 Hey guys So it is December 15th, and I am done with the collage journal I really had my doubts in the last week if I was gonna get it done or not to be honest Yeah, and it's been a tough week squeezing in a minimum of six pages a day For the last more than a week, I think to try to get this done. Yes at the time of filming this Flip I'm gonna do a flip for you. I have all of that video footage or at least most of it in the camera or downloaded to the computer Whether or not I Bundle it all up and put it as a fast forward on YouTube at the time of filming this flip I'm not sure if I'm gonna do that or not if I'm gonna just maybe pull clips of it out I don't know you guys let me know what you want to see In any case, I would fast forward most of it and put music to it But you know you see me do one page. You see me do them all haven't you? I mean, I don't know if you guys want to see it or not. I don't know and I did learn a lot of things by doing this collage journal about Myself and my process some surprising things actually so let's start the flip and we'll talk about it while we're doing that Now this journal as I've said many times and is in the description below was made for me by my friend Sarah Whitney who is also a Subscriber here of mine here on YouTube. It is a Coptic stitch Journal and she used a tutorial by C lemon the link should be in the description below and I decided when she gave it to me to use this as my collage journal. I was going to use My water what is now my watercolor journal? This one as my collage journal And when I made this initially even though I made it with watercolor paper I intended to use this for collage and when Sarah gave me this one I decided this one was going to be collage and this one was going to be watercolor so Anyway, all right She did cover that cover back in front with pattern duct tape, which is really pretty But some of the edges kind of stick to the page So I have a piece of deli paper here and actually now that I'm thinking about it I'm going to put a piece of deli paper in the back to So that it doesn't stick to the back image and those pieces of deli paper are just going to live there So I started off the year with this journal Doing some fairly intricate collage Putting quotes on there Sometimes from things that just came to me while I was working on the page and then it occurred to me that I had lots of words in my word box and I could maybe use them and I love these first pages. They definitely took a lot more thought and time To put together and I still love this way of doing collage and I still will be doing it But as I went through the year I did definitely change the style of what I was doing Not only because I was trying to finish the journal Because that's just what I was feeling like I should be doing But I do love some of these pages and I will still be doing collage this way. I Will be I will see here is where I started putting in words for my word box still really finding random pieces from bunches of different images and composing them together to create a whole and I love the way They came out Most of them are very surprising Like this one here. I love the way this one came out first of all I love the image of the three ladies and the phrase turn some heads life is trying a recipe that's adventurous I mean, I love that but some of the background images that compose this fabulous piece These here are from a science magazine and these are actually close-ups of blood cells So You can find the images anywhere these are Eyeballs From a pamphlet I picked up at my eye doctor when I was getting an eye exam and then you know I would switch back occasionally and do a written quote. I didn't always use people sometimes They used artwork from other artists out of other magazines But I do have a preference for using people I have to say These were from a lighting magazine Then I really started just using quotes. I don't think I don't think that passed this point that I did any written Well, see I did this one written words. I was gonna lie to you. I Love this page That might be the last time I wrote any words in here what I found though as I Was creating these pages Was that it was more about matching the words or quote with the image I was working with and Just not thinking about it so much Especially with this page. I didn't really think about it. It just felt right and going with What felt right and following my instincts and what's turned out is some of these collage pages Although the composition is very simple though pictures in combination with the word Some of these are really powerful Like this one. I am pure. I am nurtured. I am nourished. I am perfect Combined with that image. It's just some of them are really powerful. This one. Can you hear me now? What I found when I was trying to finish this was I was just following my instincts and Pulling quotes that felt right with that picture and if necessary adding a background, but not really necessarily doing a lot more than the result made a Of course quick composition But one that when you look at it and you read the words and you look at the picture associated with those words that got put together They're very very powerful. I love this one discover a fresh perspective. I love that one. I Have to wax these can you hear that sticking a bit? sometimes the acrylic paint pens or some of the Gel sticks you saw me use some of them are actually tempera paint sticks I Know somebody's gonna ask me about this so we'll go over that too. I Have a bunch of these these are by play color and They're tempera paint sticks and there's a couple of different versions. They have this one Which is called play color. This one's called fluo Play color fluo These are fluorescent and then they have Play color metallic These are all tempera paint sticks Then I have lots of gel crayons including Crayola and of course gelato's and sparkle gel crayons and You know Alex I have a thing for gel crayons These are water cut watercolor Crayons, these are by Target up and up and I think they're like five dollars for eight. I don't remember and I found early on I tried to not do edging on my pages and I just found that that wasn't working for me And I think I did some kind of border with the gel crayons around every single page. I think for me This is one of the most powerful pages in here And this is a really simple page with an image that I had in my pile of stuff that I'd pulled out a quite a while ago And I knew I was going to do something with it at some point and then this little phrase popped out at me out of my stash of words and This is really powerful. I just love this picture. It does not just make you laugh He's covered in sunflowers dressed in a yellow suit. I Love that. This is my daughter's favorite an Interesting compelling image with a powerful quote And that's what I discovered towards the end of these was I love this one, you know, you have this mermaid who's Essentially stuck in a tank, you know, and she just you know, it's like she's saying to you. Don't ask just don't Ask I love that But you know, I was just I was doing more playing and having fun and following my instincts and not trying so hard and We have sort of what I was calling to my daughter when she and I were discussing this accidental art so accidentally I've created some really powerful pages without trying or thinking too hard and I think for me, that's what this collage book is all about. I love this one, too And then finally at the end Another world is not only possible. She's on her way on a quiet day. I can hear her breathing. I love that So there is my 2015 collage journal. Will I be doing one for 2016? I'm not sure yet I'm sure I'll do some collage at some point. I'm not sure I'll do a whole separate journal just for collage But you know, one can never tell I have other things I need to finish up and or get started for 2016 before I can even think about it to be honest But this was a lot of fun and just so you know, okay, she's not seen it before Yeah, this is my container of There we go gel crayon type tools It was sort of organized, but then I started doing all these pages and it got really messy I have gel highlighter pens. This is Acute gel highlighter the play color Tempera crayons, they you know, they're like a crayon They're tempera paint so they don't blend necessarily the same way as the gel crayons do Sharpie gel highlighters, which I love Alex gel crayons a lot of these are from Either Target or Amazon These in the middle are all gelatoes and to be perfectly honest with you I use all of these other things a lot more than I use the gelatoes Nothing wrong with them. They come in some great colors. They're fabulous in their own, right? I Don't know. I just use these other things but anyway So I guess maybe start collecting some gel crayons because I think you guys will like them All right, that's it for right now go out and Do some collage don't think about it too much grab a compelling image If it needs a background because it's too small for the page to grab a background Do you think is going to really enhance your image and then go for a quote that? Just speaks to you at that moment Don't think about it too much and put them together and then do some decorating to tie all the images together and See what the result is just remember to play I think that's the key for me just play and have fun and don't overanalyze it All right, that's it for right now go out and have a great day and do something nice for yourself because you deserve it I'll see you later. Bye