2015 Documented Life Project :: First Quarter Recap

Week 1  ::  Book Paper

These are my lovely journal pages from the first quarter of 

The Documented Life Project 2015.
You can find more information on the DLP here. 

I really love this challenge...for me it's just the right combination of journaling, 

art, lists, calendar, quotes and stuff to keep me organized and creative.  

I'm just a smidy behind with the art pages, but no worries, I've got all year to catch up. 

As it turns out, being behind and not having posted 

these pages as I did them, worked out better...for this post anyway. 

 It's helpful to see the pages side by side...

I can instantly identify the pages I love and why...  

I see my style emerging!

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Week 2  ::  Gesso

Week 3  ::  The Color Wheel

Week 4  ::  Writing

Week 5  ::  Under Paper from my Art Table 

Week 7  ::  Cover Up the Good Stuff

Week 8  ::  Repeating Elements

Week 9  ::  Use at Least 5 Layers

Week 10  ::  Doodles and Marks as a Layer Elements

Week 11  ::  Borders

Week 12  ::  Doodles and Marks as a Focal Point

2015 The Documented Life Project

Front Cover

Excited and Motivated to start the New Year again with The Documented Life Project 2015 from Art to the 5th (check it out here). These are the front and back covers of one of the two journals i created and they were so fun to paint. The second journal will make sure I have enough room for my lengthy journal entries. Journaling has become a daily habit over the last year thanks to this project and I look forward to it each day. I love, love, love this cover. Urban graffiti feel and the image transfers make me so happy.

Back Cover

I'll admit I was a little stuck (fearful) on what to paint as the top layer because I was so attached to the previous layers and didn't want to ruin (risk) it. I thumbed thru my Inspiration Journal that i keep with clippings of images that catch my attention, other artists work, sketches of painting ideas and my own doodles and symbols. The top layer of images came directly from that journal. Its a valuable tool to spark creativity and I'm more inspired than ever to continue adding to it.

 Below is my journal from last year which has become a bit tattered and worn, but I thoroughly enjoy re-visiting the artwork I created, the quotes I recorded, and the memories I made (good and bad) as part of this Journey called LIFE! 

2014 The Documented Life Project Journal

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MY Documented Life Project

I'm so happy I stumbled upon The Documented Life Project (TDL) and decided to play along...it's exactly what I needed this year to keep me creating. If you want to check it out, you can get more info about here. I've been using Instagram (follow me here) to post the weekly challenges to my Facebook page but thought the easiest way to get them to TDL Facebook Group would be a link back to my blog...my poor neglected blog. So here's a recap of Weeks 1-9 of TDL project:

Cover

Monthly Tabs

Week 1 - My Front Door

Week 3 - Add an envelope from the mail

Week 5 - Doodle Border

Week 6 - Inspiration from Pinterest

My Inspiration from Pinterest - Donna Estabrooks

Week 7 - Draw one shape and repeat

Week 8 - Add a flap to my flap

Week 9 - Recycle and collage.

One Step Forward...

Life Book 2013 - Week 30
An awesome lesson by Dina Wakely on healing.
I love her journaling style!

THREE STEPS BACK! That's how I feel when things don't go as planned. Just when I start to get motivated and commit myself to creating art everyday...life happens!! I'm overwhelmed with distractions that keep me from doing what I say I'm going to do. Or am I just making excuses...I'm tired, gotta work late, moving my office to another building, getting kids ready for trips, swim meets/banquets, blah, blah, blah. Does it ever really end? I make time for coffee every morning, I wouldn't even consider going a morning without it. Then why can't I make a habit out of making art? Why do I let life discourage me? What's that saying...if you do something (or try something) 25 times, it becomes habit or you learn to like it. I need to create a habit out of art. I have goals to reach and if I don't get off my butt and get busy, I'll never reach them. I'm making a little progress now that the office move is over, kids aren't as busy and I've modified my hours at work so I'm home earlier some days. But unless I make the time, life will happen again and I'll be right back here.

Journal Evolution

My attention has turned to art journaling lately as I continue to fumble my way through this artful journey. I've never been much of a journaler and I still struggle with what words are worthy of laying out on the page vs. the effort of writing longhand. I find that by the time I get my words on the page, the moment has passed and I can't remember where I was going with that thought. Or I think of things I would like to journal about, but when I sit down with journal in hand my mind comes up with nothin'.


