Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop Art Journal Entry

I had the best of intentions when I started.  I wanted to do a bright art journal entry, but I also had planned to do some sort of masking stencil to tone down the brightness.  But, once I started adding color, I couldn’t stop.  The page just became louder and louder, filling with vibrant color.  It is like every color was calling my name and begging me to use it.  So, since I couldn’t stop, I decided to embrace it!

The page began simple enough, with a few scraps of Jane Davenport collage paper that were pasted down from a previous project.  The next step was to use some gorgeous paper that I have been holding on to forever from PaperSource.  I fussy cut a few large floral pieces and used matte gel medium to adhere them onto the page.  Then I filled in a few of the blank spaces on the page with a couple of Spectrum Noir markers.  Like I said, apparently white space was not my friend on this entry!

At this point, I was really pleased with the page…and then it took a turn for the worse.  I wanted to use a stencil in a masking technique.  However, I didn’t have any masking stencils that were inspiring me, so I traced semi-circles from another stencil and used Dylusions acrylic paint to fill in the negative space.

Again, I couldn’t leave well enough alone, so I decided I wanted to continue the same stencil pattern on the upper half of the page.  But, instead of tracing the semi circles, I attempted to put the paint on with a paper towel.  The look was very sloppy!

To try to fix it, I painted over a few of the semi circles in different colors.  I still felt lost at that point, but not ready to give up yet!  I turned the newly painted circles into flowers by adding petals with a black Micron pen, and then filled in the petals with various lighter colors to try to tone down the look.  The flowers were a definite improvement, but the page felt unbalanced to me.

I took my attention to the right half of the spread, and pulled out a number stencil from the most recent Illustrated Faith.  Unfortunately, I didn’t learn my lesson and once again attempted to use a paper towel to apply paint through the stencil.  Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!  So, when the look was once again sloppy, I traced over the paint with a black Micron pen.  Now things were coming together!

To wrap up the page, I chose an array of quotes from Tim Holtz’s “Snarky” talk, starting with this classic:

I’d like to announce I have no idea what I’m doing.

PERFECT!  A few more added details with a white gel pen, and I decided to call the page done.  Truthfully, this page got a bit out of control, but I’m not totally mad about it.  The bright colors are fun for spring, and every page I try teaches me something, even if it isn’t my favorite!

What is your solution when a project starts to go wrong?!?  Do you press through or put it down and return to it later?  Or do you just paint over the whole thing?  Let me know!

Keep it creative,

-The Scrappy Wife