Currently Browsing: book arts 217 articles
Mixed Media Portrait on Toned Paper
If you’re going to play around with mixed media I encourage you to seek out toned papers. The strokes and values you achieve on the toned background make a fun departure from white paper. This sketch of an Earth’s World Fairgoer (who was wearing black lipstick) is in a hand bound journal I made with […]
Mixed Media Portrait Supplies
Sometimes you work in watercolor and you pick up some color pencils too. It’s fun, why not? Especially if you spent your childhood working with color pencils. I started this portrait of a fairgoer from Earth’s World using a black grape Prismacolor pencil. (It’s not black, it’s not overly strident. I enjoy it. I also […]
Zines: Another Way to Record Your Life, Interests, and Events
What is a zine? Well “Factsheet 5” defined a zine as “A small handmade, amateur publication, done purely out of passion, rarely making a profit, or breaking even.” We’ll start there. I’ve been making zines my entire adult life. I’ve made zines about food, shoes, snow piles, dogs (of course), movies, literature, and of course […]
Six-Pocket Pamphlet Book for Journaling
Blog readers know I’ve been on a life-long crusade to get people to journal everyday. I think this habit of observation with visual and written documentation is a great way to stay focused in life, find gratitude, and keep your creative mind engaged. For children dealing with the upheaval of the past several months and […]
Painting on Toned Paper Watercolor (Mostly)
You don’t have to work in gouache to paint on toned paper. I’ve written about this before. You can use your watercolor paints with less water and achieve rich, saturated colors that work well on toned paper. If you need a lighter color over a dark base you can of course mix a little bit […]
Addendum: International Fake Journal Month Supplies 2026
A question about the supplies I used for my 2026 International Fake Journal Month journal in the comments section of a previous post made me realize I had not included the supply photos. They were supposed to be in a separate post before the main fake journal post! (I simply forgot to post that post! […]
The Creature of Chronology Takes a Break
In my March 28, 2026 post “IFJM: Sometimes Projects Creep Up on You,” I discussed, in response to people asking about a public celebration of International Fake Journal Month, why there wouldn’t be one this year. Then I set about thinking how to encourage people who wanted to do one anyway. I ended up setting […]
Book Arts Pocket, Some Dogs, and Some Beans
Make your journal work for you by utilizing your book arts skills and make a pocket! Sometimes there are scraps lying on the drawing table and I sketch on those scraps. (And yes, tape scraps together to make bigger scraps if necessary [bottom right].) These dog sketches on scraps of Strathmore 400 Series Mixed Media […]
Beard Alert—Death by Lightning
OK, if you’ve been reading my blog for even 10 minutes you’ll know I enjoy sketching men with beards. And I enjoy sketching faces when I watch TV. So it’s no surprise that I loved every moment of “Death by Lightning.” It didn’t hurt one bit that along with beards aplenty to draw there was […]
Found Some More Grids
Sometimes life can seem very quick, agonizingly slow, and full of all the wrong things—all at the same time. If your life feels like that it’s important to pick up your journal and start writing notes about your life and activities; and to keep drawing (or start drawing if you haven’t already). These activities will […]