Amber Gibbs - Collage Art, Art Journaling, & Mixed Media Art

The End of the Moleskine

It's finished. The art journal I started when I was first pregnant with Kavya, then abandoned for most of my pregnancy, then returned to when she was 3 months old, it is finished.

I learned so much with this journal. The most important lesson was to make art for myself. This is a completely non-commercial venture. Which possibly is what all art should be, but as the daughter of a used car salesman, I have trouble separating the two. But this I created only for me. Well, also for my daughter, someday. It is a record of the first year and a half of her life and my struggles and triumphs as a mother. I know I make it sound like a monument. It is to me.

I left a few blank pages - a few pages I started and couldn't finish. A few blank pages at the end to record notes and for modern ephemera.

And now, the Binky Queen herself will give us a guided tour. (She really wanted to "help" which meant "look at the journal and try to pull pieces of glued paper off the pages".)

And so it ends. The first art journal I've ever finished. (Tho I've started plenty).

Art Journal - Orange

Wow - last page in this Moleskine. Well, I have 2 pages that aren't finished, but after torturing them and myself, I decided I was done with this journal. Two or three unfinished pages in an ENTIRE journal shouldn't prevent me from moving on if I need to. And I need to. I plan to take photos of the finished journal, bulging with color soon. Whenever I can find time.

Amano Books is featuring some of my journal pages on their blog. Bridgette, the owner of Amano Books, has a lot of great ideas in the blog, so check it out. And it's an honor to be featured. I try to journal only for myself now. Something for me, something for my daughter to look at, to enjoy. I put aside the desire to be published, to be known for my journals. Aside from this blog and a few art sites, I don't put them out there. So I am always happy when other people enjoy my art journals.

Speaking of my daughter and art journals, she LOVES to look at my art journal. And she also loves to try to tear things out of it. She ripped off some photos of her and me when she was just a tiny newborn. I glued them back in, but they are very "distressed" now. Hehe.

Eye Candy - Online Magazines

Love browsing magazines full of colorful eye candy, but can't afford to splurge at the moment? Try these digital (free) magazines. They are very nifty, even if you can't read them in the bathroom.

Brian Stauffer's Illustrations

Nina Gambone - fashion collages and doodles, reminds me of Teeshe Moore's collages

Art Journal - Utterly awesome art journal, I love this style

Trips to India - photo journal of her trips to India. I think she captures India very well.

Art Journal - Baby and Me

I really liked this one - until I tried to add some color to the black and white photo. And yeah, it looks really really funny. Oh well, live and learn - that's what an art journal is about :)

Jilted Anatomy - New Painting

New Painting - well, kind of new. I finally finished this one. I started it last August.

Art Journal - Purple Doodles

The colors on this are off, it's really less orange and more yellow. But as my journal nears the end and the pages get swollen, the scanner has a difficult time getting the colors correct.

I am really loving those Sharpie Poster Paint pens. Teesha Moore has them on her website, as does DickBlick. Unlike other sharpies, they are not smelly. They are really opaque over the other stuff, which makes them ideal for layers.

I hope everyone is having a good new year so far. I am so busy this time of year, but I've been grabbing a few moments to art journal here and there. Still doing my journal writing in the bathroom (during the baby free moments I have while her daddy watches her). Silly, huh?

Art Journal - Space Flower Doodle

I really adore how this page came out. First I did the collage, and then I painted over it with black and white acrylic paint. I got carried away with the paint and felt I'd obscured too much of the image. Then one day I was sitting on the MAX, sans baby because it was my sister's wedding and I had to be there early to get my hair/makeup done. Better to leave the baby with her daddy and have them come over later. I'd had the foresight to pack my art journal and a few pens. So I just randomly doodled and in the end, I was really really pleased with this page.

Art Journal - Dream in Grey

An experiment with doodling over collage. I'm not sure if this worked or not. But at least it is interesting.

Art Journal - Bird Doodle

Another doodle page. I created the flowers on pieces of painted acrylic paper, cut them out and glued them on.

One of my goals for 2008 was to finish filling my Moleskine art journal, actually finally, FINISH a journal. I don't think it will happen this year, but sometime in January 2009, I will meet that goal. I only have 5 more pages!!

Art Journal - Thoughts

I've been absent from both blogging and art journaling for a while. November was that kind of month. Sometimes I just become obsessed with something in my (very) limited free time and last month it was work related. I was learning Zbrush, which is a 3D modeling program.

I really love how this page turned out. This was from late summer. I was saving it for a possible zine article, but that never came together, so now it appears here!