Creative Inspiration: Materials

I love using prompts to get inspiration to do an art journal page.  It helps me focus the page and choose the elements.

But often times I’m simply inspired by materials I have.

This is true for both my art journal inspiration and jewelry inspiration.Sometimes you simply have materials that you want to use and that is the whole inspiration for the piece.That was the case for this art journal spread.  I started by painting some colors I liked in the background, making some marks with a gold pen and then just went through my “art journal ephemera box” and choose things that I liked that I thought went together well with each other and with the background.{The image on the right side was taken from an old calendar that was based on one of my favorite book series, Griffin and Sabine by Nick Bantock.}Not only is it just fun to do and a great way to relax, but it can also be a great way to experiment with color.Lately I’ve been into layering paper on my art journal pages.  Typically I’ll start with some watercolor and then build up from there.As I’m choosing what papers I’m going to use I arrange them on the page and then switch them around until I get them how I want them.  Typically I’m trying different color combinations together and seeing how they work and making sure the balance is right.You can take that lesson into your jewelry making as well.I highly recommend that you keep a sketchbook or some sort of visual inspirational book where you can experiment with sketches of designs and colors and gather inspiration.  You can certainly try this technique in your inspirational sketchbook or, of course, your art journal.Or you can simply just pull out different beads, place them next to each other and keep switching them out until you find a combination you.Try colors you haven’t thought would go together before just to see how they work.  You may be pleasantly surprised.Then go ahead and make a piece of jewelry with that new color combination.  Remember:  if you end up not liking it after you try it, you can always take it back apart again.

If you do an art journal page simply using materials that inspire you, think about how you can then use that art journal page as inspiration for a jewelry piece.

I'll share a piece of jewelry I made inspired by this page on Wednesday.Have fun and experiment!Do you want to feel inspired and design your own jewelry based on art journal pages that you create with prompts?Check out my Inspired eCourse!The introduction is all about getting started art journaling and I also have some fun techniques for you.Each week you’ll get a creativity activity and art journal prompt, create an art journal page and then I’ll show you a map to go from art journal page to inspired jewelry piece.  You’ll be designing your own jewelry, but I also have a jewelry project each week to inspire you, give you techniques or you can make it if you’re feeling stuck.Learn more about Inspired eCourse here.