A little Art Journaling

I have been working on my art journaling recently and I wanted to post a piece I made this week. This is most of a 12 x 12 scrapbook page, which didn't quite fit on my scanner, but taking a photo would have lost the details.

I wanted to make something that would use up a lot of the random scraps that I have been collecting and what better way than showing it off with some creative Journaling and doodling. Years ago, when we first brought Copics in Tracy Moore found our products and loved them. I strongly suggest you go check out Tracy's work and get some great inspirations

Altered-Art Journaling With Copic
Journaling is a great way to explore altering objects and playing with your products in ways you wouldn't usually explore if you were giving it away or had a sweet little card to make for someone. It's a very relaxing, freeform means of expression that I challenge each of you to try sometime. It's low-key and exploratory. I was just reading a report by a leading Japanese researcher who was explaining that art exercises more of your brain waves than other, passive activities and helps keep you alert as you age. I think sometimes I just need to be more alert in the afternoon, let alone old age. Having a journal/doodle page is a great way to do this.

I won't list everything that I used, but I used a smattering of almost all Copic products to get my final results-

Backgrounds- Made with Wide markers and dripped inks, added blobs of hand-sanitizer for color variation.

Journaling- Copic Multiliners in sizes 0.05mm - 0.5mm, Atyou Spica Glitter Pens, Colored Multiliner SP, Drawing Pen F01, fine point on Copic original

Altered materials- Die-cut metal with inks dabbed on, plastic with color airbrushed on or directly colored. Tissue paper colored and doodled on with Sketch or Multiliners, Rhinestones colored with inks, Ribbon colored with inks, chipboard letter airbrushed.

Stamps- I colored directly onto my stamps and then stamped quickly for immediate results, rather than dampening the paper. The red fish/blob was made from a stamp colored with a wide red marker then I spritzed on colorless blender to re-wet it.

Mixed Media
A quick reminder about working with altered surfaces. When working with mixed media, like paints or colored pencils, do all your marker first then add your extras later. This protects your marker tips from picking up the solvents or particles of your media and ruining your marker tips. Or, add color with the airbrush. Since the tip does not touch the surface then it won't get damaged. Test any guache, gel mediums, or spray on solvents to make sure they won't cause your marker to bleed. Anything with Alcohol will react and cause the marker to run.

Coloring Onto Silk with Spica pens
I added dark purple blobs onto the pink silk flower with my Spica Glitter pen (the flower was white when I first got it but a little marker took care of that). The ink will run with the flow of the fabric- it spreads very fast. However, the glitter doesn't spread as much and it pools right at the point where you touch the fabric. Knowing this, use a very light touch and move the pen quickly so that the glitter spreads around but the

Lightfastness
Copic Marker inks are a dye, so if you are going to be exposing your work to harsh light you'll want to protect it from UV rays. The Multiliners and Spica pens are archival, acid free, and lightfast pigments. These will do fine when exposed to strong lights.

I hope this gives you a little jolt of something out of the ordinary to spark your creativity today. Have a great week!