"Your Living Canvas" online workshop...amazing!

I have been taking an online workshop with Christy Tomlinson called "Your Living Canvas" and let me tell you it has been a great experience for me.

I have really wanted to delve into art journaling and it has been a struggle since I am not one to just sit and create without purpose. This workshop not only inspires me to sit and create but the content is also a meaningful journey into yourself.

I encourage everyone to at least check it out and see if it is something that you might need in your life. The 6 week workshop is available for a full year so you can do it at your own pace. This is especially good for me because I was not able to follow along while it was "live."

Out of respect for Christy and Art (her co-teacher) I will not divulge any pertinent information like workshop subjects or exercises. I will simply let your eyes to the wandering. Enjoy!

The cover and following pages are only 1 1/2 classes worth of work (I told you I was behind).

 This is the book I used.

 

Another "weekly" journal page done!

Yay! I finished another page for my Art Journal All Year project. Second one today....I am on a roll! Now let me see......that makes 5 more to go and then I will be caught up! Crossing my fingers I will get some time in the next few days.

"Weekly" Journal?

Okay so "weekly" is just not attainable for me! We are in our 8th week of the year and this is only the 2nd page completed for my Art Journal All Year project (find out more about A Beautiful Mess and this project by clicking the link). Oh well! Anyway here is my "Introduction" page. I really love doing this one. Enjoy!

Art Journal All Year

A few months ago I happened upon one of the neatest people I have never met! I am not sure how I found Elsie Larson and her blog but I did and it is a veritable wonderland of all things vintage and awesome! If you know me personally you are probably thinking..."You like vintage things? I would have never known!" It's true, there is very little about my outward appearance or my surroundings that display the funky cool person that lives inside my heart. But alas, I do love vintage stuff.

Anyway, yesterday is was browsing A Beautiful Mess and found that Elsie and her pal Rachel are offering an Art Journal All Year eCourse for $30!

So what's the big deal you may ask? Well I have "journaled" off and on throughout by life but never art journaled before. I always have good intentions but can never make the leap into that world. I guess it is like any blank page to an artist or writer.....very scary! Plus I was never really sure what to put in an art journal. Where do I start? What is it about? What is the purpose? What do I do with it when I am finished? Will I ever look at it again? I could go on but I am sure you get the idea.

Elsie's course is all online and can be accessed forever (yay, no printing!). It consists of 52 weekly prompts. Prompts is definitely something I can do!!! All 52 prompts are available when you sign up so you can go at your own pace. Everything about Elsie is inspiring to me so this seemed like a good time to finally take that leap.

I will be doing one page a week and will post my efforts here. To protect the ownership of the course I will not be sharing the prompts only the work I do.

Week 1 - Art Journal All Year

Material Used:

Used book - $1

Magazine ad from craft magazine

Red Lead Stamp Pad - Sihouette Flowers

Tim Holtz Distress Stamp Pads - Forest Green, Broken China

Copic Markers - various colors

White Uni-ball Signo pen

Micron Pens - .005, .02, .05

Various cut out images

Smooch Accent Spray - Gold Glow

I started with a used book distressed the edges Broken China, then glued down the full page magazine ad. I loved all the doodling and colors already present in the ad and felt it was a good place to start for me. Then I stamped the flowers at the bottom (using one of the stamps I shared last post) with Forest Green. I added the castle, Eiffel Tower, dream definition, and vintage swimmer images. Next came journaling and my own doodling.

Like most things I create, I like some of it and some I don't but it's my first page and I have decided not to stress about it. I am just going to go with the flow and what ever comes of this little project at least I know I tried!