I told you that a few weeks ago I finished all the pages with the prompts from The Documented Life Project 2015. Today I want to show you the very last page I created and how I bound all the pages into a book.

December 26
December Theme: Storytelling with the Written Word
Art Challenge: Storytelling
Journal Prompt: Storytelling as an underlying fabric

For the last prompt, “Storytelling”, I reflected on the past (creative) year. With a large brush I smeared purple acrylic paint on the page. Because I used an old book for the Documented Life Project, you can see the text shimmering through. With a white marker (Sharpie) I wrote my ‘story’ on top of it.

After I’d finished creating pages with all the promps I had a stack of loose pages (signatures) on my desk, with the inside of the last signature blank and left to fill. For that, I printed the prompts and glued the prints on these pages…

… and I stamped the title on the very first (title) page.

The cover of the book I used for this project was beautiful of itself. It shows the title and an image in golden relief print (“Italian Folk-Fairytales.”) I did not want to cover that up with paint so I stamped my own title on top of it. The old title shows through and I like it that way!

Last but not least: I bound my journal using the Coptic Stitch.

All in all, I am very pleased with this journal. It had been a while since I altered a book and I liked working on the old text-pages during the year. While working in it, all kinds of ideas came to me and I am now turning these ideas into a (live) workshop. More about that soon…

For now: have a good week y’all. If you are stuck in the house because of the snow – stay warm and cosy and if you have to go outside, be careful not to fall. See you soon!

However, I will spend today in my atelier, finishing that spread I am working on. And there’s more on my desk that needs a bit of attention (the Lettering book, for example.) Have a look yourself.

WOYWW #346

The Chronicles journal I bound for this year (see this post) is rather large (29,7 x 42 cm – 11.6 x 16.5 inch) and I am not used to working on weekly spreads that are that large. Last year, my Chronicles journal was a lot smaller. I usually took notes during the week and created a spread in one session at the end of the week. But these pages are just too large to finish in one session…

I did finish all the prompts for The Documented Life Project 2015 and bound them into a journal. Here’s the pages I made with prompt #50 and #51

December 12
December Theme: Storytelling with the Written Word
Art Challenge: Using Quotes & Lyrics as Storytelling
Journal Prompt: “One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can’t utter.” – James Earl Jones

This page came together pretty quick. I found the image of a model, putting make-up (gold powder) on her face, in a magazine and the song Woodstock came to mind (“We Are Stardust, We Are Golden…“) I just added a bit of golden paint and wrote part of the lyrics at the edges.

December 19
December Theme: Storytelling with the Written Word
Art Challenge: Hidden Journaling
Journal Prompt: The greatest gift I can give myself…

This page took a little longer to create… the journaling is not really ‘hidden’ but when you write the text in different angles on top of each other, it’s not readable either. That’s ‘hidden’ too, isn’t it?

So, that’s it for today. I am going to hop on over to the other desks (see the woyww bloghop list over at our hostess Julia) to see what all the other participants are working on. Thanks for your visit!

Before I start waving my brushes, I want to show you another art journal page I created for The Documented Life Project. I made photo’s in between the steps so this blogpost reads like a little tutorial… enjoy!

December 5
December Theme: Storytelling with the Written Word
Art Challenge: Words Front & Center
Journal Prompt: Life is a book. We fill the pages.

Step 1: Glue a piece of design paper, a photo from a magazine or, like I did, a mono-print from your stash on to the page. ( I used Washi tape because the mono-print was a bit smaller than my page, the tape filled up the page nicely.) Be sure the background (paper or photo) is a bit monotonous, which makes it suitable to write over it. Next, draw lines with a white pen (Signo uni-ball.)

Step 2: Writing! Just fill up the spaces between the lines with all kinds of text. Use a black marker. I wrote about how it feels to still work on these Documented Life Project prompts while the new year already started…

Step 3: To make the journaling stand out more; add extra contrast by filling all the spaces.

