Making your journal ROCK!

The same stone that I worked on for the article hides more funny faces

I’m so proud that issue 2 of Featuring, the new lovely magazine on art journaling, mixed media and much more, see  www.featuringmagazine.com , shows an article about my Stone Folk.  It was this article (and the editor’s idea to show a picture of the unpainted stone) that gave me the idea of how I could make my journal ‘rock’. Maybe yours as well!  
 

All  kids see faces. They see them  in patterns of bedroom curtains, in crumpled-up bed sheets, in bathroom tiles and wood grain, in sand heaps or tea stained newspapers. For me seeing faces never stopped. Especially pebbles, rocks and stones seem to ‘watch’ me wherever I go. I call them stone folk. And I love to ‘make them come alive’ by drawing on them.

It’s  always nice ‘n easy to work on something that’s already there. So why not photograph a stone that appeals to you (or print this one). Make 3 or 4 prints and then draw on the prints. Look for faces and keep in mind that stone folk aren’t pretty. Look for wrinkles, stubbly noses,  bad teeth or droopy eyes…   Very little is needed to make them come alive. Some dots of ink, a very thin line, some color. It’s only a matter of accentuating what’s already there.

I never before thought of working on pictures instead of on the stone itself…The nice thing about it, is that it ‘s possible to work out more than one face on the same stone, Usually there seem to be whole families hiding in one rock. (Turn the picture around and see for yourself!)  

And don’t you agree they make lovely journaling material, being flat and glueable? I think they are going to  make my journal rock!

(And by the way: buy that magazine! It’s so inspiring!)