Laminated mandala bookmarks ðŸ”–📖

~ Ari October ~ 2 Comments

I’ve gotten really into reading again lately, and we’ve been frequenting the library. It’s hard to come home with just one book so we often find ourselves short on bookmarks! I’d been meaning to make some personalized ones for a while and I finally got around to doing it.

First I removed a sheet of paper from my sketchbook and divided the sheet into 6 neat rectangles on what would become the back side. My partner helped me with this part, I kept doing something wrong with the measurements and it became very frustrating. She managed to make perfect sixths. Thanks, Jazzy!

The second step was to lay guidelines for the mandala. I used an orange colored pencil so I wouldn’t have muddy graphite lines. Decided to use tools this time, even though I love fully freehanding mandalas. I knew if I wasn’t satisfied with the artwork I would start from scratch, and using guidelines usually prevents that from happening, so I decided to play it safe this time.

Then I doodled away until finally all of the white space was filled! As a finishing touch I added some glitter pen here and there, I just can’t resist sparkles! ✨

Next up was slicing up my work! A bit nerve wracking but I knew the results would be worth it. I signed each bookmark separately on the back before arranging them in the plastic lamination sheet.

Finally, the part I’d been waiting for, running it through the lamination machine! It’s my mom’s and it’s over 15 years old now but it still works like the first day we got it. Shout out to my mom for her help with this project! Couldn’t have done it without her. We ran it through twice, then I cut out the bookmarks to their final sizes and then ran each through the machine one last time.

And there you have it, some cheap DIY bookmarks that are built to last!

I used Tombow water based marker and INC glitter pen on Strathmore mixed media sketchbook paper. I want to try doing watercolor bookmarks next time!

Lamination machines are probably not a common household item, but if you know someone who has one or happen to have one yourself I really do recommend trying to design your own bookmarks. There are some alternative methods to “laminate” things that you could also try.

It’s really nice to have that personal touch added to a frequently seen and used item. I know these babies are gonna be used a ton and I’ll always remember making them! Hopefully they will even motivate me to keep up my reading habit!

Sometimes I just can’t draw…

~ Ari October ~ 1 Comment

…and I’m making peace with that.

A doodle from my Boogie Board.

Over the last two weeks I haven’t been drawing at all, this lazy scribble mandala being the only exception. For a while before this I had been drawing every day, finishing multiple drawings per day sometimes, feeling super productive and creative.

I used to think these spans of time when I wouldn’t draw anything were a product of me being lazy and wasting my time. I used to buy new art supplies during these times to try to force myself back into creative mode, but often it was to no avail, and this contributed heavily to my art supply hoarding problem.

These creative lulls can be detrimental to artists who rely heavily on frequent posting to social media, as the algorithms most reward consistency. This is one of the reasons I left social media, I find that this pressure causes me anxiety and stifles my creativity.

Ever since I decided to stop shaming myself for these phases, I’ve come to see them for what they really are: periods of rest. I view the short lapses as naps and the long stretches as hibernation. Rest is just as important as the work we do, without rest we are far less productive and much more likely to give up altogether!

I now know, from lived experience, that this is just a break and I will get back into drawing when the time is right. It can’t be forced and attempts to do so will only leave me dissatisfied and upset. I now understand “art block” as a sign that I need to take a step back and spend my time elsewhere.

Of course, when the time comes to create again, sometimes it can be difficult to get back into the swing of things! I like to take it slow and approach it with a playful attitude. I’ll start with silly doodles, blind contours, basic mandalas, simple patterns, neurographic art, or even just pasting things into my sketchbook. Once I feel properly warmed back up, which can take anywhere from a couple hours to several days, I can attempt my more “serious” ideas. But sometimes my creative phases consist entirely of easy art and I’m okay with that too. Sometimes I just have to Make Bad Art.

This has actually been a pretty recent revelation which is why I’m only just now sharing about it. It’s so nice to feel at peace with myself when previously I would have been irritated by my state of “stagnation.” I feel even more grateful now for the times I do draw, I don’t take them for granted quite as much!

“Draw every single day” is common advice and I understand the intent behind it but I don’t think it works for everyone. Practicing self discipline is certainly important and you do need to draw frequently if you want to improve your skills, but in my opinion it kind of defeats the purpose if art-making becomes a dreaded chore.

I prefer this approach instead: always keep some basic tools for drawing handy, and draw every time you get the urge to do so. This approach has been much more successful for me personally for building a creative habit. I recommend keeping the tools in your travel kit to a minimum so you don’t suffer decision fatigue and can jump straight into drawing! I currently have a bicolor red/blue palette going on in my tiny travel sketchbook that lives in my purse, and to my surprise I absolutely love working with such limited colors!

Lately my creativity has been manifesting itself through writing more than through drawing, so I’ve started a little writing project. I want to say “stay tuned” but I have no idea if anything worth sharing will come of it… we’ll just have to wait and see!

