Animals in my Art Journals!

 

I am having so much fun art journaling!  My style is a little bit funky and can be very busy! I love the process of collecting and cutting out magazine images that speak to me.  I also love that I can just create art for arts sake…art that is just for me!

Knowledge comes from learning.  Wisdom comes from Living.  ~ Anthony Douglas Williams

This page started out with magazine collage images including a braided rug, owl, eyes and lots of colorful and patterned images cut into strips for the border and the owls hat.  Then I did some shading, stamping and doodling with a variety of mediums.  The last step was the lettering – I found this great quote and did some research on the author.  Anthony Douglas Williams has a very interesting book called Inside the Divine Pattern about the discovery of truth, wisdom and prophecy.  I have not read the book – but this quote was very fitting for my owl collage.  I have finally accepted my handwriting/lettering and am embracing it.

The secret of happiness is freedom.  The secret of freedom is courage. ~ Thucydides

If you know me well, you know I LOVE otters – sea otter, river otters, giant otters!  They are one of my totem animals.  When we go to Port Townsend for vacations, we stay at a Time Share called Discovery Bay and there is a family of otters that live in the bay.  I just love watching them swim around and get up on the dock.  This collage started out with a magazine photo of a cut tree trunk and was built up from there.  I love the otter image and could not resist putting butterfly wings and a collar on her!  I used a black water soluble oil pastel to shade the magazine collage and to add black circles to the back ground.  I also used my water based sharpie poster pens to add white accents and to add a pop of fluorescent color to the wings.

The Reason birds can fly and we can’t is simply because they have faith,
for to have faith is to have wings. ~  Sir James Matthew Barrie
J.M. Barrie was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the
creator of Peter Pan.

This little bird creature was so fun to create. The body of the bird is a really modern light fixture from a design magazine.  After I put the image down it looked a lot like a dress and bodice – so that was the start to this one.  I love making pointy hats and almost feel like my collaged creatures or people are just not complete without one!

~ Karen