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Showing posts with label art journal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art journal. Show all posts

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Oh, but my darling, what if you fly? Art Journal Page #4


This page is from my visual art journal notebook, which is smaller (5.5x8 inches) than my regular pages I normally do. The texture here was really interesting because I used pencil shavings and modeling paste to get it! Yes, pencil shavings. It turned out well if you ask me ;) After that was all dry I just took a brush and starting adding various colors. The butterfly and bird are from the Mambi Sheets paper stack by Me & My Big Ideas. I have a bunch of paper doilies from a haul back in 2014 so I used some of those. I painted them separately then added them on which gives a neat effect with the holes showing the base color underneath. I used Glimmer Mist on the top doily and accidentally glued it on upside down, such a Katie thing to do! I found the great quote on Pinterest. I saw it and knew it was absolutely perfect, especially with the butterfly and bird being on the page. I just had to use it. Lastly I used a Tim Holtz rub on for the "FOUND" words. I mentioned them in the last post but I absolutely love them. I have a bunch of Tim Holtz rub ons on my Amazon wish list, they work so well in art journaling.

What's great about the quote is that it's fitting to my life. That's why I was so excited to find it. I am working on taking leaps where I'd normally take baby steps. I realize I don't have time to take some things slow, I just need to jump in and do it. Of course there are times where things need to be taken slow, but I'm referring to the situations where it won't hurt to get down to business. For example, instead of waiting for things to progress super slow with a guy I had a crush on like I had been doing, I took some advice and flat out told him how I felt. It didn't work out but he took it like a champ and things weren't awkward after that. Instead of waiting for signs that may never come I need to take control of my life. I believe in letting God influence my decisions and guiding me, but I have to work, too, he won't make my decisions for me.

So get out there and leap, and you may just fly.

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Art Journal Pages 1-3

Last year I started art journaling. I'm not sure what inspired me to start, but I was low on scrapbook supplies and needed a creative outlet. I took a break for awhile but have been back at it for a few months now and I can't get enough of it. I want to share my latest 3 pages with you!



In my last post I mentioned being obsessed with circles thanks to Maremismallart on YouTube. I decided to do a whole page of them! This was a messy page to make since I used my fingers to lay down the base layer of colors. After that it was a lot of stenciling and bubble wrap stamping. To make the circles I traced circular objects like a water bottle cap and a cup, and some others I just drew out in gesso. That's the first step, gesso your circles. It makes sure the paint you put on top of it is more opaque. After that I just took various paint colors I had poured out on a paper plate and used circular motions with my fingers to swirl the paint on, not worrying about mixing the colors together. My favorite circle is the one on the left in the middle. I just can't get enough of the color combo I created on accident! All my words are Tim Holtz rub ons which you can find here. Rub ons are SO my jam these days! My hand-lettering isn't so awesome so these are great in place of handwriting. Plus, I can't seem to find a black paint pen that won't crap out on me after a week (yep, I've tried Sharpie paint pens, two of them). Once I can buy some more transparencies I will be able to make my own rub ons (tutorial to come!). There is so much freedom in making your own personal rub ons.





Ok, this is one of my favorites! Lots of my friends and family loved it too. It's a total knockoff of My Arty Heart's version on YouTube found here. So thank you for the inspiration, My Arty Heart! This looks harder than it really was. First I lay down color in the background with my fingers (I like avoiding brush strokes). Then it was stencil time! I used a really cool stencil from The Crafter's Workshop (found here on Amazon) with hexagons, circles and stars. After that I just drew some oval shapes in pencil and took some more paint and brushed around the shapes. When you do this you can use one color or several and blend them around. At this point all that's left to do is outline your flowers and add any doodling or finishing touches you like! I love using white pen with black as it really adds some great contrast. If you need a white pen recommendation I really like Gelly Roll from Sakura (6-pack found here). It still works after lots of use!




This is my version of Nika in Wonderland's mixed media faces. Hers are much cooler and better drawn, but this one is mine :) To start I lay down some magenta, yellow, and aqua paint with my fingers. I used it pretty sparingly after priming my page with gesso (I always, always prime with gesso). Then I started drawing. Eyes can be tricky to draw and I seemed to have forgotten what I learned from Jane Davenport's book Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces, haha. Her book on how to draw faces is fabulous and I highly recommend it. Anyway, I added some stenciling and drew in the hair. I used two shades of grey and one purple to make a few shadows and color the hair. I ended up using some Lindy Stamp Gang Magicals to add the green color on the top left. It didn't blend in well so I used my finger, which I do not recommend doing un-gloved...those things really stain skin! At the very end of this I took some white gesso and went over a couple of areas to add contrast and interest. Overall I like it, I just wish my eye was better shaped!

I hope you enjoyed the post and found some inspiration from where I did, too. There are amazing artists out there to get you in the mood for creating so never stop seeking them out. The talent pool is incredible!

*All links are NOT affiliate links. They are for your convenience to learn about the products and get an idea on the prices. I just really like Amazon :)