A tweak here, a touch there

Once my art journals are about full, I look for things to add that will make it  more interesting.     Paints, rubber stamps (both handcarved and commercial ones) quotes, scribbles?  Any and all of the above.    Here are some pages that have been tweaked.

This first spread just continued the colors to opposite page and using a new stencil I just cut.     

Adding a small image cut from a magazine and a quote from something else, add a bit of humor to a page devoted to facial structure.

 You have seen this page before, but now it has been tweaked with the little handcut rubber stamps, some dodts of distress stains, some washi tapes and a fish glued on finish it off.

 This very simple spread has only had commercial rubber stamps added.  

 Here's one of my cowboys with some barbed wire border drawn on, some hand cut rubber stamps, a quote and a little cut out from and old book added. Now the page deserves more than a quick glance.

I kept this one simple, it has our great grandfather's picture with the rubber stamps I cut of myself and my brother.     There is a little poem which I edited from an old Book of Knowledge. (it had been written for two brothers)

"I love you well, my brother,
And you are fond of me,
Let us be kind to one another,
as siblings ought to be.
You shall learn to play with me,
and learn to use my toys:
And then I think that we shall be
Two happy little children"

sorryit no longer rhymes. 

 The owl pages had a few tweaks.

 Painting around little sketches brings out the shapes.

 This quote was from one of the Ted Talks I watched this week.   

Another corboy?  Another barbed wire fence, and a girlfriend for him. 

 A little blue was added.    Now for just the right quote.      Hmmmm....

 Washi tape and handcut rubber stamps.  



You have probably seen enough now to let you know that tweaking can go on and on.   Maybe art journals are never really done.    I've stuffed things into filled ones.     Sometimes you come across a quote or an image that you wish you'd had when working on a page in another journal.    No use letting it go to waste - tuck it in, glue it on, or find a way to use it where it works best.       These are really only for our own amusement and growth artistically.    

If you have not made one, I urge you to do it, do it now.     Start with no expectations, just let it grow and change.   You can always rip out a page, or glue something else in.