The second tiny pencil portrait in my tiny Traveler’s Notebook insert! This time, it’s a profile. It was a bit easier, because I didn’t keep stopping to take pictures this time, LOL! If you would like to join a group of fellow art journalists, follow along with tutorials, and show off your work, you can find this and more in the Micro Art Journal group on Facebook! #microart #microartjournal #miniatureartjournal #miniartjournal #miniatureart #tinyjournalnation #allthingstiny #allthingsminiature #microartjournaling #tinyartjournal #travelersnotebook

Yesterday, I showed you my tiny Traveler’s Notebook Art Journal for this month. Now that it’s finished, I can start drawing! This month, my main theme is people. I’m starting with heads, or fantasy portraits. Note: If you want to learn how to draw portraits, I recommend Mixed Media Portraits with Pam Carriker. She introduces the beginner to a classic method of portrait drawing that is easy to follow while allowing room for individual creativity and style.

A while back, I showed you the materials I was using to make my March Traveler’s Notebook. I thought I would have finished making it the next day. Well, you know what it’s like when you make plans… the Angels laugh at you! But all’s well that ends well. I finished it yesterday! I actually made the cover a while back. So all I had to do was make the folder inserts and the book inserts.

I’ve been thinking for a while about trying to make a faux leather Traveler’s Notebook cover for my tiny art journals. I’ve been saving up brown paper grocery bags, thinking they might work if I glued a few layers together. Then I saw a series of tutorials by Jolene Payne, from the Art Journaling for Beginners Facebook group. Her tutorial series is for using this technique and making many pieces, stitching them together and making a cover for a large book.

I love the way Amanda (Amanda Higbee, CZT) wove the music through the center of this tile. It adds such wonderful whimsy and fun! Tangles: Baton Hypnotic Lobellia Melody Pilla Zailz

Adding the cover means I had space inside the back for one more layout. I chose to add the date the book was finished, with this layout, as design elements. And then I added lots of found items and a bit of paint. If you would like to join a group of fellow art journalists, follow along with the instructions for this layout and other tutorials, and show off your work, you can find this and more in the Micro Art Journal group on Facebook!

Since I added the extra sheet to make the cover, there is an extra layout space right inside of it. I chose to make this area a place for the Table of Contents for the book (on the right) and a kind of “about the author/artist” (on the left side.) It turned out to be more fun than I initially thought it would be! I will have to consider this for future books!

Now that all the internal layouts are done in our tiny art journals, it’s time to tackle the cover! Here we’ve used a variety of techniques to create an antique look, added a title and the date, and created a focal point on the front. If you would like to join a group of fellow art journalists, follow along with the instructions for this cover and other tutorials, and show off your work, you can find this and more in the Micro Art Journal group on Facebook!

Working on a tutorial for my tiny art journal’s cover… And making a puddle of color! #microart #microartjournal #miniatureartjournal #miniartjournal #miniatureart #tinyjournalnation #allthingstiny #allthingsminiature #microartjournaling #tinyartjournal #travelersnotebook

It’s time to make a new book for the month of March. I’m going with the theme “I am becoming.” I want to work on paper dolls, women, portraits and related subjects. What are your plans for the next month? #microart #microartjournal #miniatureartjournal #miniartjournal #miniatureart #tinyjournalnation #allthingstiny #allthingsminiature #microartjournaling #tinyartjournal #travelersnotebook

This is the last finished layout, incorportating the background which was created using water-based markers to color a background and then used various found objects to “stamp” texture on it. In this tutorial, more texture was added to the background using stencils and Versa Magic ink. Posca pens and gel pens were used for mark making and word art. The bird were stamped with Archival ink. Then colored pencils and more ink pens were used to finish the layout.

I was out, getting weekly exercise by hiking through the local art and craft stores, when I came across the new Archival Distress Inks from the Tim Holtz collection! I knew they were coming out from watching the Ranger Ink website. I didn’t know if they would be in the stores any time soon, but I have been watching for them. The are the same formula used in all Ranger Archival inks.

This is the sixth finished layout, incorportating the background which was created using a colored pencil resist and water-based markers. In this tutorial, features were added with stamps and more color was created using Inktense and watercolor pencils and regular colored pencils. If you would like to join a group of fellow art journalists, follow along with the instructions for this layout and other tutorials, and show off your work, you can find this and more in the Micro Art Journal group on Facebook!

This is the fifth finished layout, incorportating the background created in earlier where we used a water-proof gel pen to write words across the layout. Then we painted over it with ink from water-based markers to create an antique look. This tutorial shows you how to turn die-cuts into rusty metal object, how to use bits of ephemera and how to stamp out your words. If you would like to join a group of fellow art journalists, follow along with the instructions for this layout and other tutorials, and show off your work, you can find this and more in the Micro Art Journal group on Facebook!

A while back, I speculated on what a Zentangle sounds like, and I came up with a way to convert Zentangles into sounds. Recently, I ran across an article that addresses the opposite question: what does sound look like? It turns out that, in some cases, it can look a lot like a Zentangle! The image at the top of this article is from cymascope.com, which explores the use of the Cymascope in visualizing sound with applications in art, physics, and biology, among others.