How to Make a Visual Journal

Hello guys! Today, let's make a visual journal. 

If writing thoughts and feelings in a journal is a little too intimidating, why not consider a combination of sketching and short-form note taking? These elements make up a visual journal. 

I learned a few tips from Emily Mills at Workshop Week and I'm going to share them with you. 

The virtual class started with a hike in Oregon where she gathered inspiration. This is the finished page of her visual journal. It's very eye-catching because of the cute drawings, use of color, and she describes the highlights in bullet points and phrases. They are easy to read and convey the overall mood of the hike. 

Emily's Tip Number 1: Because you are using your own handwriting, remember: recognizable, not perfection. Your writing doesn't have to be exact or complicated. You can experiment with different font sizes and styles to add variety or if you want to emphasize certain phrases or to make the title stand out. 

Emily's Tip Number 2: Use basic shapes to make your drawings: circle, square, triangle, line, wave, and zigzags.

Combine these shapes to make a bird (two circles + two triangles + lines) or trees (triangles + lines or circle + lines).

Emily's Tip Number 3: To draw something more complicated such as a mink, use a pencil to combine different shapes (ex. circles and oblongs) to draw the basic form. Then fill in the details. Once satisfied, trace with permanent ink, add color using markers, and erase the pencil marks. 

Emily's Tip Number 4: Use smaller sketchbooks or journals so it's not as daunting to fill a whole page. The sketchbooks on the right fit right in the palm of her hand. 

Emily's Tip Number 5:  Enjoy the moment in the moment -- really immerse yourself in the experience. You can take quick notes during the trip but do the journaling at the end of the day. She taught us to really pay attention (ex. know the names of the animals that we see, remember the sights and sounds of the day).

Based on Emily's guidelines, here are some pages from my visual journal: 

The Hudson River is so close to where I live, I come here all the time to take walks and be one with nature. "Down by the Hudson River" shows the birds and flowers that I see all year round. This exercise helped me identify their names. I also got to practice shadows and how to paint water (representing the river)...TADA!

Trips centered around food are my jam! It's a fun way to learn about a culture or neighborhood. There's a Chinatown in Queens, New York and this page, "Food Tripping in Flushing, Queens" was inspired by that afternoon...TADA!

This is another food-centric page in my visual journal. "Beach Eats" are some of the yummy things my family and I tried at the Jersey Shore...TADA!

Making a visual journal is one of the ways I turn blank pages of my sketchbook from blah to TADA!

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Postage Stamps and Envelope Art

Hi! Shopping for postage stamps from the United States Postal Service is one of my favorite things to do. I love that a little stamp can support a cause like animal advocacy, cure for disease, or simply to add joy to an envelope. 

Today, let me show you a set of cute postage stamps and the envelope art that was inspired by them.

 

Do you recognize the art on these postage stamps?

They come from the pages of the beloved children's book Good Night Moon written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. 

Each little stamp shows images from the great green room: the cow jumping over the moon, kittens and mittens, a little toy house and a young mouse, a comb and a brush and a bowl full of mush, a quiet old lady who whispering "hush."

Looking at the vibrant colors and listening to the rhymes prompted me to turn a plain envelope from blah to TADA!

This started as a white letter envelope. Add the iconic green and yellow stripes, the yellow frame, and the red balloon using watercolor.

Write the return address on the balloon and the name and address of the recipient (blocked out for privacy) inside the frame, and add a postage stamp...TADA!

Here is another version using kraft envelopes, handmade using a brown paper bag, and a template. 

Sketching and painting with watercolor.

This is the back...TADA!

This is the front...TADA!

And here they are addressed (I covered the addressed for privacy) and affixed with Good Night Moon postage stamps...TADA!

And that is how I turned plain envelopes from blah to TADA!

*****

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Sketchbook Practice: Impressionist-Style Painting

One of things I like to do in the summer is to take a class. Growing up, summer was always an opportunity to learn something new: dance, art, baking. I was never a sporty girl and I leaned into artistic pursuits that I've taken with me as I got older.

Summer in New York City overflows with outdoor activities. One of them is the DUMBO Drink and Draw that takes place in Brooklyn. 

There is an archway right under the Manhattan Bridge where fun things happen like concerts, a flea market, and art classes taught by Creatively Wild Art Studio. Register on their website, pay a reasonable fee (or bring your own materials like I did), and just show up.  

On this particular day, Tyler Scott taught us how to make an Impressionist Landscape painting. 

An example of an Impressionist painting is Claude Monet's "Bridge Over a Pond of Waterlilies." Other Impressionists include Pierre Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro.

Impressionism was an art movement that originated in France in the 1860-70s. It attempts to capture the subjective impression of a scene instead of a realistic portrayal. Less detail, an emphasis on light and color, and visible brushstrokes bring a softness and dreaminess to the final work.

