Creating in My Art Journal Step-by-Step

I find it helpful to see another artist's process step-by-step, so I thought you might also.  Here's the beginning of an art journal page-- a blank, clean space in my board book.

I was thinking of a visit to the summer camp where I worked in my youth as I pulled out a collection of collage papers from my basket.

When I have extra watercolor paint at the end of a painting session, I often splash washes of color on scrap paper and stick it in my collage basket.

I laid out some papers and spread some Yes! paste down with an old cruise card.

With the base glued down, I worked out what I wanted for the next layer.

After I glued it down, using a glue stick and Tombow Mono Aqua glue, I decided I wanted a little sparkle.  I drew with the pen tip of the Aqua glue, and then dusted the page with some vintage gold leaf dust.

I let the glue dry.

After the glue dried, I dusted off the excess gold powder and felt that the spread needed a bit of contrast.  I rubbed ink pads --black and vintage photo color -- along the edges of the pages.

I felt the page spread still needed something... so I added a few hearts and the word Camp.

When I'm art journaling, playing with little embellishments like the hearts, the glittery gold dust and the stamp pads deepens the process.  It's all play, and there's no wrong answer.  If I decide I don't like some element, I can paint or collage over it.

When you create in an art journal, I hope you give yourself this same latitude.  Create freely, on a whim.  Don't wait for perfection -- it never arrives!  Listen for that quiet, little nudge from your intuition and have fun!

Happy Creating!