As I mentioned last month, I joined Life Book 2021 (along with three other courses because clearly I’m nuts lol) and naturally I am already behind with the actual projects. I’m not letting it get to me though as I had/have good reasons for being behind with the actual making of the projects but I have watched all the lessons. One thing that has kept me from starting is trying to decide what kind of book to work in. I thought I had that all worked out before Christmas and was going to work in a small (A5-ish) handmade book but one thing I learned from the taster sessions and from Kaleidoscope last year is that Tamara Laporte likes to work in quite a large canvas. I considered attempting it in my smaller journal but I really couldn’t see it working out so I have decided for Life Book to work with larger sized paper and then bind them all together at the end of the year. This paper is 200gsm Clairefontaine, I have several pads of this stuff as I stocked up and I really love it despite it being only 200gsm. It can also buckle quite a lot while you are working on it especially with a lot of water but when it dries, it goes completely flat again. This is the same paper I used for Kaleidoscope and at the time when I saw how much it was warping I almost changed to a heavier paper but then amazingly overnight it corrected itself. So I think it will be fine for Life Book as a lot of it will be mixed media and not so much watercolour (I think!). Anyway, on with the project which I have to say I really love, hard for me to say that as I am not usually so in love with my results lol but it just makes me happy. As this is a class lesson, there is no tutorial, just a couple of starting out photos and a lot of ending up photos.
The lesson was from Week 1 and was intended as a creative warm-up. I really enjoyed this one as it is very similar to how I like to work. It started with a collection of collage materials (yay!). Mine consists of wrapping paper, book paper, digital papers printed out and sealed, some random gelli prints, a big orange and green circle thing lol, and a bit of an old paper bag that has purple thistles on it. I’ve been hoarding that paper bag for years but it was finally time to use it in something.
After it was all stuck down, I started to add some colour. There are no more process photos but if you are used to this kind of process then you can probably work out what was done. It is a style that I often work in so I didn’t do anything that I haven’t done before but the whole process was really very enjoyable and relaxing and just what it was intended to do. I should also mention that I had been working on my word of the year that I was going to focus on. I had pretty much decided what it was going to be but I just let it sit for a few days to see how I felt about it, and at the same time went through a process to find a couple of “supporting words”, so I added some of these words to this project which was not something from the class particularly but I thought it couldn’t hurt to add some uplifting words and also my word(s) of the year.
top right corner…
bottom left corner…
Challenges
Art Journal Journey – January Challenge – Favorite Things: This page contains several of my favourite things including layers, collage, colour, paint splatters, paint drips, hand lettering and butterflies!
Ingredients
My handmade journal
watercolour paper, acrylic ink, acrylic paint, gesso, neocolour II, collage materials, black pen, book paper, butterfly images, stabilo all, stencil,
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Very pretty colors, patterns, and butterflies. So pretty. I love seeing how you start out and how you finish. Very cool!
A fabulous page and such wonderful colours!! Hugs, Chrisx
Wow, such a beautiful page! Love how you created it with the collage and then the stencilling, the colours are amazing ?. The drips and wording look perfect too! Happy weekend! Hugs, Jo x
I love to work big, too, but my pages are mostly 8.5 X 11 inches. I love what you created and look forward to seeing more Lifebook pages as you progress through the course. This is an excellent beginning and I love it. It’s another great entry for Erika’s theme at Art Journal Journey, too.
I often work on 9×12 pages, which is a size I really like. I like how you began with collage and then seeing the beautiful page you ended up with. I’ve never tried Lifebook so I am curious to see what you create over the course of the year. This page is amazing. That gold along the top is unexpected and a great addition. Thanks for joining us at Art Journal Journey. Off to read the next link up. Hugs-Erika