Katie Jeanne Wood

Mixed Media Artist - daily painter of portraits, flowers, abstracts and birds

Starting a new art journal with a theme

Katie Jeanne Wood - new art journal 061924New art journal
started May 2nd

I recently finished another art journal, so it was time to start a new one. I have four of these art journals that I bought on sale a while back. These are square in size – 8.3×8.3 inches, which is perfect for painting portraits, imo.  

B&W gouache portrait of a man in my art journal.

This book has 196 pages, which gives me a total of 392 paintings to complete, if I paint on both sides of the paper. 

B&W gouache portrait of a man in my art journal.

I usually pick a theme for my art journals based on 1. subject matter, 2. style I want to paint in, or 3. the art mediums I’ll use throughout the book. The thicker the book, the looser the theme, generally. 

B&W gouache portrait of a man in my art journal.

At first I thought I might paint the entire book with only black & white, but I’ve changed my mind since I started this journal six weeks ago. I’ve had more time to think about it, and the opportunity to test out the theme. 

B&W gouache portrait of a man in my art journal.

new art journal

Since this book has so many pages, I was apprehensive about locking myself into a theme that I might get bored with after a while. After creating a few pages, I felt the b&w theme was too restricting. I think neutrals will work better for me. 

I’m looking at different color charts on Pinterest to get ideas of the colors I can mix. 

B&W gouache portrait of a man in my art journal.

I’m leaving the subject matter open & tbd with each sitting. For some reason, as I’m writing this I keep seeing flashes of imaginary houses I want to paint in my mind’s eye. Hm…we’ll see if it keeps happening when I’m actually sitting down to paint. Some of these visions I have don’t last, and they float off into the ether, forgotten.  

B&W gouache portrait of a man in my art journal.

The nice thing about having so many of these journals on hand is I can always start a new one if I need a break from the neutral theme. 

B&W gouache portrait of a man in my art journal.

It’s possible I might do a sudden splash of color here or there, but that will depend on my future artist self to decide in that moment. 

B&W gouache portrait of a man in my art journal.

I’m saying that because it was hard to resist the urge to add red to his lips. Now that I’ve changed the theme slightly, I can always add pale pink going forward. 

B&W gouache portrait of a man in my art journal.

The thought of creating 392 paintings freaks me out a little bit, but I love the thought of sinking into a large, ambitious project like this. If I’m ever at a loss of what to paint, this journal will serve me well. Grab the book, my neutral gouache palette, and go. Easy. It will take months, possibly a couple years to finish, but I’m up for the challenge. It will be fun. 

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How Life Gets the Story, New Art Journal, Hello My Pretty

Katherine Jeanne Wood - 8x12 Hello My Pretty
Hello My Pretty
8×12 print available here

I just started working in a large art journal, and I’m LOVING it. Now the rest of my books feel so small to me. This one measures 21×14 inches when it’s lying open on the table. It’s actually an altered book. I don’t know why I started calling all my books “art journals”, but I’ve put them all under one category, instead of separating them. They’re all the same to me, whether I’m using a brand new book from Blick or a used book from the library. In the end, it’s hard to remember what the book first looked like anyway..was it new or used? I don’t think it’s important.

Katherine Jeanne Wood - how life gets the story
This one is an old Time Life book, and I left the cover the original title because it makes me stop and think. Life does get the story, doesn’t it? I love the play on words here, now that I’m giving the book a different meaning.

Katherine Jeanne Wood - Smile Permission art journal pages

Smile and Permission pages – as I was making these pages, I was flinging pastels, chalk, acrylic paint everywhere. I was in the zone, making art just for me. I didn’t do that for a long time, make art just for myself. I made art only with other people in mind, for the sole purpose of selling it, and I started to feel pretty dead inside after a while. I was detached from my artwork. Painting started to feel like work, the kind of work that makes you dread getting up in the morning.

Katherine Wood - masked girl

I spent most of the month of January rediscovering my art journal again, and once I started, I couldn’t stop, and now, I have to make art for myself, nearly every day.

There’s a big difference between doing art for others and doing art for yourself. To be able to let go, and not care, to not have thoughts like, ‘I wonder if this will sell fast.’ or have to worry if anyone will like it. Those kind of thoughts can put a damper on things, and feel stifling. To be able to freely express myself without any care is pure freedom.

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