9.14.15 – 9.21.15 // Journal Pages

Aloha Borgs,

Another week, another collection of pages, and boy did this week go by fast. In honor of Blackout Day, I postponed posting this week’s pages from Monday to today. I’m thinking that I’m going to try to keep to a Monday upload schedule, but with me you never know so we’ll see how long that lasts. As for this week’s theme, I don’t really have a specific theme this week but I did use acrylic paint A LOT more than I usually do so I guess I’ll just change theme to medium and say that this week’s medium is acrylic paint! With that out of the way, let’s get into it!

What I was…

Watching: American Mary (2012), Suburban Gothic (2014)

Note: I might actually do a review on American Mary because this movie had so much potential but it just went so, so wrong and it’s really bothering me.

Listening to: ‘Slow Like Honey’ 8-tracks playlist (vitrina), Sensual Ride 8-tracks playlist (onurbcile), Honeymoon album (Lana Del Rey)

Note: Seriously take a listen to this 8-tracks playlist, it definitely became an instant favorite of mine when I stumbled upon it while searching for Feist playlists.

As per usual, the first two pages are pretty simple. I’m actually starting to get a feel for these spray inks. I really like the placement of the colors on this page. Also there wasn’t too much bleed through to the other pages, which is really what I’m trying to work on right now. I think I might have to accept that the pages in this journal are just not thick enough to use with this ink. Maybe I should try spraying the ink before I start writing. That actually sounds like a good idea. For the writing, I used my trusty blue UniballRoller ball pen, which I will need to replace soon (sob).

These pages are basically me catching up with my week. An update on the U.S. Open here (poor Roger), a list of art supplies I want to buy when I get some cold hard cash there, and a job hunt update sprinkled in between. Nothing revolutionary, but I like having these pages to look back on. It’s a way to place myself in time, you know what I mean. I can look back and see what I was doing on a particular day at a particular time, things I probably won’t remember in a couple years’ time.

You can see the parts that bleed through the last two pages on the left hand page here. It doesn’t mess up the writing so I don’t really mind and I think it adds a little something, something. As for the right hand page, well that started as a mistake. Originally I wanted to make a giant black irregular oval with white block letters, but as soon as I started painting I realized that was not about to happen. So, in a fit of anger and irritation, I covered the whole page in black paint and started over. The writing is a silver sharpie pen and I layered glow-in-the-dark paint over ‘unsatisfied.’

 On the left, there’s more life updates, but on the right, things got a little bit more interesting. I was sitting on my bed when I had this horrible feeling come over me. I thought about my journal and how much I have grown as a writer, an artist and a person over the past few months that I have kept it and I couldn’t shake the feeling that the growth, though great, wasn’t enough. Then I thought what if it’s never enough? What if I’m always unsatisfied with my progress? So I picked up my journal and began exploring that idea.

Starting with the left, I pasted a picture that I found on tumblr with some strip glue and used an extra fine sharpie to write over it. The print won’t be as dark once it’s scanned but I can read it relatively easily in person. I really do need to find a good white pen to write with (please leave suggestions if you have any). On the right we have another stab at using acrylic paint. I have to say, I’m not entirely displeased with how this came out, even it was a nightmare to fill in (I really need to invest in some markers as well, I cannot keep painting block letters, I just can’t.)

On the left, I decided to explore how isolating it is to be emotionally guarded. How it requires that you be ten people at once and that you’re constantly misunderstood. Then it goes into this existential debate that seems really conceited on my part (and maybe it is but that’s the kind of thing I like to explore in my journals) on whether I should be ordinary, by societies standards, and happy, or strive to be exceptional and remain constantly misunderstood. Yeah, I know I have too many thought and not enough time in the day to explore each and every one of them.

The right page came about after I came home from my best friend’s house. She just moved and her parents were getting cable installed, and the guy who came to install it was around me and my friend’s age and relatively good looking and I was just so uncomfortable. I felt like disappearing and just letting him talk to my friend and her mom, even though he was trying to initiate conversation with all of us. Just typing this is making me squirm. So I kind of reflected on that on this page.

(Let’s switch up the format to see if this makes things move more smoothly.) 

Right page

Materials: Uniball Rollerball pen, handcut velum stamps, pastel crayons

Writing: More job updates (I’m still waiting to hear back from Kohls, fingers crossed), and reflecting on Suburban Gothic (2014). The movie was white washed, but it was funny in a quirky way. I wouldn’t watch it again but I thought it was okay.

Left Page

Materials: Acrylic paint, silver Sharpie paint marker, wax paper, glue, extra fine Sharpie pen 

Writing: I got the inspiration for this page from this journal page that I saw on tumblr. I labeled this page abstract thoughts and focused mainly on confession. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been really fascinated by confessions, maybe because I make most of mine within the pages of this journal or online, while other people use friends or churches or support group, the list continues. I confess that I had a super humongous crush on my best friend’s cousin, a crush that still makes it supremely uncomfortable to be in the same room as him at any given time.

 (Switching back, I didn’t like that format)

I guess, since this is a two page spread, we can talk about this as a whole. For materials, I used pastel crayons, blank copy paper, glue, tape, and sticky notes. I got the inspiration to do this page from two really beautiful journal pages that I say on tumblr, which I will link here and here. As for the inspiration of this page, well that would be the fortune cookie that I placed at the top of the page. Ever since I read that topic, I’ve had love on my mind (also I keep having dreams that I’m in love), and so I explored the topic of love on the sticky notes, really delving into an uncomfortable territory. I later decided that it would be cool to write in a clockwise motion so I did that as well. On the two side strips, I wrote down some quotes about love that I’ve had saved on my phone for a while now. And to finish it all off, I lightly sprayed some red diy alcohol ink on the white parts of the page just to blend it in with the rest of the page a little better.

This definitely is one of my best thought out pages. I found inspiration on both an artistic front, from the two journals I found on tumblr, and a writing front, from the fortune cookie. I’m actually really proud of how much thought went into these pages.

 

Now to round off the week, here are my blood oath and final thoughts pages. I used some decorative take that I got for $2 at a garage sale and a baby blue Bic pen along with my usual Uniball. For anyone wondering, that is blood, my cat scratched the shit out of my pointer and middle finger while we were playing and well, this happened. I don’t really know where the idea of the blood oath came from, but hey there was blood so I ran with it. What I’m really interested in is self-love and acceptance. I have the tendency to be overly critical of myself and that can get pretty dangerous so I figure a blood oath might be a good way to keep that negative self-talk in check. Above all else, it’s just some fun to have.

On the right page, I just have a quick update on where I’m at right now. I’m still in the process of getting a job and went in to do some more paperwork, yippie for me.

Final Thoughts

I think this week was a good week for planned pages. I kind of went into an existential overhaul but what else is new. I’m still working out the formatting for these kinds of blog posts, so bear with me while I try out some new things. Also, if you would like me review any supplies that I use for my art journaling let me know. I do have a mini art supply haul to do so keep your peepers popped for that.

Until next time,

X