Category: Art Journal

My art journal pages, creative inspiration, highlights of other art journalers, and more.

Hawaii & Iceland Art Journals

While I post my art journal pages regularly on my Instagram, I realized I haven’t shared a dedicated art post here in months. (Can I blame it on all this change?!)

At the end of April, I finished up my Hawaii art journal, named — like those from the past few years — for the atlas page on its cover. In July, I finally filmed a flip through:

Each art journal usually takes about three months to complete. Since joining the studio, though, the process has actually slowed as I figure out the logistics of how to create regularly in a dedicated space that is not in my home.

I’m just a few pages shy of completing my newest journal, Iceland, which will mark about three years of working in this size and style of handmade journal. Take a look at some of my recent art journal pages:

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Why abstract art?

Open mixed media art journal. A layer of collage (graph paper, security envelope) is topped with energetic abstract marks in teal and turquoise, green, neon pink, and dark blue. Much of the background shows through.

I admire photorealism: it takes a huge amount of patience and technical skill to represents external reality well.

What I love about abstract art, though, is the conveying of emotion, experience, thought, and existence through form, color, movement, texture, and composition. It represents internal reality.

When I create my work, I tap into a sense of childlike wonder, letting intuition and joy lead the creative process. I choose colors that feel right in that moment. I scribble and splatter. I react to what’s on the page; nothing is preplanned.

Last year, I went to see a Joan Mitchell exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Joan’s paintings are huge and inspired by “remembered landscapes that I carry with me — and remembered feelings of them, which of course become transformed. … I could certainly never mirror nature. I … like more to paint what it leaves me with.”

The point of abstract art is expression and curiosity, not perfection.

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Top Nine (2022)

Here are my top nine most loved posts on Instagram this year:

A three-by-three grid of nine square Instagram posts. Two images are index cards with mixed media; six are open mixed media art journal pages; and one is the spine of a handmade art journal with a map cover.

And here are my own top favorite posts:

A three-by-three grid of nine square Instagram posts. Two images are index cards with mixed media; the rest are open mixed media art journal pages.
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Art Journal FAQs

What type of journal do you use?

I make my own art journals. They measure about 4.5×6 inches (11×15 cm) and are filled with watercolor paper. They’re simpler to make than it looks; the only special materials you need are chipboard, an awl, and waxed linen thread. Check out the tutorial I use here.

In the past, I’ve also used thrifted books or handmade books by other artists.

What supplies do you use?

I use many different kinds of paper for collage, from graph paper to security envelopes to vintage book pages to other things I’ve collected over the years. For adhesive, I use a regular glue stick.

When adding color, I use a variety of mark-making tools, acrylic paint, tempera paint sticks, and acrylic ink.

What is your process?

  1. Lay down some collage
  2. Scribble
  3. Add some paint
  4. Add some drips

I always let the wet media fully dry before adding new layers.

How do you take and edit photos of your work?

I take photos with my phone in natural light, placing my art on a white foam core board. I used to edit the shots with A Color Story, but it stopped being usable. Now I use Snapseed. Both apps are free.

More questions? I’d love to hear from you. Reach out through my contact page or on Instagram!

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