Art journal page: Dragon's chivalry

Created on my altered journal, this page spread took a couple of days, just because I only had the girl sketched but did not know what else to do. Suddenly the other day I got the inspiration, and this lovely dragon came to life; my second dragon ever. 

For the dragon scales I used Distress crackle paint; then used soft pastels to color it. The girls was color with prismacolor pencils, spectrum noir alcohol markers, and Faber-Castell Pitt artist pens. For the suggested flower forest, I used Distress ink, acrylic paint and soft pastels.

Dragon's chivalry, as I have called this art journal  page, has given life to the idea of making a challenge for the month of July, based on fantasy creatures. I want to try to create a fantasy creature every day. Right now I'm off by one, but it is okay; I can't wait to see what other magical creatures will come to life.

Playing on my altered book/journal with art supplies

This are the latest art journaling pages I've done on my altered book. Here I have tried different mediums, without fear. I got the book at my local Goodwill for a $1 and started playing with it. The motivation to start an altered book/journal came from Jane Davenport's class, Supplies me. A wonderful class, where she shows how to use lots of art supplies. I got fearful and started trying all the supplies I have been piling and not using.

This girls was made over fiber paste with water-soluble oil pastels (Portfolio, from Crayola). I sketched her with india ink; trying not to worrying about mistakes, just letting my self loose and seeing what could happen. She is not perfect, and if I would have sketched her with pencil, I might have made a few changes for sure. However, my goal was to let it loose and have fun, instead of seeking perfection. I didn't have to apply much pigment since the surface was very textured. The pastels were blended  with a water brush, they reacted beautifully. The only thing I found out is that I should have used some fixative, because after a couple of days, the pink on her cheek moved to another areas; also the colors started transferring to the opposite page. It has never happened to me before, so I guess it is do to the textured surface.

The next girl, was made over absorbent ground. It is used over gessoed surfaces to prepared the surface for watercolors and acrylics as well. It is very absorbent, and for me, the watercolors did not behave as on normal watercolor paper. I tried wetting the surface but it dried quite fast, so I feel that basically it was more of a wet on dry technique. For this one, I used TCW stencil (mini time travel), distress stains, india ink, acrylics, homemade glitter mists and watercolors. On this page I was practicing drawing arms, for the supplies me lesson. I really like this one, she is looking at the horizon waiting, for what? who knows. But it look serene and calm.

I really enjoyed the process of making these pages, they helped me with the art block I have lately. Welcome back my art muse!!!

My latest artist journals

I just made these art journals and love them.

This one I made using canvas panels to make the cover. Also the papers are a mix of watercolor, canvas, acrylic, pastels, drawing and charcoal papers sew together. I had a lot of fun binding and painting it. You can check the three part videos part 1, part 2 and part 3.


The second one I just made it for my upcoming holidays trip. It is simple and was quick to make with the your story machine and one of their albums. Here a short fast forward video showing the making of this watercolor travel journal. Enjoy it.

My latest art work.

I did these 3 pieces recently  and wanted to share it with all of you.  I've been having fun with these and letting my imagination flow.

                                              Made with prismacolor pencils.

                                   Acrylics on canvas, practicing painting water.

                            Here I used watercolor, charcoal, stamps and pearls ex.

My handmade artist's journals

I love making my own artist's journals, it is something that I started doing not too long ago and I'm already addicted to it. I just want to spend my day binding books. This post is to show you some of my handmade artist journals with a brief explanation of the materials used to make each one. Later on I will be posting more detailed post on how to make each style by making new ones. But for now enjoy the pictures.

Artist journal #1:

 This was the first journal I ever made. I used the bind-it-all(TM) to bind it and the Cricut(TM) to cut the letter, plus some brads and glitter among other things. The papers inside varies in color and texture. I used different designs of scrapbook paper as well as regular printing paper and stamp a small design at the top of each page. It became my crafting ideas journal; here I write down and sketch my future projects or how I want to try to do something in a different way, etc.

Journal #2

I love this journal, I bound it with the Yourstory(tm) binding machine. For the cover I used card-stock to give support to the designer paper that was really thin. Once again I used the Cricut(tm)  Wall Decor cartridge to cut the chandeliers, then add some stickers and  flowers. The oval behind the blue chandelier is made with watercolor paper that I glitter misted with perfect pearls mists (interference red) and then heat dry it giving it that effect; then coated it with glossy accents.

 On the spine I added a clear embellished sticker to give it a subtle touch. Again the inside papers are a random set of scrap papers in different colors and textures. I love this journal, because it challenge my creativity. I either work with the colored background as it is or change it by painting it or using collage or even gesso. It is not a big book, but it keeps me creating and I'm not feeling those "chills" some of us sometimes feel, when facing a blank white page in front of us. Later on I'll show you some of my works in this book.

Journal #3

My first had sew journals, totally in love with it. I bought a hard leather journal before and I love it because of its rustic, old look. So I decided to give it a try and make my own. Since leather is kind of expensive, I just bought a bag with scraps of leather ($5.99) and hoped to get a piece or two good enough to make a hand bound book. Jackpot, and a good one, I got this really big piece of soft leather, I just had to stretch it a bit so it cover the inside papers completely. It even have enough left to make it flip over and add a leather cord to close it. It took me hours to make this journal but I enjoyed every second. The satisfaction I felt when I was done with it was greater than with my previous journals, since here I didn't make use of any machine only my hands, glue, scissors, thread and needle. All the papers inside are watercolor paper and it is full of it. The gold leopard ornament is just a piece of a ring that broke, and I decided to keep in case I needed for some crafting project. I think it give the journal a great look and touch.With the rest of the leather I'm planning on making some more books, although smaller ones.

Journal #4

My last creation, a Japanese bounded sketch pocket journal. It only measures 3"x6", and was made out of a card box. I used hemp to sew it together and printed scrapbook paper (from a $3 pack) as well as scraps of paper left from other projects. Then I added the Japanese girl sticker to complete it. Later I'll upload a post with instructions on how to make this easy journal. Keep in mind, you don't need to decorate it with Japanese motives if you don't want to, I just used what I had at hand and inspired me. This binding style is really flexible and quick to make.

I decided to make this sketch journal a pocket size because it gives me the flexibility to carry it with me in almost any size handbag, for when inspiration or bore some hit me on the road. It is light weight and does not take much space; plus is pretty too ;).

This are some of my handmade artist's journals, I have some sketching and drawing books that I bought and what I've done is paint the cover of some and transfer some image or just covered them with paint or paper. I will post some projects ideas on how to bind your own journal (different types of bindings) and on how to modify the cover of those you find at the store. Don't worry, it will not be expensive and you'll have lots of fun while making your journals and even more using them.