Art Journal Every Day: A New Journal for January 2019

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. 

I started a new art journal in January of 2019.  These days my journals are always junque journals — hand bound journals made from the leftover art junque in my studio — tags, painted papers, clean up sheets, doodles, etc.  I make them ahead of time and then grab a new one when it's time.  Truth be told, I need to stop making journals, because I literally have an entire shelf full of virgin junque journals that need filling!  What can I say?  It's an addiction!

Here's the newest journal:

I was going to leave it alone as a pretty pattern, but I couldn't stop myself from painting a face on there.  

All of my journals have "end papers."  These end papers are made from deli paper stamped with a favorite hand carved stamp (the first stamp I used this year for #printinktober!):

Normally I loathe the first spread in my art journals, but I actually loooooove this one:

I love this bird silhouette so much I may have to run to my art journal and do it again.  For the record, copying yourself is always a good idea.  It allows you to take an old idea and reformat/reframe/refine it.

I think that part of the reason I love the bird so much is that I love the papers in the bird:

And proof that lettering doesn't have to be fancy or perfect to be wonderful:

That little drop shadow makes a big difference in the impact of the word "January."

I hope you have a great weekend and get to make some art!  Thanks for stopping by!