Creative Prayer Book: Purposeful Collage

Welcome to Lesson 6 of the Creative Prayer Book. Over the past 5 weeks, I’ve built up layers of watercolor, graphite pencil, collage, watercolor pencil, ink, and Inktense pencils. For this week’s lesson, I turn again to collage, but this time I want to be a bit more purposeful with the fodder that I choose.

Magazines

Magazines are always a good source of collage materials, and I look for small images to use or for parts of larger photos that can fit into the format of may pages.

Personal Fodder

I also look through my stash of personal ephemera and find photos of myself, scraps of paper, postcards, and other things that have a personal connection.

Artwork

Finally, I find some small works of art that I can cut up. These are experimental or unfinished pieces that have been sitting around the studio, and I gather a variety to use.

I use the collage in a variety of ways, and I cut some of it into horizontal or vertical strips. I also cut out small squares and rectangles. Some of the pieces are recognizable images, and some are simply textures and patterns. With some of the collage, I cut it so that it can fit into certain spaces and certain shapes, and with it all I use my favorite glue stick, UHU, to glue it all onto my pages. Some collage elements might be a bit thick and glossy, so I might consider using a different adhesive if I use them. I try to use the collage sparingly leaving room for the words and the affirmations that are to come.

Try adding some more collage to your pages!

Happy Creating!

Materials Monday: Letter Stencils

Words are almost as big of a part of my visual journaling process as the art making and the collage. As a journal, I want my book to reflect and document my daily life — my ups, my downs, and my in betweens, and words go a long way in helping with that. Naturally, I write out many of my reflections longhand, and of course, I draw words, text, and quotes to give emphasis. But having letter stencils on hand, is a quick and easy way to add letters and words, and they can be used with a wide variety of materials — everything from pen and pencil to acrylic and watercolor paints. I always have a few styles and sizes on hand so that I can tailor the letters and words to fit multiple purposes and situations.

I don’t have a favorite brand or kind of letter stencil, and over the years I’ve picked them up at arts and crafts stores, as well as office supplies stores. But I usually limit myself to the simpler, more generic lettering styles — Roman, Gothic, and Helvetica. I don’t like the to use the fancy or funky fonts — it’s just not my thing. I do try to have several sizes of the same font on hand — normally a small, medium, and large, and I do have a couple of extra large sets for when only a big word will do.

Letter stencils, also called lettering guides, come in a variety of materials as well, and I must say that I prefer the thinner, flexible plastic stencils since they take up less space. I can throw a few of them in the pocket of my large journal and take them anywhere. However, they do get beat up a bit, and they can get bent and even torn — especially the delicate insides of letters. The stiff, thick plastic stencils are much more durable, but not as portable so I relegate them to the studio. I have used the stencils cut from heavy paper, but they tear easily and don’t hold up to wet media.

I steer clear of stencils with already cut words and phrases because they are somewhat limiting.  You probably aren’t going to use them a whole lot and stencil the word and phrase over and over and over again. I like being able to create any word, any phrase — much more versatile. I also like to use letters and numbers as graphic devices, and I often stencil “ABCD” or “12345” onto pages and artworks. I also, like to stencil a letter like “X” over and over to create patterns. This allows me to play around with letters on a purely visual level.

If you don’t have any letter stencils, go get yourself some, and have fun playing with words, letters, and numbers.

Journal Friday #96: Lost

I’ve been enjoying making time-lapse videos over the past few months of two-page spreads, and they fit great with Journal Friday. But I should note that these videos are not my normal mode of working. When I make them, I spend a couple of hours working on a single spread trying to plot the course of the spread as I work. However, when I work normally in my journal, I sit for a couple of hours bouncing around from page to page working here and there allowing the pages to develop organically and haphazardly. So dedicating two or three hours to a single spread presents a different type of challenge, which is neither good nor bad — just different.

As I sat down to create today’s time-lapse video, I had no idea what the spread was going to be or where it would take me. All I knew was that I wanted to do something a little different — to use colors and techniques that I haven’t used much in my other videos. Things started out smoothly as I used bubble wrap, organic lines of Inktense pencil, and an image transfer, but then I hit a bump in the road.

Things began to go a little awry when I grabbed some plastic canvas and watercolor paint. The effect came out darker than I had hoped, and it just wasn’t how I had envisioned. The spread quickly came to a halt as it veered into an unexpected direction. Of course you don’t see that in the video with the luxury of being able to pause the recording while I contemplated my next move.

I tried to fade the darker brown paint into the page with some yellow watercolor, but things just weren’t going to my liking. I was completely uncertain of where to go next, and I sat for a few minutes finally deciding to add some writing. After a few minutes of debating about whether to write directly on the page or to use tracing paper, I decided on the tracing paper. As a prompt, I turned to how I’ve been feeling lately — something that I hadn’t planned, but it felt right for the page. I have felt rather lost lately, and at that moment, I was a bit lost for what to do with the spread.

