Take some time to just look out the nearest window. No matter what the view, take in the colors. A winter window is often filled with grays and bright clear blues. The spring is an array of colors including purples and yellows. A summer window often hold warm sunsets with shades of orange and red. And then, of course, the fall brings auburns and rich warm colors. Windows have always intrigued me, whether looking out or looking in. So, I used the idea of windows as the basis for my most recent art journal entry:
For 2020, I started a new live series on my YouTube channel called “Take Ten”. The idea behind the series is that we can all dedicate 10 minutes of our day to our creativity. It is totally okay to give yourself permission to play and create without worrying about a final product. (You can head over to my YouTube channel to check it out!). My most recent Take Ten centered on the word “Drip”, and I was excited to utilize a similar technique in my art journal entry this week!
To begin, I used my Koi watercolors to loosely create 5 boxes or windows. I alternated between the warm colors of orange, magenta, and purple and the cool colors of greens and blues. To create the loose feel I was going for, I dripped the color onto the page and then used clean water on a brush to encourage the color to move around. I was not rigid with the box shape, but used my paper towels to soak up any drips or splashes that were getting out of control. Once the window boxes were dry, I also added splatters of the various colors around the page for an extra fun splash of color!
Sketchy micron pens allowed me to add a bit of definition to my windows and really made them come to life. I added more dimension with shading beneath each window using watercolors and more loose, sketchy lines. Next, I grabbed one of my favorite stamps sets, “Love Birds” from Dina Wakely. The sketched look of the birds in this set fit in perfectly! What I love about clear acrylic stamps is that you can lay them out across your spread before stamping in order to get a good feel for what the finished image will look like. This allows you to move stamps around and play before making the final commitment of stamping in ink.
While I loved what the spread looked like at this point, I challenged myself to add more to the page. I ripped inspirational words from a Departures magazine and used Liquitex Matte Gel medium to adhere them to my layout. Then, I mixed a black Dylusions spray with Ranger texture paste and pushed it through a burlap stencil, also made by Ranger. This little bit of stenciling added texture and a bit more black to the page which helped to balance out some of the darker words that I used. A few sprays of gilded gold spray from Art Anthology, and my layout was complete!
So, I’d love to hear…what’s outside your window today?
Keep it creative,
-The Scrappy Wife
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