A typical journal page for me. No frills, just the facts.
Not much to look at, but it does the job.

I have always been a list maker and I've started to document my life with a daily To Do list and hopefully a few notes or thoughts from the day. This is a doable task for me and by combining the lists and thoughts, I'll show a more complete picture of who I am. Back in December I wrote "This is how I'm going to start my journaling...little snipets along with my To Do list, because lists ARE who I am."

In January I noted "Thought I would use some sticker to make the pages look cuter. I'll bet I even write neater on a cute page." I have so many scrapbooking stickers that I will never use, so I thought I could make use of them in my journal. I do find it hard to make the time to journal, don't know if it's really finding the time or finding the creativity to do something great. One goal is to play with my materials so I can learn how I like working. I've used stamps, embossing powder, watercolor, pen, watersoluable crayon, acrylic and chalk pencil. Another goal is to continually exercise my right brain to keep it in a creative state. 

Love this page :)

When I put in the time and effort, the pages are progressing. When I'm busy the pages remain plain and simple. But that's okay too. Life cycles and other things get our attention when necessary. I'm teaching myself to doodle. It's not a natural process for me, so I'm using my journal to experiment and copy other doodlers. I also want to get better with lettering, so I practice in here as well.

To me, this is the perfect journal page.
It's fun to look at, there's little bits and pieces everywhere
to keep you moving around the page, it's cute and it makes me happy!

I really love simple journal pages that express a feeling or mood with just a few words and images. I'm also finding song lyrics helpful in expressing what I feel better than I can.

On more creative days, my pages look like the one above or below.

 

What's Happening in the Studio

Accomplishing a little painting and a lot of self-doubt.

This one is headed for the trash, but not before I do a few more crazy things to it.

I added every color of paint that was sitting out as I cleaned up the art table and topped it off with drops of acrylic ink. Now I have an interesting background and a clean work area for tomorrow. This was actually fun and I like it.

Want to start using my journal for more than lists and notes. Art is always on my mind, and playing with tools and techniques while I watch TV in the evening is a great way to keep growing and learning. This is watercolor and ink.

Another journal page playing with Neocolor II water soluble crayons. Acrylic craft paint flowers on top.

More water soluble crayons.

Flower doodles with pen and pan watercolor paint.

Brownies Earn Patches

Paige, Makena and Whitney displaying their new art journals.

Paige and her friends got together this summer to earn a few extra Brownie Try-It patches. At my house we worked on art related projects. The girls are displaying the art journals we made with a yarn art cover and tag inspired by Kelly Rae Roberts book "Taking Flight. " Most of the elements in this project cover the Stitch It Together Patch, but somehow we turned it into art. We used the sewing machine to stitch the patchwork pieces together and we sewed a button onto our painted patchwork tag. We roughly stitched the journal together with yarn and the yarn art cover goes with the Color and Shape Try-It patch. We have a few more projects to add to the inside of our journals to complete the other patches. I had lots of fun making these journals with the girls, I think they did too!

Sample journal I made for myself. Can't wait to add stuff to the inside.

We also made paper plate color wheels.

A Few More + A Little Further

Week #14 -- RESOLVE

Just had to stop working on this since it's just a journal page and I REALLY want to get caught up. Still need to add the journaling..maybe today at the beach...supposed to be 80 degrees today in So. Cal.

Experimental background page with snowy tree partially added.

Experimental paper border on a partially finished fall tree painting. I realized I was trying to paint little tiny leave and it was taking forever + detail is not the look I want. Finally got smart and used bigger brush strokes and it made a big difference. My left brain want to paint exactly what it sees...so hard not too!

Looking a little too bold for my taste. Needs lots of work...Again my brain want to paint everything, but what I really want is a loose, painterly, free-flowing impression of the original photo. I just gotta loosen up!!!

Week #15 -- BRAVE

I'm following along with Pam Carriker's Recycled Journal Pages Strathmore Workshop and will be using her style to create this page. This is just the first step of cutting and gluing. Next steps are under journaling and charcoal shading. Can't wait to work on this one.

That's it for now!

Thanks for stopping by!