Step 4: Use a white pen to draw the outlines of a big, bold word or quote over your journaling. (If you’re a bit afraid to use a white marker right away, you can sketch your text with a soft pencil first.) Fill the space around the quote with white paint or gesso. A thin layer makes the journaling shimmer through for an interesting effect. In this case, I left the Washi-tape border as is.

Step 5: Use a black marker to outline the quote, so that the lettering stands out more. You can also doodle a fun border if you like.

So this is my finished page for the DLP prompt of December 5th. I finished all the other prompts too (and bound the pages together into an art journal) but I will show you those some other time.

Have a great weekend. Stay warm and do something fun.
Draw big letters!

The challenges in November were all about stencils, stamps and masks and I liked getting my templates and ink out last week – it had been a while.

November 7
November Theme: Stencils, Stamps & Masks
Art Challenge: Stencils – Made or Bought
Journal Prompt: On the edge of uncertainty… what are you afraid of?

Most of my stencils show abstract patterns. I like those the most as I can use them over and over again. On this page the red stripes (bottom left) and the red circles (to the right) are made with a stencil. I started this page with the idea of putting a figure on the edge of the stripes but I didn’t like that much (you can still see some sort of black figure on the red stripes) so I went with the flow and this page is what came out.

November 14
November Theme: Stencils, Stamps & Masks
Art Challenge: Use a Hand Carved Stamp
Journal Prompt: Tapestries

For my hand carved stamps goes the same as with the stencils: I like the patterns (and hand carved alphabet stamps) best. I used a pattern stamps on the left and at the top (the border/stripes) but I also took out my ‘hand-stamp’. I stamped with red paint but it didn’t show very well, so I outlined the image with a white Signo uni-ball pen.

November 21
November Theme: Stencils, Stamps & Masks
Art Challenge: Use a Mask
Journal Prompt: “Mask”arade

This page shows a mask that I made myself. I found a fashion photo in a magazine and liked the silhouet, so I cut it out of plastic to use as a mask. It’s quite outstanding, and I don’t use it much, but it did well on this page. The quote is by Frank Sinatra and fitted the image.

November 28
November Theme: Stencils, Stamps & Masks
Art Challenge: Combine the Three (Stencils, Stamps & Masks)
Journal Prompt: “Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.” ~ Henry James

For the challenge “combine stencils, masks and hand carved stamps” I started with a page that I already had in my stash. It was an orange-yellowish page that showed a white figure. The colors ánd image felt quite happy, so I added more color to enforce that feeling. For the green/blue circles (flowers?) I rubbed paint through a stencil. For the purple images I used Julie Balzer’s stencil “pomegranate” and purple spray Dylusions spray ink. I used hand carved stamps in the border.

Are you following any projects, challenges or workshops this year? Did you in the past? Do you ever give up or get behind, and how do you handle that? I’d like to know.

October 3
October Theme: Translucent Papers
Art Challenge: Deli Paper
Journal Prompt: You Had Me At Hello

I used deli paper with my gelli plate and glued the monoprint on the background.

October 10
October Theme: Translucent Papers
Art Challenge: Tissue Paper
Journal Prompt: The Disappearing Trick

For this page, I colored tissue paper with red spray ink. I made a mistake by varnishing the page with bookbind glue instead of matte mod podge (the two cups stood next to each other on my desk and I noticed too late that I put my brush in the wrong can…) This page is very glossy now – that’s not what I wanted but it’s done now.

October 17
October Theme: Translucent Papers
Art Challenge: Vellum
Journal Prompt: Sheer Genius

I cleaned, decluttered and redecorated my atelier in September and came across a lot of scrap-booking paper. I remembered that there was a sheet of vellum with clouds-print in my stack and I used it on the silhouette of the head. The silhouette was cut out of a mono-print and the total page is glued in my journal. You can see the background (an old book page) shimmer through.

