Alpha Journal

I have spent most of December thinking about where I want to go with my art journalling in 2013. They say: if it ain't broke, don't fix it... so my 2013 journal is pretty much the same as my last one – in size and in shape (square, because I like working on a square-sized paper).

I decided to get a Bind-it-All machine and make my own journal for 2013. I bought some canvas paper which I believed would be great to work on. Later, I discovered the paper wasn't exactly suitable (it curled) so I had to cut new pages from ordinary cardstock... 

I had several ideas about what should be the theme of this journal. Yes, I could continue with my “word of the week” concept but I wanted something slightly different. In the end, I decided on an ABC theme – there would be a double-page spread revolving around one letter of the alphabet - one side would have a quote with a focal word, and the other would include more words beginning with that particular letter. 

Curiously, I started this journal by making the cover:

I added the title later because I wasn't sure at first what I wanted to call this journal.

This is the title page. I made it simultaneously with the cover page (so the theme is the same, only different colours). You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find a quote about alphabet... The page waited for its quote for about 3 months but now it's finally finished:

[quote by Irving Stone]

Mission accomplished

If you told me I would be painting the last page in my journal on the last day of 2012, I wouldn't believe you. I usually don't finish most of my “projects” and I actually didn't expect to finish this one either... But I did - in style...The last page was created live during the famous New Year's Eve Streamathon. I was one of the 16 broadcasters (and many viewers) from all over the world who gathered on U-Stream and shared their creativity. 

I did my favourite technique - something I'm comfortable with, something I know very well. I started painting in the afternoon, because I knew I wouldn't be able to finish it all in the 60 minutes of my stream. I drew the outlines, gessoed the page, prepared paints - and waited for my time slot. Despite all the preparation, the colouring still took longer than I'd expected... But I managed to add the finishing touches to the page after my stream, just before midnight:

So, with the last of the 54 pages (52 pages for each week of the year plus one introductory and one final page) finished in the last minutes of 2012, I can call this mission accomplished...

Note on the technique:
Here is a little tutorial for the technique I was using for my New Year's Eve page. There are more examples on my Flickr.

Cat page + tutorial

When I signed up for the New Year’s Eve Streamathon, I knew I had to do a test stream to see if

A) my new webcam is working properly (i.e. I installed and set it up properly), 

B) I was capable of talking to myself in a foreign language while painting.

During my "test" stream, I found out three things:
1 – The webcam works.
2 – I can talk to myself (actually, I do that very often), even the foreign language wasn't a problem.
3 – After streaming for 3 (!!!) hours I was sure I wouldn't be able to finish a page in my assigned 1hr slot during the Streamathon.

This is the page I started painting online (and didn't finish in 3 hours):

[quote by Nan Porter]

...........................................................................................................

And here's a little tutorial: 

Supplies used:

1. distress-inked deli paper (or tissue paper), stamped with Staz-on 
2. outline paints (Glas-konturen Paste (Outlining Glass Paste) by C.KREUL, Relief Paste by Marabu)
3. 3D varnish (Potch 3D Effect by C.KREUL, 3D Lack by Nerchau) - something to create a three-dimensional texture 
4. metallic paints (Lumiere) 
5. acrylic paints (Docrafts Artiste) 
6. sponge (I use regular/cheap kitchen sponge) 

Note on supplies: 

1. Most of the paints and art supplies we get here are from Germany. I'm sure there are similar products on your market. 
2. 3D varnish: The two I use are intended for “découpage” (napkin technique). Both are opaque when wet, transparent when dry. So they can be used to create a “glaze” effect (similar to Glossy Accents) on a finished piece. 
3. Outlines: Both of these are intended for glass art - to create an outline on glass or porcelain which you then colour in with paint. But because they are water based, I use them in my art. I tried Enamel Accents but the consistency is too thin for a detailed outline. Stickles might work too... 

Cat-page step-by-step:

1. Sketch your image and outline it with something that will stay dimensional after drying. Gesso the page (if you must). 
2. Glue the inked/stamped deli paper (or tissue paper) down with your preferred glue (I use one similar to Claudine Hellmuth Multi Medium). 
3. Start sponging the paint (I use light colour first) around the glued paper to cover the white paper in the background. (note: The sponge should be dry. If it gets soaked with paint, replace it.) 
4. Add some colour to your focal image – again begin with the lighter colour... 
5. ... and add darker colour. 
6. Gradually add darker colours, blending with the lighter ones. 
7. Add even darker paint. 
8. Then blend back with lighter colours. Sponge a bit of black or dark brown around the edge of the page – it will make it pop a little. 
9. Outline the raised lines with white paint.

Later, I added the quote and a little bit of shading around the cats (with Faber-Castell PITT brush pens).

Lots of (happy) mistakes

This background was a mistake till I added my finishing touches. It was reworked several times and it's come to a point I wanted to give up on it completely. But... there was a painting on the other side I liked and couldn't throw away just like that. So I added more layers, gesso, more colours, gesso again, some drippage and it was still bad. When I added the final layer in a really coarse structure paste there was no turning back. Out of desperation, I splashed some paint over it and – a miracle happened – it finally looked not only good enough for me to be satisfied but it also had this WOW effect for me. A series of not-so-happy mistakes produced a really fine result. [note to myself: Don’t give up, add more paint!]

[quote by Epicurus]

Birthday page

Ever since I discovered the “13th sign of Zodiac” theory, my life wasn't the same. I never seemed to fit the Sagittarius characteristics completely: impatient, fearing responsibility, self-indulgent... YES, but sociable and optimist? NO WAY.
But when I learnt the Ophiuchus's personality traits, I was like: “wait, that's me”.
Constantly trying something new … hates routines … has a lot of creativity … constantly comes up with newer things to explore … has great love for languages and the arts … doesn't do well with rules … is impulsive … might give in to procrastination. 

I knew I had to include this Ophiuchus in my painting. Especially that part about rules and procrastination...

So, the “official” part of the page is all about the good old Sagittarius...

[quote by A. C. Clarke]

... the hidden part is honouring the Ophiuchus in me:

Journal cover

I resisted tampering with the cover of my WoW Journal for about 10 months. To ruin a piece of paper is no such a big deal; you can always throw it away and start anew. But the possibility of ruining a journal cover was so discouraging that even a mere thought of starting to work on it made me shiver.
But then, one day, on my way home from work, I got a clear vision of how the cover should look like. For about two days, I was resisting the temptation, until I'd finally given in...
I chose this year's favourite technique, which I developed/discovered/repurposed for this particular journal so it's only fitting that it would be featured on the cover. I also added a little bit of drippage.

(front)

(back)

It's my greatest accomplishment this year to have finally mastered the art of drippage... LOL

I added a title to the front with a mini-quote and a proper quote on the back.

Happy place!

Mysterious statistics

I don't usually get many views here on my blog or on my Flickr. Normally, I get about 5 to 15 views on my photos/pictures, more when I tweet it. I'm not complaining, I'm not used to sharing my art and no comment is always better than a negative comment (though, no comment also means no feedback for me and that's not very motivating either). But one of my journal paintings is receiving a lot more views than others. That provoked my curiosity and I even decided to switch the Flickr statistics on. But it didn't provide any answers...

It's this particular page:

It has no extra tags, it isn't in any group, I didn't tweet it – I don't even consider it exceptional. It is a 2nd version of the same concept (as you might know from one of my earlier posts, I decided to repaint it) and the first version is a bit better (in my opinion).

So, WHY is this one viewed more than other pages??

[and yes, you can go to my Flickr to upset the statistics even more...]