Book of Days...

I don't even know how I came across Effy Wild's "Book of Days" group.  It might have been when I was blog-hopping amongst the teachers' blogs for Lifebook 2013.  But somehow, I landed there, and fell in love with the idea of a "Book of Days!" 

I have been tinkering with developing an art journaling ritual for quite awhile now.  I do a lot of art journaling, but as you may known, it's kinda all over the place - in this book and that book.  What I really want is to have a process I can rely on.  Something separate from any "projects." Something that I do every day, naturally, just like brushing my teeth.  I started my Blue Velvet journal with this idea in mind, but I didn't get much past the first couple of pages.  

Effy Wild has an online community/forum that is free and she provides inspiration for the Book of Days (or BOD for short) process with weekly videos!  It's super cool!  Check it out here!

I was so inspired by what I was learning, that I decided to enroll in the "Book of Days Boot Camp" over the weekend, and obsessively completed the whole course!

 

 Effy's "Book of Days (or BOD for short) video for today was so inspiring!  I decided to follow the same steps that she took, but with my own supplies and style, and see what would happen.  I watched the video, and watched each layer she added, and then paused the video and added a similar layer. It was an awesome experiment because it forced me to let go of what the end product was going to look like and just trust the process! Here's how my page turned out...

 

Here are the steps it took to get there.  (Note: Each layer was dried with a heat gun before proceeding)...

 the page already had some collage and mist on it.  I added a layer of gesso

 modeling paste applied through a stencil...

 tons of mists over the top - Heidi Swapp's new "Color Shine" line in Georgia Peach, Sweet Cherry Red, and Tinsel...

 Added some OA Sprinklers in the new Woodland Park colors, and let them drip...

 Stenciling with Maya Mist and a Tim Holtz stencil...

 Drew the basic shape of a girl with a china marker...

 added some more details...

 started to fill her in with acrylic paint...

 finished filling in the details, and did some outlining with india ink and a brush...

 and the finished page - with journaling and a favorite lyric from Peter Himmelman. 

If you want to check out Effy Wild's Online community - click here! You can find out about the boot camp workshop here.

Thanks for visiting - I really appreciate it!  See you again soon!