Some Days, All You Need Is a Bit of Everything! — Creating an Art Journal Page

I was recently watching Leonie Pujol of Art Inspirations creating with Ken Oliver Color Sparx powders, which reminded me that I actually had some tucked away in my stash. And that was the catalyst for this art journal page.

This A4 page was definitely a go with the flow kind of page. Although, if I'm being completely honest, I did have one thing already planned ...

I'd coloured a Zinski image, Journal Face, a while ago and it had been sitting on my desk waiting to be used. The image, and the colours I'd used to colour her, became my starting point.

I've also been trying to get into the habit of setting up my camera and filming while I'm making projects. I'm finding that having these little snippets of the creative process ready to turn into reels is really useful - so here's the reel for this page.

... and the fun began!

It had been a while since I'd used Color Sparx and, well, I got a little carried away with the water! What started as a colourful background quickly became a rather spectacular puddle in my journal.

Normally I blot excess colour by closing the journal and letting the opposite page do the work. On this occasion, even that wasn't enough and the kitchen towel had to make an appearance. A little waste of product, but these things happen!

The colour was lovely, but there was simply too much of it. I broke up the background using my Square Simplicity stencil and Distress White Opaque Crackle Paste. That helped, but the background still felt a little disjointed.

When that happens, I tend to fall back on something I know works for me:

Stamp, stamp and stamp some more!

I used elements from my It's A Good Year and Be Not Afraid stamp sets, building up layers of stamping across the background. Versafine Clair Warm Breeze helped the stamped images blend into the colours rather than compete with them.

For the main flowers, I wanted something big and bold, so I reached for the Be Not Afraid Bloom stamp set and some of the Be Not Afraid backing papers.

There was a reason for choosing those particular papers. I'd already used them when paper piecing parts of the Journal Face Zinski image, so bringing the same colours into the flowers helped tie everything together - and, conveniently, meant I didn't have to stand there wondering what colours to use!

Once the flowers were arranged in a gentle curve down the page, I added some smaller stamped flowers to fill the gaps and add another layer.

Trust the process ...

And then came the bit where I nearly stopped.

When I placed the Journal Face image onto the page, she seemed to disappear into everything else. I decided she needed her own space, so I grabbed some white acrylic paint and a brayer and started adding a lighter area to one corner.

It didn't go quite as planned.

The paint wasn't behaving as I wanted, so I ended up blending it with my fingers. When I stepped back, my first thought was that it looked like "a dog's dinner!"

I was seriously tempted to walk away.

Instead, I kept hearing that familiar phrase: Trust the process

So I carried on.

I added the Journal Face Zinski image over the painted area with gel medium and, much to my surprise, it worked. The lighter background gave her the space she needed and suddenly the page started to come together.

A few extra flowers, some obligatory white splats and a couple of quotes that felt right for the page, and it was finished.

And perhaps that's what I like most about art journalling. You don't always know where you're going when you start. Sometimes the background works, sometimes you create a puddle, sometimes it looks like "a dog's dinner" ...

And sometimes you just have to trust the process.

Until next time, take care,

Lou
xxx