Kim said it was an honor to be able to share her passion for journaling with DSWPS members and began her presentation as follows

 In Art Journaling you use visual marks to express yourself, establishing your own balance of text and visual marks. A Google search will show thousands of ways to create an art journal. This exercise will be acrylic-heavy but could be done with watercolor. She uses a hard-bound sketchbook 10” x 15” with paper that can handle mixed media. That way she can play with her substrate. Choose a book in your comfort zone. You could also use an altered book, a handmade book, or loose paper.

 It’s all about the process, sitting with your ideas and emotions, using your favorite tools. Mood can impact your page, color choices, marks, all plugging into how you feel with your marks and vocabulary. Think about your mood in the context of color. Translate your feelings into color. Think of adjectives – translate them into color. Kim Santini stated that she was feeling hopeful, and pink is her go-to hopeful color, also green for joy, the wonderful color of rebirth and spring. She will be using watercolor pencils to draw, but you could use crayons, regular pencils or markers as well.

1. Grab one of those tools. Sit. Think about one year ago, today. What was going on, what fears, what faith, what were your circumstances? Write the phrases that come to mind in your book, legibly or not. Then spritz the words with a water bottle.

2. Where are you right now? Kim indicated that she is in a different place and it’s spring. She found a branch of forsythia outside. The flowers may be a little battered or faded, but there is a green bud at the top of the branch. It is the inspiration for her book today. Find something that reflects your feeling. With a different colored pencil, do a contour drawing of the branch or object you have chosen. Draw on top of the writing, then rotate your page and draw again, spinning the subject matter. You can draw the shadow of your object as well.

3. Apply white paint on top of the writing & drawing to break up the lines. Don’t cover everything; let some of the drawing & writing show.

4. Using a pencil, draw a figure. A classic figure is a small shape overtop a larger shape. Your figure can be very gestural, evocative of a figure rather than anatomically correct. How do you feel coming int spring? Does your goddess feel victorious? Battered? A little of both? Consider placement, movement. Ignore the marks drawn earlier.

5. Add paint, dark to light, work the paint into the negative space around your figure. You can then, if you wish, fold the paper, or close the book so that some of the paint is transferred to the other page or piece of paper (like a Rorschach test).

6. Then bring back your branch or object and draw it on top of your figure using a watercolor pencil.

7. Next write more words on top of the drawing or you can write them along the edge of the body. Go back over your figure, add breasts, glasses, whatever details make the goddess personal, such as your signature necklace or hairstyle, or a crown or wreath of roses.

Expressing ourselves can be a little messy. You can carry your marks over to the page opposite your drawing. Play with your goddess. Push and pull the shapes you see.

An option is to apply glazing liquid (acrylic without pigment) which you can then use to change your lines, smudge. She usually applies it at the very end. Of course, if you don’t want your water-soluble lines to move at all, don’t use watercolor pencils or watercolor.

Do this exercise whenever you need to remind yourself that you are a goddess!

 For more ideas, check out the following:

Facebook: Kimberly Kelly Santini - Kim’s “Journal Through It” live-stream sessions at 10:00 am on Wednesdays. The lessons are also archived on Kim’s website.

http://ksantini.fineartsstudioonline.com

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com