Today I've got an Art Journal Every Day blast from the past with an addendum. Last week I shared Sue's pick: the beginning of the whole Art Journal Every Day thing here on this blog. This week I thought I'd share a look at how my art journaling has evolved over the years. I think all those ten minute bursts have really helped me to grow!
The original post is from November 8, 2013 and I (1) added more recent pages and (2) added some additional thoughts at the end. Enjoy!
My art journaling style has evolved over time. Today I thought I'd share a quick overview of my art journal journey. The change wasn't sudden or drastic, but rather something that happened slowly over time as I continued to work on my art journals each and every day — and it really wasn't until 2009 that I really got into art journaling every single day.
August 2007
August 2008
November 2009
January 2010
September 2011
April 2012
April 2013
August 2014
April 2015
May 2016
Looking back I'm trying to see if I can learn anything from this quick overview.
- I've clearly always had a thing for people. Most of my journal pages feature a face or two.
- I can see how very scrapbook-y my early art journal pages are. This makes total sense since that was my main hobby at the time.
- My early daily journal pages are kind of a hot mess. Nothing is cohesive in any way — it's just a lof of stuff — but I love them nonetheless!
- Lettering is clearly something I've been fooling around with for years.
- I like to journal. If anything, I'm an over-journaler. It's hard to find pages that don't have a lot of text on them.
- Stamps — especially hand carved stamps — start to figure in most art journal pages after 2010.
- I find it fascinating how many of these pages feature yellow. It's not a color I would ever list among my faves, but there it is on every single one of these pages. Weird.
- I am not surprised to see all the red on these pages. I love the impact that red has.
- It's interesting to see how I moved from watercolor to acrylic. It wasn't long ago that I was strictly watercolor in my art journals and now I almost exclusively use acrylic. Who knows what I'll be doing in another year?!
- I like a crowded page. That's clearly a personal style thing. I don't see a lot of white space on any of these pages!
- As you can see, I experimented with a lot of sizes and shapes and types of journals. I'm really happy with my current size and I think I'll stick with it for a while.
- The two pages from 2015 and 2016 are particularly striking as a pair. In many ways they're the same page — a very similar figure, a floral element glued on. But the 2016 version feels a little slicker and more sophisticated. You know, it's difficult to see growth in the every day. But, there's the photographic evidence!
- I clearly figured out that Permapaque markers were a great art journaling tool around 2013/2014. You'd be hard pressed to find a single page after that that doesn't have a Permapaque mark somewhere on it!
- Over time, as my confidence has grown in my own abilities to draw, I use fewer and fewer borrowed magazine images. I needed them for a long time. And painting over them (as in the 2013 page) really helped me to learn how to draw more realistically.
- I don't really think of myself as a girly girl, but perhaps I am? Most of these art journal pages feature flowers as a motif.
Have you ever taken a look back at your art journal journey? What did you learn about yourself?
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, This is so much fun looking back. And yes I have looked back on mine, what I learned is that WOW, I was so bad in the beginning, lol, I really have learned a lot from you over the years. Thanks for that. One thing we have in common is I have always loved faces also, actually a little bit obsessed with eyes. I think that is why I have commented before how much I love your “eye” stencil, art foamie, so cool. I also love numbers. Saw you on Tuesday, always watch, there is always a chance to learn something new. Thanks.
Hi, This is so much fun looking back. And yes I have looked back on mine, what I learned is that WOW, I was so bad in the beginning, lol, I really have learned a lot from you over the years. Thanks for that. One thing we have in common is I have always loved faces also, actually a little bit obsessed with eyes. I think that is why I have commented before how much I love your “eye” stencil, art foamie, so cool. I also love numbers. Saw you on Tuesday, always watch, there is always a chance to learn something new. Thanks.
