NEED A LITTLE HELP WITH YOUR ART JOURNAL QUOTE?

Let me show you my process, in the hope that it will help you 🙂

FIRST, WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO USE AN ART JOURNAL QUOTE OR WORDS?

So you just got busy for the last hour or so spreading gesso, bright coloured paints that barely had time to dry before you started stamping over them like a mad person, throwing stencils around at the same time… You stop for a second and feel pretty satisfied with what you just created but… (Damn, there’s always a ”but” in good stories, right?!)…

You feel like it needs ”something” to make it complete. You know you have already used all the supplies in your arsenal and judging by the slightly concerned look your fluffy companion is giving you from below your desk, you’d know you’d better calm down! (Don’t worry, it is a familiar feeling around here ?)

So, if you feel like you are missing something, then how about using a quote?
– Words will make things pop because you haven’t used that kind of element yet in your design
– Your spread will feel a lot more unique if you use meaningful words to finish it off

It doesn’t matter if the words you use are not that ‘original’ so put your thinking cap on 🙂
If nothing specific come to mind (after all, you have been breathing various paints and mediums ‘fumes’ so you can’t be blamed for feeling uninspired at this stage) then you need a source of inspiration…

THEN, HOW DO YOU DECIDE ON AN ART JOURNAL QUOTE OR WORDS?

Let’s pretend that lightning hasn’t struck recently and turned you into a poet capable to write verses at a moment’s notice… I haven’t (but there is always hope!) so if I know from the start that I will probably end up adding a quote as a final touch, I pay attention to what happens during the creation process to see if any words or feelings come to me while I am creating…
But, if by the end of it, if I am still unsure, this is what I do:

• I stand back from my art journal and try to look at what is front of me, a little as if it was someone else’s work (now is not the time for negative judgement!)
• I look at the colours, shapes, texture etc and let them SPEAK TO ME. As an example, imagine I used lots of yellow and turquoise… This might remind me of summer, the sea… To me summer and sea rhymes with holidays and then, a happy memory surfaces of a relaxing and fun weekend away with my beloved last month. Let’s pause for a second and see what words we could extract here: summer, holiday, love, fun, relaxing… These words make me realise how lucky I am to be able to go away on holiday, to visit unknown parts of the world, to have someone special to share my life with… Then suddenly, the word GRATITUDE feels right because it encompasses all the above.
• Now I have words I could use on their own in big bold letters if I wish, such as ”grateful” or ”gratitude” or ”thank you”. Or I could turn them into a sentence or a quote. Remember, this does not mean you have to write anything amazing! A few words such as ”I feel so lucky to have you” or ”So grateful…” are enough, as long as they are meaningful to YOU.

And by the way, your art journal quote does NOT have to relate to your ”background”. If it does, great, otherwise, it’s cool too (it’s YOUR journal, don’t forget!).

BUT, WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRING AND MEANINGFUL (TO YOU) ART JOURNAL QUOTES?

If you are really not feeling creative and nothing much is coming to you, then the next step would be to search outside of your head for a meaningful art journal quote ?. Let’s say I decided to use the word ‘gratitude’ as the main theme of my quote.

1) RESEARCH ON GOOGLE

I would type the words ‘gratitude’ or ‘grateful’ and ‘quote’ and, to avoid having to read through millions of results, I would select the ‘images’ search results:This will bring up TONS of easy to read quotes that I can quickly scan through!

If one of them feels good to me. and right for my page, I’ll grab it as ‘my inspiration’ ?. But if I haven’t found inspiration yet, I will keep on searching and…

2) BROWSE THROUGH PINTEREST

I would again type the words ‘gratitude’ and ‘quote’ in the search box and get rewarded with lots more ideas (some may crossover from Google obviously!)

The cool thing here though is that you can refine the results by clicking the keywords at the top. For example, you can click on ‘funny’ for a light-hearted gratitude quote or ‘bible’ for a religious feel…

I also collect quotes that speak to me on my own Pinterest board ”Inspiring Words” – I have already have used a few of these quotes in my journal! Check it out here:

BY NOW I AM CERTAIN YOU HAVE FOUND AN ART JOURNAL QUOTE TO SUIT YOUR PAGES!

If not, maybe you’re not in the right mood so just leave your pages for another day and come back to them with ”fresh eyes” 😉 Well… There you go! That is everything I know in regards to using an art journal quote, from my own learning and experience… Please do let me know in the comments below if you have found this post helpful and if it has given you a little inspiration or what your process is to find inspiration for an art journal quote 🙂 To finish things off, here are some of my free art journal tutorials where I have used an art journal quote (some with my own words, some from researching):

Watch them to get your creative juices flowing!

And if that’s not enough, here a few more tutorials for you 😉 Mimi Bondi.