The Meta Blog...OR a Blog about a Blog

This past week I took advantage of my unemploymentness and headed down to NYC for some great food, great sites, and some fantastic time with friends. I spent a lot of time with the coolest art-girl on the block (aka I slept on her couch). I hung out in the studio working on my new website (coming soon!) while she worked on her Art Journaling Everyday video. 

Julie is adjusting her camera and checking the battery life. The camera is on a long arm attached to her tripod.

I thought you might like to see some of the magic behind the scenes. These pictures are a little dark but I wanted you to see how a great blogger sets up her studio for filming. Her room isn't terribly bright when she's working normally so she has set up a great set of task lights around the room so that she can see whether she's painting, filming, or making some other beautiful creation.

All ready to tape. Note the great lights Julie sets up for a well-lit video

For this blog, Julie is taping a time lapse video of her working on a journal page. I can tell you, she doesn't know what it's going to look like before she gets started. I think you can learn a lot about art by watching videos like this. It's like watching her brain on fast forward. 

Julie dripping ink down a page.

Here Julie is playing with some new inks (I think they were called IZINK.) Because she had never used them before, she didn't know exactly how they would work, but that didn't stop her. If you follow her blog, you can really gain some great tips on how to experiment fearlessly. It's just a journal page, right?

It's good to be tall--I took this on my tip toes so you can see the camera set up. Julie can look up at the camera screen at any time to make sure she's capturing exactly what she wants.

Here Julie is contemplating the face and the details. Note how the woman she is journaling has curly hair?

See more photos and the time-lapse video on Julie's blog.

Here is the page after--no more curly hair. I love the yellow pops on her face and the red dots in her hair. I don't think you could plan something like this out. Everyone loves taking classes from Julie but  I love how she teaches people to be themselves in their art making. Be unique. Be brave. Be experimental.

Dim Sum in Chinatown with Julie, Nathalie Kalbach, and Birgit (not Brigit) Koopsen.

And when you're all done...go out for Dim Sum!

Hope you enjoyed this look behind the scenes! What does your "photo or video set up" look like?