Here’s a couple of Art Journal pages I did for Gauche Alchemy. I’m just getting started, but oh what fun they were!
I called it Split Personality because these journal pages make me look like I have a split personality, they are so different. One side bright, attention grabbing, and colorful, the other more neutral and calm. While it didn’t completely hold true for today’s project, my journal pages are usually created by trying out new products, techniques or whatever catches my fancy. Being a newbie at art journaling, I found this approach works best for me. Today’s were a combination of getting some stuff off my chest and the desire to try out some new stencils and pastes.
My journal is the larger 11 3/8″ x 8 1/4 one made by Dylusions. For the page on the left, I used the 9″ x 12″ Dylusions Flower Medley stencil to start but on the right I just sprayed on some Art Anthology mists as a starting point. I then just let things come as they may. Yes, sometimes I throw everything but the kitchen sink at a page and see what sticks!
After I sprayed the stencil, since I didn’t lay down a background, the flowers were white (the color of the page) and in definite need of color. Out came a bunch of Distress Paints and Art Anthology Velvets, as bright as I had. I painted the flowers in alternating colors, not paying too close attention to staying in the lines. I then stenciled a crown using Studio 490 gold embossing paste and a Tattered Angels mask. This was followed by more embossing paste in white using a couple of TCW stencils and then some text stamping in black.
The frog (I LOVE frogs!) is courtesy of VivaLasVegaStamps. I used a couple of napkins from the Napkin Art Kit, roughly trimming around the edges of the images I wanted and adhering them the page with Collage Pauge, brushing some of it over the top of the napkin pieces to seal and protect them. The white part of the napkin disappears into the page, so there is no need to fussy-cut. I then journaled “Let your flowers bloom, let your garden grow” with black Sharpie and outlined the page with faux stitching using a white gel pen.
For this page, I was in a totally different frame of mind. I misted the page with Art Anthology Colorations then grabbed a couple more of my TCW stencils and misted them in contrasting but muted colors. I used a Prima Turkish Grunge stencil with Studio 490 silver embossing paste (I LOVE embossing paste of any kind), then took a couple of Dylusions stamps inked with sepia archival ink and had fun stamping all over the page. The circles I stamped were then colored in with a white gel pen and I outlined the wavy stamp at the top of the page with a black Sharpie. Finally, I added a bright piece of napkin from the Napkin Art Kit, again adhering and sealing it with Collage Pauge. I find the Collage Pauge doesn’t stay sticky like Modge Podge does (I live in a very humid climate) and my pages don’t stick together.
Food for thought - Here is something that struck me while creating these pages: I really wasn’t loving how they looked. But, due to circumstances, I had to take a two-week break from playing with them and when I started back, they looked a lot better than I remembered. So, I guess sometimes we need to just step back from our art to gain perspective. I realized I was concentrating so much on making the pages perfect that I was losing what I set out to do: create a journal page from the heart, not one from the mind, and to have fun doing it. Now, go grab yourself a couple of stencils, some inks and stamps, and just have fun.
Until later………….
