from the Balzer Designs Blog: Art Journal Every Day #artjournal #artjournaleveryday

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here.  All of the previous posts can be found archived here.  Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day!  No need to finish anything or even like it. If you've done some art journaling this week, use the hashtag #artjournaleveryday so that we can all take a peek.  Even if you're not on social media, you can see everything (from twitter, pinterest, instagram, and facebook) that uses that hashtag here. 

In peeking through the #artjournaleveryday hashtag, I discovered that I was being drawn, over and over, to pages that included dash marks.

arteverydaystudio filled a page with dash marks of different kinds:

Arteverydaystudio
sojournertracy added small white dash lines to a field of black paint:

Sojournertracy
And, it looks like she also used striped washi tape that mimics a kind of dashed line look.

bedsit_diary turned a black line into a road with a few dash lines:

Bedsit_diary
mariko_koda uses a lot of dashed lines to create emphasis and energy around the text:

Mariko_koda
sjrondon uses soft watercolor dashes to create a splashy circle:

Sjrondon
divsy uses shorter dashes (almost squares) on this rainbow colored spread:

Divsy
sheofthewild uses dash marks to create a sort of halo effect:

Sheofthewild
And there are so many more examples of dash marks in the #artjournaleveryday pool

Personally, I loooove dashed lines.  I've been using dashes forever!  They're such a simple shape, but they have enormous impact and they're very flexible. 

Check out this 2012 spread where you can see I've sectioned the page using dash marks:

4-laborday-em
And you can see several different dashed lines on this 2013 page (including a hand carved stamp of dashes):

4-OutofControl-wm

And you can see the dashes used in the pattern here from 2014:

1-BlueSkies-wm
The dashes make the pattern look more complicated than it actually is.

In 2015 I used dashes to help hold this abstract spread together:

AbstractPage-wm
And just so you see that I copy myself over and over again, in 2016 I was still using dash lines to divide up my pages:

2-MatisseGreenLine-wm
In 2017 I used dash lines for eyelashes, as a pattern, and to create shading in the face:

2-Winter2017-wm
And this year, 2018, I used dash marks to create visual texture and energy: 

2-EnvelopeFace-wm
Have you tried using dash marks in your art journal?!

Thanks for stopping by!

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

Based outside of Boston, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is a mixed-media artist who constructs vibrant compositions. Passionate about connecting with and inspiring other artists, she shares her expertise through in-person workshops, her online classroom www.balzerdesigns.com, and through monthly membership at www.MyArtPractice.com.

14 thoughts on “Art Journal Every Day: Dash Lines

  • Thanks for the shout out! So exciting to read your post and spy my art 🙂

    Reply
  • Thanks for the shout out! So exciting to read your post and spy my art 🙂

    Reply
  • Thanks for the shout out! So exciting to read your post and spy my art 🙂

    Reply
  • Thanks for the shout out! So exciting to read your post and spy my art 🙂

    Reply
  • Thanks for the shout out! So exciting to read your post and spy my art 🙂

    Reply
  • Thanks for the shout out! So exciting to read your post and spy my art 🙂

    Reply
  • Thanks for the shout out! So exciting to read your post and spy my art 🙂

    Reply

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