The Painted Art Journal by Jeanne Oliver

The Painted Art Journal

by Jeanne Oliver

Take a mixed-media journey to the very heart of your creativity!

The Painted Art Journal opens doors to your most personal and authentic art yet. Tell your story as only you can, through a series of guided projects that culminate in a beautiful, autobiographical art journal worthy of passing along to future generations. Along the way, you will hone your own unique style of artful storytelling, filled with the images, colors and symbols that resonate most powerfully with you.

Twenty-four inventive, step-by-step prompts help you to:
  • Set the scene for making art--from establishing rituals that unlock creativity to curating a personal storyboard.
  • Draw inspiration from photos, typography, sketches, childhood memories, quotes and more.
  • Shape your story with timelines, gathered-word poetry and simple approaches to portraits.
  • Express yourself through an exciting range of mixed-media techniques, using everything from pen and ink, markers and watercolor to image transfers, printmaking with linocuts, acrylic and collage.
A book unlike any other, The Painted Art Journal is all about digging deeper, honoring your life, and coming away with a truer understanding of yourself and your art.

"Each of our stories is so different, lovely and broken in its own way." --Jeanne Oliver

Reviewed by Quirky Cat on

4 of 5 stars

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I received a copy of The Painted Art Journal through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I’ve always loved the look of aged art journals. I can’t quite place my finger on it, but I’ve always found them to be aesthetically pleasing. Naturally when I saw The Painted Art Journal I knew I had to give it a chance and read it cover to cover.
Jeanne Oliver’s artwork is quite frankly, striking. Like any good teacher (which is what she becomes in this book) she’s gifted and knowledgeable in the subject she’s instructing on. Really there’s no argument about her talent, one glimpse at the artwork inside this book will leave little room for doubt.
Jeanne Oliver included an introduction, a basic description of art journaling and her method, as well as dozens of other little tips. Also included is a list of suggested items for us, and how she personally prefers to keep them sorted. I adore these sort of tips, so this was a fantastic touch as far as I’m concerned.
The main chunk of the book is broken into twenty four projects, as the title suggests. Each one thematically matches the rest, and it fits in with her art style as well. Here she explains the goal and purpose of the project, gives hints, tips and ideas, and sometimes basic instructions. She’ll also occasionally include specific explanations for how she created a certain effect in her examples.
I haven’t yet had a chance to start any of the projects in this book, but believe me I fully intend to. There’s no way I could resist following Jeanne Oliver’s guidance here. So I can promise you this will be getting placed on my desk, to ensure I come back to it very soon.

For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 30 June, 2018: Finished reading
  • 30 June, 2018: Reviewed