Book review:Journal Spilling by Diana Trout

With journaling, there are many ways I do it, my favourite is to make a mess layering paint (mostly thick acrylic, I also have liquid acrylics and water colours) and adding papers, pictures and words. I’m all for expressing yourself, so I think the words on the front cover Journal Spilling- Mixed-Media Techniques for Free Expression is what really sold it for me.

My first thoughts at flicking through the book, were that most of the journal pages involved water colours and liquid acrylics, something I’m not very well stocked in at the moment*. There were also pages of things to do with water soluble crayons which I love and use all the time, however I really wanted to learn some new techniques.

I put the book on the table and flicked through it each day, until I found a page I new I’d enjoy- using paint on everyday materials to make patterns!

I started to see more pages I could try out! I figured why mope about the things you can’t do when you can use a small amount of supplies and - do it anyway.

My self portrait and spill writing.

Writing in paint and gesso.

I liked that the book was very- get stuck in, it teaches you about different water colour brushes and the strokes they do, layering water colours with crayon and gesso. Never before have I drawn in gesso and it felt brilliant- my writing became so swirly!

I loved how I really got into playing on each page (I was colouring in my journal, the next thing I knew a few hours had passed- and I only tried a few prompts!) I felt free to read what to do and put it on the page but also to wander, to relax and have fun with what I was doing.

Using everyday objects with paint.

The book goes on to show how to do transfers, use masking fluid, carving stamps, dying papers, making a journal quilt and more- as you can see I have lots more fun to have with this book.

At the back of the book are Journal Spilling words and quotes, most I had never heard before and they made me laugh out loud!

My first Inner-Creature Paper Doll!

This book is great for; beginners using water colours, for journalers who enjoy painting with water colours and want some refreshing ways to use them. The journaler who mostly uses acrylic and many mixed media can (as I’ve proved) broaden there skills, start using water colour more and make a mess in many different ways!

*My supplies are down, but I have since put in a large order at ArtiFolk of miscellaneous supplies. I’ve also discovered Art from the Heart, another UK online shop which has products specially for the ‘Altered Artist’ and That's Crafty is worth a looking at for Crafter's Workshop stencils.

There are no comments for this entry yet.

Want To Comment?