2 Journal Pages

I finally got back into my art journal this last week, after a long summer break for various reasons.

First of all was a page which doesn't have as many layers as some of the ones I have done in the past.  The quote is "Don't ask what the World needs, ask what makes you come alive and go do it.  Because what the World needs is people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman.

To see any of these pictures closer up, just click to open them in a larger format.

I started with the swirly stencil in a darker colour of acrylic paint on the blank gessoed page and then covered that over with a couple of colours of acryclic paint, although you can still see some of the squiggles through the paint.  I added a few bits of patterned paper, another couple of squiggles using the stencil, which I outlined in white, and then wrote the quote which uses Kuretake metallic calligraphy pens.  I know a lot of art journalers have trouble finding pens that will work over acrylic paints.  There are various pens that I use, and some have trouble on different backgrounds, but the kuretake pens in metallic have never failed me yet.  I did a bit of journaling in the corner using a white jelly roll pen, about what makes me come alive and used copper acrylic and deep madder acrylic on my finger around the edge.

The stencil was one of a pack of two that I bought from a budget book shop called The Works.  In fact, that is just half of one sheet and there were two sheets in each pack.  I managed to pick up two different packs at just 99p per pack.  Not the thickest stencils ever, but who cares, they work!

The second page already had some colour on the page and I didn't quite know what to do with.  I tried to add some mica spray but the spray was a bit clogged up and I got splatter rather than spray.  I knew if I used anything wet over it it would smudge it and decided to use that fact to my advantage.  I journaled all across both pages about what makes me cry, using a basic cheap biro pen.  Then I took some white acrylic and brushed it into the page, smudging both the mica spray and the written words.  Normally I would have used gesso but when I opened my tub it had gone mouldy, eugh!  Thankfully there was only a tiny amount left in that tub so there wasn't a lot wasted.

I printed out the quote, coloured it lightly using an ink pad and a make up sponge.  I cut it into the individual words and edged them with a darker ink pad then glued them to the page.  I found the pictures of babies crying online and changed the basic colour of them in Word I think, then printed those out and glued them down.  Finally I wrote on the right hand page in a pound shop metallic pen, which I drew around using the white jelly roll.

"Crying doesn't indicate that you are weak.  Since birth it has always been a sign that you are alive."