So, I wrote about feeling lost — feeling very uncertain of what my next steps should be with my life. For the past two and half years, I’ve been forging my own path after resigning from a 20 year career as an art teacher. I work part time as the manager of a local art center, and I try to dedicate the rest of my time to making art, journaling, and sharing my journey with others here on the blog and on social media. But I am feeling a bit lost right now, and it’s a tad disconcerting. I love the freedom this path has giving me, but it’s been difficult at times. Now is one of those difficult times — a moment when things have ebbed a bit — a moment of uncertainty and a bit of anxiety about where this journey is heading.

I didn’t come to any cathartic conclusion, and the spread is very much unfinished. I do like it more now than I did those moments after I lifted the plastic canvas, and I thought of working more on it. I may do just that in the future, but for now I just want to stand for a moment on this vulnerable patch of lostness and just be here in all of my uncertainty knowing that the universe is always conspiring with us.

Creative Prayer Book: Inktense Pencils

Welcome to the fifth lesson of the Creative Prayer Book. I’ve built up several layers using watercolor, graphite pencil, collage, watercolor pencil, and ink in previous lessons, and I was originally thinking of using collage for this lesson. But as I worked with the ink this past week, I felt like I wanted at least one more layer before diving back into using collage.

To create this layer, I pulled out my Derwent Inktense Pencils, which I discussed at length in this week’s Materials Monday. The Inktense are used just like watercolor pencils, but they are all very transparent since they are water-soluble ink instead of watercolor. This makes them perfect for layering over other materials.

My main goal in this lesson is to use the Inktense pencils to reinforce the structure of the pages. Last week, I used lines and shapes drawn with ink to experiment with layout and composition on my pages, and this week I use the Inktense to create contrast that will heighten the structure and make the pages more dynamic.

Since the Inktense work just like watercolor pencil, I use my technique of shading around shapes and fading the color into the background with plain water. This gives me a chance to shift the colors on my pages by give adding a tint of one color or another, and allows me to make shapes and areas pop out. The darker color in certain areas fades into the background making the lighter areas stand out more.

Try experimenting with water-soluble pencils to see if you can reinforce the composition of your pages, and if you don’t have water-soluble pencils, watercolor crayons will work just as well. You could also just use watercolor paint to create a similar effect. No matter what, have fun building layers!

Happy creating!

Materials Monday: Derwent Inktense Pencils

I’ve admitted my love of water-soluble pencils on the blog before, especially when I’ve discussed Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils and Faber-Castell Graphite Aquarelle Pencils. I use them a lot in my journal and in my stand alone, mixed media art to create layers. I truly appreciate the control of the pencil, but I love the painterly quality of the water-soluble material. So, today I want to share what is probably my favorite water-soluble pencil — Derwent Inktense Pencils. Although I refer to the Inktense as watercolor pencils, they are not really watercolor, and Derwent has a whole line of watercolor pencils. The Inktense are water-soluble ink pencils, and they are a high quality, professional material.

When someone first offered me an Inktense pencil to try, I didn’t really see any real difference to the Prismacaolor watercolor pencils that I had been using. And in fact, once I got a small set of Inktense pencils, I did a side-by-side test with them and the Prismacolor, and there really wasn’t a discernible difference in color intensity or coverage. Both pencils performed exceptionally well no matter what technique was used. So as far as quality and performance, they were pretty much on par with each other.

So, why did I switch to the Inktense pencils if they didn’t outperform the Prismacolor?

The answer is simply transparency. All of the Inktense pencils are transparent since they are a water-soluble ink. The Prismacolor offer a number of lighter colored pencil, but it appears that they get these pencils by adding white. The white creates a bit of opacity making the color look cloudy when applied, and I’ve never been a big fan of this cloudiness. These colors aren’t so good for layering, but that’s not the case with the Inktense. The only light colors of Inktense are colors that have yellow in them, so you won’t find a light pink or a light blue. Instead you find richer, more intense colors that you can lighten or darken by controlling how much pigment you color and shade onto the paper. This is much better for the type of layering that I like to do with the pencil, so I prefer the Inktense over the Prismacolor.

Another advantage that the Inktense has over the Prismacolor is that you can get a set of 72 in the Inktense, but only a set of 36 in the Prismacolor. There was a time when Prismacolor offered the watercolor pencils in larger sets, but they seem to have cut back on them. If you’re looking for a wide range of colors, Inktense is the way to go.

