I’ve created a couple more pages inspired by Dina that I’ll share next week. To stay in touch, please consider signing up for my weekly newsletter.