Journal Play

I had started a 16x24 canvas yesterday, but it just wasn't coming together as I envisioned it. I needed some inspiration!

So, I took a break after dinner & was browsing through my mixed media idea books last night, (which I don't recommend just before bed, because all these ideas were swimming around in my head & I awoke at 4:30 ready to play!!!) when I came across a technique by Kelly Rae Roberts for a stamped, textured background in my Mixed Media Paint Box book. 

Now, this idea isn't all that new to me, but her use of color & paint was...she stayed within one palette of blue-greens & she used a Heavy Body acrylic paint, which I had yet to try!

So, this afternoon, with only an hour left before I had to go pick up the Magpie from school, I got out my trusty journal & gave it a whirl!

I only had one Heavy Body paint from a sampler I got during a Liquitex seminar many moons ago...in Burnt Sienna.

After gesso-ing the page, here are the steps I followed:

1. Mix a *generous amount of Burnt Sienna HB paint with some Titanium White to lighten; apply to whole page leaving some white around edges. *You want to have some paint leftover for the rest of the layers!
2. With a texture stamp (I used a large alphabet stamp by Hero Arts) stamp randomly here & there. Dry with heat gun or air dry if you can wait that long!
3. Mix the above mixed paint in step 1, w/a Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue, apply to another texture stamp & randomly stamp again. (This hue didn't show very much & I ended up covering it completely later, BUT the texture is somewhat visible.) Let dry/use heat gun.
4. Add Titanium Buff Light & Titanium White to above mixture to lighten even further. Stamp again - this time I used a She Art stamp from Christy Tomlinson (the text one doesn't seem to be in her shop anymore, but the script one is). Let dry/use heat gun.
5. Add a little more white to the above mixture & rub here & there with fingers on the page. Let dry.
6. Using Burnt Umber Acrylic Ink, I scratched some lines here & there with a bamboo pen & then rubbed them out with my fingers to blend.
7. Then, using the dropper, I added thick lines of ink & sprayed with water to get the ink to drip down the page. When that ink was to where I wanted it, I flipped the book upside down & sprayed a little more water to get the drips to start again in the other direction. While these drips were still wet, I turned to book sideways to get the final look...

 

I really like the way it turned out. I may add an image or some journaling in the upper left-hand corner, but for now, it's staying like it is!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers!