Hello World: How to Art Journal your trash
…unless we are creators we are not fully alive. What do I mean by creators? Not only artists, whose acts of creation are the obvious ones of working with paint of clay or words. Creativity is a way of living life, no matter our vocation or how we earn our living. Creativity is not limited to the arts, or having some kind of important career.
― Madeleine L’Engle
Today I am sharing a blog post in a familiar format for me. I think it’s one I made up. It is simple.
The format: a couple of close-up photos of an art journal page (three this time) and then we end with a photo of the entire spread in all its glory. I call it taking a peek inside my art journal, and maybe also inside my world.
If you love ideas on how to fill a new notebook you can see the very humble beginning of this art journal page when I was setting up my Stalogy notebook and created the Washi Tape End Papers. The off cuts of the endpaper didn’t end up in the trash, but instead I added them to this page in my altered book (which is what I use as an art journal). That was the humble start. Then I just kept adding in “trash” like fruit stickers, labels, sticker left-overs, price tags, used stamps, tiny images and some bit of packaging I found laying around.
I would definitely call this a process page, where the creating is more important than the finished outcome. The finished outcome was as unplanned as it possible could be. Unexpected even.
So why am I sharing it? Because I think this is a fun idea/prompt for an art journal page.
Keep a spread open on your desk and keep playing. Keep adding little bits of this and that, and see where you end up.
Yours will look nothing like mine, I’m sure. You might not have stickers or washi tape, but maybe Christmas wrapping paper bits or candy wrappers? You might not want to paint the page as I did. You might want to keep adding to it until the original layer is totally covered. I’d love to see your pages inspired by this idea!
Then you might finish it off with a few words, a message of sorts perhaps…
Hello world
The result is not as obvious as an Evidence Page with notes to go along with what you’re documenting, but it is evidence of life lived in a way anyway, as all pages perhaps are.
In my finished spread I can spot paper bits that I got as gifts, in happy mail, items I’ve printed, bought and created, fruits I’ve eaten, stickers I bought this summer, candles lit, excursions experienced, postcards sent out… I’m sure you’ll see different things than I do and that’s fine with me. I just wanted to share it today, trash collection that it is.
Trash or art material, it is always up for your to decide on your own. It might not seem subjective at first, but I think it is. Especially these days, when repurposing and recycling is high on everyone’s agenda. One woman’s trash is someone else’s happy place, am I right?
This post is part of NaBloPoMo where I write 30 blog posts in November. Thanks for reading and leaving me a comment, it encourages me to keep going. To follow along subscribe to blog posts via email or RSS. I also have a sweet Substack Newsletter about art, craft and creativity that you might want to sign up for so that we can keep in touch in the future. I’d love that. On instagram I’m @ihannas and on YouTube Studio iHanna. Take care and stay creative friends.
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Hanna, thank you for nurturing us. The postcards go out Monday and I’ve started a series of felt leaves.
Aw, that’s what I want to do. Thanks for letting me know you’re on target with the postcards for the swap. Yay!
What a gorgeous jumble of color! Love these pages as a way to catalog your experience!
Thank you Suzanne, I’m glad you like it as well.
I’m always in awe of anyone who does this, I really would like to try and have a go, but think maybe it will look stupid. But of course, that’s silly, the whole point is to just have fun and see where it goes … Clearly, I need to take lessons from you, and just jump in with both feet.
Thanks Alexandra. I was hesitant for a few months before I decided to give it a try many years ago now, and I have never regretted giving it a try even though I made many pages I wasn’t loving very much in the beginning. But I loved the process enough to keep going and these days it is much easier and more intuitive than it was in the beginning. I hope you give it a try.
Such a fun layout! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Rachel. :-)
Loving your gradual gathering of “found paper” and the 100% delightful finished page. One could go on a treasure hunt and explore the hidden details and gems mixed together!
What an interesting idea and approach. Seeing you your and Tammy’s journal spreads this month really makes me want to dive into this practice too. I immediately pictured a whole page of fruit stickers when I read that word “fruit sticker”.
Thanks for inspiring.
This is beautiful! And, I almost hesitate to say this, but something I could actually attempt myself. Thanks for sharing this!