I’ve just been to Gran Canaria for a fortnight’s break – and was brave enough to take my art journal with me. Almost a disaster… My art journal bag got stolen one night, and with it my first (and currently only) art journal. Happily it was found very shortly after having been discarded. Here is the resulting outpouring of artistic angst:
So there we are: back up your images… electronic or paper-based!
I finished this faceplate for my art journal this afternoon – I started it last night. The motif is an unmounted stamp from Paper Artsy, stamped onto copper side of Ten Seconds Studio’s double-sided metal foil using Stazon Black ink. I then used metal embossing tools to give the image some relief. The text was laid out in word processor before being printed out and traced through onto the metal. I then embossed the text. The embossed areas were filled with Ranger’s Glossy Accents before sticking the whole plate onto thick card with a smear of Glossy Accents over the flat surfaces. I let the plate dry overnight. Filling the raised areas with Glossy Accents stops them denting through wear at a later date as it dries to a structural solid – larger areas can be filled with lightweight DIY filler instead. The aging was a bit hit and miss, using black acrylic paint, a sanding block and lots of restarts. I also used Stazon Stamp Cleaner to remove the stamped outline. It’s stuck onto the Moleskine art journal with extra strong double-sided tape.
I completed this double spread in my moleskine sketchbook art journal over the weekend. It uses my own art journal elements (the leaves) and the quote is from Albert Camus. Doodles are with Unipin fine line pigment pen. Background is blended Tim Holtz distress inks on gesso.
I’m discovering art journaling, and so far am just doing the backgrounds. Today I tried ‘napkin decoupage’ – taking the printed layer off a two or three ply napkin and then using a matte gel multi-medium sticking it to the page. So here’s the result! The rose image is from a napkin (Cath Kidston,John Lewis) and the rest is acrylic paint applied with a baby wipe into my Moleskine sketch book – I gesso’d the page first. The large burgundy area next to the rose image resulted from the page delaminating under gesso and heat and the top layer of the page peeling off leaving a much more absorbent core exposed. Adds to the distressed look.