Now Inktense aren’t perfect, and there can be an issue when using them. The ink becomes fixed when it dries, and you can work over top of it with out disturbing the previous layers. Now this sounds like a major advantage, and it is, most of the time. It’s great for building up layers without smearing and obliterating previous layers, and this permanence also allows the Inktense to be used on silk and fabric, though I’ve never tried this. But the issue is that as you spread the pencil with a wet brush, areas can dry leaving hard-edged lines, which you can’t rewet and fade out. This isn’t all that great if you’re trying to get a smooth, even color. Though it’s an advantage most of the time, this permanence can be a bit of a nuisance in some instances.

The only other issue is price. The Derwent Inktense are a premium material, and so you pay a premium price. They can be quite a bit more expensive than the Prismacolor, but it’s something that I’m willing to pay in order to get the transparency that I want.

If you’re looking for an intense, high quality water-soluble material, you might want to try the Derwent Inktense Pencils, but maybe use one of these 40-50% coupons you can often get for your favorite arts and craft store to help save a bit on the cost.

As a reminder, that I am not being paid or compensated in anyway for these recommendations. These are simply things that I like to use in my own art.

Journal Friday #95: Layers with Inktense

This week was all about small actions, and today I spent time working with my Derwent Inktense pencils. Similar to watercolor pencils, the Inktense are water-soluble ink, but they work the same way. I spent time adding to pages and building more layers. I love using water-soluble pencils to build layers, to create value, and to make areas POP.

I simply sat for a few hours today flipping through my large journal looking for spaces and shapes where I could add some color. I often use water-soluble pencil to shade around elements. This really makes these elements stand out and creates interesting layers.

It’s nothing too grand, but simple artistic acts combine to create rich pages and images with depth.

Creative Prayer Book: Ink - Lines, Shapes, and Textures

The fourth lesson of the Creative Prayer Book is a quick lesson about using ink to add another layer or two to my pages. I turn to my favorite ink pens — my uni-ball Vision pens, and I make certain that they are waterproof. Since I may want to paint or use a wet material in a future lesson, I want to minimize bleeding. The ink may bleed and blend a little if I paint over it, but not a lot. I use the pens in three main ways — to connect pages, to create structure, and to add texture.

Connection

One of my goals with the Creative Prayer Book is to try to make it so that the pages feel connected, so I’ve been trying to make sure that colors, lines, and textures flow and repeat from page to page. I do the same with ink. I draw lines that act like threads that bridge and tie pages together. Two-page spreads are easy to connect, but in order to tie back-to-back pages together, I wrap the lines around the edge of the page so that they continue from one page to another. By extending these lines, I can tie together quite a few pages. Another way to connect pages is through repetition. By repeating lines, shapes, and textures, I can tie my pages together.

Structure

Another way that I use the ink pen is to draw lines and shapes to divide and break up the space of some of my pages. I use a lot of rectangles, squares, and straight lines to create structure and to create interesting spaces within my pages. I use big and little shapes to have some variety, and I thicken some of the lines so that they stand out. Some of the shapes might be filled in later with images and drawings, and others will be left as generic structural elements.

Texture

In the previous lesson, I used watercolor pencil to add texture to some of my pages, and I want to reinforce that with ink, so I use some of the punchinella, plastic mesh, and circle templates to trace patterns on some of my pages. This repeats some of the elements that I’ve already used, and creates some additional visual interest. The marks and shapes that I make are other small, and I try to spread them throughout my pages so that they don’t create too much emphasis.

With everything that I’ve done so far in my little book, I’ve been laying the foundation and slowly building layers. I’ve thought about what affirmations that I want to use, but I haven’t made any hard decisions about exactly which ones will go where. But I’m starting to think about it, and I’m looking forward to seeing how things will develop.

I hope that you’ll try experimenting a little with ink as you build in more layers into your book, and as always, Happy Creating!

Materials Monday: UHU Stic Glue Stick

A good adhesive is essential for any mixed media endeavor like the visual journal, and there are a great number of glues and tapes on the market. If you’ve been following me or if you’ve seen some recent posts, you may already know that I definitely prefer UHU Stic, and it is my go to glue for my journal and much of my mixed media work. I’ve been using UHU exclusively since I started journalling nearly twenty years ago.

I know a lot of people really don’t like glue stick, and struggle with getting things to really stick to the page, but I like the convenience of a glue stick. When used effectively, it works well to adhere paper, photos, and more in the journal and in mixed media artwork. UHU is a high quality glue that is non toxic, acid free, and washable, and it comes in several sizes. I always get the jumbo size — the 1.41 oz size, and I like the blue colored glue stick. Though it’s a deep blue in the tube, it dries completely clear when applied. The blue color is great for ensuring the glue covers evenly. The have recently redesigned the label on the glue stick, but it’s the same old glue.

