I woke up this morning and sat listening to the news over my coffee. Needless to say with all that’s been going on it left me feeling very sad at the state our country is in right now. For some reason this simple journal lesson popped into my head. It’s from my online art journaling class back in 2010 called Journal 365. I thought I’d share it with you as I’m revisiting it today. It’s so simple and it seems very cathartic to me right now to create something simple to represent how I feel right now.

Todays page spread using newspaper article text from some of the awful things that have been happening. It feels good to cover them with journaling and paint.

There is also a video at the end, remember that this is from 2010:-)

 

Step 1

Choose an image or word or one of each. Using Matte Gel Medium (or other collage adhesive such as my Mixed Media Adhesive) glue image onto the page.

Note: I used a word ‘purpose’ and a scrap of vintage paper and saved my image to glue on top at the end.

Apply a wash of paint (I used Golden’s Liquid Nichol Azo Gold and Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide mixed with Acrylic Glazing Medium and water in a dauber bottle, you can find the recipe on my website pamcarriker.com and the link for the bottles on the link page) or you can use my Fluid Matte Sheer acrylic paint in Goldenrod as is, to the outside edges of the collaged material forming a frame of sorts.

 

Step 2

With a white pen (I used a Unibal Signo White Gel Pen) write around the painted portion. Using a graphite pencil write more around the outside edges. Use this step to spill your guts on the page. It will get covered up to any degree you wish and it’s such a wonderful release to journal freely like this.

Step 3

This is an easy step that has a great impact on the finished page.

Use a charcoal pencil to shade around parts of your image and smudge it out using a blending stump. Next, take the same blending stump and smudge out bits of your graphite pencil journaling. You’ll get a touch of charcoal blending in with the pencil.

Step 4

Add a wash (fluid acrylic paint mixed with water in about a 1/2 ratio) or you can use my Fluid Matte Sheer acrylic paint, White Washed, as is, to the whole page. Use a rag or paper towel to wipe some of it off so it doesn’t completely cover your image and journaling. If you want to cover more of your journaling you may want to add more to certain areas after the first layer dries. This unifies the page, blending the elements together.

Step 5

Re-introduce the color you used around your image in step one to other areas of your page and blend with a baby wipe or damp rag. Add a third color (I used cobalt teal, or you can use my Fluid Matte Sheer acrylic paint in Turquoise) here and there on the page and blend in the same way. I just used hints of color so that my page would be mostly white.

Step 6

Add your focal point (I used a butterfly) to really draw the eye to one place on your page. The word ‘Purpose’ is what I chose. To set the image into the page I added some additional cobalt teal paint around it and blended it out. Just a hint of color ties the image to the page instead of it just sitting on top. It’s the little subtle things like this that help to finish off a page.
Here is the video from the workshop

Here are the finished pages demoed in the video