Take a look with me at my 4th Art Journal {New Video}
I am so happy to be starting a new Art Journal very soon.
I finished my journal #4 yesterday... it was a fabric journal I created, a prototype to define what I like to do in order to then make more for my Etsy shop. I love the pillowy cover and its softness.
It contrasts quite a bit with the toughness of what is happening inside.
This journal is really like a visual diary of what happened in my life. My way of getting things out, working on them. My therapy. And also a space to experiment. I discovered I love working with spray inks. And stencils. And acrylic paint.
Now, take a look:
The song is by an Israeli living in France and speaking English fluently singer I really love, Yael Naim. I wanted to use another of her song but it was 40 seconds too short (in a short 5mn video, 40 secs are like forever 
).
This song, titles "too long" is what inspired a page in my first ever Art Journal, so I am attached to it quite a bit
The Sketchbook Project 2012… let it begin !
Hello Gorgeous !
If you are a "fan" of Inner Voices on Facebook, you already know I received my Sketchbook for the Art-House's Sketchbook Project 2012 last week. I hesitated about signing up for this year but seeing all the great sketchbooks at the exhibit in Seattle and knowing they will stop in Vancouver this time, I could not really resist.
This year, my theme is "Monochromatic". Despite what I thought, it can open many creative doors.
Last year, I looked online for ways to rebind the sketchbook. Until this year, they sent us a small Moleskine, and i was not confident enough to take it apart and do something by myself. But this year is different. They changed the journal and the pages were simply stapled together with the cover. Easy to pull out. So I kept the cover and get rid of the too thin pages (I kept them to make something else with it, though.)
The cover is very nice. And as I have to keep the bar code I wanted to stick with it.
I SO wanted to record the whole process but that day my camcorder's battery was dead and as it what it is, it takes hours to be useable. And I was too excited to wait for the next day (when inspiration strikes, I try not to shut it down). So sorry, but you'll have to do with only pictures.
I used Stonehenge paper, 90lbs, the fawn color (which is like a warm greyish beige). It is smooth, not too thick nor too thin. I created three signatures of three folios each so it is manageable for me to fill it completely. It was ready long before I actually received the sketchbook itself.
I separated the front and back covers, I painted them very simply. I used self-adhesive book-tape (bought at Paper Source) that I sprayed with shimmery mists. I love the kraft-y look of the cover so I did not entirely paint it, by doing that, some of the original color can still be seen in some spots.
I took care of lining it well so there is the right space for the text block, cover the inside with another piece of sprayed book-tape (a contrasty color this time).
Then, I wanted to secure it. So i machine sewn it. SO. MUCH. FUN !!! I decided to sew around the barcode as well, to be certain it won't go anywhere while handling the journal.
Finally, I attached the pages to the cover with a simple long stitch, but I noticed in Seattle that we see the spine where all the books are patiently waiting to be picked so I wanted to make it more attractive. We are advised not to hang anything so I just put some pretty beads. It adds a nice little touch.
I had a blast rebinding it, and it was intuitive, each step coming easily after the other in my mind. I love how it looks, with all its imperfections.
My “Sketchbook Project 2011″ experience
Heya !
I hope your week-end was wonderful. We spent our Sunday in sunny Seattle so I could attend the last day of the exhibit stop of the Sketchbook Project 2011.
I signed up last year after seeing lots of my artsy friends enrolling and thought that having a goal and a deadline would be a change I was willing to try. It was really motivating to share this with friends, encouraging each other along the way, sharing the blocks we were facing here and there on the road to finish it and sending it back to Brooklyn.
It was an amazing experience. Even if I had loooong periods of doubts, wondering why the hell did I sign up for such a big project, or if I will have enough inspiration to fill all the pages (I ended up glueing most of them together).
I knew a long time ago that the tour will come in Seattle for 3 afternoons and we planned to come down there months ago. But of course, I DID forget about it and the week-end got packed with invitations and stuff to do. My husband is the bestest (as you know now, lol) and agreed to cancel all we got scheduled for Sunday and spend the day in Seattle.