The UHU is perfect for gluing in maps and movie tickets, newspaper and tracing paper, photocopies and magazine images, and a lot more. However, thick, glossy materials like postcards can be a little tricky, and it can take a little extra time and pressure to make certain that they stick. But it can be done. Like any glue stick, the UHU can be rather messy, and I always make certain to work on top of a scrap of paper when I spread the glue so that I don’t get glue all over my work surface or all over my pages. I find that the UHU is perfect for building layers of transparent media like watercolor, watercolor pencil, and marker. The only draw back is the glued pieces can sometimes lift up when they get wet, but almost any glue stick will do that. Many people like to use acrylic gel medium as an adhesive, but that’s best for mixed media that involves acrylic paints. I don’t use much acrylic in my journals, and the dried acrylic medium id difficult to layer on top of with watercolor and water-soluble pencil.

Unfortunately, UHU Stic Glue Stick can be difficult to find in local shops, and many big arts and crafts retailers don’t carry UHU in their brick and mortar stores. It can even be hard to find in office supply sotore, so I buy mine online. I usually buy a half dozen or more, since I go through them pretty quickly.

If you’re looking for a good glue stick, I recommend UHU Stic. Just make certain to use it effectively!

Journal Friday #94: Prepping a New Journal!

My current journal is getting rather full, and I have something started on every page. It’ll probably take another month or more to wrap it up, but I wanted to prep a new journal because there’s always a transition time when I’m basically working in both the old and new journal. So, I took time today to begin prepping a new Strathmore Hardbound Sketch Journal. There are several rituals that I go through to get a new book ready.

Stickers

I always have a stash of stickers, and they’re great for decorating the outside of my journal. I tend to collect them, especially when I travel, and the cover of my journal becomes a document of a specific period in my life with the diversity of stickers. Today, I dug through my stash and found a few stickers to start the cover. I left plenty of room so that I can add more stickers as I collect them.

Inside Cover

After adding a few stickers to the outside, I turned to the inside front cover of the book. I like to put my contact information just in case I ever get separated from the journal. I also added the words “Initiated” and “Retired” so that I can add the dates of when I actually start working in the journal and when I retire the journal and stop carrying it around. I don’t like the word “Completed” because a journal is never really finished, and there are often pages that are left unresolved.

Pocket

It’s always good to have a way to hold all of the fodder that I accumulate, so a pocket is always part of my ritual. There are a number of ways to create a pocket, but I used a separate piece of paper and folded tabs on the sides and the bottom. I attached it with glue stick. I usually make the pocket so it’s about half the size of a page, and glue it to the final page in the book. A pocket like this can hold a lot.

Calendar

The final thing that I did to wrap up preparing the journal was to create a calendar in the back. I started on the front of the page that has the pocket and work backwards. That way I can add additional months as needed. I like to use highlighters to color code events and appointments. Despite using the calendar app on my phone, the calendar in my journal is my definitive one.

Besides working to prep a new journal, I worked on my Creative Prayer Book adding to pages using watercolor pencil. I love building rich layers in my journals.

Creative Prayer Book: More Layers

Welcome to Lesson 3 of the Creative Prayer Book. So far, I’ve built a couple of initial layers using watercolor, pencil, and collage, and I’ve begun quite a number of pages in my small Stillman & Birn Alpha Series softcover journal.

Now I want to focus on creating some structure and texture using watercolor pencil, as a way to add more layers. I’m a big fan of using a variety of materials to create rich layered pages, and one of my favorite materials to use for this is watercolor pencil. The pencil gives me a lot of control, but with a little water, I get some nice painterly effects. Watercolor crayons can be used as well, and act in a similar manner.

Structure

I want to use the watercolor pencil in two main ways in my little book. The first is to create some structure using some simple geometric shapes — mostly squares and rectangles. Most people might think to color or shade in the shape, but I like to shade around the shape. This creates a “window” effect when I paint plain water over the pencil. I can use this technique on top of pages that already have something on them, but I could easily use the technique to start new pages. I could use watercolor paint or a water-based marker to activate the watercolor pencil, but I use them mostly use plain water. Feel free to experiment and explore the pencil.

Texture

The second way that I use the pencil is to create textures and patterns on top of my pages. I can trace stencils and items to create patterns, and I can use marks, dashes, dots, and more to create textures. Again I use water to activate the pencil, but I spread the water all over the marks to make them blend into the page.

As I work with the watercolor pencil, I also begin to think about the content that I want to include in my book. I’m envisioning my book as one of creative affirmations — words, phrases, and quotes that will be reminders and motivators for my creative journey.

I hope that you will experiment with watercolor pencils, and begin to think about the content, the prayers, the affirmations, the words that you want to include.

Happy creating!