Hi, This is so much fun looking back. And yes I have looked back on mine, what I learned is that WOW, I was so bad in the beginning, lol, I really have learned a lot from you over the years. Thanks for that. One thing we have in common is I have always loved faces also, actually a little bit obsessed with eyes. I think that is why I have commented before how much I love your “eye” stencil, art foamie, so cool. I also love numbers. Saw you on Tuesday, always watch, there is always a chance to learn something new. Thanks.
Hi, This is so much fun looking back. And yes I have looked back on mine, what I learned is that WOW, I was so bad in the beginning, lol, I really have learned a lot from you over the years. Thanks for that. One thing we have in common is I have always loved faces also, actually a little bit obsessed with eyes. I think that is why I have commented before how much I love your “eye” stencil, art foamie, so cool. I also love numbers. Saw you on Tuesday, always watch, there is always a chance to learn something new. Thanks.
Hi, This is so much fun looking back. And yes I have looked back on mine, what I learned is that WOW, I was so bad in the beginning, lol, I really have learned a lot from you over the years. Thanks for that. One thing we have in common is I have always loved faces also, actually a little bit obsessed with eyes. I think that is why I have commented before how much I love your “eye” stencil, art foamie, so cool. I also love numbers. Saw you on Tuesday, always watch, there is always a chance to learn something new. Thanks.
Hi, This is so much fun looking back. And yes I have looked back on mine, what I learned is that WOW, I was so bad in the beginning, lol, I really have learned a lot from you over the years. Thanks for that. One thing we have in common is I have always loved faces also, actually a little bit obsessed with eyes. I think that is why I have commented before how much I love your “eye” stencil, art foamie, so cool. I also love numbers. Saw you on Tuesday, always watch, there is always a chance to learn something new. Thanks.
Love seeing how your style has changed over time. Have to pull my old journals and see what they look like although I haven’t journal as long as you.
Love seeing how your style has changed over time. Have to pull my old journals and see what they look like although I haven’t journal as long as you.
Love seeing how your style has changed over time. Have to pull my old journals and see what they look like although I haven’t journal as long as you.
Love seeing how your style has changed over time. Have to pull my old journals and see what they look like although I haven’t journal as long as you.
Love seeing how your style has changed over time. Have to pull my old journals and see what they look like although I haven’t journal as long as you.
Love seeing how your style has changed over time. Have to pull my old journals and see what they look like although I haven’t journal as long as you.
Thank you for sharing your journey! You have inspired me to start art journaling and it will be fun to look back on my pages in 5 years. you rock!
Thank you for sharing your journey! You have inspired me to start art journaling and it will be fun to look back on my pages in 5 years. you rock!
Thank you for sharing your journey! You have inspired me to start art journaling and it will be fun to look back on my pages in 5 years. you rock!
Thank you for sharing your journey! You have inspired me to start art journaling and it will be fun to look back on my pages in 5 years. you rock!
Thank you for sharing your journey! You have inspired me to start art journaling and it will be fun to look back on my pages in 5 years. you rock!
Thank you for sharing your journey! You have inspired me to start art journaling and it will be fun to look back on my pages in 5 years. you rock!
your April, 2013 is the only one that seems a bit different from the rest. It is more mellow, a bit softer. Your usual style is very vibrant and exciting! I am glad I follow your blog.
your April, 2013 is the only one that seems a bit different from the rest. It is more mellow, a bit softer. Your usual style is very vibrant and exciting! I am glad I follow your blog.
your April, 2013 is the only one that seems a bit different from the rest. It is more mellow, a bit softer. Your usual style is very vibrant and exciting! I am glad I follow your blog.
your April, 2013 is the only one that seems a bit different from the rest. It is more mellow, a bit softer. Your usual style is very vibrant and exciting! I am glad I follow your blog.
your April, 2013 is the only one that seems a bit different from the rest. It is more mellow, a bit softer. Your usual style is very vibrant and exciting! I am glad I follow your blog.
your April, 2013 is the only one that seems a bit different from the rest. It is more mellow, a bit softer. Your usual style is very vibrant and exciting! I am glad I follow your blog.