When we passed by the address on the street, I could not believe my eyes: there was such a long queue of people waiting on the sidewalk !!!
The space where the sketchbooks were was tiny so it was impossible to stay in (so happy it was a sunny day... which is as rare in Seattle than it is in Vancouver).
Unfortunately, I was able to check only 6 sketchbooks as the queue was forever growing. I was able to see the journals of Lisa Wilson and Carmen Hirkala: A-MA-ZING ♥♡♥♡♥
Here is how it works:
- When you are a participating artist, you receive a art-house library card so you can go to the exhibit, if you are a "visitor" you have to create one on site (it only takes like 20 seconds to do so). Thanks to it, they know which sketchbooks you took and if the artist chose so s/he will be notified by email that X browsed through his/her sketchbook in which city.
- When you finally arrive inside, some nice people from Art-House are with their computers and you have two choices: you select one of the themes and they give you 2 random sketchbooks from it, or you can look for a special artist to look (and then they will give you another book of the same theme to look at). Know that you can only see 2 sketchbooks at a time, and they have to belong to the same category. You can take the time you want BUT you have to stay there (obviously).
What happened is that most people went back in the queue directly so they could see the sketchbooks while waiting to return them and check some more.
I was able to eye some of the already checked sketchbooks while waiting and loved what I saw. So many different styles and approaches. People DARED to do it their way. I wish I had. Some totally re-bound the journal and it was visually strikingly beautiful and sometimes more than original.
People looked very happy to be there, to discover artists' work and universes, talking to others. I saw children, people from the artistic industry, crafters, old people, men, women. AMAZING !
Some pictures for you to enjoy (click to enlarge):
I did 2 videos back then to show you my experience, the first is the cover and the second one is the flip-through the finished journal. I will update the post when I'll have the link to my digitalized sketchbook. Here it is:
So... after talking a bit with my husband (not that I need his approval but I love having his input regarding my stuff), I decided to sign-up for the 2012 edition. First of all, the tour is going international ! They'll come in our city (Vancouver), in Toronto, in Australia in and England. And I am stronger as it will be the second time. Apparently they changed the journal (It won't be a Moleskine anymore) for something with a better green impact and a better paper (mucho artists complained about the very thin paper). BUT I think a will create a journal on my own (it is not against the rules, as long as it respects the size measurements of the journal they send us).
If you want to know more about it, it's right here.
Which ones of you participated in one of the previous editions ? How was it ? Have you signed up for the 2012 one ? Would love to know the theme you chose 
Be a peeping tom and come look in my Journal [VIDEO]
Another journal is now closed as this third journal is completely filled up But I already have the fourth one ready to receive my thoughts.
I so love browsing the old journals when finished, see the evolution, bringing back the memories (good and less good). Being the only one knowing what is behind what we can see in these pages.
Here is the video for you to enjoy (I hope):
If you want me to talk about a specific page, don't be shy and just ask
«Power to create» handmade Art Journal now for sale
YES ! I finally put one of my handmade Art Journal for sale in my ETSY shop.
This one belongs to the «sewn-over-tape» category, which I really love as the spine is beautifully exposed.
It is not perfectly perfect, but you can tell it is handmade for sure.
The cover is a piece of Mixed Media by itself, made with acrylic paint, ColorShots from LindyStampGang, watersoluble crayons and more.
The paper I use is sturdy, it is the Fabriano Medioevalis paper. I love the grungy feels of the torn paper edges and above all it allows you to play with acrylic paint, watercolour, collage or whatever you love to do in your own Art Journal.
This is the paper I currently have in my own journal and it never bleeded through.
You have the possibility to add your own title at no charge.
If not, i will add «I have the power to create» before shipping it to you, simply because this is the words I heard while I was creating the journal.
A few more pictures (click on it to enlarge):
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