Here's what our outdoor classroom looks like. You'll hear the rumble of the trains above and feel the breeze from the East River. There's also a booth to purchase drinks. 

Our teacher did a live demonstration on this canvas while giving us a few guidelines:

Step 1: Start with a loose sketch, capture the scene, not the detail.

Step 2: Build your palette by choosing 3-5 major colors for your scene (sky, ground, tree, shadows, highlights) and explore warm and cool balance.

Step 3:  Apply the first paint layer starting from the background (ex. sky, mountains) and moving to the front. Use bold, unblended strokes, and visible brushwork (ex. dabs, dashes, or using different brush sizes). 

Step 4: Create depth, definition, and movement by layering brighter highlights or deeper shadows over your base color. 

 

Here is a photo of my work in progress showing the base layer. 

Here's what it looks like now with new layers added...TADA!  

I've been practicing the technique using gouache in my sketchbook. The flowers in my neighborhood worked well as my subject...TADA! 

Inspired by Claude Monet's water lily paintings,  I also made a few postcards on blank watercolor cards...TADA!

Because I'm more of a watercolorist (I usually start with light layers and gentle strokes), I took me some time to adjust to gouache and acrylic paint's stronger hand and bolder colors--there's always something new to learn!

And that is how I turned a blank page from blah to TADA!

*****

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Three Thoughts for August

Hello and welcome August!

This is one of the hottest months and it's also a pretty slow month (low productivity). Our minds and bodies are on vacation and we deserve to slow down, right?

Today, it's all about cute things: 

1. A Little Collection of Art Prints

There's a Mini Print Vending Machine that gives you a tiny art print in exchange for four quarters. I've found two of these vending machines, one in Manhattan (that gave me the tomato print) and another one in Philadelphia (that gave me the spritz print.) Aren't they adorable? It's a unique and compact souvenir and the thrill of the hunt/surprise element only add to the fun! It's the creation of Ana Inciardi and you can find them across the U.S.A. I can't wait to grow this collection in put them in little frames...TADA!

2. New York City's Duck Library

I'm a big fan of The Little Free Library (where I can leave a book and take a book, even donate some handmade bookmarks...TADA!). Look what I found:  

It's a Duck Library! It's located in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood (West 23rd between 9th and 10th Avenues). 

Instructions are simple: give a duck, take a duck. Adults and kids love them! You can read more about the Duck Library here. 

3. Rubber Ducky Race 

And speaking of rubber ducks, there is a rubber ducky race on the Chicago River called The Chicago Duck Derby every August.

The race raises funds for the Special Olympics Illinois. You simply have to adopt a duck and you even get a chance to win some prizes. If you can't be in Chicago, you can still participate with an on-line entry or make a donation.

A ceremonial "splashdown" happens where thousands of these rubber ducks are launched into the Chicago River. See that yellow section? Those are all rubber ducks...TADA!

Here's a closer picture. The ducks are wearing sunglasses! 😍 I love the rebel stragglers, too. 

After the race, the ducks are rescued so they can be used again next year.

May your August brim with very cute things!

Stationery Made from Junk Mail, Revisted

Last month, I made some stationery out of junk mail:

It looks like a matching set with a bird theme. I used paint, collage, and washi tape to turn junk mail from blah to TADA! 

This envelope used to be a credit card mailer that I painted and decorated with collage. 

This greeting card/folder was an election flyer before the transformation that involved paint, collage, and washi tape.

When we open the folder (upper part of photo), there are pockets on each side...TADA!

Why don't we make a few items we can tuck inside the pockets?

Handmade bookmarks (or gift tags) and stickers are what I had in mind. Here's how I made them:

I made some plain tags by using an existing gift tag as a template that I then traced on white cardstock. I cut them with a pair of scissors and made a hole on the upper part of the tag with a hole punch.   

For the stickers, I used plain sticker paper. I used a paper punch to make these circles, but tracing a round object on the paper and cutting them with scissors should work as well. 

Since we have a bird theme going on, I'm using these cling stamps, an acrylic block, and an ink pad to decorate the tags and stickers. 

I randomly stamped the image on the stickers and bookmarks. I glued on some collage (paper from an old book) on the bookmarks for added visual interest. 

Same process, different bird...TADA!

I added some thin black ribbon through the holes of the bookmarks. 

Then I neatly tucked in the bookmarks and stickers inside the pockets of the folder. It reminds me of stationery sets that you can buy at a store!

By adding a handwritten card and personalizing the envelope, this little package is on its way to brighten someone's day.  

And that is how I turned junk mail, plain cardstock, and sticker paper from blah to TADA!

*****

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