- Apr 11, 2018

Art Journal Page: Creativity

Hi everyone, today I would like to show you my take on the Lindy’s Stamp Gang April Challenge mood board. I have to say, I found this colour combination a bit of a challenge (more then other colour combinations in the past I mean): I didn’t wanted my project to end like one blob of brown mud, so I decided to work in layers, when I wouldn’t like one layer I could still use what I already had!

This is what this month’s colour mood board looks like:

Step 1:

I started my project by stamping lots of flower images onto Strathmore “Bristol Smooth Surface“ paper using VersaMark Ink and heat embossing with Lindy’s Stamp Gang “Twilight Bronze Slate“ Embossing Powder. The stamp I used is one particular flower image from an Altenew stamp set called “Floral Motifs“.

Then I coloured all the flowers using three Lindy’s Stamp Gang Magical Shaker colours: “California Poppy Gold“, “Cowabunga Copper“ and “Bratwurst Brown“. I tapped some of the powder onto my craft sheet, added water and painted the flowers with a brush. When the flowers where all coloured and dry I added some highlights to the flowers using a white Sakura Gelly Roll Pen. And then I die cut around the flowers using the matching die set from Altenew (but you can also fussy cut them using your scissors).

Step 2:

Next I created all the die cut elements for my project: for this I coloured two pieces of watercolour paper, using, for one piece the same Lindy’s Stamp Gang Magical colour in “Bratwurst Brown“ (shake some of the powder on the paper, spray with water, make the colour run, dry with heat tool and repeat the process) and for the other piece I sprayed and splattered the paper with Lindy’s Stamp Gang Starburst Spray in the colour “Clam Bake Beige”, drying in between layers.

Then I die cut all the leaves and gears using the following die sets: My Favorite Things “Layered Leaves“, Memory Box “Mini Gears“, Memory Box “Steampunk Corner“ and Memory Box “Deluxe Gear Set“.

Step 3:

Now I’m working on my background panel. Today I’m working in my Winsor & Newton Heavy Weight Wire-O Sketch Book. So I cut two water colour panels in the size that I wanted (which for me is: 14,5 x 20,5 cm for each panel). I adhered the panels together on the back using removable tape.

Then I pencilled in the quote that I wanted to use on today’s project: I feel that this quote is somehow appropriate since I feel that I’m still learning and growing in the way I create art and the combination of flowers and gears is a new one for me and this colour combo was a challenge as well! And it is true: the more you create, the more idea’s you will get!

I pencilled in the quote, first with a graphite pencil and when I liked the result I went over the lines using a black Faber Castell PIT Artist Pen (s). This ink is waterproof when dry! I used a calligraphy style that I taught myself as a child.

To create more of a balance between the steampunk elements and the flower elements I added the numbers in the background. For this I applied some The Crafter’s Workshop white “Modeling Paste“ over a The Crafter’s Workshop stencil with number TCW764s using a palette knife and let that dry. Then I added some Finnabair “White Crackle Texture Paste“ in random places also using a palette knife and let that dry on it’s own (when you use your heat gun the crackles in the paste won’t be that nice).

When that had dried as well I’m ready to ad colours. I created all the other elements first to make it easier to decide what colours to use on the background. My initial idea was to use the brown magical shaker colour but now that I looked at the layers that I already had I didn’t wanted to go that dark (to prevent the “muddy look“).

I decided on adding first the “California Poppy Gold“ magical: sprinkle some of the colour on the project, ad water, make it run and dry when you like it, work in layers by adding not to much powder ad once. When I felt that the yellow was dark enough I added a little bit of the “Cowabunga Copper“ magical colour in a few places to create a more lively background. I know it will end up covered up more or less in the next step but the colours will peak through over the whole page (and it was just really fun to do as well)!

Step 4:

Now I’m ready to finish my page: I adhered all the little elements that I created, using liquid glue, in a design that I liked and let that dry. Then I used a VersaMarker (the pen form) to ad sticky ink to the gears in random places and added some of the “Twilight Bronze Slate“ embossing powder that I used before, to make the gears stand out a little bit more!

And to finish my page I now only have to adhere the backgrounds with the added layers to my actual art journal, for this I used gel medium.

Some detail pictures: