Create a Journal page

• Watercolor pad or paper,


• Watercolor wash brush


• Watercolor paints (acrylics are fine if you have them... but use them diluted as watercolor)


• Soft pastels


• Water-soluble crayons (optional)


• A small collection of images cut out from good quality magazines


• Pens for writing and doodling


• Glue stick or adhesive of your choice


• A little imagination

I am using a single sheet of paper, which makes it a lot easier to scan and photograph as I go along. You can either use a single sheet or use your watercolor pad.

Begin by mixing up a wash of watercolor. Just make a good size puddle of whatever color. Test on a piece of scrap until you get the saturation of color you want. Remember that watercolor always dries lighter. Bear in mind that a darker color will require that you use a white pen when you come to the writing part.

With your large brush, lay down a wash of color across the page. Work your way down, adding more water or more color as you go. This doesn't have to be a perfect flat wash. You are going to be collaging and writing all over it. I, of course, had to add in a completely different color and you can do that too. Just don't let it become too rainbow-ish.

If you haven't done this before, you can see a demonstration HERE.

There, easy wasn't it? I like to do several pages at once and dry them with a hairdryer. You can see how pale it dried, so don't worry about overdoing the color saturation.

Once the page has completely dried, gather together some strips of paper to create a border. These can be anything that takes your fancy... text, magazine photos, special collage papers or how about junk mail? I like to scan and print out copies of previous journal pages, cut them into strips and use those as borders to my new page - there's a sort of thread happening.

I received two packages of scrappers' papers in my Christmas presents this year. Although I am not a scrapbooker, I do like to use some scrapbooking items from time-to-time. They just need roughing up a little to fit into my 'eclectic scruffiness' type of journal. I decided to try them out on the borders of my art journal page.

I use this handy gadget, a Scotch ATG 700 which dispenses double-sided tape exactly where I want it, to attach my borders and collage. But you can use gluestick or PVA. Make sure it is 'archival' and therefore suitable for an item which you will want to keep forever.

I chop my border pieces into various lengths and mix 'em up. Don't want any uniformity here!

Here is the journal page showing the wash background and borders added. Preciseness is not a requirement here. The whole point is to create a home-made look so that it is personal to you. Everything in a journal is a reflection of choices you make - choices in color, materials, layout, words... all that you do is an expression of your inimitable self.

I like this bit. To add extra flavor to my border, I use my Neocolor II crayons to draw lines around the very edges of the page. Simply pick four or five random colors. Sometimes I use a wet brush to swish them together. This time I'm leaving them dry.

A close up which shows just how relaxed and free and easy you can be about your art journal. Be childlike and joyful in your scribblings!

I keep a stack of magazines, such as National Geographic and various women's mags. I also keep an eye on the junk mail as it can often turn up some interesting images. If you use images from magazines, then you need to make sure that you customize them in order not to infringe copyright. You also want to do this in order to make them 'yours'.

One of my favorite things to do on a rainy afternoon is to sit down with the kids and do 'cutting out'. We always end up reading the articles and pointing out interesting facts as well so it does contribute a little towards their home-schooling.

Another favorite way of getting great collage pieces is to ask my daughter to draw me something. You can see one of hers in the photo.

Keep a good collection of images that you can choose from any time you feel in the mood to add to your art journal.

I start laying out the collage pieces randomly, sometimes rummaging in my image store if I need extra inspiration. It's round about now that my ideas for the page start to trickle through from my meagre brain cells. I am thinking along the lines of a simple, happy lifestyle as opposed to a frenetic, activity-filled one. I always go for the simple option!

Move the pieces around until you find a layout that appeals to you. Look for ways to link your collage together, almost as though there's a story in there. You will be surprised how often this happens. It never works for me when I set out with a theme in mind - it's better when it happens spontaneously.

I put some gentle music on and had a lovely time with the Zentangling and doodle bits.

As my page seemed to be developing a nice green-gold color scheme, I chose a deep yellow soft pastel and, using it on its side, I quickly added some shading around the collage and rubbed it in with the tip of my finger. I also did the same with olive green around the inside edges of the border. Be careful not to go overboard with the pastel as many pens won't write on it. My Sakura Pigma Micron pens seem to cope with it very well.

Carry out some finishing touches on the page. Doodle in the corners, change the collaged images a bit more. You can see I added eyelashes and changed the color of the face. Just have fun and play around.

Now, you can either put the page to one side until you are in a writing mood (art and writing use completely different parts of the brain) or you can do it right now. What you write is up to you. You might want to express your mood or you may want to thrash out an issue. If you really want to write but can't think what to say, have a look for some quotations which say what you'd like to say. Write it as prose, poetry, textspeak. Copy some song lyrics. Whatever you like.

I like to enhance some words as I go, maybe by capitalizing them or making them big and fat with a marker. Sometimes I add highlights to the letters with a white pen. Use colors. Use your imagination.