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!

Vintage Style Art Journal Page

Hello everyone!

for as long as I can remember I've always had a diary to express my thoughts and feelings - sometimes with words, other times with loose sketches - a place to take refuge at the end of the day. I suppose my art journal is an extension of that, and it's become more than a creative outlet. For these past six years my journal has been a faithful companion on my art as well as life journey. 

As mentioned in a previous post I didn't quite complete this journal within the last year, on account of being a slow journaler. I like to contemplate each step in the process, often guided by my current emotions and let the story unfold intuitively. Some of the steps can be seen below:

I often start by journaling with a watersoluble pencil and then give the pages a good spray with water to let the color flow. Most of the journaling will be covered with collage, but it felt good to express my thoughts. I did leave a few words and some of the pale mint colored paint that had already been on the pages peek through here and there. Once I was satisfied with the collaged layer I pushed it back with white paint. At this point I took a break and came back to the page the next day. 

One of the things I enjoy is adding sentiments from word snippets that I collect in a small box. I have them in different sizes and fonts, which adds a whimsical touch to the page.

At this stage I know I am nearing the completed spread and usually add some marks, lines, and splatters as finishing touches.

I chose this image from The Graphics Fairy as my focal point. Before printing it out, I processed the image to match the colors in my spread. Then I used gel medium to adhere it to the page along with a stamped leaf image. It was very satisfying to complete this spread. 

Thank you for visiting and I hope you have a wonderful day ahead!

DIY Vintage Style Accordion Book

Hi crafty friends!

For the longest time I wanted to make an altered accordion booklet. Well, last weekend I set some time aside to finally make one! Patience is required to make one of these, as a lot of prep work has to be done and the drying time between each layer takes some time. I wanted mine to have a vintage feel with soft colors and plenty of floral motifs. And as an animal lover I wanted to add animal images as well.

I pulled out a bunch of art supplies...acrylic inks, paints, stamp pads, assorted collage papers, pens, stamps and stencils. I usually decide which ones to use, while I am doing the actual crafting. That's the beauty of mixed media art!

One of the first things I did was make lots of floral ephemera. I stamped a whole bunch of floral images on white drawing paper, then I colored these in with gouache paints, and once dry I fussy cut them all out. This was quite a task, but I love how these turned out!

I started by randomly stamping a grid pattern on all the pages of the booklet. While the ink was drying I then altered a mini envelope (see top left corner). I would later add this to one of the pages. It's a fun touch and you can keep some special and personal notes in there. While this isn't a full tutorial - that would take hours - you can watch the demo below:

https://youtu.be/8VPJBnTDthk

If you are watching this on YouTube, a "like" or share would be massively appreciated ♥ Happy Friday!