ART JOURNAL STARTED IN 2009

Greetings from deep winter Ukraine. The great snow blizzard in the northeast U.S. is our everyday experience.   I posted this on Facebook recently and several had asked to see what's inside.  My childhood family now consists of us three sisters.  I'm the oldest.  The middle sister gave me this lined-paper notebook she had no need of back in 2009 while I was visiting in her home to take care of my dad.  I used to go there to do that for three-four weeks every year while his wife went to visit relatives in Florida.  I just started writing and scribbling in it.  Little did I know it would be the beginning of an art journal addiction.  I've included early pages and recent pages to give you a flavor of what's in there.

Some very early drawings and writing.  Here you readily see the lined paper.  As I got heavier in my approach I started gluing pages together to make them sturdier.  Sometimes they would buckle some from the art, but I really don't mind that.

A quick sketch added into my book.

My most recent addition.  I doodled the LOVE word while bored at a conference not long ago.  It seemed to fit since it's February. Here, foreign text, wallpaper, a grandson's scribbling, used wrapping paper, scrapbook paper and a paint clean up wet-one (lower right) plus ephemera.

"Listen."  I like using lace.  The rose boarder is from napkins.  Some paint, foreign text and scrapbook paper in background.

Left side:  "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy."  Psalms 126:3  Right: "Open my heart."   The couch begged for a reclining figure so I sketched one in.  The ferns are imprints dried from my garden.  Background: paint.

"Bird Friends" ~ "But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you;" Job 12:7.  The yellow down the left side are dried flowers from Israel on a long stem.  Background: paint.

"A sweet friendship refreshes the soul."  Proverbs 27:9.  Done last fall with napkins.  Background: foreign text.  Top boarder and subject is from napkins.  "Friends" is wall-paste through a copper stencil.

My 2013 "Intentions:"  "I SHALL HOLD MYSELF TO A STANDARD OF GRACE AND NOT Perfection."  The bird card says Happy New Year in Russian.  The card flips to reveal a 1966 USSR written and sent post card.  Background: paint first, then spray through a plastic doily stencil which was then laid down on right side.

The background for these two pages are done with strips of leftover scrapbook paper I wanted to use up.  Though by the time I finish with all the layers it gets harder to see them. On right William Carey is quoted: "Expect GREAT things from God, Attempt GREAT things for God.  You see the slight buckling here didn't hurt the effect of the page at all.

Someone I quick-sketched while sitting outside at Balboa Park, San Diego, California with my two sisters for a birthday celebration.  The little house was glued in from something else.

Some fast scribbling one day with paint sticks.

This little guy was a request from my youngest sister.  She was thinking of writing a book about a turtle and wanted to see what I might come up with.  He was fun to do.

This is the year I started, though, I have been working in it and another I started in 2011, both of which are almost filled.  I can't really say finished.  Are they ever finished?  It's so easy to go back in and start playing with a page, tweaking what's there.  Flipping through an art journal is like going through a scrapbook.  I remember where I was and what I was doing with each page.  If you've ever fancied doing one my advice is to jump in, you'll be glad you did.  Remember, there are no rules and you don't have to show it to anyone.  Mine is a fat book, but you are only seeing a few pages.  It's a great place to practice.  Thank you, sis, for getting me started.