I don’t usually post step-by-step instructions of how I make my journal pages. Not because I don’t want to, but because I get completely caught up in what I do and forget to take pictures. Yet I remember how much I loved them and needed them when I first started art journaling and was scared to death of layers. And I still love seeing how other artists do their work. So, I’m going to try to document my process here a bit more often. Today I’m showing you the very Autumnal looking “cuddle up cowboy”.
1. I started by scribbling around the top outside edges of the page with yellow oil pastel, and the bottom edges with orange, then smeared both in towards the middle, leaving a little white at the very centre. When I was happy with the result, I repeated the step using slightly darker colours.
2. Using 4 different masks and stencils I alternated red oil pastel with white gesso.
3. I glued down washi tape and torn book pages randomly all over the page, then added more pastel flowers through a stencil and brayered white gesso wherever I felt like it.
4. I printed out a picture of Alan and I on a piece of canvas sheet (making the most of the funky colours my printer prints everything right now) and gathered some cardboard scraps. I loosely covered our faces with bits of paper, then splattered blue and black watersoluble crayon all over everything. When dry, I sprayed blobs of mica ink in some areas of the page and let drip.
5. I roughed up the edges of the cardboard and the canvas photograph with the edge of a pair of scissors and inked them. I glued them down, adding some embellishments I had in my stash (a small peg, embroidery thread and small, decorative wooden beads). I stamped the title on scraps of the canvas sheet, cut out, inked the edges and glued down.
6. Finally I wiped gesso carelessly here and there, and doodled around the letters and elsewhere on the page.
That’s it- page finished! It has a bit of a scrapbook feel to it, but I quite like that. Hope you enjoyed seeing my process.
Edited to add: After posting this page, I realised it fit in with the colour prompt for the Fall Fearless and Fly challenge (see below) which I had planned on taking part in anyway. I have now linked this up.
If you want to take part yourself, the prompts are:
Headline Prompt: Inventing the Future: Where do you want to be 5, 10, 15 years from now. What’s holding you back? What’s propelling you forward? What do you need to do or stop doing to create your future?
Color Prompt: Warm colors (reds, oranges, pinks, yellows)
Quote Prompt: ”The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” Abraham Lincoln
Go check it out!
Beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing your process!
Thank you Kathy!
so much depth in your layers. What a wonderful tribute to you and Alan. Thanks for joining FF&F!
Thank you Jessica! It was fun! I’ll be back 🙂
This is fantastic! Thank you for showing how it developed & for being a part of Fall Fearless and Fly!
Thank you Carolyn!
Lovely process and result! You two are sooo beautiful!:)
Thank you Elisa! That’s so nice!
Thanks for sharing your step by step
Thanks Mary!
Beatiful! i love your layers and maybe ill even get some courage to try my own oil pastels, im having a hard time to get them to work with me instead of against me. im not sure thou if i have a pen that will write over them =)
Thank you Caroline! This was completely new to me too. I usually finish with pastels, I don’t start with them. I’m not sure there are any pens that work over pastels, but I sprayed generously with workable fixative and let dry completely before I doodled, and it helped.
Love the layers! I have to work more with stencils
Thank you Mitzy! Stencils are fun… and so versatile!
Love the colours and the layers of this piece…. beautiful!
Thank you!
Gorgeous-so richly layered!!
Thank you Linda!
Fabulous Backgrounds! I love the blow by blow. I have not used oil pastels. What are they like?
Thanks Janet! Oil pastels are rich, creamy, yummy and strong. Because they are so creamy they are hard to write over, but they do have great intensity. I usually use them to frame pages or shade shapes. This was the first time I’d used them right from the start.
This is amazing! It’s funny because I totally “get” how to create art with words, but the more tactile process of art journaling… there’s a part of me that feels like I don’t “know” how to do it. Ah, but that’s the reason to do it, right! I’m fascinated by art journals and how (I’m told) it opens up space inside and allows for a more creative flow.
Thanks Angie! You certainly do know how to create art with words! I have always loved drawing, but only picked up art journaling a few years ago and it certainly does open up space inside and allows for a more creative flow (love that!). A lot of the time you work out so much intuitively.