A prayer for Ukraine

~ Ari October ~ 3 Comments

After reading the wartime diary of Yevgenia Belorusets I felt the need to share it with others.

I created this mandala to vent my feelings, as an act of prayer for peace in Ukraine (and the whole world!) I am sharing it here now to have an excuse to talk about the matter.

I grew up going to school with several Ukrainian immigrant kids and that makes this horrible event just that much more real to me.

Of course this is far from the only important thing happening in the world but it is certainly a reflection of the state of the world as a whole. Too much violence, too little compassion. Civilians suffering the consequences of their political leaders’ greed. Same crap that’s been going on for thousand of years.

I will always side against injustice and violence. My hope is to inspire others to do the same.

We can’t do all the good the world needs but the world needs all the good we can do.

Art supply No Buy: 1st check-in

~ Ari October ~ Leave a comment

Wow, it’s already March! How?!

Well first of all, I’ve decided that I’ll be on a sketchbook No Buy for the foreseeable future, not just until 2023. If I run out of a specific-use sketchbook, say I fill up my watercolor sketchbook from front to back, at that point I may buy ONE new watercolor sketchbook.

I had to implement this rule because I have 4 really tiny travel sketchbooks (the pages are 5.5cm x 10cm!) that are specifically for putting into my purse so I can doodle when I’m out and about. If I wasn’t allowed to buy ANY new sketchbook until 100% of my sketchbooks were completely filled… That just wouldn’t work out well for me. I like to work in different mediums and at different sizes.

In the future I’d like to have active at any time: 1 travel sketchbook, 2 medium or large sized sketchbooks (one with white paper and one with black paper!), and 1 watercolor sketchbook. This is how I tend to work anyway, but I have a lot of excess in the medium/large white paper sketchbook department!

What’s tempted me in these last few months? Not too much! I’ve been avoiding watching product reviews (unless it’s something I already own) and I don’t let myself step into arts and craft stores. When passing the arts and craft isles in grocery stores I literally put my hand up to avert my gaze and say aloud, repeatedly: “DON’T LOOK AT THE ART SUPPLIES!”

Ironically as I was typing up that last sentence, I found myself thinking about the fact that we are going to Home Depot today. My brain started to fantasize about buying pieces of wood or tile to paint on. Facepalm!

Something that really tempted me though is a magnetic drawing board toy. I mentioned this in one of my previous posts, because I have a Boogie Board and it reminds me of those. I really want one so I’ve put it on a list of things to buy in 2023. The 2023 shopping list is a great idea that I got from Kindra on YouTube.

Speaking of Kindra, I really recommend checking out her channel if this No Buy topic is interesting to you because she is doing one too! She’s not a huge YouTuber and I actually really enjoy that, her videos feel very down to earth and relatable. And I just love her voice, I find it so soothing. Her No Buy videos have been so inspiring and motivating for me!

Another temptation I had but has since passed is getting a new drawing program for my computer. I fiddled around with a free one that worked pretty well (I think it was Krita?) and decided that was just fine. I haven’t even done any digital art since. (Unless you count building in The Sims 4 haha!)

I know that here and there I’ve found myself interested in a product I’ve watched someone use, but all of those temptations were very fleeting and I don’t even remember any of the products! So thank goodness I didn’t cave, in retrospect it is so clear I didn’t need any of those things.

In a moment of weakness I even found myself eyeing the free ballpoint pens at a pawn shop. Nothing tempts me more than shiny and new but also FREE! I really do not need any new ballpoint pens. They aren’t even my favorite art supply! It’s just my bird brain, wanting to collect and hoard.

But in terms of genuine temptations to buy something and break my No Buy, the only things that’ve really fallen into that category are the magnetic drawing board and the art program for my computer. All those other things were just silly little whims that were easy to write off immediately.

So far I have finished filling two previously half-filled sketchbooks and I haven’t bought any art supplies. I would say that I am doing very well!

So thanks for reading and I will check in again in another 2 or 3 months, unless something crazy comes up and I really need to blog about it!

A few pages from the sketchbook I just finished

~ Ari October ~ Leave a comment

Again, I’d love to post full tours (or at the very least, more google drive folders!) of all my completed sketchbooks but I just lack the energy to devote to something like that right now.

So in the meantime, here are some highlights from that sketchbook I just completed tonight. That one was definitely more of a messy sketchbook, there were countless terrible doodles, but I thought these pages turned out a little better than the rest.

6th sketchbook complete!!

~ Ari October ~ Leave a comment

2/3 sketchbooks filled towards my New Year’s resolution! Just one more to go! I hope to finish up even more than 3 as I have quite a few half-finished books in my cabinet.

I recently decided I must take a new approach to my art making: I must create with only the experience of creating in mind. I must create for the sake of my own satisfaction and not get caught up in the aesthetics of others.

Obviously I’ll still have a plan of what I want to create most of the time, but I must accept and even expect for plans to change as I go along. Some of my favorite features in my favorite drawings have come from mistakes!

