a peek inside my art journal

preparing my art journal for the new year!

Supplies: any kind of watercolor tablet or pad, matte acrylic paint (so your pages won't stick together), a variety of pens for mark making, scraps of paper for collage layers

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

a peek inside my art journal and a batch of handmade journals in the shop!

We've been hard at work over here creating a new big batch of handmade art journals. I am blown away by the response to these journals- we literally cannot keep up with the demand! You can head on over to the shop HERE to see the entire offering.

a peek inside my art journal

NEW art journals in the shop

We've been hard at work over here creating a new big batch of handmade art journals. I am blown away by the response to these journals- we literally cannot keep up with the demand! 

This time around we have added a few different journal styles-

Printed Journals:

Hand carved and printed cover (and back cover) with my drawings. These journals measure 6 x 6 inches or 4 x 6 inches and have 24 pages- 20 blank and 4 painted. I've gotten a lot of feedback where I've been told that customers were afraid to paint over my colorful painted paper! So if you are looking for more of a blank art journal with a fancy handmade cover that includes hand painted paper sprinkled throughout this is the journal for you!

Painted Journals:

These one of a kind art journals have a messy painted cover and back cover and have 24 pages- 12 painted and 12 blank. These also measure 6 x 6 inches and 4 x 6 inches.

All journals are handmade and bound with a spiral binding. The paper inside is my personal favorite paper- Fabriano cold press 140 lb watercolor paper- perfect for all kinds of mixed media layers and techniques!

Head on over to the shop to see everything HERE

make a $5.00 art journal

I have STRONG opinions about art supplies and materials. I believe: you don't need to spend a lot of money to make art. In fact, spending money on the latest trending items won't make you more creative or a better artist. As someone who has lived most of my life on a budget, I've had to find ways to get really creative with supplies. Over time and lots of experience, I've come the the conclusion that it is ok (and sometimes better) to keep things simple or even get creative with the materials that you already own! 

Today I am sharing on of my all time favorite ways to cut corners, get creative with supplies and pull together a cheap but colorful art journal for about $5.00!

art journal watercolors from Alisa Burke on Vimeo.

This process has been something I have been doing since college art classes as a way to keep a colorful visual journal where I can sketch, take notes, free write, collage and experiment with new ideas and techniques. 

I love the Strathmore 5.5" x 8.5" watercolor paper pads. At $2.25 they are SO affordable and make a really great surface for all kinds of wet media and techniques (anything from watercolors, acrylic painting, gelli printing, etc all work well on this paper).

While you can use any of your favorite mixed media supplies, a set of Crayola watercolors is perfect if you are creating on a budget. For around $2.50, you can create colorful backgrounds!

Since I love to draw and create in layers, it is important for me to make use of simple supplies to create a journal that has colorful pages. These backgrounds are the first of many layers that will happen in my art journals- there is something about having color on a page (instead of all that white space) that makes jumping into drawing a little more exciting!

I keep all of my papers in the journal and then paint over the top of the cover. In a flash, (for less than $5.00) I have a colorful art journal all ready to go!

kid's art journal

Something I get asked all the time is what do we do with all of that art that Lucy makes. Let me first say that I've kept everything that she has drawn and painted. Her art is precious to me, just as precious as photos because it is a history of her growth and all those little stages she has gone through (scribbling, dots, lines, circles, color choices, faces, etc). As an artist, it has been amazing- like one of the most amazing things I've ever seen- to watch creativity develop in a tiny person and I cherish each and every scribble. With that said, we have three years worth of art organized in files and boxes. One of the most important things that I do is scan or photograph a lot of that art so that I also have a digital copy but lately I have been sorting her art and binding it into books or art journals.

These bound journals have been a great way to begin organizing all that art and keeping track of Lucy's creative history and development. Over the holidays we created a huge journal from Lucy's art as a gift for my parents. They are the most difficult people to shop for so this collection of art was the perfect gift.

The best part of this project was getting Lucy involved in selecting art and making art for the book. Together we spent weeks digging through boxes of her art, picking out favorites and even making new art. 

We included art from all her creative stages.

I added photos here and there but I didn't want this to be a photo album or scrapbook so I kept most pages simple with one photo and the rest art and threw in a few spreads full of photos.

The result is a beautiful art journal with over 40 pages of Lucy's art. Needless to say, it was a HUGE hit. 

Something about collecting and binding all that art makes everything feel and look so much more special and it is really fun to flip through all those colorful pages and see her growth. 

Speaking of art journals, I've got another batch in the shop HERE and a couple of those journals are really large (11 x 14), have 40 pages and doodles all over the front and back.