Colorful Art Journal Page with Flower

Hi everyone!

Maybe I had summer on my mind when I created this page, as I was automatically reaching for the oranges and yellows!

In this beginner-friendly art journal page I have utilized simple techniques that resulted in a cheerful page with some pretty amazing effects.  

I used mainly acrylic inks for this piece plus color pencils to color in my stamped image.

You can watch the process in my short video here:

By the way, if you have any questions about the techniques shown or tools and paints used, don't hesitate to reach out to me via the comments below or on my YouTube channel. Speaking of...I have a new YT banner! What do you think?

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful week where ever in the world you may be!

Mixed Media Art Journal Flip Through

Hello blog friends!

I finally completed the art journal that I started last year. I chose a vintage-style theme, although I did sneak in a few semi-abstract artworks as you can see above.

I did a flip-through reel on instagram if you want to take a look at all the pages. Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a beautiful day!

                                                                                                                                            

Colorful Mixed Media Art Journal Page

Hi everyone!

This art journal page came together quite spontaneously. I was craving color, so I picked neon pink paint, bright orange crayons toned down with a sooty gray stencil background. I applied the colors in a loose manner, added a few splatters and topped it off with pre-made collage flowers and leaves. 

Click on the short video to watch the whole process:

The collage shows the layering process from stencil background to choosing the flowers.

Here are a few close ups of the finished page:

There's a video in my channel on how I made the collage flowers and leaves. I made these in several color variations and they are great for adding to art journals and cards.

You can watch it here:

Before adhering the focal image I did some background stamping with text, numbers and faux stitching stamps. I find these make the page "come alive". 

Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to leave comments. I truly appreciate them 😊 Have a great week!

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Art Journaling with Art Prompt Cards

Hello blog friends,

I endeavour to make art every day, even if it's just a fifteen minute break in between work and chores, but sometimes I struggle to come up with an idea. This is where my handmade Art Prompt Cards come in handy. 

I shuffled the cards and then picked three. The prompts I chose were "shades of red", "make splatters" and "add stamps". On a whim I decided to film my process of impromptu art making and you can find the short video below. Don't forget to leave a thumbs up 😊

Whenever I don't have much time, I like to grab a few favorite tools, such as a brayer, grungy background stamps and paint pens. In the above collage you can see how I have built up layers with paint and stamps using the art prompts. If you look closely - in step four I made some splatters in a darker shade of red than the main red, which is carmine. (In the video I mistakenly said crimson).

If you have followed my blog for a while, you'll know that I often add face sketches to my art journal pages. Alternatively, I use this fun face stamp from Jane Davenport - and before you ask - it's been discontinued, but there may be some sets still available online. Just put her name in search + stamps. This face stamp in three sizes lets you create endless hairstyles, which I find highly entertaining. Should you choose to draw a figure the clothing options are endless, too. 

In my example: after stamping on a separate piece of paper I sketched in a short hairstyle and added just the top part of the body. Yes, my lady has lilac hair 😊💜 I also used my large alphabet stamp set to stamp some words.

A fun page created with the help of my art prompts and using some of my favorite tools! Thanks for stopping by my blog. Have a wonderful weekend ahead and Happy Easter to those that celebrate 🌸

Colorful Abstract Art Journal Page with Bird Sketch

Hello lovelies!

I still don't feel great, unfortunately. I did finally see a doctor last week to rule out pneumonia and he prescribed some medication to help alleviate the symptoms. Other than that he told me to take it easy and get some bed rest.

If you've known me through my blog any amount of time you'll know that it's almost impossible for me to lay in bed with my mind in overdrive. My "to-do-list" is stretching ever longer and I am feeling quite antsy.

Then I remembered that before I fell ill I filmed a little tutorial, but only uploaded it now. 

 

At the time I was tired of the gray weather that I decided to bring in some bright colors on the page to cheer me up! In the above collage you can see some of the process that went into creating this page. I used various tools for the background, such as a brayer and stamps and also a watersoluble pencil to make random marks. 

The little birdy is a sketch I made on a separate piece of paper, cut out and glued to the page along with some strips of collage and random word snippets. 

This style is more abstract than my usual and I utilized the white space. I explain this in the short video above. It's a simple page, but in the end it really did cheer me up with all the yummy bright colors!

I really do hope that I will feel more myself soon. Thank you so much for visiting and your lovely comments. I do appreciate every one of them!

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Mixed Media Art Journal Page with Vintage-style Birds

Hi lovely readers and followers,

I am close to completing the final pages in my vintage-style-themed art journal and it's getting quite fat, hence the three clips to hold the pages down! This spread is similar in style as the previous one, except for the bird images which were a free download from The Graphics Fairy. There are plenty other birds in various styles available over there.

I intentionally kept things simple with less layering and focussing more on composition and shapes.  I painted the background with beige acrylic paint and dropped in some ink in raw umber, then let it flow down the page. 

Once the background was dry I adhered bits of collage papers in browns and creams. I mixed a pale mint with a light gray-blue and applied it randomly all over the spread. Then I brought in some subtle colors with more collage bits and pieces and stamped a botanical image on the right side.

I made some splatters with watered-down, light green paint and shaded the edges of the pages with my Stabilo All pencil, which turns a nice grungy black when water is added.

