How to start an art journal page...

You have your art journal and supplies. You finally have a few minutes to work in your journal. You open to a fresh page and........you got nothing. It’s a blank, white page staring back at you. Time is ticking away until you have to make dinner, pick up the kids or feed your pet iguana. You finally have time and you have no ideas.

Do you close the journal and chalk it up to a failed effort? I hope not! What you need is a “toolbox” of page starters. Ideas that can give you a background and something to start with. There are some days I sit at my desk and just stare at a page, waiting for that magical inspiration. It never shows up when I am not doing something. 

So how can you be working if you have no ideas of what to do?  That’s where the toolbox comes in. Here are some of the ideas out of my toolbox....

• Grab your favorite stencil and cover the page with stenciling
• Collage book pages on a journal page
• Use a baby wipe to apply your favorite color of paint on the page
• Use a baby wipe to apply your least used color to a page
• Use a Stabillo pencil to draw loose abstract shapes
• Grab an ink spray (like Marabu) to spritz your page
• Grab some paper scraps from your desk and glue them all over a page
• Cover a page with strips of washi tape
• Glue down a gelli print you love (or hate)
• If all else fails, use the time to gesso extra pages so you are ready next time

I find that many times while I am doing this work, inspiration comes walking by. So keep working and wait for that spark.