A look through my mixed media art journal

[MissBooksmith]

I really love the colours, they are so vibrant, so alive, I am pea green that you did a class with Kelly Kilmer, and I am looking forward to seeing more of your work. Like others who let others see their personal journals you are very brave. Namaste.

[lopez97ify]

this is wonderfull! I love it! it insipered me alot!

[enjoyette]

Very inspiring!

[obrien98]

Truly inspiring I loved it!i disagree with the people that said it wasn't messy or deep enough. I thought it was really deep and beautiful

[swayofthewind]

i like it but i feel its not really messy and liberated :) but hey beautiful work just idk loosen up some? pretty good tho :)

[Pandaopolis]

I absolutely love seeing other people's art journals, I'm thinking aboutflipping through some of mine on my youtube channel. You should try altering your images sometime, it would give even more deep qualities, but you're truly amazing!

[iMusely]

What song is that? I love it it's intense!!!

[dollstarstudios]

Hi! I love your art journal! I want to start on a mixed media journal myself. But I have just a quick question......do you work on the pages while their inside the journal, or do you make them then insert them....?

[supervixen404]

This is awesome! I have TONS of art journaling stuff and I am obsessed with paint pens..it's just the actual motivation I'm having a hard time with LOL. And btw, I bet every penny i have that the 2 "dislikes" are from people who are JEALOUS. Awesome work!!!

[frogman850]

Your journal is really awesome... I've been looking at others and your is pretty cool, I'm trying to start one myself... Do u have any helpful tips, ideas, or any thing that help u?????? :)

[adrianaalmanza]

Very pretty!!  congrats!

[cirombi6]

This is really creative :D

[MrCRISTIAN197]

I really like this jornal!

[Gotheena89]

love it!

[iEpicPandaZ]

Do you use old books for your journal?

[ericalaurend]

Awesome job, Betsi!

[paintingstars]

Thank you so much for sharing your amazingly beautimous sparktacular creation!! I feel so honored that you opened your heart and shared with us! Your work is so inspiring!!! Makes me want to holler and just go crazy journaling!!! Thank you again!! Hugs to you!!!!

[8604]

WOW, I wish I could do that, it so amazing ^O^

[Ssonea]

wow, love it. i want to start one too, and i'm already soo excited ! :)

i have a question : at 6:32 , how did you do that background on right page? that looks beautiful! i'm getting more excited while watching your pages flip, so i draw now.

[EccentricBetsi]

@Ssonea Thanks! That page is one of my more complicated ones... Let me see, it's been a while since I made it, but it looks like I journaled directly onto the book page (probably with my black fine point Deco Color paint marker) and then did a wash of watered down gesso over that, which I then doodled into with the non-brush end of a paintbrush, to get patterns in the gesso. After that I brayered ink from my Kaleidocolor stamp pad over the whole thing for the stripe/plaid effect you see.

[Ssonea]

@EccentricBetsi aah, thanks a LOT! so nice from you to actually answer your subscribers' comments :)

will try this technique definetely

[DrDre025]

Do you Gesso your pages before you start collaging on them or whatever?

[EccentricBetsi]

@DrDre025 Rarely. I did on a few pages, but more often than not I found it made the pages too thick and stiff - that might be different with another book, but these pages were fairly sturdy on their own. Also, the way I journal I tend to strengthen pages naturally as I add layers of paint and paper, so I don't find the gesso is needed for that. The tooth on these pages was more than enough, almost like construction paper or a sketch pad, so I didn't need gesso for that either.

[meow98]

I like this, because this is more on my level. I like journals that are do able versus hav ing all these fancy techniques, that require drawing faces and buying special finishes and powders. thank you.

[MyLpsHeart]

where did you get your journals???MY JOURNAL S-U-C-K-S!!!!

