Good morning!
I am so happy to share a new mini-series of art journal how to videos with you! I am calling this series
8-Layer Journaling
Back in February of 2015, Shannon Green put out a YouTube video series, called Journaling by 5s. It took the fear and guesswork out of art journaling. I would highly recommend you go check that process and her work out…Shannon is truly inspirational!!!
To quickly paraphrase her process is that you create 20 art journaling pages in 5 – 15 minute sessions, by layering 2 pre-determined media types per session.
Shannon’s Session are as follows:
- Background – Paint, Ink
- Texture – Collage, Recycle
- Pattern – Stamps, Stencils
- Focal Point – Words, Images
- Details – Pen, Pencils
Although, I really do love this process, I modified it pretty early on, because I was nowhere near able to get my sessions completed within the allotted time, which drove me BANANAS! I felt like I would do better if I limited myself to one medium per session, and to limit my use of mediums to only 5 options. For example, for the paint layer, I limit myself to only 5 tubes/bottles/jars/etc of color, to cut down on my need to overthink the process. Doing this allowed me to finally get all 20 pages done within the allotted 15 minutes. SUCCESS!!
I have used this process for creating my Soul Sister Cards, and for something I like to call Doodling books that I find super fun to play on while I am on an airplane or waiting someplace!! Every time I have done this process the pages end up looking so different from each other, and I am always so amazed at how cool they turn out!!!
So my modified version, which I am calling 8-Layer Journaling is:
- Paint
- Paper
- Washi
- Stamps
- Stencil
- Focal Image
- Words
- Pen Work
So, with all of the logistics out of the way…
Let’s get on to Layer #2
Paper!
- I have a selection of papers: Bible pages, music sheets, math pages, novel pages, graph papers, and ledger paper.
- I am using a sponge brush, for my gel medium. They are super cheap and because gel medium is so difficult to get out of brushes, I just use a sponge brush and toss it when I am finished (since if you try washing a sponge brush – they just fall apart)
- I grab some Jane Davenport Gel Medium
- Set my timer
- and got to playing!!
If you do decide to do this 8-Layer Journaling process with me, I want to highly encourage you to not purchase anything new…use whatever you have in your stash. (This is probably something we could all hear a little bit more of!)
I hope that this is something that you might be inspired to try, and if you do, please share on Instagram #8layerjournaling I would LOVE to see your creations!!!
Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!
Now it is your turn to get creating!
Here is to having some fun!