[Art journal] Spring (+ step by step pictures!)

Today I want to show you a finished art journal page... and also how I did it. I'm not sure if I can call it a tutorial (is it?) so let's say you can have a peek at my work in progress. Enjoy! (All pictures can be seen in bigger format if you click on them)

First things first. Layer 1! Add acryllic paint with a credit card or anything similar.

Layer 2. Add a bit of gesso, bead gel medium and cover them here and there with spray inks. I used red and blue.

For layer 3 I glued some tissue paper in the corners and added gesso randomly. Next I used a stencil with gesso to create a pattern and again used some spray ink to cover it up. Actually it's not really a stencil but the narrow strip you can see lying there on the table. I have no idea what it is, some kind of tape the workers in our house forgot to take with them. Hope they don't mind I'm using it now!

Next I'm mixing up different layers. So let's call it layer 4.1 and 4.2 and etc. Anyway. First I covered the whole page with lots of gesso. I added acrylics (dark blue and pink) to make it smooth looking. The sides and bottom are done with gold spray and that same crazy stencil. I also used some spray ink and whiped it off, just for the fun of it. When the gesso was almost dry, I made a dripping swimming pool on my page - not really knowing why so I whiped it off, just to see if it had any effect. Where the gesso was not dry yet, the first layers peek through in a very subtle way. So sometimes adding water is not such a bad idea!

Layer 5. Drawing!! I used a ballpoint pen, my new awesome watercolors & markers. Note to self: you should study plants more often.

Adding more details...Still working on layer 5.

Layer 6. I wrote down a text with a white marker but wish to hide it. So I created a door with book pages. Just eh, fold the paper, glue it on the page and cover it with lots of gesso and spray ink. Easy peasy! I used some paper towels to protect the text. Once dry, repeat the steps for the other side of the page.

And finally, layer 7 is all about the details! I glued some paper flowers on the pages (already made, but here is the recipe: draw flowers, cut them out, add gesso and spray ink) and drew the outlines with a black pen. Used more gesso to create the 'pond' and used more watercolor to draw some plants next to it. To finish the whole piece I used metallic gold paint here and there. Et voila. ^^

Click to see big

If you love these step by step posts, please let me know and I'll try to make more of them! Thanks for watching. :)