This new approach is why I was able to fill this 30 page sketchbook in only 3 months. I started it on December 8th and finished it this evening of March 2nd. Otherwise I would have found myself frozen by my debilitating perfectionism and afraid to make anything others might deem “ugly.” Sometimes ugly art is the most fun to create!

I actually bought this sketchbook at The Dollar Tree! I knew I didn’t need any more sketchbooks but I hadn’t started my No Buy yet and just couldn’t resist trying it out. I was actually thoroughly impressed! I have had more expensive sketchbooks of lower quality. Not that it was anything super fancy, but it certainly got the job done. I enjoyed the texture of the paper and it took to all of my supplies much better than I would have expected.

Don’t let YouTube sketchbook tours fool you, most artists do not create only finished pieces. Most of us doodle and explore, making mistakes and messes. Some people keep sketchbooks that are only for finished pieces while simultaneously keeping a private sketchbook for scribbles.

On to the next one! Happy doodling 🙂

Blind Contour Baby Birdie

~ Ari October ~ 1 Comment
My daughter, known as Birdie to the internet for the sake of maintaining anonymity, is a very fun and interesting subject to doodle! Babies are weird. Crazy anatomy.

Haven’t posted in a while, though I’ve been meaning to, so in the meantime I offer up these!

Blind contour drawings are an excellent exercise for improving hand-eye coordination and observational skills, as well as a fun way to warm up by making some unapologetically “bad” art!

I love to do these as sketchbook fillers. However, these two in particular were actually sketched on my Boogie Board. It’s reminiscent of my old magnetic drawing board I had as a kid, but completely different technology.

I love how temporary it is, everything can be erased so quickly with the touch of a button. Because of this, I can make lots of crappy doodles without worrying about wasting paper. But when I make something I happen to like, as shown above, I just save it using the Jot Boogie Board app.

(This is not an advertisement, this post is not sponsored, I just like to be specific about what I use! If you feel like buying one after reading this though I’d honestly recommend just getting a kid’s magnetic drawing toy, they’re cheaper and in my experience a bit more fun! After my No Buy is over I might pick one up myself…)

Another sketchbook officially filled!

~ Ari October ~ 2 Comments
This quick and messy mandala marks the end of the 5th sketchbook I’ve ever filled up.
My stack of completed sketchbooks.

It’s always a special day when I finally fill a sketchbook from front to back.

I almost exclusively work in sketchbooks because they’re so easy to store compared to loose papers and canvases. Whenever I make art outside of a sketchbook I generally give it away!

I noticed that my Google drive folders that contain photos of every page of my first two sketchbooks are down. I’ll have to fix that soon, but our computer is currently out of commission.

I may attempt to film sketchbook tours some day, but life is far too busy and messy to devote time to that right now. Plus my phone camera isn’t as good as I’d like it to be for something like that. I don’t even have anything that resembles a tripod!

I just wanted to pop by and share my excitement! I made a resolution to finish filling 3 sketchbooks this year, since I have so many that are partially filled. That makes 1 down and 2 more to go, and it’s only the 11th of January! I’d love to fill more than 3 if possible, but we’ll see about that.

That’s also why I’ve been blogging so much more lately, I made keeping up with this blog another one of my resolutions. So far so good!

Neurographic Art

~ Ari October ~ 1 Comment

I recently discovered the joy of creating neurographic art. You can learn more about it here (click me!)

Neurographic art is rooted in psychology. It is a method to use artistic action to soothe oneself and problem solve. With Neurographic art you can turn your troubles into a colorful composition!

I’ve been so afraid to create lately. And by lately I mean the last several years. If you watched the short video I shared previously you will have some insight into how I’ve been feeling. So often making art feels fruitless to me and because of that I put off doing it.

Discovering neurographica has been a game-changer. It is soothing and grounding in a similar way to mandala, but with absolutely no skill requirement. Even with my freest of mandalas I still find myself trying to make them look good, but when it comes to neurographs it doesn’t matter.

I made one the other day in which I didn’t like the colors, one was too dark and it threw off the entire composition, so I simply discarded it. It was easier to move on from my mistake with a neurograph than it is with other forms of art. I didn’t feel that my time spent creating it was wasted, because it’s all about the process itself. Happening to like the finished product is just a bonus.

If you are feeling troubled, I recommend trying this craft. It’s fun and satisfying, and a great way to dip your toes back into creating if you’ve been struggling with fears about making art like I have.

You can use this technique to work through all sorts of hard times though, not just those pertaining to art! So if you’re interested give it a go, you might be surprised by the results!

Dollar Tree Giraffe!

~ Ari October ~ Leave a comment
A wood giraffe cutout from the dollar tree, painted by me, with Craft Smart matte acrylic paint.

Had a lot of fun with this little guy. Learned a lot about giraffes in the process! They are so cute! No wonder they’re my partner’s favorite. This is a birthday gift to her.

I’ve also been exploring Neurographic art lately, so stay tuned for a post about that hopefully in the next few days!