Art Journal Thursday: Page Tutorial

Art journaling is about trying techniques and expressing yourself. This tutorial will explain how I created this page. These are simple techniques that you can use in your own way to create pages that are distinctly you.

Process 

Randomly glue old book pages on to your journal page using matte medium. Let dry.

Add a thin layer of gesso with a foam brush and let dry for a few minutes. Take off the gesso with a baby wipe. Let dry.

Apply a layer of matte medium to the page and lay your laser photo copy face down on the medium.  Use a credit card or brayer to smooth out any air bubbles. Let fully dry (it should not be cool to the touch). Using a baby wipe wet the back of the paper and rub the paper away with your finger. Be careful to over wet the image. Repeat until all the paper has been removed.

Thin yellow ocher acrylic paint with water and using a round brush paint the page. Let dry so that you don’t make a muddy mix with your next color. Thin midnight blue acrylic paint and brush it onto your image. Let dry.

Take a charcoal pencil and highlight areas and lines of your image. Lightly smudge the lines.

Journaling can be anything you like; the more intimate the journaling the more honest the work will be. Remember no one but you has to see it.

Thin black paint and use a lettering brush to journal. This paint should be only slightly thinned to maintain the color but make it fluid enough to write. I start off with 1 part paint to a half part water. I also lightly drew pencil lines to make my journaling a little more uniform but this is not necessary. Make sure that you let the journaling completely dry before you erase the lines.

Old books are a great source of inspiration, from ephemera and great journal prompts.

Glue down ephemera using matte medium.

To add another layer of color, I swiped a Ranger Distressed Ink pad over the edges of the page. While the ink was still wet, I smudged the color with a paper towel. I repeated the process until I got the depth of color I was looking for.

I’d love to hear how you use these techniques to create your own pages so drop me a line or send your pics!