Kick-Start Your Art Journal (21)
Wed, February 16, 2011 at 08:11AM 
Tricks to get yourself in gear and get messy in your art journal.
Use the prompts as written or embellish as you wish.
Pick one or try them all. Take the first step. Go.
<catalog zen> Cut clippings from magazines and create a "person" with funky hair, shiny sunglasses, the hand bag you crave, whatever you wish. Put a camera or something that's YOU in her hand. Add a sombrero or funny hat. Add a silly dog on a neon leash, clouds of cotton sweaters. Keep going until she looks absolutely ridiculous. Give her a name and a job title.
<maplandia> Imagine having your own private island. This prompt is about the details of the island. Draw a map including the names of streets, bridges, beaches, waterfalls, ponds, rocky trails, docks, beach bars. It's your island, and you have an infinite amount of money, so you can have anything you want. What will you create? More map links and maps the kids and I drew at Making Maps and More Maps and Little Houses in Pencil. [Here's my interpretation... a map doodled while we watched our beloved Steelers lose the Superbowl. Background added digitally. Since then, I've added Voldemort Lane!]
<earthy> Paint an art journal background in watercolors, using the blues of the ocean and the browns of sand + mountains. Cut out images of blue things and brown things from a catalog or magazine and glue or stple them along a horizonatal line across the page.
<yellow> The color for your page is yellow. Fresh citron to urban gervase to retro print room. You pick. Paint a background with thick, opaque paints in various yellows (i.e. heavy body acrylics), messing around with the brush to get a messy look. Staple a piece of heavy gift wrapping paper somewhere. Cut or tear a rectangular piece of white paper sized smaller than the wrapping paper. On this paper, write about the impact of YELLOW in your life. Yellow daisies, the gold striped cotton sweater you wore in your yearbook photo, rich mustard towells at your Aunt Greta's summer house, lemon tarts, the wallpaper in your grandmother's kitchen. Staple on top of the gift wrap. Done.
Check out all of the Kick-Start art journal prompts!
INTERPRETATIONS: Dragonfly Reflections
Reader Comments (5)
Love your purple map, making up street names is fun!
Love this...
Reminds me of "John Mellencamp"- little pink houses
I know... these are purple tho! :]
Hanna, Since I took that shot, I added some more street names, couldn't resist!
April, Oh yes that would work with JCM's little pink houses. It's a pinkish purple isn't it?
Tammy
I'm in - a great way to de-stress after a mind-bending week.
Tammy, my mind is spinning from all the good ideas you have.... I love these journal ideas!