Orange Spiral Arts

January MN Visual Journal Collective Meeting-A Twist on Bleigiessen (A German New Year Fortune Telling Tradition)

Greetings Everyone! Thank you for visiting Orange Spiral Arts to learn about the January 2019 MN Visual Journal Collective meeting.

MN Visual Journal Collective Meets at Wet Paint

This year the Visual Journal Collective has a new name, a new meeting location, and a new meeting time. We had our first meeting in our new location on Monday, January 21st at Wet Paint. Let me tell you right now that we are going to learn a s*it ton from the knowledgeable staff at Wet Paint. They are right there, pretty much at our disposal, happy to answer supply questions, and even let us try some things out. It's quite nice! As a bonus for them, most of us in the group LOVE art supplies, so it is quite likely they may see their revenue go up on the third Monday of the month.

January Meeting Topic

The MN Visual Journal Collective currently has two volunteer facilitators; myself and TJ Goerlitz. TJ married a German, and lived in Europe for about ten years. She's back in Minnesota now (with her husband and son), and shared with the group about a German New Year's tradition called Bleigiessen. You can learn more about this fun fortune telling activity here.

TJ introduced us to this idea of Bleigiessen, but by way of using homemade walnut ink and a string.

We each had a turn to visit the ink and string station to create our own image in our journals. After we pulled that inky string through our journals, we went back to our spot and used our imagination to see something in the ink design. 

What everyone came up with was spectacular! It was so fun to witness all of the unique, personal, and artful journal pages come to life at our two hour meeting.

Below are some examples from the group. (If your journal is pictured here, and you'd like me to add a link to your site, I am happy to do so. Leave me a comment below.)

Jenny:

Kari:

Deborah:

Steve (Deborah's husband):

Kim:

TJ:

Kathy:

Molly:

Beth:

Lisa Marie (LMNOP):

And Lisa Marie's gorgeous portable paint palettes:

Peggy:

Gail:

Connie:

Lakin:

Londa:

Kaya:

Briana (That's me):

Nell (bottom left):

Sue:

Summary

The MN Visual Journal Collective January 2019 meeting was a success. We so appreciate everyone who was able to show up and share their wonderful journals. 

We thank Wet Paint for hosting our meetings on the third Monday of every month from 6pm-8pm. (If you'd like to come to the February 18, 2019, please register on Wet Paint's site, so we have an idea of how many people to expect. There is a limited number of seating, please only register if you are able to attend.)

Thank you in advance for your interest. Meetings are independent, so you may choose to come when the topic interests you, when your schedule allows, or come every month as a way to connect with other local creatives. We are cool and flexible like that!

If you can't make one of our meetings, I typically blog about them, so check back often, or at least once per month.

Also, Wet Paint has many awesome and interesting Events, Workshops, Classes and FREE Demos. Please take a look!

MN Visual Journal Collective February 18, 2019 Meeting

The MN Visual Journal Collective is an eclectic group for any adults interested in keeping visual journals.

Our February meeting will be the beginning of a mini book project. People can also sign up to create a certain number of tags for their mini book and then participate in a tag swap at one of our later meetings 6-8 months from February 2019. For example, if 20 people sign up to participate in the mini book tag swap, you will make 20 tags. More information to come at the February 18th meeting. Even if you don't want to participate in the swap, but would like to learn how to make your own mini tag book, that's what we'll be doing in February.

We announce meeting reminders on our MN Visual Journal Collective Facebook Group and through our MN Visual Journal Collective Google Group. Feel free to request to be added to these groups if you are a local visual journal keeper, interested in attending one of our meetings.

Gratitude and Blessings

Thank you for being here. Thanks for reading this post. May it inspire you to work in your journal, create your art, express yourself, heal, feel loved, and connect with others. May it be so.

-Briana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A New Year Art Journal Spread-Design Team Post for Artistcellar

Greetings, Everyone!

I hope your 2019 has gotten off to a good start. That could mean lots of rest time, planning time, or simply a sigh of relief after the holidays.

I am about to share a post originally written as a design team member for artistcellar. I feel like anytime is a good time to open up an art journal and express your inner world. The New Year, or sometime in the month of January, is an appropriate time to do a New Year art journal spread.

I am about to share mine. May it inspire you to pull out your supplies, both old and new, and just PLAY, PLAY, PLAY! Here we go!

(Post below originally written for artistcellar)

It’s 2019, which feels sort of surreal! Time keeps on moving forward, right?

 

Today, I invite you to make an art journal spread that reflects who you are and what you’d like to bring into your life.

 

Here are the supplies I am using:

 

Rag and Bone Bindery Large Journal

Jill K. Berry –Map Art Series stencils

Dylusions Ink Sprays

Acrylic Paint

Cosmetic Wedge

Sakura Pigma Pen

Rubber Stamps

Ink Pads

Mermaid Markers by Jane Davenport

Letter Stickers

Watercolor Paint

Sakura Koi Waterbrush

Paper Towel Roll

 

Step 1:

Use spray ink to get your background going.

 

Step 2:

Choose some stencils with themes that inspire you.

Below is the “Angel Cartouche” from Jill K. Berry’s Map Art Series.

 

Tip: I made the mistake of putting the face in a dark area, so maybe take a look at your placement before you stencil a face!

 

Step 3:

Create a block of color using acrylic paint. Then use a cosmetic wedge to apply paint through the stencil.

 

Step 4:

Add additional stencils with acrylic paint and a cosmetic wedge. You can also use a pencil to trace through your stencils, and then color that space in with markers.

 

 

Step 5:

Use a permanent pen to do some journal writing.

 

Step 6:

Add some colorful letter stickers to spell out words that sing to you.

 

Step 6:

Use stamps and ink pads to add more symbols to your pages.

I love, love, love these Vintage Number Stamps!

 

 

Step 7:

Take a photo of your journal spread so far. Squint your eyes to see the light and dark areas.

Finish off your page by adding some watercolor, water to the spray ink areas (they react to water), and anything else to tie things together.

The most important thing is that your art journal pages feel good to you. Do they represent the things you love? Do you see colors that make you happy? Are there symbols that sing to your soul? If so, then you’ve done it! You’re awesome and creative!

 

Thank you for being here.

 

Sending Blessings,

Briana of OrangeSpiralArts.com

 

Instagram and Me

Hello Everyone,

I am working on trying some new things with my Orange Spiral Arts site for 2019.

This is my first attempt at using a post from Instagram on my blog.

I am curious to hear what you think! Do you follow my account on Instagram? (It's @orangespiralarts).

Are you wanting to hear more of the story behind my major office space clean up? It was a HUGE deal for me, as it has been an overdue project of about 5 or 6 years. (Note: I became a mom in 2012.)

Well, I hope this post finds you well.

I am sending out Happy New Year vibes to you all!

In Gratitude,

Briana