I am always in a rush. Not because I am frequently running late. Quite the opposite, I am always early. I rush because I am a type A personality that really likes getting things done and crossed off of my to-do list. Sometimes, that unfortunately bleeds over into my creative life, and the results are not always ideal. I challenged myself to slow down this week and really focus on the details in my art journal page. The result is one of my favorite art journal pages that I have ever made:
The name of the game for this art journal page was “layers”. I carefully and thoughtfully added layer upon layer to this page until at last I was pleased with the result. It took me a full two hours to create, but I can see that the time and patience was well worth it!
I started the page by prepping it with Liquitex Matte Gel medium. This protected the layout on the opposite side of the paper while also allowing the colors and water to blend smoothly on the paper. After the prepping was completely dry, I began laying down colors with my Jane Davenport Mermaid Markers. The ink in these water markers is super saturated, so a little goes a long way. I laid down a bit of color along the edges of the paper and then encourage it to flow and blend using my mini mister from Ranger and a water brush. It is so satisfying to watch the color move across the page!
The next layer to go down was some Tim Holtz collage paper. I tore off small sections of the paper to give it an organic feel and laid down the tissue with matte gel medium. The great thing about tissue paper is that it blends so easily with the background. It really melts into the page. I did end up going back with the mermaid markers to add more color over the top of the tissue pieces. I wanted to make sure that nothing felt detached from the rest of the layout.
The focal point of this art journal page is a colorful girl that I cut out from my Jane Davenport paper collection. I LOVE this collection! I have almost used up all the paper, so I will definitely be investing in another paper pad. Over top of the girl and on a few other sections of the spread, I created a resist look by using clear embossing ink through a stencil. When embossed with clear powder, the result was a shiny resist pattern that I was able to then highlight with black marble Dylusions shimmer spray.
There were many times that I could have declared this particular page “done”. But I forced myself to look with a more discerning eye and continue to refine the details. I added multiple layers of mermaid markers with different drying techniques. This created cool rings and edges to the blended colors. I softened the background using a translucent white paint through a number stencil as well as applying a slightly more opaque white paint with a cotton ball to knock back the bright colors just a bit. The title of the page is “I can. I will. Watch me.” I typed these phrases with my typewriter, cut them out and glued them with liquid glue. They looked a little to “neat” for the busyness of the rest of the page, so I boxed them in and took the white down a bit with an sponge used for Distress Oxide.
As I mentioned before, this is one of my favorite art journal pages that I have done in a long time. It is a good reminder, that sometimes good things take time. Sometimes we have to slow down and take our time and let the art flow slowly and naturally!
Keep it creative,
-The Scrappy Wife
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