Story Book Love

A love out of a story book

Art journaling challenge - Page 2

I already have two more finished pages for my Art Journaling Challenge, yay! If you missed the first one, you will find it below and I’ll be updating the list as I add more pages. So I’m sharing one new journal spread today and will share the other one later this week, stay tuned! Today’s page is all about a love story…

The Art Journaling Challenge:

I’ve decided to complete my current art journal by the end of the year so I can start a brand new one on January 1st! I’ll be sharing the pages each week and you’re invited to follow along. You can even set your own goal to end the year in a creative way!

And to celebrate, I will reopen enrollment for my art journaling class, The Artist & the Journal, in the first week of January too.

Today’s page started during a demo in a live class some months ago. This is different from starting a page alone in the studio, but I’m always amazed how even in a group setting, every participant eventually ends up creating a little bubble of stillness around them, sometimes becoming so deeply involved in their work that they completely “forget” what’s happening in the room.

In those moments I sometimes start playing in my journal, so I’m not tempted to interfere, and students can freely come and take a look at what I’m doing, ask me questions etc. I also often use my journal to demonstrate techniques, as well as use up any paint left-overs, so after a class is over I often come home with one or several pages started (at least they’re not blank anymore!).

If I remember correctly, I think I first spotted the book pages with the title “Inséparables” in French at the top. They were from a book one of the students brought and the title just appealed to me. With no preconceived idea in mind, I glued the pages side by side on my journal spread, filling most of the space. It felt as though a book was lying open on top of my journal, and that was interesting.

Flipping through a magazine, I almost immediately found the vintage image of the couple, which seemed to fit perfectly. It’s an illustration by Edmund Dulac and I love the pre-raphaelite feel of it.

But of course, that day I was more focused on what was going on in the classroom than on the page, so I just glued the image in the first spot that felt right, then from time to time kept adding some collage papers around the two book pages, and left it at that.

I did not come back to this spread until a few weeks ago, when I finally decided to open my journal again. I still very much loved the title, “Inséparables”, but didn’t want to be influenced by the text itself, so that another story might have a chance to emerge.

I wasn’t ready to really dive into art journaling again, but I felt I needed to do something, anything really to just get started. So I grabbed a leaf-patterned stencil from my box, and some white acrylic paint, then I simply covered up most of the text. I let the paint dry and then closed the journal again for several more weeks.

When I opened it again a few days ago, I was finally ready to this page to life. I had started the challenge, had already completed some pages and was back in the flow.

The first thing I noticed was that the stenciled white paint looked more like angel feathers than leaves, and I liked that. I started journaling a little bit, just to warm up, and the words that came were “A love out of a story book”. The couple did feel like characters in a story… but what story? I was curious to find out…

At the top left of the spread is the image of a candle, and in the bottom right corner a small green glass reminded me of an inkpot. I had added those elements without really thinking about it during that live class, but now they started to make sense, as though my journal had become the writing desk of some mysterious author, writing some exotic love story by candle light, in an open book where characters awaited their fate.

Keeping this idea in mind, I started darkening the outline of the “book” to give it some dimension. I always feel like my art journal is a story book, and now there was a book within the book!

I had also gathered a variety of papers for collage and started placing some of them on top of the page to see how they would fit. I built upon the elements present in the illustration: romantic flowers, pink and purple, the night…

Then it was time to glue them in place and integrate them within the page by blending the edges and adding more color. I used mainly Pitt Artist pens for this, as well as a black Stabilo pencil and some more acrylic paint in places. Then I splattered alcohol inks to add color and movement (I don’t think there is a single page in my journal that doesn’t have alcohol ink splatters!).

But the story kept eluding me: if those two were “inseparable”, then obviously it implied that some sort of force was trying to separate them, just like Romeo and Juliet. But what could it be? The man has a pleading look on his face, he seems to be praying to the moon and stars, to the divine, or maybe… to the author?

It started to feel somewhat frustrating not to know from which story this illustration came from, and yet I didn’t want to look it up because not knowing allowed me to imagine. The little heart on the right page seemed to be telling me that love would prevail, that there would be a happy ending no matter what.

And then it all clicked: I spotted some butterfly wings on my little pile of papers (I guess I always have butterfly wings around!). They were beige-colored and too small, yet when I placed them on the lady’s back, it all started to make sense...

I rummaged around for some bigger, brighter wings that would suit her better, and then I really knew: she was a fairy! In love with a man, a simple human being. Coming from two different worlds, different realms, they should not be together, their love is supposed to be impossible… yet they have found each other, their hearts beating as one, “inseparable”.

“They have found each other, their hearts beating as one, “inseparable”.”

Once the story had revealed itself, the page felt almost complete. I finished it with some “fairy” lights and touches of gold, to add a sense of magic and joy, because I have no doubt that those two will live “happily ever after”.

At a deeper level, I also love how this page is telling me that nothing is impossible, that when we believe in our dreams, and live from our whole heart, we get to bend the “rules” of the world and write our own story, our way…

I love the magic of art journaling so much: starting with no preconceived idea, letting serendipity have its way and watching stories emerge. As though the simple act of showing up and opening the journal was an invitation for stories to come and play. At times it feels like I’m a spectator, a witness and a vessel more than the actual creator of those pages. It really does feel magical (plus it takes the pressure off!).

Of course, not all pages turn out this way, some end up a lot more abstract, like the one from last week. But all of them are meaningful in their own way. They all have gifts of wisdom to offer if I just take the time to seat with my journal and create.

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This is just the beginning of this Art Journaling Challenge for me and I wonder where the journal will take me next. I hope you’ll be there to find out with me! I also hope this inspires you to dedicate some time to your own creativity and you will also find plenty of free art journaling resources, blog posts and more pages from my journal HERE. Enjoy!