October 24
October Theme: Translucent Papers
Art Challenge: Glassine
Journal Prompt: Windows of My Mind

I could not figure out what ‘glassine’ is but looking at the examples that the DLP-team showed, I thought it would be OK to use this paper. I don’t know what the name is, but it’s used in photo-albums between the pages. I blind-drew a face, put the translucent paper over it and painted it black so that only the eyes show through. You can lift the top page to see the original drawing.

October 31
October Theme: Translucent Papers
Art Challenge: Tea Bags, Dryer Sheets, Fibrous Papers
Journal Prompt: Just Create!

I let used teabags sit on watercolor-paper all night and these stains is what came out of it. Looking at the stains I got drawn to the top left shape, I thought it looked like a figure and “Le Petit Prince” came to mind, so I tore out that particular part to use on my page.

Thanks for visiting me today, see you later this week!

Good morning dear ones. A cold, gray morning in The Netherlands but I don’t have to go outside today so it’s OK with me. My sewing machine is on my desk (sewing on paper… nice!) I put the radio on and I entertain myself in the atelier. But first, let me entertain you with four art journal pages I created a while ago with the September prompts from The Documented Life Project.

September 5
September Theme: Journaling with Photos
Art Challenge: Photo Transfer
Journal Prompt: From Here to There

“From here to there” made me think of the bridge I have to cross when I want to go into town. I found an old postcard of the bridge, printed a copy of it and transfered it onto this page.

September 12
September Theme: Journaling with Photos
Art Challenge: Digital Imagery & Design
Journal Prompt: What Makes Your Heart Sing?

This is a photo of my feet. I used a Photoshop-filter to alter the picture. The photo has a Summer-feel to it which makes me think of walking barefoot on the beach. The text says “Walking barefoot through the surf of the sea on a sweet Summer evening makes my heart sing.”

September 19
September Theme: Journaling with Photos
Art Challenge: Silhouettes
Journal Prompt: There is no shadow without the light…

I cut out a magazine photo in the shape of a silhouette… the contrast of ‘sweet’ (the photo of a girl on the beach) and ‘hard’ (the straight silhouette) shows the contrast I wanted to picture. The journaling is about the both sides I have in me…

September 26
September Theme: Journaling with Photos
Art Challenge: Storyboard
Journal Prompt: A Week in the Life…

These photos are taken from my balcony last year. I planned to take a photo every day during a year but I stopped after two weeks – I found the scenery too boring and nothing changed much in 24 hours. (I might pick up the idea again taking weekly photos instead of daily…) I don’t know why I saved these photos… a few times I was close to deleting the series but now I am glad I didn’t ’cause it fitted well for this prompt.

A while ago, Art to the 5th presented the details of DLP 2016 but I will not join for several reason. The main thing: DLP works with a planner next year and I already have my “Chronicles.” Also, after a year of working with DLP I find it too much of an obligation to keep up with the weekly prompts. I might join again sometime, but I will take a break from it next year. I might still be finishing the prompts of 2015 in January.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, I really appreciate it. Have a nice weekend!

August 8
August Theme: Faces, the Human Form & Characters
Art Challenge: Characters
Journal Prompt: “If you’re going to be weird, be confident about it!” (Author Unknown)

This page don’t need no explanation… weird = weird 😉

August 15
August Theme: Faces, the Human Form & Characters
Art Challenge: Painted
Journal Prompt: How do I face my biggest challenge?

My biggest challenge? Painting a face! This is my attempt on painting a face. I used pallet knifes instead of a brush and I kinda like the outcome. I should practice this way more though and I plan to do that, as I got me the book Mixed Media Portraits by Pam Carriker.

August 22
August Theme: Faces, the Human Form & Characters
Art Challenge: Layered (Using Multiple Mediums)
Journal Prompt: Speak to your younger self – what advice would you offer?

I remembered to take photos in between (yay!) so that you can see the layers build up. And yes, that’s me on that photo. “Speak to your younger self – what advice would you offer?” My advice: “although the world is a harsh place and bad things happen, keep the faith that there will always be beautiful things and nice people.”

