Art Journal Calendar Page

I confess that it has been quite a while since I joined in with Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More this year.  In fact the last page that I completed in my art journal was on 10th March and that was catching up with the last of February's pages.  Rather than go back and start the March pages, I decided to jump ahead and instead have completed the calendar page for April (week 3).  The current theme is Easter so I couldn't resist using my hare stencil from Claritystamp as the focal point.  I also love the mood board for this month, so picked elements from that too.

Creating a Background using Strips of Paper, Masks and Gesso

This is the last of my pages following February's prompts on Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More.  The prompt for February was Follow Your Heart and this is for week 4: Use Your Scraps.

Blending a Background round a Napkin Image: Art Journal Calendar Page

Having not worked on an art journal page for my 2019 journal following the prompts on Nina Ribena's Art Journal Friends and More for ages, I then finish two in one day.  I now only have one more page using February's prompt 'Follow Your Heart' to complete.  This is my calendar page for February using the relevant verse from the poem by Sara Coleridge.

Follow Your HeArt: A Journal Page with a Patchwork Background

It is quite a while since I joined in with Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More.  In fact I am still catching up with February's pages and prompts.  The global prompt for February was 'Follow Your Heart' and this page is one that uses up some scraps.  I can never bear to throw away any of my scraps of Clarity designer papers, so decided to create a patchwork background using small pieces of paper left over from other projects.

Mood Board Journal Page: Follow Your Heart

I am rather behind on my art journal pages for Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More.  This is the first one I have completed for February's prompt 'Follow Your Heart'.  The first week of the month, as always, is based on a mood board.

Using Up My Scraps on an Art Journal Page

This is my final page for the January prompts on Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More.  The monthly prompt was 'words' and the fourth week each month is for using scraps.  Everything used on this page came out of my scrap box and I am really pleased with the result!

January Landscape: An Art Journal Page

The prompt for the third week of every month over on Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More is 'Calendar Page'.  I found a poem by Sara Coleridge that could be used for my pages relating to this prompt each month, and will just have to see how I can get them to fit the overarching prompt for each month.  For January it is words, so I kept things simple and allowed the page to tell its own story.  As this is a landscape. I am also entering it into the Country View Challenges January challenge: Landscapes/Cityscapes. 

Junk It Up: An Art Journal Page

The second week of each monthly prompt over on Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More is 'Junk It Up'.  As the main January prompt is words,  I decided to use magazine clippings that appealed to me over the top of some paper towel mop up sheets to create my page.

Begin: Mood Board Art Journal Page

I tend to procrastinate a great deal.  Once I get started with a project I usually end up with something that I like;  it's the getting started that sometimes takes some time.  My word for 2019 is therefore 'begin'.  The January prompt for Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More is words and week 1 is Mood Board.  This is my page.

Complete Art Journal Flip Through

It seems fitting to share my complete art journal flip through for my 2018 journal today, as it is also the first prompt for 2019 over on Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More.  It is the second journal that I have competed following Nina's prompts.  In 2017 the prompts only related to art journaling and were different each week.  In 2018 the format changed, a monthly prompt followed by weekly challenges within.  There were projects other than art journal pages to complete, but as you will see,  i managed to adapt each one to fit an art journal page as this was my preferred format. 
January's prompt was words.

My word for 2018.

I also managed to include other leisure interests.  This page was later improved with autographs of the players.

I explored colour a great deal last year too.

February's prompt was Re use, Recycle, Re purpose.  I made a slight hole in my bit box lol.

March saw a celebration of the FB group reaching 5000 members with the prompt 'Friends'.  I often get my inspiration for a page by finding a quote that appeals to me and going from there.

There were five Sundays in April and therefore five pages for the 'Spring' prompt.  I tried out some new techniques, such as using Yupo paper and embossing powder over texture paste.  I even drew my own focal point.

In May the prompt was more challenging for me.  The monthly prompt was 'Trade-It' with a view to put together a series of swaps for another member of the group for those who wished to do so.  The weekly prompts were ATCoins, Postcards, ATCs and Inchies/Twinchies/Thrinchies (1" x 1" / 2" x 2" / 3" x 3").  I had to find a way to incorporate these onto art journal pages.

June's prompt was 'Repeat after Me'  with the weekly sub prompts being Circles, Mandalas, Abstract and Retiform.  I had never used the retiform technique before but enjoyed being stretched.

Retiform and some Shakespeare from As You Like It

July was another challenge as it involved altering dominoes, jigsaw puzzle pieces, playing cards and using word and number games.  It was another five week month so the last week was a free choice and I decided to base my page around one of my favourite board games: Trivial Pursuit.

I had some blank jigsaws.

Once again, quotes were often a useful starting point.

You have to look closely to see the Sudoku and logic puzzles under the grey background.

August's prompt was holidays and the first week's sub category, painting rocks, was once again a challenge to turn into a journal page.

For September the prompt was 'Art Journal Frenzy'.  The individual weeks were galaxy, anything goes, collage,  a colour combination outside my comfort zone and texture/white space.

A tribute to a lovely actress who died in September

For October the prompt was Inspired By.  Each week was given a theme and a series of artists to choose from to use as a muse.  Week 1 was shapes and I chose Orr Ambrose as my muse. 

Week 2 was portraits and I was inspired by Picasso.

Week 3 was flowers and I chose Yvonne Coomber from the list.

The final week was landscapes/seascapes and I was inspired by Osnat Tzadok.

The global prompt for November was Art Movements.  Week 1 was Pointillism.

Week 2 was anything goes and I chose Minimalism.

Week 3 was Fauvism (the last page that I actually completed).

Week 4 was Abstract.

The final prompt for the year 'Festive' was once again sub divided.  Week 1 was Christmas decorations.

Week 2 was festive backgrounds.

The remaining weeks were anything goes within the theme.

As week 4 was also the fourth Sunday in Advent,  I themed my page to the day.

It was another 5 Sunday month and I followed Nina with my last page by celebrating the new year.

Once again, I thoroughly enjoyed my weekly journaling and am looking forward to starting my journal for 2019.