The Sketchbook Project, Part II by artist Nancy Laliberte

As mentioned in my last post, a couple of months ago I signed up to be a part of the Sketchbook Project, a traveling library of artists' sketchbooks. Today's post is a continuation of the pages I created for my book, "Viewing...from the Heart."

While on vacation earlier this month, I created a couple of colorful spreads using acrylic paint, a permanent ink pen, metallic gel pens (because every day should have a little sparkle in it), and a rubber stamp (which I had put on the page before leaving on my trip). I did accidentally dip my brush in the coffee cup one time, but never in my pie! 

This page started out with a tissue paper background (tissue paper that was inside the box of a recent winter boot purchase), with hand-painted papers and hand-made papers collaged on top of parts of that with matte medium. Some of the hand-made papers had metallic gold (there's that sparkle again!) in them, and as I looked at the page and pondered what to do next, the words to a hymm sung at my church popped into my head. I grabbed my markers and pens and started writing away.

Here is another page spread that started out with hand-made and scrap papers glued down with matte medium, then painted over with Tombow markers and acrylic paints, and then text and a few drawings added with a white gel pen. I've noticed I often use pink and green in my art journaling. And now that I think about, my wardrobe contains a lot of pinks and greens, too...

The center spread--after pages of color, I kept it simple with black and white and a pop of color using Zentangle inspiration and gel pens. 

After all of that ink work on the center spread, there was quite a bit of bleed-through on this page that I wasn't sure what to do about. I dug through my pile of papers and ephemera and found this fiber-y, ochre-colored piece of paper that inspired me to paint a bird's nest on it. The paper covered up most of the marker, and it's color and texture worked well with the theme of the page.

There are still a few pages left from this fun project that I will show in my next post... 

Curious to give this a try, but don't know where to start?

Don't be shy, come join the sketchbook movement! I will be teaching a mini-workshop, "Creative Journaling for Busy People" on Saturday, February 1, from 12 noon to 4:00 pm at the Center for Visual Arts in Wausau, WI. Cost is $50 + $8 material fee. Just bring a 9 x 12 sketchbook preferably with 90 lb. paper or more, all of your other materials are included making it super easy for you to show up and have fun! Register with the CVA at 815-842-4545. More information is on their website and mine. See you there!