JFJ 15 for 30 Challenge - Day 8: Stencils and Templates

Stencils have become extremely popular in mixed-media art, and you can buy a plethora of artfully designed stencils from websites and craft stores. But what if we used generic letter and shape stencils or found stencils? What if we made our own simple templates to trace?

For this fifteen minute challenge focus on using generic stencils, not those designed by some of your favorite mixed-media artists. Or find objects that can be used as stencils - plastic mesh or window screen come quickly to mind. You might want to cut your own shape template from card stock or thick plastic film that can traced again and again, but keep it to something that you can cut in a couple of minutes. The challenge is to use it in your journal not to spend the entire time creating the stencil.

Remember to share on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! Don’t forget that hashtag so that we can see it. #jfj15for30

JFJ 15 for 30 Challenge - Day 7: Fills

What do we do with our shapes and spaces once we create them? Filling them is just one option. We can simply fill a shape or area with solid color, or we can take things a bit further. We can add some shading to create a sense of depth or three-dimensions. We can use patterns and repeated lines and shapes to create some visual texture. We can even fill our shapes and areas with collage. Filling in these areas is a great way to get our hands moving and doing something in the journal without overthinking what we’re doing.

Take some time today to fill in some areas. Perhaps bring color to words and shapes you have already drawn or stenciled in. Perhaps use metallic markers to create areas of emphasis and surprise. Use patterns or collage to make things a bit more dynamic.

Don’t forget to share! #jfj15for30

JFJ 15 for 30 Challenge - Day 6: Straight Lines

At times, we want to think about the layout of our pages and create visually interesting spaces that hold our attention. Dividing the space of our pages in various ways is one way to consciously consider the layout and composition of our pages. Straight lines section off areas allowing us to set different purposes for the different areas. Horizontal and vertical lines create a lot of stability on our pages, and diagonal lines create dynamism and movement. We can use these characteristics to our advantage as we explore composition and layout.

Experiment with straight lines for fifteen minutes sectioning off areas, creating grids, and playing around with stable and dynamic layouts. Use a single material or several materials. Work on a single page, or spread your lines across several pages.

Once you've responded, you're encouraged to post some of your results, and don’t forget to mark your posts with #jfj15for30.

JFJ 15 for 30 Challenge - Day 5: Circles

Squares and rectangles add a lot of structure and predictability to our work, but circles add a great contrast to the straight lines and sharp corners. Circles remind us of bubbles and balls, and may have a playful feel to them. Circles also represent wholeness and unity. “Coming full circle” is an expression of completeness and closure.

Add circles to your pages and art today. Don’t worry about making perfect circles, but if you’re uncomfortable with freehand circles, feel free to use a compass or a stencil. Draw, paint, or collage your circles onto your work. Make large circles that go off the edge of your page adding structure to the layout, and make small circles that float in the middle adding areas of focus. Overlap circles to create a nice visual texture. Feel free to start new pages or work, or add to pages in process.

Don’t forget to share! #jfj15for30

21 SECRETS Flashback Sale

21 SECRETS is having a Flashback Sale on their 2014 Workshops. David and I were fortunate to be part of the Spring 2015 line up, and Dirty Footprints Studio is offering a great bargain on their workshops. Each e-book contains 21 individual visual journal workshops with accompanying video tutorials.

The sales begins tomorrow, June 5 at 5:00 AM and goes on through Monday, June 8 at 11:30 PM. Check it out if you're interested.

JFJ 15 for 30 Challenge - Day 4: Words

Words are an integral part of the journaling process. So, let’s focus on using some words today. We can just start writing about what’s on our minds or how we’re feeling, or we can pick a single word to draw and reflect on. Just don’t overthink it. Start adding words. If you can’t think of your own, add a favorite quote, poem, or song lyric.

For fifteen minutes add some words to you work. Write, draw, or collage the words. Use pen, marker, pencil, or paint. Use your normal handwriting or write in a fancy script. Afraid to write directly on your pages or your art? Write on a separate piece of paper to add in later. Just get some words on the paper.

Don’t forget to share some of your results. If your writing is too personal, snap a photo of a small part of it. We don’t need to read your intimate details if you don’t want. Don’t forget to put that hashtag on it so we can find you! #jfj15for30

JFJ 15 for 30 Challenge - Day 3: Random Collage

What would the Journal Fodder Junkies be without the fodder - the ephemera - the collage materials? We collect so much stuff in our day-to-day lives, and much of this stuff sits around the house and the studio waiting to be used. So let’s use it today, but let’s find some things that we can glue straight away into the journal - no cutting, no tearing, no altering. Just spread some glue on the back and stick it in. Glue stick is great if used it effectively. Try not to fuss with messy adhesives like acrylic medium or other glues that take a long time to use or dry. We use UHU glue stick.

For fifteen minutes, glue some stuff into your journal or onto your art. Try to find random and mundane things. If you want to raid your special papers and your collage packs, that’s fine, but what if you glue in postcards, movie tickets, receipts, flyers, labels, and old artwork? These things help document your days and things you have experienced. Remember to really spread a lot of glue on the back of the collage element to make sure that it sticks. Think about adding to pages that you've already started or adding to new pages as a way to get things started. 

