A look through my mixed media art journal

Woohoo, my first real video! Please ask any questions about techniques or materials in the comments, I'd be happy to answer and questions you have! :) (A note of the time index you're referring to is very helpful though!)

My altered book journal is very full and I love to share it with people. Now that I have a shiny new camera, I decided to share it with all of you lovely YouTubers!

Hopefully you can see everything reasonably well; I use a lot of glossy elements such as magazine clippings, deco tape, shiny paint markers, and metallic or pearly paints.

For more detailed still photographs of some of these journal pages, please visit my Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49507201@N00/sets/72157623209502692/

I truly love experimenting and exploring with mixed media and collage in my art journaling process, so please feel free to ask anything you like about the process and suggest any other videos I should see! I always love learning new tips, tricks, and techniques to use in my art!

P.S. In case you're wondering, you may notice that the colors get more vibrant toward the end of the book; I started using higher quality acrylic paints instead of the cheap craft store kind. I adore the vibrant colors they give me, there's a richness to it that's totally worth the extra cash to me. But then again, as you can see they seem to stick together more. :/ Not sure what's up with that!

Category:

Education

Tags:

• art journal
• altered book
• mixed media
• collage
• altered art
• self help
• healing
• self exploration
• journaling

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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?????? :)