"Year of the Doodle" Art Journal

Hello Dear Ones!

I began a daily journey in January in a wonderful new book/journal/planner/tracker called "Year of the Doodle" by Author Dawn DeVries Sokol. The paper is wonderfully thick and takes all types of media quite well. A sort of collaged/mixed media background has already been subtly added by the talented author and the days are numbered. It works for any year since there are no days of the week associated with the numbers. It was less than $12 on Amazon at this link:

https://www.amazon.com/Year-Doodle-Collaging-Mark-Making-Adventures/dp/161769178X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1476730269&sr=8-1&keywords=Year+of+the+doodle

There's a great book review at this link that provides lots of details about the book:

https://isniffbooks.wordpress.com/2015/11/02/review-for-year-of-the-doodle/

This is a wonderful way to practice creating and/or tracking your time. The link on Amazon shows an amazing peek at the book but I've added a few photos here for reference. One of the photos gives an example of how the pages look (rather like they have been collaged using various papers) when you buy the book and the others are my art on top of it. I typically start out by drawing with a Sakura Micron Black Pen (or pencil if I'm concerned that I might mess up with pen). I then use watercolor pencils which allow you to color with pencils (rather haphazardly is my method) and then use an aquabrush to add water evenly to the colored areas. The addition of water transforms the colored pencils into watercolor! I like to add more lines and texture with my black Sakura Micron Pen and possibly a white Sharpie Pen to finish it off.

The prompts consist of verbiage geared to trigger your imagination (such as: "doodle like the artist Marc Chagall" or "doodle a roller coaster").  There's a Facebook page created by the author where I post my work.

The idea is that the background provides an unintimidating place to add one's art. The prompts provide sparks of inspiration! 

This is an excellent book for anyone who enjoys a little drawing or likes an interesting background for their planner or tracker. It provides excellent art therapy and exercises eye to hand coordination. I highly recommend the book to all who are interested as it will provide many hours of fun!

Letter Journals (LJs)

LJs Created Using a Variety
of Methods on top of Junk Mail

LJs and Snail Mail - Hello dear ones! Today I wanted to share a "round robin" art swap group I joined earlier this year which included folks around the globe! I was invited by my wonderful, talented friend Sue from Australia to participate in this warm and wonderful group called: "Letter Journal Love." To build an LJ to fit U.S. Business size envelopes (#10) which measure 4-1/8x9-1/2," trim 5 pieces of U.S. paper (which starts at 8-1/2x11") to 8x7." Fold these together lengthwise, lightly stitch them in the middle with a very simple stitch using a large needle and embroidery thread, and you'll end up with a folded booklet of 8x3-1/2" which fits inside a U.S. Business envelope. This should also fit international envelopes. An alternative is to make your own envelopes and there is plenty of info on the internet on  that. We keep LJs lightweight to keep postage down and don't use organic material that might be prohibited from coming through our mail systems. We even add tidbits or treats of punched paper or stickers for the people we're sending to sometimes! 

The host of the group is my fantastically imaginative friend from Australia, Jade Herriman! She discusses details here: https://jadeherriman.com/2016/07/20/loving-letter-journals/  She's setup a FaceBook Page for the group to post about their LJs. To start off a swap, a person will use the FaceBook Page to ask for 3 or 4 volunteers to join them and specify details such as: will it be International or restricted to their country, is there a theme to follow, what are the timelines (it's important to know if folks will be away from their mailbox!). Addresses and the mailing order are exchanged using the Messenger App to keep private information within each small LJ group. When LJs are received or mailed, sneak peeks are posted on the "Letter Journal Love" FaceBook Page to share the beautiful art being passed around. Each LJ cover is given identifying marks (such as "Barb's LJ#1 dated --- to ---" - see above left for an example). The originator typically creates a place on the inside front cover for group members to jot down a few notes about themselves. On the inside back cover, the originator provides addresses for the group in the order the LJ will be passed around, as established by the swap lead. The inner 16 pages are for the group members to decorate. Members each decorate a few pages, then sign and date them to communicate those pages are completed. They may also doodle a little on other (incomplete) pages. The organizer can set the specifications for this - how many pages each person should decorate, etc. Everyone starts with an LJ and after being mailed around, it returns to them with wonderful decorations from their team mates!  

Tessa's LJ Page to Me

My Art Over Tessa's Page

LJs Shared Instantly & Decorated with iPhone Apps - Although creating and sharing paper journals in snail mail is a lot of fun, the cost of postage (especially internationally) and long waiting periods due to mailing can sometimes be frustrating. The LJs I mailed were between $2 and $3 (USD) each. Mail to and from Australia could take 2 to 3 weeks. An LJ can take 4 months to come back to you, depending upon many factors. Because of this, I I partnered with illustrious, gorgeous Tessa Wyatt to try something different - Digital LJs! We created LJs and photographed or scanned them then shared them on FaceBook (Messenger works too) and decorated each other's digitally using our iphones and some iphoto apps that blend art and photos and give us other ways to manipulate our art. We provided the finished products back to each other digitally, as well. 

