I noticed the other day that I was starting to use the same colors on just about every page I worked on in my art journal...It just seemed they were all turning out like they were the same old same old, so I came up with a way to get myself out of that habit of reaching for the old reliable colors every time.
I took all of my markers, gel pens and glitter pens and dumped them into a large shoebox (boot box actually...)! This went totally against the grain with me because I am a bit of a perfectionist, and I had always kept all my markers in one container, all of my gel pens in another, etc...well, I call myself a "mixed media" artist, and I can't even mix my supplies together??? How backward is that!? I can see keeping my paints separated, but separation by pen is just silly, lol!
So now, when I work on a page, I am using a lot more colors, and different shades of color as well since I dumped everything in together. I highly recommend trying this if you are stuck in a color rut. If you do try it, don't give up on it the first day or so. Give yourself a day or so to adjust to the trauma your poor perfectionist side has suffered-I am really starting to enjoy working like this...Let me know if you give it a whirl by leaving me a comment and telling me how it works for you!
All of these pages were created using my opaque watercolors, permanent markers, collage items, and pencil. I really like putting words and phrases together on pages to convey my feelings. I seem to like this better than writing it out. Try this method if you have a hard time writing out your feelings.
