Hi friends! Hope your Wednesday has been good. I have been up since stupid o’clock today and need to go join the kitties for a nap soon but meanwhile I have another art journal page to share as part of my language theme at Art Journal Journey during May.
As you know, I am Guest Hosting the May challenge over on Art Journal Journey this month and my chosen theme is…
Language!
You can find a nice list of ideas for language inspired pages in my introduction post just click here on my site or here on AJJ.
For today’s post, I was inspired by computer languages! I was hoping someone might do a computer language page but I haven’t seen one yet so I made my own. You don’t need any specialist information to make an art journal page about computer languages (just google some computer languages and print them out) and I think there are probably some stamps and other supplies around to help – for example I have a Stamperia stencil that I am using in today’s page! I really hope you don’t nod off reading this next bit lol
The computer language on my page is called PHP and it’s been around since the early 1990s. It’s a powerful computer language, enough so that it is at the core of the world’s biggest blogging platform – WordPress ie what this site is using, and is also extensive enough to run the world’s biggest social network – Facebook! It is also easy enough to learn for a lot of beginner coders which makes it very popular. PHP is free (open-source) and there are also several sites that teach you how to use it, also for free, so if you felt the urge to learn a web server programming language this would be the one to start with, along with basic HTML for building websites and some CSS for styling websites.
Anyway, on with the page! To start off, I printed off some pages of PHP code from a WordPress installation. When you install WordPress on your website, it comes as a zipped file that you then upload to your server and install. This zipped file is full of 1000s of files that all work together to display and make the website work. I chose one of these files at random and printed off a couple of pages showing the PHP code. I printed it from a text editor so the code is displayed in black, red and green, rather than just black. I ripped it up and collaged it onto my page.
Here’s a closer look at some of the code. This page is written in PHP language. I love this part with all the “Sorrys…” as this page is about permissions so if you don’t have the right user permissions you won’t be allowed to do some things on the website and will receive one of these “Sorry” messages lol
Here’s the stencil I have from Stamperia, I think it’s called Circuit Board.
For some reason this page wanted to be magenta so I was happy to oblige.
Then I added the stencil with some translucent texture paste. I had a plan for this page but the page had other ideas!
It was at this point that my plan went out the window and the page went in a totally different direction involving Quin Gold and black acrylic, some metallic gold stencilling on top of the texture paste and some white splattery ink. I didn’t stop for photos as it all happened very quickly and I was so involved that I forgot to stop – or maybe it was because the page took on a life of its own and I was desperately trying to rescue it? Either way, it ended up looking like this:
.
I have this quote by Steve Jobs which seemed to fit with the page and the theme:
I think everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer, should learn a computer language, because it teaches you how to think
and wrote it out with a white pen on black card and stuck it on my page.
I thought it was funny that someone had translated it into binary code and you can too if you want to lol
It reminds me of a joke: There are 10 types of people in the world – those who understand binary and those who don’t.
Here’s some close ups…
I hope you feel inspired to join me at Art Journal Journey this month. Language is all about communication, and I would love to see you communicate using language on your pages, in whatever form you choose. I have a lot of ideas for language-inspired spreads to share with you over the course of this month, so do keep checking back if you need some inspiration or ideas, or even just to say hi! I can’t wait to see what you do with this month’s theme and I will be dropping by to see all your lovely creations.
Let me know what you think in the comments. If you have any questions about anything in this post, just ask. As always, thanks for reading!
Ingredients
My handmade art journal, computer code on printer paper, circuit board stencil, texture paste, acrylic ink – magenta, quin gold, black, white, white pen, black card, glue
Challenges
Art Journal Journey – Language – May Challenge For the language theme I chose computer languages and a quote from Steve Jobs
Creative Artiste – Challenge number 71 – multiple mediums, see above ingredients list
More Mixed Media – AG with optional pink – playing the optional pink in the background
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A fabulous page. Gorgeous colours, wonderful textures and a lovely metallic glow.
Thank you for joining in with our May challenge “Anything Mixed Media Goes” at Creative Artiste Mixed Media. Good luck x
A super take on your AJJ theme, I’d not thought about computer language, maybe because I know very little about the subject and I know I would find it hard to get my head around these days.
Stay safe.
Yvonne xx
I took classes in college where I learned Basic, Fortran, Cobol, and C ++. My professor loved me for some reason, and when I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t get my program to work, he would rewrite and finish it for me. I never did get much out of that class, but I did realize it was NOT something I would ever want to pursue as a living. I absolutely LOVE your take on language you chose for us at Art Journal Journey.
Fantastic idea and such an impressively beautiful page turned out to be with the language of the PC! happy day, hug Elke
This is a fun page Elle. I remember the first days of home computers back in the 1970s. We had a computer from Radio Shack, which we had to put together ourselves. It had a cassette recorder as ‘memory’ and we had to do all the programmes ourselves, in basic and later in Kobol. I must say I prefer my computer today! Thanks for another wonderful page for AJJ! Valerie
That’s a cool take on language for sure Elle. I love how you made the background. I remember way way way way back in college when we had to make punch cards, and one wrong card would shut the whole things down. It has gotten so much easier now, that maybe I would like it. But either way, I love your page. Hugs-Erika
Awesome page-love all the textures the most, and the colors too.
I know nothing about computers haha except to type on them great page for your theme hugs Kathy
I love your page but I have to admit I have no desire to learn how to programme a computer. Love the stencilling on your beautiful magenta background. Hugs, Chrisxx