Kick-Start Your Art Journal (23)
Sun, June 26, 2011 at 07:00AM 
Pick one or try them all. Take the first step. Go.
Tricks to get in gear and get messy in your art journal.
Use the prompts as written or embellish as you wish.
❑ ALBUM: Create an art journal page to celebrate one of your favorite albums. Could be a CD or 33 rpm platter but a collection of songs sold together in a group. When I was in college, I listened to Jackson Browne's "Saturate Before Using" calmed me down when I was sad. The album was an entity in itself.
❑ CIRCLE: Draw a wonky freehand circle on your page, large enough to hold whatever you want to write. Write in the journaling circle. Then draw larger and larger imperfect circles around your words, in colored pencil or neocolors. Don't erase. Accept the imperfection.
❑ BALANCE: On a blank journal page, write a sentence about something that really pisses you off. Under that sentence, write something cheerful on top to balance out the pissiness. Go back and forth, on two different topics, griping and cheering. Draw boxes and doodle around various words in colored pencil or marker.
❑ PETALS: Collect flower petals from your garden and put them in a little tiny handmade envelope, and use the envelope on an art journal page.
❑ POCKET: Incorporate a fabric pocket on an art journal page, it could be an actual fabric from old clothing or you could stitch fabric onto the page. Hide something in the pocket.
Check out all of the Kick-Start art journal prompts!
Reader Comments (5)
Great prompts! I like the one about balance--"balancing the pissiness"... we could all stand to do that once in awhile! I might have to try that. And the circle one too. Boy, your site keeps me busy, busy, busy!
Great timing! I decided last week that I finally was going to start an art journal, and gave myself a week to bind my first book in months. Thanks to perfectionism, I had my pages and covers cut and ready to go, but couldn't get past painting the covers. Meanwhile, I started revising a novel and writer's block has come rushing back to me without the freedom of a messy first draft. I needed some kind of creative outlet with no rules, now that the novel has a logic I need to follow. After I found this blog, I just did the balance prompt on one of my unbound pages. You know what pisses me off? Being crippled by perfectionism. Sorry if this is a bit rambling... I've shut down the inner editor for tonight. :) I will definitely be reading more of your blog.
Andria, Thank you for leaving a note, it helps me know when the prompts I'm brainstorming are doable and motivate folks to play in their journal. I think I will do this prompt too; I need an outlet for my pissiness lately!
Kris, I'm stopped by perfectionism in so many things, makes it so I cannot move forward with a project... so art journaling is a perfect outlet (no pun intended) because you really truly can't go wrong! And I find it interesting that you noticed that you needed an unstructured balance for your novel that now has a logic (I'm not a writer so I would never have considered that). Please do stop back.
Tammy
Wonderful prompts! Love it all :]
Thank you for sharing.
Wow! What a wonderful resource! I just found your site through an educator at arted20.ning.com and this is fantastic! I am an arts integration specialist and am always looking for ways to incorporate the arts into the classroom. Many of our teachers have used artful journaling in math, reading, science and social studies, but have limited techniques for using the journals. These prompts are a great way to get them thinking outside of the box. I'll definitely be using your site as a reference resource for my arts techniques and arts integration online classes. Thanks for sharing!