Here’s the finished page with the journaling and a lot of doodling.

August 29
August Theme: Faces, the Human Form & Characters
Art Challenge: Self Portrait
Journal Prompt: Mirror Mirror

My blind drawn self portrait…  I’m glad I took a photo of it, ’cause I worked on it some more and I don’t like the finished page much. I should have stopped with the drawing.

I think of these four pages, I like the first one the best… but I’m proud about my painted portrait too… which one of these do you like best?

Thanks for stopping by my blog today & have a great weekend. Do something that makes you happy. Paint a portrait!

Since I was approximately ten years old, I have been documenting my life. I kept diaries when I was a child, all through my teens (oohhh, how those descriptions of boys I had a crush on make me laugh now) and into my adult life. I still write, but not as much as I used to because I document my life in my art journals now (especially in my Chronicles.) This year, I decided to play along with The Documented Life Project  and make one art journal page with the weekly prompts. I started out OK and kept up with the prompts until May… but during the Summer Months I got behind. I am now catching up with the prompts and made three more pages in the last weeks. I presume I will not have all the prompts finished by the end of the year, but I will definitely finish the 52 prompts in 2016 (I’m not sure if I will join next year’s Project though…)

So, here’s three pages I created with July/August prompts.

July 18
July Theme: Ephemera
Art Challenge: Photographs & Memories
Journal Prompt: “All that I have to remember you” – Jim Croce

This is me at 21 on the photo. I was a student at the Art School and all students had to take an extra course on photography. Now I learned how to develop and print photos in a dark room from my dad already. When I told the teacher I had those skills, he asked me to proof it by printing a photo series. My friend Thea and I went outside, she took a number of photos of me and I used the dark room at school to print them. I got my certificate without having to follow all the lessons.

July 25
July Theme: Ephemera
Art Challenge: Real Life
Journal Prompt: At this Moment

“Real Life” has changed a lot in the past two years… selling the house, moving to another place… dealing with burn out et cetera. This page shows living with those uncertainties… and yes, after being stopped for 9 months, I do smoke again. I just couldn’t deal with all the stress without nicotine.

August 1
August Theme: Faces, the Human Form & Characters
Art Challenge: Expressive Faces
Journal Prompt: What I see clearly now

When I read the prompt “Expressive Faces” I immediately thought about blind drawing. I just LOVE that technique, the outcome is always surprising and, yes, expressive. The right face on the page was drawn blind. Now that I re-discovered blind drawing you will probably see some more of these faces on my next art journal pages.

I will not close my eyes today though, as the sun is shining and the day is too beautiful to shut my eyes! Hope your day and weekend is filled with sunshine and love. Look around and enjoy life, with or without documenting.

Here’s what my desk looked like this morning

WOYWW #334

You may be curious to see the small artist book that is in the window-sill, but I haven’t taken photos of the pages yet. However, I do have bigger art journal pages for you because I created two more pages for The Documented Life Project.

July 4
July Theme: Ephemera
Art Challenge: Using Old Maps, Letters, Tickets & More
Journal Prompt: Life…with a history

I was born and raised on the peninsula “Walcheren” in Zeeland (which is a province in The Netherlands) and I moved back here last year. Most Dutch people who think of Zeeland mention the 1953 North Sea flood (Dutch: Watersnoodramp, literally “flood disaster.”) It was a major flood caused by a heavy storm. In the night of 31 January – 1 February 1953, many dikes in the provinces of Zeeland, South Holland and North Brabant proved unable to resist the combination of spring tide and a northwesterly storm. On both the islands and the mainland, large areas of country were flooded. Many people still commemorate the dead on 1 February.

Most Dutch people presume that Walcheren was flooded too, but that wasn’t the case in 1953… Walcheren ‘drowned’ in 1944 already, during World War II. Here’s a little ‘history lesson’ for you.

