Art Journal: The perseverance of possibility

So I might have mentioned that last week I was pretty much ill with the flue and bronchitis infection the whole week. I was super tired and could not do anything but sleep the whole day, but in the evening when I felt a bit better I got to work in my pocket size art journal. So I worked on it for a couple of days and practiced my layering techniques and patience :) It was hard for me to work on things slowly, usually I work in a high pace producing 2-4 pieces when I have the whole day to create. But sometimes, when you can't work on a high pace, you just need to step back and let it be to come back at it at some other point. It all came together pretty gradually and I'm quite in love with the end result.

I started off with a spread which already had paint on it and I covered that up with a mixture of Paper Artsy fresco paints hint of mint, southern skies and a bit of Distress paint faded jeans. When the paint was still wet I mixed in a thin layer of CW Gold Gesso. When that dried I applied some Light and Fluffy Modeling paste with a palette knife and let that dry a bit.

In the modeling paste I pressed the  Effervescence by Ana Bondu Carabelle stamp in various places. First the paste wasn't dry enough so I had splotches of paste that came off. Started again and again until the consistency was just right so I could get some good imprints that didn't stick to the stamp. Trial and error and a fun technique I definitely want to explore more. When I was satisfied with the imprints I made I let it dry and cleaned my stamp thoroughly. Came back to the page and spritzed some fuchsia dylusions ink mixed with burgundy mixed media spray from the november artsnacks box. Spritzed some water over it to mix and let it run everywhere and wiped the excess away. Repeated process until I was satisfied with the color.

To get the structure back I took my pearl rub ons and highlighted some aria's with bronze, gold, pearl and black metallic shimmer. Also added shimmer to the outlines of the paste and the page. I considered leaving the page like this in my journal as it's super pretty to look at.

Detail shot of the structure.

But my gut said it still wasn't finished. So I went on to see which stamps I could use to this layout. Of course VLVS! has so many that spoke to my heart I went to check out those first.

I chose this cute little fairy girl by Cat Kerr which I colored with letraset promarkers and adhered with pop up squares. I remembered I had some rainbow thread somewhere and added that around her. The colors of the thread matched her outfit colors really well.

I love the quote stamps from Cat Kerr, and I believe in is one of my favorites. But I deconstructed the quote a little and left the armor bit away so it says "I believe in the perseverance of possibility. In hatching your dreams, getting to work and then seeing what comes of it." It was stamped on aquarelle paper on which I already had Sailor Jentle Yama dori fountain pen ink with pearl mint shimmer wash over it. It flowed out to such a beautiful teal blue! And I love the contrast of teal and pink. The quote stamp was embossed with black embossing powder. They were also adhered with pop up squares. On the edges I stamped a bit of text and nautical star from Artemio vintage travel collage with staz on teal. The spatters are from Wink of Luna light green diluted with water. I added some more black pearl rub on some edges and called it done.

I really enjoyed doing this page and it was a first for me in many ways: patience in layering, stamping in texture paste, adding thread ... I also learned a lot by doing all this and went to check out some you tube channels for some tips and tricks on what to do better next time. One thing I have learned is I definitely need to cover the creases of the pages next time, either with masking tape or gesso (or both..) because the ink stained some of the other pages through the cracks. not a lot, and thankfully most pages were glued in so didn't stain my other work too bad, but yeah, it won't hurt to secure it better next time. Also need to leave more allowance for folding, bits and pieces of the modeling paste in the middle broke off when I folded it and there is a crack running through it. So I have to plan and place my paste better next time. It's all about the love of process :) 

I hope you enjoyed reading along this process with me. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great weekend!