Journaling, Deli Paper and Gelli Plates

If I love art journaling, does that make me a journalist? Is there a special name for someone who combines their artistic experiments and random thoughts in a journal? Jane Davenport coined the terms Artomology and Artomologist. Mostly I love art, but I also love to write. Sometimes I get so busy doing art that I forget to post to my blog. And sometimes I get immersed in writing and forget to paint.

Glancing through my newest journal, I realized I was waaay behind in posts. So, here are a bunch of photos of what I have been doing over the last few weeks. Topping of the list of what I have been doing lately is that I took a great course at the Ink Pad with Julie Balzer. (Here's the link to my blogpost and photos of the art I made in the all-day workshop.) So many people in the class loved printing with Gelli Plates that I broke down and bought one. I didn't go all "cray-cray" as Julie would say...I just got a little one for about 10 bucks. I have been playing with it with mixed results. Mostly the prints are sloppy because I am sloppy. Kind people say I have a loose hand, and I deeply admire people with great control and the ability to make fine, detailed paintings and drawings. But, in the spirit of embracing my own skills, I need to let go of the need for control and perfection and roll with my sloppy side.

These journal pages use a lot of Artistcellar stencils, especially Jane Davenport's faces, some of my favorite Julie Fei-Fan Balzer stamps, markers, inks, acrylic paint, newsprint and paper scraps. The group of ATCs were made using the Ink Pad's exclusive NYC stencils, designed by Michelle Ward.

I created a little pocket to tuck in small items that I want to be sure to use in future journal pages.

Experiments with deli prints, stencils and stamps

Experiments (on left) with tweaking my handwriting, and (on right) with layering deli paper and gelli prints

ATCs created with layering gelli prints, acrylic paint, papers and
Michelle Ward's NYC stencils, exclusive to The Ink Pad

Collage of candle packaging and Artistcellar's small and large chakra stencils

Unfinished journal pages. Orange tabs of deli paper were added to
handmade journal for strength and stability.

Journal collage with random thoughts and random elements

Experimental page using Jane Davenport's tilted up stencil, Artistcellar
pocket stencil flower, chalk, white pen and washi tape on black cardstock

Experimental page with stamped eyes, Jane Davenport face stencil,
Julie Fei-Fan Balzer stamps and random thoughts