Post some of your responses, and use the hashtag #jfj15for30.

JFJ 15 for 30 Challenge - Day 2: Rectangles and Squares

Rectangles and squares make good additions to journal pages.

We can sometimes get overwhelmed with what to put on our pages, and we may overthink things a bit. It can be helpful to simplify our thinking and use some basic shapes that we can add without much fuss and bother. These shapes get our hands moving and allow us to begin laying out our pages. Rectangles and squares are very stable and predictable shapes, and they can add a lot of structure to our pages.

For fifteen minutes, add rectangles and squares to your pages. Use large and small shapes to create a layout on a page. Repeat squares and rectangles as a way to create borders, patterns, and embellishments. Overlap a bunch of rectangles to create a textured background for layers to come. Use any material - pen, marker, pencil, or paint.

Don’t forget to share some of your results on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media. Use the hashtag #jfj15for30.

JFJ 15 for 30 Challenge - Day 1: Watercolor Paint

Watercolor in my journal. I've started some new pages and added to others.

The blank page can be daunting, so it’s easy to engage the space with some watercolor paint. As we begin this 30 day challenge, getting some color down on the page is a great way to ease ourselves into this journey and to take away the starkness of new pages. But watercolor is also a great way to add a layer to pages that we’ve already started. Just remember to paint over waterproof materials. Inkjet prints and many pens are water-soluble and will bleed and smear as you paint over them, but that might be fun, too.

For fifteen minutes, use just watercolor to paint, sponge, stencil, and stamp. Try basic techniques or try creating textures and patterns. Start new pages or add to pages you've already started. Have fun and don’t think too much.

Don’t forget to share some of your results on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media. Use the hashtag #jfj15for30.

15 Minutes A Day For 30 Days

I am often asked how I find the time to work in my visual journal, and the answer is simple. Some days, I can work nearly the entire day in the journal, other days I can only work for fifteen minutes, and some days I don’t work in it at all. But even when I only spend fifteen minutes, that’s time spent working, and that time adds up. This has gotten me thinking about how I can build my journaling practice even with just fifteen minutes a day. It kind of sounds like one of those infomercials for the latest exercise craze. “Just 15 minutes a day and you too can have a stronger journal and the pages of your dreams!” But it is so true that those little moments add up, so instead of spending countless minutes on my phone or vegging on the couch watching tv, I am dedicating myself to working at least fifteen minutes a day in my journal over the next 30 days, and perhaps afterward, it can become an ongoing habit. I want to invite you to share in my little experiment.

So, it is with great excitement that I announce the JFJ 15 for 30 Challenge. Each day over the next thirty days, I will share a challenge with the notion that participants spend at least fifteen minutes responding to the challenge and then share their results via blogs and social media. This challenge isn’t about having finished, glorious pages to share. It’s about connecting to a community and sharing with others as ways to nudge and inspire each other. Just remember that there are no rules for responding. Respond the way you feel is appropriate to you. I’ll give some suggestions, and share glimpses of some of the ways I have responded. But this is about how you respond. What strikes a chord with you?

I want to thank Arlene Shelton for inspiring me with her suggestion to do some sort of challenge. I am looking forward to seeing if I am up to the challenge and seeing what type of connections and community can result! So, if you want to join in, grab a journal or some paper, some pens, markers, and paint, and join me. It only takes 15 minutes a day!

Here’s how it’s going to work.

Each day I will post a simple challenge right here on the Journal Fodder Junkies blog and share it across social media platforms - Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The challenge will be a simple notion, technique, or idea to get something going in the journal or on pieces of art.

Working for at least 15 minutes with the challenge, engage your pages and papers responding how you see fit to the challenge. I plan on confining my work to the journal, but feel free to use these ideas to make more resolved pieces of art. I’ll be starting some new pages in my journal but also using pages that are already in process, and I’ll probably work on multiple pages (often the same pages) with each challenge as a way to build up layers.

Snap a picture of your response. Remember that it’s not about having a finished work of art. This is about the process, and you’re just sharing a glimpse of your humble actions. But if you work on the same papers or pages each day, these little actions can add up to richly layered pages and papers.

Post to your blog and your favorite social media sites and include the hashtag #jfj15for30 so that we can all see what you've been up to. Here’s a hint for Facebook, make your posts for the challenge public so that people can see them. You can even post to the Journal Fodder Junkies Facebook page.

Of course feel free to comment, praise, and encourage each other.

And that’s it!

I can’t wait to get started, and I hope that you’ll join me in this challenge. If you can’t do it everyday, do it when you can or do several in a day if you have a larger block of time! I want this to be simple, low pressure, and fun.

Want your friends to join in on the fun? Then share this with everyone you want to be a part of this endeavor.

Look for the first challenge to be posted tomorrow, June 1! Are you up to the challenge?