Art Journal Page – This is me…

I am always so busy being a mother, wife, daughter, friend, etc. to just be me. The thought came to me one morning to take some time to create an art journal page about me.  What I like and dislike about me.

BACKGROUND:

I collaged pieces of napkins and pages from a Telkom Phone Book (I clean my stencils and excess paint and ink in the Phone Book) for the background.

FOCAL POINT:

I placed Transfer paper under a photo of myself and “drew” my face with an embossing tool on an A4-sized canvas out of a pad.  I finished the portrait with Acrylic paints and Derwent Intense Pencils.

FINISHING TOUCHES:

I used Stencil-Art’s Daisies stencil and Gesso for the flowers and used some Distress Paints over the background and flowers once dry.  I wrote the title and journaling with white Sharpie markers and doodled around the flowers.

Art Journal Page – Flowergirl with PanPastel & Derwent Pastel Pencils.

My first Journal Page using Pastel Artist’s Supplies.  The PanPastel Artist Pastels are so easy to spread over a bigger surface and the Sofft tools make is super-easy to apply.  I found the Derwent Pastel Pencils such a pleasure to work with and it blended beautifully.  This will definitely not be my last journal page with Pastels!

BACKGROUND:

I made use of the Face Basic Stencil to draw the outline of the face and the Flowers Mixed stencil to draw the flowers all around with Ranger Perfect Medium pens. (Any Embossing Pens will work). I then made use of PanPastel Artist’s Pastels (Magenta, Orange, Turquoise, Diarylide Yellow and Bright Yellow Green) to “colour-in” the background.

FOCAL POINT:

I started “colouring-in” the face with a mixture of Permanent Red Tint and Yellow Ochre PanPastels and created the features with the Derwent Pastel Pencils which blended beautifully. Remember to use a Fixative spray to “fix” the Pastels as it will rub off over time.

FINISHING TOUCHES:

I made use of the Faber-Castel Mix & Match Pitt Artist’s Journaling Pens and Stampers Big Brush pens in assorted colours to “colour-in” the flowers and doodled around some of it.  I also wrote the title and doodled flowers and leaves around it.

Products used in this tutorial: 

Click here to buy products.

Click here to view the Youtube video.

Art Journal Page -- Jacaranda Tree with Lindy's Stamp Gang & Ranger Prod...

Art Journal Page – Jacaranda Tree with Lindy’s Stamp Gang & Ranger Products

I know that summer has arrived when the streets in Johannesburg are lined in purple! I was inspired by all the flowering Jacaranda trees.  I grabbed some supplies in purples, greens and browns and started playing!

BACKGROUND:

I used Dylusions Spray Inks in Crushed Grape, Cut Grass and Melted chocolate and then covered the page with Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tissue Wrap.  I used Heritage Craft 3D Crystal Acrylic Glass and a stencil to create some texture and used Lindy’s Stamp Gang Moon shadow Mist (Van Dyke Sepia), Starburst (Jazzy Jivin’’Purple) and Magicals (Jack in the Pulpit Teal) to add some bling. 

FOCAL POINT:

My Jacaranda tree – I draw the rough outline with Inktense pencils and used Heritage Crafts Acrylic paints and Distress Paints to paint the tree.  

I used some cardboard letters for my title and covered it with Lindy Stamp Gang Embossing powder (Midnight Ruby Obsidian).

FINISHING TOUCHES:

I created some depth with Faber-Castell Big Brush pens as well as my white Sharpie Paint Pen. I did my journaling with my Pitt Artist black pen. I added some Distress Stains and sprayed it with water to create some drips running down the page.

Art Journal Page - Gelli-Arts Printing Plate & Heritage Fluorescent Acrylic Paint

We all know that feeling of opening your journal with anticipation and then not having a clue where to start...  

Most of the times I grab different supplies (acrylic & water colour paints, inks, gelatos, sprays) in co-coordinating colours - most of the time not more that 3 different colours with black and/or white.  I do not restrict myself to these colours, this is just a starting point. Most of the times I change some of the colours or even introduce more colours.

Art Journaling page using the Gelli-Arts Printing Plate & Heritage Craft Fluorescent Acrylics

 I approach each journal page in three stages:

Background – mostly covering the white page with something – paints, inks, paper.

In this case I used the Gelli-Arts printing plate to layer Fluorescent acrylic paint and finished with Stencil-Art's Circle stencil and white acrylic paint.

Focal point – drawing, painting or collage. (The element or object in a painting or a piece 

of art that draws the your eye to it, or the main subject on your page.

I used Stencil-Art's Face-basic stencil to draw part of the face and used Heritage Craft  Artist's Acrylic - Flesh and Touch of Pink. The details on the face were done with Derwent  Inktense pencils and a water colour brush.  

I printed the quote on tissue paper (I lightly sprayed the tissue paper with repositionable adhesive spray and printed it with my laser printer) and adhered it to the page.

I used Faber-Castell Gelatos to colour-in circles and collaged old book paper some other. 

        
Finishing touches and journaling – giving my page a title, doodling and writing.

I stamped images from Claudine Helmuth "Bloom" Acrylic stamps with Dylusions Spray  mists and the Dylusions Spray Ink Pad.  I then "coloured-in" the background by rubbing  Dylusions spray mists from the ink pad.  I doodled with Faber-Castell Big Brush and Pitt Artist's pens, as

well as my white Sharpie Paint Pen.

Tutorial posted on Youtube:

Have you ever bought arts or crafts supplies because you have seen it advertised or a demonstration somewhere and you simply had to have it? I have to confess that I have a room full of products - some of which I have never used.  That was until I discovered the exciting world of art journaling!

Art Journaling is a way of expressing yourself through writing and creating visual art at the same time.  You can use a variety of art supplies to create mixed-media art. You can either buy pre-made journals or make your own custom journals to record everything from your travels to art techniques to your deepest secrets.

An art journal is whatever you want it to be.  There are no rules in art journaling. You can doodle, collage, stamp or paint. Create chronologically or not. You can have a central theme or not.  There are no mistakes in art journaling!  If you do not like something cover it with paint or paper! Gesso will become your best friend! The most important thing to remember is:  HAVE FUN! The wonderful thing is that you art journal just for you; there is no need to share, unless you want to. You need to experiment and discover what works best for you – what makes you happy.

To some an art journal, or a visual journal, is simply an artist’s book containing mixed-media work, such as collage and painting.   To others it may contain paintings, drawings, photographs, collage, stamping, writing or ideas for future art projects. By combining the words and visual images, you create something with meaning - a visual documentation of your life experiences that makes up who you are and where you’ve been and how far you’ve come.

Work freely; don’t waste time and energy on finding the perfect picture or piece of ephemera or art supply. Working in your journal is not about making a pretty picture or creating a piece of art.  It’s about exploring what you need to express and just seeing where the page takes you.  Don’t have any preconceived ideas of how your page is suppose to look like.  It’s an added bonus if the page turns out to be fantastic!  Keeping your hands busy with collaging, painting and stamping sets your mind free. 

To be continued…

Welcome to this blog!  Stencil-art is a brand new online shop specialising in mixed media art and more specifically art journaling supplies. We are based in Randburg in Gauteng, South-Africa.  

Our aim with this blog is to introduce you to art journaling and feature new products and other helpful tools for art journaling.

We hope you will find this blog helpful.  Any suggestions will be appreciated, contact us as sareana@stencil-art.co.za

Visit our website at www.stencil-art.co.za