My Page to Tessa Created
by Collaging Sheet Music
Over Junk Mail and Adding
Washi Tape

Tessa's Art Over My Page

Tessa gives a wonderful description of her process using iphone apps in this manner on her blog at:

https://tesswyatt.wordpress.com/2016/06/22/messing-about-with-my-iphone-apps/

This is a wonderful way to get instant gratification! We didn't have to wait days/weeks to work through our swap! It won't be replacing snail mail any time soon, but it's another fun art project to be aware of. My use of the apps was minimal but I think Tessa spent more time and created a much more sophisticated product - so gorgeous, don't you think?  I enjoyed this so much that I signed up for an online art class called "Paint and Pixels" to learn how to use iPad Apps and photos and create beautiful digital art from the wonderful artist, Ivy Newport! I've been eyeing the class for about a year and she just marked it down 30% so I was delighted to jump in! I'll blog about it soon but you can read more and sign up at: http://ivynewport.com/purchase-paint-and-pixels/   If you enjoyed my blog post, please enter your email address above where it says "Follow by Email"  to subscribe to future updates which will come out every week or two. I would also love to have you subscribe to my YouTube Channel (Barbara Hauenstein's Happy Art") at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCluMZdFIgDl9pxum0JfBDsw to be notified when I produce new videos. I have a list of fun videos I'd like to create aimed at helping you de-stress your life by enjoying Happy Art, but also welcome your comments on what you'd like to see on YouTube as well as what you'd like to have me blog about! Thank you for hopping by! :)

Inktober #02 - Prompt: NOISY

This is what happens when you mix up a mixed media girl with ink! You end up with a mixed media face in ink, ha ha! I couldn't resist adding a bit of inky color plus an acrostic-style version of the word NOISY. The story is that she's having problems because her neighbors are noisy! :) #Inktober, #Inktober2016

Inktober #01 - Prompt: FAST. (Inktober is back - YAY!)

Inktober is a creative challenge started by Mr. Jake Parker in 2009 where artists from around the world create inked art daily or weekly during the month of October. The challenge is to draw something in ink and post it daily or weekly and I like the daily practice! Here's my #1 for 1 October for the prompt "Fast": FAST IS RELATIVE. It's a real first for me - I don't remember ever drawing mules, ha ha! You can join in the fun too! Just look over the below rules (not many) and prompts. If you'd rather ink up something on your own (not follow the prompts), that's fine too. Then, post to your Facebook Page or other favorite social media and add the hashtags #Inktober and #Inktober2016 to enable searching. Please join me in this fun challenge! #Inktober, #Inktober2016

Inktober Rules and Prompt List

My first Inktober Drawing for prompt #1 "FAST." 

"The Circle" Daisy Yellow Workshop

I've been deeply inspired by Tammy Garcia's fabulous Daisy Yellow Art website at daisyyellowart.com for the past several years! She's most well known for holding a wonderful free creative challenge by posting 61 prompts (1 per day) during June and July for many years back where many people around the world push themselves to create art on an index card every day (thus the name "ICAD"). She hosts an associated Facebook page where everyone may post the index cards they've created which address the prompts or anything else the person wishes to create! Close bonds develop between thousands of people around the world as they post and sweetly comment on each other's family-friendly index card-size works of art, providing support and encouragement to one another to spur everyone on to posting for the entire 61 days, if possible. It's been a stress-free, supportive, loving place to create.

This year, Tammy developed a new paid workshop called "The Circle" at http://daisyyellowart.com/workshops/  ntended to compliment the ICAD experience by adding more than 61 unique posts to inspire us to dig deeper into our creative practices as we take our creativity to new levels. Projects include everything from collecting inspiration in an idea book to making circles into slices and merging pieces together like slices of pie!

This thought provoking workshop encourages deep thought about art and causes us to move out of our comfort zone and explore the hows, whys and what ifs of our personal journeys with the creative process. Like other projects from Daisy Yellow, we are encouraged to enjoy the process without worrying about the end result. Tammy has always pushed us up the mountain of possibilities into a new chalet of opportunities and now, with this workshop, has provided easy to follow steps to get us to that optimal place we need to go but never realized! The Workshop is online and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week until December 2017. It contains many new projects and ideas. I've been happily enjoying working through the many areas on my own time and in many different media including ink sprays, pen drawings, acrylic paint, collage and more. I highly recommend this Workshop to the novice and seasoned artist alike, since it is a motivational, yet self-paced, warm, and welcoming place to explore ones art and the creative process.

Here are a few pieces I created that work to the prompts of "The Circle."

Video 002. Learn to Stencil and Doodle Envelopes - Uploaded!

I uploaded my second video on YouTube! The link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAv6GIlaAUk. I demonstrate how you can use a simple stencil to decorate an envelope and then use a black pen to doodle around the stencil - this makes it uniquely your own! This technique can be applied to art journaling and any type of foundation you'd like! If you like it, please click on the "thumbs up" icon and I'll make more!  Then click on the subscribe button so you'll be notified when I upload new videos. If you have an idea for other happy art you'd like me to demonstrate, please let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Video 001. Learn to Draw 4 Faces with Pencil - Uploaded!

I uploaded my first video on YouTube! The link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzmI5eP2DNQ. I demonstrate 2 techniques I learned in elementary school to draw simple faces and then 2 more that are a little more lifelike, but still fairly simple. If you like it, please click on the "thumbs up" icon and I'll make more!  Then click on the subscribe button so you'll be notified when I upload new videos.