Atlantikwall and the inundation of Walcheren

The former island Walcheren was an important part of the German Atlantikwall. The coastline from Vlissingen to Westkapelle dominated the entrance of the river Schelde which is entrance to the port of Antwerp in Belgium. The island itself can be thought of as a saucer with a rim of dunes and dikes. During WW 2 there were two lines off German bunkers build, one which was right on top of the dunes and dikes at the seaside and a second line about 1 to 2 kilometers inland. […] An allied invasion from the sea was not possible and an approach over land was long and very well protected by the second line of bunkers (the land front).

Although the town of Antwerp and its harbor were liberated it could not be used by the allied forces because the entrance was blocked by the German defense line at Walcheren. The solution the allied forces chose was bombing the dunes and dikes at four locations at the beginning of October 1944. This opened the ‘rim’ of the saucer and the island was inundated, thus rendering the second German defense lines useless.

The changes in the landscape are very well visible today. On all four locations inland lakes were created by the power of the incoming water. The whole island suffered from this inundation.

(text copied from this website)

By 1953, the dikes of Walcheren were restored. Since they were heavy and new, they protected the isle of Walcheren from the flood. While the rest of Zeeland suffered from the storm and flood, the habitants of Walcheren kept it dry.

The page I created for The Documented Life Project shows flooded houses from that time and the story I mention above.

July 11
July Theme: Ephemera
Art Challenge: Focal Point vs. Layering*
Journal Prompt: Time keeps on ticking

*Your challenge is to create a focal point on your piece this week. Add layering as you choose.

A lot of hooded and veiled figures appear in my art journal lately. I puzzled over the ‘why’ but then it became clear: it started with my new art journal! The book that I am working in (see former post) contains photos taken in Morocco and a lot of veiled women are on the photos. These characters appear on all my art journal pages now…

Oops, this is a rather long post and I know ‘Wednesday desk hoppers’ don’t like that – sorry guys! I’ll stop typing right now.

Enjoy your day.
Stay dry!

June 20
June Theme: Travel Journaling
Art Challenge: Hometown Inspiration
Journal Prompt: There is no place like home

For the prompt ‘Hometown inspiration’ I used a photo of my grandmother Keetje (on the right) and her sister Jans, sitting next to their grandfather Jan Maljers (my great great grandfather.) I have a few photos of this photogenic guy – I guess he was a bit vain ’cause it was not very common in those days to have your picture taken. I’m glad he did though, as I love to see these ancient pics. I used photos of him on scrap booking lay outs  in earlier years (see this post and this post) but I cannot remember using this photo before. The girls are wearing the traditional costumes of Zeeland. Jans wore the costume until her death in 1984 but my grandmother changed to wearing, what they call, ‘civilian clothes’ when she got older. (I don’t know when exactly, but I have a brides-photo of her in her twenties wearing a ‘normal’ dress…)

Now that I mentioned the eighties… for the next prompt I used photos I took myself in 1985.

June 27
June Theme: Travel Journaling
Art Challenge: Photos and Words
Journal Prompt: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

In 1985, the artist Christo wrapped the Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris.

On September 22, 1985, a group of 300 professional workers completed the temporary work of art The Pont Neuf Wrapped. They had deployed 450,000 square feet (41,800 square meters) of woven polyamide fabric, silky in appearance and golden sandstone in color, covering:

• The sides and vaults of the twelve arches, without hindering river traffic.
• The parapets down to the ground.
• The sidewalks and curbs (pedestrians walked on the fabric).
• All the street lamps on both sides of the bridge.
• The vertical part of the embankment of the western tip of the Île de la Cité.
• The Esplanade of the Vert-Galant.

I was in art school back then and of course our class HAD to see that piece of art with our own eyes… so the teachers hired a bus and our class went to Paris to see (and walk on) the Pont Neuf.

(I can hardly believe thirty years passed since then!)

Thanks for stopping by my blog today sweeties.
I’ll be back later this week with more art.
Have a great week.
Be happy.
Be creative.
Wrap a bridge 😉