This past week finished up Season 14 in the Get Messy Art Journal Community*. Get Messy Art Journal is an art journaling program that is a school, art playground, and family. We are a group of like-minded art journalers who have come together in this art form to learn, share, practice our skills, and push past our creative limits with hopes to inspire. Our community values consistent creating, encouragement and support, and trying new things. We would love to have you join us as a member of Get Messy Art Journal.

Season 14 was about Contrast. My go-to explanation for contrast is always color. I did do some contrasting color pages but I also tried to branch out and think about other kinds of contrast. Here’s a flip through of my whole journal:

This Season’s Handmade Journal

For this Season’s journal I decided to use the Coptic Stitch tutorial from Vanessa’s Basic Bookbinding class. I had this old children’s primer in my book stash and decided since it was mildewed it was a great candidate to attempt this project with.

I’ve learned several different things about how I like to work. Making an all-new, high-quality mixed media or drawing paper book is a sure way to get me to NOT use it. So I made this book with gelli print pages and pages from other books. There’s only a handful brand new white pages in the book. Below is where I had my signatures all stacked and ready to fold.

Here are my folded signatures arranged as I prepare to start binding it all together.

Action stitching shots ahead!!

The finished book! By the end of this I was all hot and sweaty and stressed out! I’m not sure why, it was super easy once I got a rhythm going but for some reason it made me kinda a wreck. I was so pleased with my finished product though!

Some shots of the inside of the newly finished book.

Season of Contrast Work

Inside my Season of Contrast journal, I decided to share it with my daughter. She worked in the book several different times. I like the idea of the age and style contrast between us. She’s been making her own inks out of food coloring and here she’s playing with those on a page I started and she finished. Also, can you tell from this picture what her favorite color is?

This is the first page I did. Thinking about black and white contrast and stars in the sky.

This page I did during one of our Get Messy Hangouts and I just wanted to play with white pens.

This page is from a Season of Contrast tutorial I started but didn’t finish. We were supposed to cover it up with darker paint and leave bits peaking out. I just couldn’t do it.

This is one of my favorite pages I’ve ever made. It’s full of my favorite colors and I love the contrast between the straight grid of the map and the zig-zaggy black lines I drew. The contrast between the photograph and the paint. The contrast between old and new materials. The contrast between the first signature ending and the second one beginning. The contrast between translucent and opaque.

The page below actually comes before the one above in the book. I sometimes jump around when I’m making things but I dated them so it’s all good.

I never use orange/red like this so I find this page really interesting in my book.

This page is from a Get Messy tutorial by Amy Maricle. She was our Guest Artist during the Season of Contrast and she is fantastic!!

Playing around with spray paint is so fun!!

We had an impromptu middle of the week artist hangout and everyone was making cutouts in their books. I decided I wanted to join that club and took a deep breath and started cutting. I love the way the pages turned out!! This first pic is one spread of the cut out and the second pic is the other spread with the cut out.

I love this color combo on this page.

Last page of the Season!

I’ve also learned to not try and work on the first page of a new book immediately. I’m always disappointed with it if I do it before anything else in the book. For some reason doing the first page first is just too much pressure. So I didn’t do the spray painted mandala with the red start bursts until this past week as the season was coming to a close.

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