“Growing” Art Journal Process

I say it all the time (or write it!), but I truly love art journaling. It is the most freeing process, where there are no rules, and whatever is in my head gets out onto paper. The funny part is that sometimes when my thoughts spill onto the pages of my art journal, they do not resemble the pictures that were in my head. And that’s okay. It’s all part of the process!

This art journal page was inspired by a chapter from “Girl, Stop Apologizing” by Rachel Hollis. I’ve slowly but surely been pouring through her newest book, and an idea that jumped off the pages for me also stuck in my head for a couple of days. To paraphrase, Rachel states that you are either growing or dying, nobody ever stays stagnant. With that thought in my head, I jumped into this page.

Below is a process video that you can feel free to check out:

I began the background of this page with a few colors of Jane Davenport’s Inkredible inks. These are amazing to work with, and create the most interesting patterns when combined with water. I sprayed the pages down with my Tim Holtz mini-mister and then randomly added drops of each color across the page. Some of the drops immediately reacted with the water and started moving, while others needed additional water to really start reacting. Once the page was really saturated, I picked up the entire book and tipped it over to one side, creating a sweeping motion across the page. This is such a fun (and messy) way to get a page started!

To add a little more texture to the page, I pulled out a stencil and satin pink acrylic paint from Target. A few swipes across the page and then a beautiful new layer was added. The last layer for the background was added using Dylusions shimmer spray. I flicked a few drops across the corners of the page and then quickly blotted them up using a paper towel. The effect was subtle, but added more interest.

I knew that the main element on the page would be picture of a woman that I cut out from a magazine. I imagined that her hair would be a flowing bouquet of flowers, representing her growth. More specifically, I wanted the flowers to be a symbol of her dreams really blooming. To create this effect, I chose a variety of floral ephemera from Maggie Holmes. Then, I adhered them to the page using a Tombow liquid glue. I layered the pieces, letting a few of the last leaves trail beneath the hair.

To make the woman in the picture pop a bit more, I traced her with a white gel pen and then added a black outline on the outside of that. I added a sketchy black border around the whole layout to ground the entry. The final touches included adding several phrases across the page that reflected the thoughts that have been rolling around in my head after reading Rachel Hollis’ new book. I am so pleased with this entry and so happy to be art journaling again after a little break!