Because I just didn’t have enough to keep me occupied catching up with the Wanderlust classes, I decided to take Kasia Avery’s 3 day Daily Emotions Challenge. The decision was driven by curiosity more than anything else. I love the art side of art journalling, but I’ve always shied away from the journalling part of it.
The idea was to create ten journal pages over three days and make them into a journal. Rather than working on individual pages one at a time, this took a different approach and got us to work on all the pages simultaneously.
Choose colours. Add paint to papers. Add collage papers. Add more paint marks. Write single word emotions.
Draw faces — I really wasn’t feeling like drawing some inevitably rubbish looking faces, so I drew some iffy butterflies instead. Do a bit of stamping. Add some magazine images. Add emotion words to pages.
Do a bit of journalling. Add contrast with black and white. Punch holes. Sacrifice an old book or notepad for its cover. Paint cover. Tie pages into cover.
As a bonus, paint patterns on the backs of the pages using the same colours used on the front.
Of course, there was a lot more detail in the actual instructions, but that gives you a feeling for the process.
It was an interesting experiment, but not one I would repeat. Working on so many pages at once just feels too scattered for the way my brain works. There’s definitely a place for being looser and less considered when putting paint (or collage or marker or stamping) on paper, but for me, that’s a starting point, not the whole method.
Random marks on the page is a great way of getting past the dreaded blank sheet of paper. And I am happy to lay down layers of different mediums to build up depth and texture but, at some point, I need to start refining that. Even completely abstract pieces need a balance of light and shade and colour and marks.
There were parts of the process that were satisfying and there are bits of the finished journal that I like — particularly the painted patterns on the backs of the pages — but I would sooner use those elements in a different format.
It was an interesting experiment in mark-making and I have learned some things by doing it, which was the main purpose of taking part in the class. I am still really glad I didn’t try to draw faces though…
Class:
- Everything Art – Daily Emotions Journal
Crafty Rat 