Sharon is a painter, pattern maker, flower picker, and collager! She loves things from time gone by, books, peonies, neons, poster colors, and hot sauce.

Why do you love art journaling?

I really do love art journaling. I stumbled into it after I moved to New York and had free time. I took the “Beautiful Mess” – 52 Weeks of Art Journaling and a Kara Haupt course and fell in love with it… Then I found Sabine and a few of the originals-and I bribed and begged Caylee to let me into the original group. I thought I was too old and my style was not sleek and perfect… But surprise: I got in, got more confident, and started to branch out in all different ways. I rant in my art journal pages-sometimes its not obvious to others but boy oh boy, that might be one of the things I the most about it. I also LOVE the community, the Facebook group, and all the opportunities it has opened up to me. I adore the new group and all the new styles-points of views, and friends I have made…

Describe your art journaling process?

HAHAHAHA!! Process?? I read the prompts, and either dive in immediately or wait until Wednesday night. I have four areas, where I should work, outside on my patio, I have an amazing crafty corner with my red desk, a table in our living room, a desk in our guest room but usually, I create on the floor or on my bed. I start with a quote, or a color (many times red,) or a picture I found. I have piles of magazines that I look through. I usually get a brainstorm and just start cutting and gluing. Sorry, no real process to describe.

What tips do you have for beginners?

Just do it…don’t be afraid to post your pictures, it’s like an art class where you have to put your pictures up on a board and everyone gives you their opinions..at first it’s hard and embarrassing like it’s a personal piece of your soul, but after a while it’s cathartic and you are doing it for your own enjoyment. I love looking back through my old art journals, they are like a diary and they take me right back to where I was at that moment in time.

What do you do when you don’t know what to make?

When I don’t know what to make, I look through magazines, Pinterest and listen to music. It doesn’t happen very much anymore. I procrastinate too until an idea hits me and then I am like a madwoman with paper scraps around me and glue on my hands and paint on my clothes…(I truly do get messy). This is the first page I did for Get Messy!!

What are your must-have supplies? What is your journal of choice?

I don’t really like regular scrapbook supplies. I have to have paint, sharpies, black flair felt pens, construction paper, giant stick-on letters that I buy at the hardware store and lots of glue sticks. I use Dick Blick hardcover mixed media sketchbooks usually, one of the largest they sell.

How do other areas of art/life influence your work?

Everything seems to affect it now. I have slowly made my way through the museums in NYC, the change of seasons here, music that I like and usually whatever class I am taking affects what I create. My boyfriend being sick, and my extreme homesickness has come out a lot in my journaling.. the “Season of Brave” came at a perfect time. I would create my pages and cry. My best friend and I are currently doing a traveling journal which has been super fun.

How do you use the GM prompts versus coming up with your own ideas?

I totally use the prompts but usually loosely–and I don’t always do them all. I love the prompts..they are a great jumping-off point for me.

Tell us more about your painting challenge? How is it influencing your art journal?

I took Mary Ann Moss’s Sketchbookery class and I fell in love with her (girl crush) and watercolor. I started to paint every day which I hadn’t done since college…I found August Wren on Instagram (girl crush number 2) and she was in the middle of a 365-day painting challenge…so I started too…It’s been amazing..once again I found a new community, am honing my skills, and bring a mini paint set with me all the time. I painted away in the hospital during the roughest of times this year. Naturally, I started to include my painting on my pages and I love including the two!

What are your best tips for adding your own paintings/drawings/doodles / etc into your art journal if you aren’t sure they are ‘good enough’?

I have pages that I have just covered with a new sheet of paper when I didn’t like how the page turned out and I have some pages that are just for me. If I find it pleasing, then they are good enough (no matter what anyone else thinks…) Honestly, because I couldn’t produce the perfect, simplistic pages that I admire, at first I thought nothing was good enough…I had to learn to embrace my own style. My brain just doesn’t tick that way…I also admire sleek, rooms that are minimalistic, but my house is a hodgepodge of quilts, plants and all sorts of things on the wall and shelves…look at my current mess

Open comment to Lauren the Hoopster and Caylee Grey -Caygrey. Thank you ladies, this whole experience has changed me in every way…and that’s the honest truth…

📌 Pin this or share in Instagram Stories:

Sharon Nullmeyer

Sharon is a painter, pattern maker, flower picker, and collager! She loves things from time gone by, books, peonies, neons, poster colors, and hot sauce.