I like how bits of the brown collage papers peek through the gray-blue paint and the pop of color from the bird images. When I printed these they came out in rectangular format with a white background. I only wanted the colored bit, so I cut the images along the blue edges. I considered going around the images with more paint, but then decided to just leave it as is.

As I am writing this it is snowing again. The sky looks like the paint in my artwork! I am off to make myself a steaming cup of tea and hoping to see a sign of spring soon...🌸

Thanks so much for visiting and I hope you have a cozy Sunday!

Imagine - Mixed Media Art Journal Page

Hello lovelies!

I just love how chunky my art journal becomes with each completed page! I had intended to complete my vintage-style art journal by the end of last year, alas, other things took priority. There are maybe ten pages left to go - I don't always start a journal front to back, sometimes I first create pages in the centre, especially if I intend to add tags or flaps etc.  

I kind of got stuck on this spread that I had started a while ago. It features several layers of stencilling, collage and washi tapes in pinkish tones. I didn't exactly know where to go from here. Then I came across printable images from The Graphics Fairy and I thought these would complement my pages. 

I printed out the images and decided to color them in with watersoluble crayons. Once dry, I cut them out and used a glue stick to adhere them on the pages. I also added a sentiment to each page. Finally, I made a few dark pink splatters with ink to liven up the page. It's a simple art journal spread, but I think it turned out quite nicely. 

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Colorful Collage Art with a painted Butterfly

Hi everyone!

Today I'm sharing another painting process in my art journal. Most of my journals are themed, for example "face sketching" or "abstract" etc. The square journal shown here is dedicated to collage art with a dreamy, vintage-y look with lots of layers. Once I've completed this journal I will share a flip-through. But for now, let me walk you through the layering process.

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts I love creating my own collage papers for my mixed media artwork. For this spread I have selected a few papers along with some torn bits of sheet music and grid paper. I adhered these with a glue stick and then added a thin layer of Mod Podge on the whole spread to seal and prepare it for the next layers. 

In the above photo I have stencilled on leaf motifs in random areas. The paint needs to dry before adding the next layer.

I gave the whole spread a wash of thinned down acrylic ink in burnt sienna. This gives the artwork a warm glow. Because it is thinned down with a lot of water, the layers are still visible. Once the ink has dried I went in with another stencil in a creamy yellow to add even more texture. I let this dry again. Then I stamped a tiny dot motif using a black stamp pad.

I contemplated adding another stamp, then decided against it, as I thought it would overwhelm the page. I did go in with a paint pen in raspberry pink to make tiny dashes.

Ages ago I painted this butterfly. It's been sitting in my collage fodder basket waiting for the perfect background. Well, the butterfly finally got its rightful place on this page! I added a little sentiment from my sticker book to the other side. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Thank you for stopping by and have a beautiful day!

Grungy Art Journal Page with Watercolor Flowers

Hi everyone!

Although popular, I'm the first to admit that watercolors are actually my least favorite medium. However, I was intrigued by this small five pan set by Kuretake, which is relatively new here in Europe. Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors are an upper end brand, but I was lucky to get the set on sale. The set includes Aurora Red, Aurora Pink, Aurora Orange, Aurora Blue and Aurora Violet plus an empty pan for mixing.  At first I was sceptical, as the paint in the pans looked drab, but once activated with water they have a wonderful granulation and color dispersion. You can see this effect on my swatches in my watercolor sketchbook. It takes a bit of experimentation, but I feel the more water is added the better the color effects! It's best to not manipulate the water and just let it air dry. Once completely dry, the full two-tone color dispersion can be seen and admired. Side note: The colors are definitely not as bright as on the package.

Of course, now that I have them I will need to use them. I wanted to create something in my junky handmade art journal. So I grabbed some watercolor pencils, a few acrylic gouache paints, some crayons and some favorite stamps. I opened the journal and chose a random spread with pages that already had some colors and marks on them. I started by loosely putting down some colors with a flat brush. 

I continued brushing on paint. I used a sky blue, light turquoise, prussian blue and rose. I also used my fingers to blend in some white. I made some marks with a black crayon and added some splatters with white acrylic ink. This "playing" is just so relaxing, and since it's done in my junk journal there is no pressure to create a masterpiece.

Once satisfied with my background, I set the journal aside to focus on my focal images. I stamped some floral motifs on a white sheet of paper and colored them in using small round brushes in size 4 and size 6. While the images were still wet, I went in with my watercolor pencils to add some details and enhance the flowers. I set these aside to dry completely. 

Now that I've experimented with the Kuretake watercolors I must say, that while I appreciate the color dispersion and granulating effect, I find that it is not as pronounced on a small area. The colors are probably more effective as a background wash or when painting sky or seascapes. I felt the two-tone effect did not show up as well on a small and detailed image like those above.

Anyway, back to my background. I stamped some of my favorite grungy stamps in some areas. And once the flower motifs were dry I cut them out, but I wasn't too precise about it, as I was just going to stick them on my junk journal pages.

I adhered the floral images on the pages with a glue stick and also added a little sentiment. "Progress not Perfection." And indeed, I made some progress as far as painting with watercolors goes. Controlling the amount of water seems to be of paramount importance. I feel these granulating colors will be fun to use on larger areas. Good to know for future projects!

Thank you for reading along and I hope you enjoyed my little art journal demonstration. And if you missed it - a quick reminder that I launched my mini workshop last week. If you are interested you can click on the button in the side bar or follow this link.