I have a mere 15 pages left to my current Every Thing Every Where Journal. This is crunch time for finalizing the prep for the new journal. Luckily I started the prep when I had 100 pages left. I wrote about that already. What I want to explore today is the final stages of a ETEW Journal and how I close out this journal and finalize the prep for the new journal. The big things are done- the cover is decorated- snazzy skulls, room made for collage, pocket and elastic added. Now I look at what I used, what I didn’t use, what did and didn’t work, and what I need to adapt or change for this new jo ..read more

I don’t know where I first learned of making ink wash images. High school probably. We did a lot of work with pen and ink, it seems directly up Ms. F’s alley to use an inexpensive and yet extremely satisfying method to teach us about shadows. It lends itself to portrait, landscapes and urban sketching. It’s a great method for fast loose images but also more detailed realism as well. The look of ink wash is easy to spot, it looks a lot like watercolors but in black and white. The warmth of the ink flows through the image and on the right paper has a touch of granulation, depending on the qualit ..read more

A note on this video review: I purchased this pen with my own money,  Ackerman didn’t sponsor this video, and I doubt they would like this video. This pen is not for someone who does not like to tinker with their pen. In order to reset the pen you must take it apart and use a bamboo skewer to push the feed out the front of the pen. Then you must push the nib and feed into the pen at the right spot so the nib will seat itself into the pen properly and so the nib and fee will be aligned. Mine was not set properly and the nib and feed were out of alignment with the original location of the n ..read more

When I’m about 1/3rd to 1/2 way through a sketchbook or journal I start to set up my next one. This gives me time to think about decorations and what journal type I want to use. Do I want blank or ruled pages? Dot grid? Hard or flexy covers? I grab a journal and start to make it mine. I add ribbons, elastic, a pocket and remove a few pages so I can collage. I number the pages. Then I decorate the cover and set it aside to finish the one I’m currently using. Lately I’ve been really into these sketchbooks from 5 Below. At $5 they have acceptable paper and are sturdy. They require all the prep I ..read more

I’m not sure when I first learned of a Commonplace Book. College maybe? I know my first serious girlfriend had a journal she jammed quotes from books and movies into. I don’t know that she ever called it a Commonplace Book, but it was. Carefully copying over sections of text seemed painful to me. I had always hated copying over sections of text when I was younger, why would I recreate that for fun? I liked the idea of collecting quotes but not if I had to copy them over. Fast forward to now, I read most of my books on a Kindle and highlights are saved in a digital notebook. If I read somethin ..read more

It doesn’t make a lot of sense to buy all kinds of budget art journaling supplies if I don’t use them? Or show them in use. I’ve made a series of follow up videos using all the supplies I’ve picked up at Dollar Tree, Walmart, Target and 5 Below. NOt all the videos are live yet, but these are. Enjoy! Link Link More to come! Do you like these videos? Check out my ko-fi page and think about buying me a coffee. It helps me purchase supplies for these videos and keep the content flowing. The post Working with Budget Art Journaling Supplies first appeared on Comfortable Shoes Studio ..read more

I’ve been working on my creative YouTube channel, attempting, seemingly in vain to remonetize it. One of the thing that was asked of me repeatedly and often before I stopped making videos, was, “How do I get started with art journaling without spending a lot?” I always answered this with the idea of buying one or two of a material instead of a giant set of them. But I considered that there might be another option. I thought about what I need to work in my art journal and I came up with these items: A journal of some sort, a composition book works a sketchbook works a black ink pen. I need bla ..read more

A friend of the blog wrote a few things to me awhile back. She wanted to divest herself of some supplies and I always accept supplies for myself or work. If they are supplies I’ll use, I use them, but I always let people know that anything I can’t or don’t use I will then take to work. (You can also donate directly to my workplace if you are so inclined, this person wanted to specifically give ME supplies.) This started years ago when I packed up some of my excess supplies and took them to a local middle school and did a post and video about it. I was never going to use them, and we all know t ..read more

I have written here on multiple occasions about my love for David Hockney’s work. I’ve been fortunately to see a couple of his shows when they’ve come to the east coast. One that stands out was when my friend Jane and I met up in Portland, Maine for an artist’s date and decided on a whim to go to the Portland Museum of Art. I don’t know if Jane knew there was an exhibit of Hockney’s work there or not but I was delighted to go into a relatively small room and see a number of his works, including a favorite, Pearblossom Hwy. Done in 1986 he used a point and shoot 35mm camera to take multipl ..read more

I decided to talk a look at the ‘zon to see if any of the brands of thermal instant print cameras had any cyber Monday deals. A few did. Some of these are about $10 off. Others have a 20% off coupon. I’ve said it in my videos and I’ll write here again, when looking for these little cams, looks for sales and deals. These are all cams I like and use. Links are affiliate links to the ‘Zon. Bezos and his crew toss me a few coins out of the sale price if you purchase through the links. The price won’t be higher for you. I just get a few cents. (quite literally in most cases.) These deals are listed ..read more