Art Journal Every Day - Day 7

I love when pages come together in a flash!  After a lovely fall picnic with my hubby and pup today I came home and whipped up this page for my 6x6 art journal every day project.

A few days ago I completed a long standing goal of organizing my spray inks and adding dots to the top of each bottle so I can see what color they are from above.  I used paper towels to spray on and kept them,  of course.  I wanted to use the vibrant dots of color in a project.  This project is the first of 2 that will use these paper towels.

 

I started with a piece of patterned paper from the class kit and did a light wash with gesso.  I then used the kit stencil with some permanent ink in yellow ochre.  I repeated one of the flag stamps to form borders along the top and bottom of the pages. Then it was time for the spray ink.

 

After everything was dry, I hand cut circles from the paper towels and layered them to create the flowers.  The stems are drawn with the Stabilo pencil.  Some white marker and gesso accents completed the page.

Art Journal Every Day - Day 6

My 6th art journal entry - fun with pastel pencils.  (See days previous days here and here.) Apparantly not only am I a paper hoarder but I'm an art supply hoarder as well.  I love playing with new media.  I picked up some pastel pencils and thought I'd give them a try.  I'm not too talented in the drawing department so I picked a very simple shape and went from there.

I liked the idea of using the patterened paper from the class kit as the background and doing my pastel drawing on top.  Both pastel pencils and pan pastels are somewhat transparent.

I drew my tulip first, then colored around it with pan pastels.  I used an eraser to erase some of the pigment for added texture.  I then filled in the flower with the pastel pencil, smudging as I went.  Super easy!

The quote came from a roll of paper towels.  It was on the paper towel I was using to protect my work surface.  I picked up my paper and there it was.  It just goes to show inspiration can come from anywhere!

A little distress crackle paint and distress ink around the edges and I was good to go.  Simple and easy.  Just like I like it!

Canvas Gift

For my mother in law's bday this year my husband and I decided to collaborate on a mixed media piece as her bday gift.  My husband has a special talent for painting trees so we decided that I would do the background and he would do the outline and shape of a tree.   My mother in law is a teacher, author, and book lover so the George R.R. Martin quote seemed perfect.

Loads and loads of rich color and texture.

I used glass bead gel and spray ink to create patterns and drippage on the background.

The glass beads are translucent when on top of the paint and opaque when painted over such as with the starburst stencil in the corner.  Leaves are hand cut and some are punched from old book paper.

Layers of stamping and stenciling for texture.

My favorite thing about gallery wrapped canvas - more room to play on the sides!

Art Journal Every Day - Days 3 - 5

Well, I started with the best intentions to art journal every day.  I've fallen a bit behind but here is what I came up with on my 3rd, 4th, and 5th days.  Contents are from the Cocoa Daisy art journal class featuring Julie Balzer.  See days 1 and 2 here.

Day 3

I started with a piece of patterned paper from the kit and added some transparent swipes of acrylics to create a plaid pattern on the background.

 

 

Following Julie's example in her video that comes with the kit, I tore apart a piece of the cardboard in the box to create a "stamp".  Using blue acrylic paint, I "inked" my cardboard "stamp" and "stamped" it on the page.  I love the uneven messy look.  I also used the Stabilo water soluable pencil to highlight the M, for Monday, on the background paper.  The zigzag pattern is from the patterns on the date stamp.

 

 

Keeping to my theme of limiting my supplies to kit contents, I used the label stamp from the kit to create the flower.  More Stabilo water soluble pencil and the Sharpie white marker and I was good to go!

 

Day 4

Day 4 just so happened to be election day.  I went with a red white and blue theme with stars in honor of the occasion.  I started with some spritzes of red ink.  I then applied a wash of gesso to the background paper from the kit to create some contrast from the pattern on the paper.

 

I wanted to use the points on the kit stencil to echo the star shapes so I applied a thin layer of molding paste over these sections of the stencil for extra dimension.  I hand cut the stars and used red and blue paint to tie it all together.

 

 

Day 5

 

For this page, I decided to play with my glass bead gel. I started with a thin but uneven coating of the bead gel over the entire page.  While still wet, I sprayed red and copper ink onto the page and let it drip down through and around the uneven layer of beads.  I painted the tree with thinned down acrylic paint and added a few highlights with the Sharpie pen.

