This month at The Ugly Art Club, we leaned into the idea of looking through—and sometimes right past—perfection. Our prompt for October was Window, and it served as the perfect metaphor for the layers, transparency, and depth we love to explore in our journals.
Whether we were literally cutting apertures into our pages or using “windows” to frame a specific memory, the community showed up with so much grit and soul. We weren’t just making pretty frames; we were looking into the messy, beautiful process of creation.
Here is a look at how this month’s tutorials unfolded:
Tiffany : Leaning into the UGLY
She spent her time this month leaning into the “ugly.” Her tutorial focused on heavy coffee staining, scribbled marks, and torn edges. For her, the window was a jagged cutout over a vintage group photo, surrounded by messy mathematics and loose threads. It was about mending things together that don’t quite fit and finding the beauty in the stained and the frayed.
Kristin : Windows REIMAGINED
Kristin took us on a journey through vintage ephemera and bold textures. Her work featured a literal window envelope—a classic “ugly art” staple—transformed with aged paper, number stamps, and a beautiful play of height and scale. It reminded us all to look at the discarded “trash” in our mail piles with new eyes.
DeeDee : THROUGH the Window
DeeDee brought her signature industrial-meets-organic vibe to the prompt. Her tutorial focused on the “view” within the window, using a tiny, weathered photograph framed by raw cardboard and messy, tangled thread. The result was a hauntingly beautiful piece that felt like a secret kept inside a box.
Megan Quinlan’s Journal Pages
We were thrilled to have Megan Quinlan join us this month. Megan’s approach to the “Window” prompt was a masterclass in storytelling and whimsical layering. She utilized intricate lace patterns and playful character illustrations to create portals within her pages, proving that a window can be both a physical opening and a gateway to a new narrative.
