Blue...songs are like tatoos...

I couldn't get that Joni Mitchell song out of my head all day as I worked on some journal pages with a BLUE theme. Inspired by Misty Mawn's journal-page-a-day challenge, I worked on three separate journals today.


This week's theme is working in monochrome, or just using one color.

Blue, songs are like tattoos
You know Ive been to sea betore
Crown and anchor me
Or let me sail away...


...Blue, here is a shell for you
Inside youll hear a sigh
A foggy lullaby
There is your song from me

(from Blue, by Joni Mitchell)

I gathered all my blue paint, paper, ink pads, pens and spread out over the dining room floor. I alternated between each journal, adding the backgrounds with diluted Adirondack re-inkers, then stamping and adding collage. I kept jumping from one journal to the other, trying not to over-think each piece.

The raw materials by themselves were a work of art! (Couldn't help snapping some photos of the supplies while waiting for layers to dry on the pages!)

Here are some of the pages in earlier stages:


I cut out some words that felt BLUE to me...as I collected them, they kind of just fell on the page that way and that's how they were glued down.

My blue maiden started off mostly blue to begin with...I added a blue butterfly bow tie. I added more collage elements and dry brushed some light blue acrylic paint around the edges of each piece.

This color is so dear to me. It has always been my favorite color. I am always drawn back to it. It is always my first choice. Blue holds so many possibilities for me. An endless sea. It is the color of life, sky, ocean, deapth, loss, hope.

You can jump in any time! Visit Misty's blog for details and inspiration and a list of other artists who are joining the challenge. These are the week's color themes:

monday ~ blue
tuesday ~ orange
wednesday ~ green
thursday ~ white
friday ~ red
saturday ~yellow
sunday ~ pink

And here is Maya's blue journal page: