Art Journal Portfolio Workshop Notes (Art Journaling Technique and Tips)

Dede W (of Inkwell Studios) hosted a retreat to show the viewers how to create a series of folders to store your collage fodder, journal fodder, journal pages, etc.

Background Ideas (gathered from watching an ustream.tv video on 10/6/12 - http://www.ustream.tv/user/inkwell) or (http://inkiwell.blogspot.com/) 

1. Book Text (vintage or not) with a White Wash
2. Paint using bubble wrap and paint color of your choice
3. Gift Wrap Paper | Crumple up the paper and sand off the wrinkles to “antique” the wrinkles to make distressed
4. Collage with Brown Paper Bags and Stencil and spray over the paper bags
5. Junk Mail | Collage on Junk mail, receipts, scraps of paper, magazine cutouts, etc. (Scrape 3-4 colors of paint on your page prior to gluing on the junk)
6. Take a couple of patterned napkins and glue on to your page (Remove additional backing layers (usually 1-2 additional plies) and add paint to blend the napkins on to the page)
7. Tissue Paper glued on to the page. Then stencil and spray over the tissue
8. Scrape 3-4 paints on with an old credit card or hotel key card etc.
9. Glue Ledger or Graph paper onto a page
10. Glue Random Scrapbook paper scraps
11. Cut-out and glue on Magazine cut-outs – add paint around the images to blend the images on the page – use baby wipes to aid with the blending process (Take a white gel pen and doodle around your images)
12. Cut-out and glue on images from old calendars – add paints, gesso, texture material to blend the images
13. Using specific colors (e.g., Cream and Red) find magazine images to cut-out and glue on the background
14. Tear and glue music paper and then use gesso and sprays/paints over the paper
15. Glue Dress Pattern Instructions (sewing patterns – available at thrift or fabric stores) onto the page
16. Use Dictionary Paper glued on then white washed or color washed
17. Use monochromatic paper to create boarders around your page
18. Scrapbook paper set 1-4 sheets + magazine image(s) to add to on top of the scrapbook paper (If you have cling, clear or rubber stamps in your supplies, add stamping on top of the glued paper)
19. From old magazines/calendars, etc. cut out images of birds, flowers, animals, etc., (Find 3 paint colors from your supplies that match the pictures and paint onto the background around your images (blend but don’t mix the colors). This will help the images blend into the page, Smear with a baby wipe Note: Mixing the colors will cause the paint to become muddy)
20. Use copies of your previous work (go to the local copy shop and print out copies of your previous artwork/collages/journals)
21. Use color or B/W images of vintage books that have vintage items and “fussy cut” the images and glue/collage them on to your page
22. Use Stickers to add to your page for a background – consider spraying or painting onto the background first
23. Find a favorite item (Watch/Clock/Purse/Shoes, etc.) on a background
24. Paint a black background and paint stars on with a white pen or paint
25. Tear Atlas/Map papers and glue on to your page
26. Crunch up and wrinkle gift-wrap tissue paper and distress ink the wrinkles

Go through the list of your supplies mentally and think about how you might want to add to your pages:

• Stamping
• Stenciling
• Doodling
• Spraying

Graph paper, ledger paper, note paper on the inside of each folder to go inside of each folder.