Art Journaling: Mission Inspiration, April 2017

Mission Inspiration - April 2017

April 2017

(Photo courtesy of Mike Deakin)

For this month's mission, I had a hard time with it. What you'll see in this post is actually my second attempt at it.  I originally had this 'great' idea of swirls, deep forest green, hearts, possibly trees and a focal point of the Mad Hatter himself.  This started out alright, but then started to turn away from my idea when the green I started to use was more of a moss than a deep forest green. From there it ran away with me to the point that I'm now planning on covering that page an acrylic abstract piece. So without further ado, here is my second try at April's mission.

For the first step, the page was already gesso-ed and I used two water based blue inks to stamp my background. 

For the second step, I added a few simple lines of a warmer and cooler deep purple watercolor paint.  Where the paint meet the stamped images, the colors bleed together giving a nice effect.

For the third step, I added pieces of purple ribbon for my fabric addition. I used matt medium for this as there was some tooth to the page.  I'm still on the fence about adding fabric to art journaling. I love the idea of it and have only successfully done it once so far. Basically I need more practice.

For the fourth step, of adding paper fragments, I tore of some purple paper that I had previously colored.  The paper is plain printer paper that I had added a thin, watered down gesso layer. Then I added color to the paper using a purple ink and a circle stamp and finished it with using a paint brush and splattering water and watered down ink onto the paper as well.  I had been saving it for a while not knowing where to use it and this seemed perfect.

For the fifth step, of painting or gluing on a focal point, I kinda did both.  On separate paper I used a large sharpie to draw a few over lapping hearts. I then painted on a combination of the two watercolor purples that I used for the back ground.  When it was dried, I cut it out and glued it to the page with matt medium.

For the sixth step, of adding marks with fingers, I used a plum paint to add to all the elements already on the page.  This step was really freeing and relaxing.

For the seventh step, of adding a quote or title, I stuck with a simple title of one word; love. As with the focal image, I used a sharpie to write out the word love and then splattered the two purples over the text.  Before the paint dried fully, I took a scrap piece of paper and flattened it on top of the wet paint, removing most of it, but leaving a smudgy, water mark effect.

For the eighth and last step, of adding scribbles or zentangles,  I used two desk pens in purple.  I somewhat wish that I would have used a black for this step, but I also didn't want to add too much harsh darkness. (Which is a weird thing for me to not want to do...)

To finish the page, I added some grey watercolor paint to splatter on the white spaces, and used my date stamp to date it.

Even though, this wasn't what I had originally planned for this mission, I really ended up enjoying this more simple art journal.  I've been trying to restrain my hand with color and painting in my projects.  And so far, I'm really enjoying the change of pace.

If you're interested in joining the Mission Inspiration Facebook group, I highly recommend it.  It's a great place to share your work and gain more inspiration.

Happy creating, and happy art journaling!

For business inquires, contact me at: KristinVictoriaArt@gmail.com

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