 



 

I hand cut the leaves and quote from patterned paper in the kit.  I finished it off with some dry brush strokes of yellow paint mixed with gesso.  

 I've really been enjoying the process of sticking primarily to kit contents as well as working on a smaller sized background.  Now if I can just make more time each day to work on it!

Art Journal Every Day - Days 1 and 2

Julie Balzer and Cocoa Daisy teamed up to put together a kit and online workshop.  The theme - create an art journal and fill it with one page per day for a month.  It was intended to begin in December but I couldn't wait that long to get started!

I just started art journaling and have been working in a large format journal (11 x 16 ish).  The art journal in the Cocoa Daisy kit is a 6x6 mini album.  I've never been one to strictly adhere to the rules or to the contents of a kit so I went back and forth.  Should I start another journal with the 6x6 format or just use my current journal?  Should I do both?  Should I complete a whole page each day or just keep adding to my journal as I've been doing?  What is a scrappergirlie to do??!?!?

I eventually decided to have both journals running simultaneously.  I'll keep my large format journal and continue to work on it as I have been.  I'll also participate in the art journal evey day class using the 6x6 journal and complete one full 6x6 page per day for a month.  To keep things interesting, I added a self -imposed twist...

For the art journal every day project, I'll limit my use of supplies to the contents of the kit and only add in paints, ink, sprays, texturing media, standard tools (like punches and scissors) and product packaging from the kit.  Fun!  I find myself to be most creative when I have constraints and boundaries to work in. 30 days with the same set of supplies will indeed push me to be as creative as possible.

Class Kit Contents:
Balzer Desings Custom Stencil
Balzer Designs Custom Stamp Set
Crate Paper 6x6 Storyteller paper pad
Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic roller date stamp
Freckled Fawn Gold Glitter Washi Tape
Pink Paislee Portfolio Photo Tabs
Jenni Bowlin Printed Tags Vintage
Stabilo Colored Marking Pencil Black
Maya Road Maya Mist Charcoal
American Crafts 6x6 Modern D-ring album
Dixie Kabinet Wax Deli Paper 5 sheets
Faber-Castell Metallic Gelatos
Sharpie Poster Paint Pen white

Day 1

So typical me, I break my own rule on the first day.  I used a text background stamp on this first page before I decided on the supply limitation twist.  Going forward, I'll keep to the stamps in the kit!

I painted and stamped the Cocoa Daisy stamp packaging and used it on the page.

 

Day 2



 Fun with paint and stenciling. 30 days with these fabulous supplies will be a snap!

Fun with Deli Paper

I've seen several recent blog posts from Julie Balzer mentioning the use of deli paper as a medium.  It sounded kinda cool so of course I had to try it out!  Deli paper is semi transparent paper used mainly in the food industry to wrap sandwiches and the like (hence the name deli paper).  It has a waxy side and a non waxy side.  I've been experimenting on the non waxy side and I love it!  It totally melts into the background when adhered yet isn't completely sheer.  It's fantastic!

Below is my first finished creation using two pieces of deli paper.  The fragment on the left is painted and the fragment on the right is not.



The page started with collaged patterned paper as the background. I added stencils and circles to add more texture prior to misting areas of the background with grey spray ink.

Sheer and subtle over the painted background page.

A painted focal point that allows the background to show through.

Reusing Ink from Stenciling

I use stencils in just about every journaling page.  They are versatile, come in many many designs, and are a great way to kick start any project.  The harlequin shape is one of my favorites and I have a few stencils with that shape.  I used a 6x6 harlequin stencil in various places on the background of this page.

Butterfly, flourish, and word stamps from Tattered Angels.

Lots of drippy india ink and paint.

 

After using the stencil on the background of the In Flight page, I took the ink laden stencil and sandwiched it between a couple of pages further on in my journal.  I didn't want to waste the ink and the reverse image is kinda cool.  It served as the background for my next journaling page.

I took my color palette from the leftover stencil ink.  I dug into one of my ancient paper stashes (yes, I too am a craft supply hoarder) and found some cool paper.  I cut up the paper for a border, trees, and tree trunks.

You can really see the reversed harlequin stencil behind the trees.

I really love how this page turned out.  I think it's one of my favorites yet.