Art Journaling Thoughts

I don't know why art journaling is so appealing to me.  It's not that I can sell my journals, like I sell my paintings.  And I don't paint just to sell.  So maybe that's the attraction--it's the creative outlet, whenever and pretty much wherever.  Sitting in a doctor's office, for example, I can simply take a piece of paper and doodle on it and then use it on a page after I get home. 

My techniques run the gammet.  Sometimes I like to just water down my acrylic paints and brush them onto a raw paper page, leaving a watercolor like wash, then add stickers, die cuts, and painting over that.  Other times, I like to tear papers and use them to collage the page, then apply some acrylic paint with my fingers in random areas, then apply gesso over that, and then perhaps, some stencils or stamps, or both.  After that, I sometimes add pockets and envelopes made out of paper, cards, or fabric.  Sometimes I sew the pockets in, and sometimes they're just glued on. 

Recently, I traveled to Florida and took a small art journal, a postcard size set of watercolors, a set of watercolor pencils, and some gelli roll pens.  The pages of the journal are less layered, and
mostly painted with watercolors, and accented with the pens, but it was a wonderful way to spend down time on a rainy vacation afternoon.

Lately, I've done a few pages by scraping off the leftover paint on my palette, then letting that dry; then I paint a simple portrait over that, allowing the original layer to show through the skin tone.  That's the technique I used on "Girl with Pigtails".