Art Journaling 109

I’ve seen even really young students make some stunning collages with magazine photos. The most successful seem to be those with a theme, like those that collect swatches of similar color.
1. I’ve posted this idea before regarding color collages, but I think another approach is to do it with a more organized grid system. My journal pages measure 7" x 10" so I used a 2" template to trace and cut lots of swatches of blue from various magazines. I glued these swatches down, all side by side, forming a 3 column by 4 row grid.
2. After all the squares are in place, I used the themed blue colored pencils to fill in the rest of the page until all the white was gone.
3. Using a black Sharpie, I did my best to name all the various colors of blue. I admit that I cheated and googled to get some extra blue names, so maybe in class the kids could be asked to label just a few of their squares. The point is for them to realize that that there are many, many shades and variations of any one color, and naming them might bring a little more appreciation for all their subtleties.

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Art Journaling 108

Today had a very prominent number attached to it – my son turned 13. There was lots of talk and cards and cake all revolving around this special number, so I'm thinking that must happen with other occasions to. Maybe a really good test score, or jersey number or locker number could be the starting point for a journal page.

1. I started by writing a little about the day in very spaced out lines with a black pen. I continued until the background was filled with evenly spaced lines.

2. Using watercolor pencils, I drew an outline of a big “13” on the paper. The area around the letters was shaded in, changing colors in some areas. For those unfamiliar with watercolor pencils, the cheap ones from Crayola will not give you bright, pretty colors. My favorite are the Prismacolor brand, which you can find at Staples.

3. I brushed water over the pencil and blended the colors when necessary.

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Art Journaling 107

I saw a poet somewhere who writes by just choosing words from a page in a book, and blacking out all the rest. I think kids could have a lot of fun with this if they were allowed to make really silly sentences that were still structurally correct.

1. The students will receive one column of a newspaper story. They are to circle a series of words that make a complete sentence. My one rule is that no two words may be next to each other. The chosen words are highlighted and circled with a marker.
2. The newsletter is taped to the left on a journal page. On the right, the made up sentence is written out by hand so that it can be easily read.
3. Finally, whatever image this sentence brings to mind would be illustrated and colored with colored pencils. I imagine these pages would be very fun to share with the class when finished.

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