[EccentricBetsi]

@MyLpsHeart The one shown here is an altered book, and the one shown in my other two journaling videos I made by hand in a class with Kelly Kilmer. What are you using for a journal? I find that any hand-stitched book is sturdy enough to hold up to the rigors of art journaling. Moleskine is a good go-to brand, though I haven't worked with mine yet so I can't say much from personal experience but the binding looks sturdy and the paper seems nice.

[MyLpsHeart]

@EccentricBetsi i use my journal for my daily life and my other one for storys and songs!???

[rflan1308]

very cool...thanks for the inspiration & friends invite.

[llevin67]

I love journals like this and wish I could make one - I think too much and then do nothing - OY! Yours is awesome!! Some of my questions were answered already but can you tell me if you water down your acrylics? On some pages it looks like you painted over images (washed)? I liked your masking tape technique. I will have to check out Gel FX crayons. Thanks for the inspiration and your friend request!

[EccentricBetsi]

@llevin67 The reason it may look like a wash is that I mostly used cheap acrylics - their cheapness means they can layer well. I do like higher quality when I can though. I think the major thing is that usually I just paint and then immediately use a dry or slightly damp paper towel to wipe away to reveal the images. Hope this helps - now go start a journal! You'll love it! And I promise you can't do it wrong. Just don't PLAN it out - PLAY with it. :)

[llevin67]

@EccentricBetsi

Ok, I will/am going to create tonight! I started one a few months ago and have 2 pages done.  I think because I am a scrapbooker my mind is thinking about it like that instead of something to just do. With your words of support I will def get down there and work on it. Thx EB

[joolsc123]

Thank you for the friend request. I love the altered book. What book was it before you altered it? Did you have to glue some of the pages together for sturdiness or did you go page to page? A lot of questions I know....

[EccentricBetsi]

@joolsc123 The original title was "A Manual of First Aid for Mental Health" - how could I resist a title like that? :D I ripped out a bunch of pages to allow room, but 99% of the pages are not glued together. I tried it once and didn't like it, too thick and stiff. I do a lot of collage, so it bulked up the pages plenty just adding magazine images and paint and so on. Sorry if I missed anything, just let me know if you have any other questions. :)

[shethewriter]

This altered book is great! And I just got your friend invite :-) Unforch I only add friend I know IRL, but I'd love to trade subs!

[bellaware]

Your journal is beautiful! Wow! And the music is great also.

[bellaware]

Your journal is beautiful! Wow!

[artemorbid]

I like this, my fav is at 4:18 the hour glass! great work..

[skystarart]

I love your journal. TFS!

[emeliemaccie]

GREAT JOURNAL!!! love it !!!

[scrapzville]

This is great Betsi, I really like the techniques you've used! Thanks for friending me, i'm delighted to have a friend named EccentricBetsi!!!

[JussaLookin]

Also, are you writing on gesso? if so, what pens are you using?  I am having a time figuring out what pens write well on a gessoed surface. thanks!

[EccentricBetsi]

@JussaLookin I don't write on gesso much, in fact I think the few times I've written directly on gesso I just used a basic ballpoint pen or pencil.

Most of the time I'm writing on acrylic paint; I use a lot of different things to journal, but I think most often I use DecoColor paint markers. I'm also fond of Crayola Gel FX crayons, they are nice and "juicy" and fun to layer with. Other times I just use Sharpie or a cheap gel pen, but these definitely have issues working with mixed media.

[JussaLookin]

@EccentricBetsi Thanks for responding. I'll have to try those crayons.

[JussaLookin]

This is great! I bet you had fun making this and I can soooo relate to some of your page themes! Hey?? you been looking through my journals??? LOL Good job! :)

[ACraftJunkie]

Great job! I'm loving your journal...everything about it!

Peace & Love,

~Barb~

[rrreow]

Very creative!

[jantheempress]

Cool! 

[juliet03141959]

completely 100% awesome!

[Lovnpce]

I love when people show their art journals ,that was awesome .

Love & Peace