Live and Love with Flowers In Your Hair - Art Journal Page

Walk through life with flowers in your hair and love in your heart.

Enjoy painting a garden with dotted flowers and stencilled foliage, just because it makes you feel good and creates smiles for anyone who looks at your art :)

This modern artwork is in my 8x8 inch Dylusions Ledger Journal, made using stencils, masks, tissue paper, stamps, a transparency sheet of phrases and beautiful colourful acrylic paints with smooshing, blending, brushing, dabbing and dot painting techniques.

An arty crafty process ...

I've used Dyan Reaveley's beautiful bright cocktail acrylic paints with Distress paints :) Enjoy a wander through the pictures and chatter to see how I made my page...

Above, from top left clockwise - Drip a drop of Dylusions paint Strawberry Daiquiri in two corners of the page, opposite each other and spray a splash of water over the corners, especially if you're in a warm room and the paint is drying faster than you can move it. Using a flat paintbrush, lightly brush the paint in up and down directions to colour in the corners.

Repeat the process with Dylusions paint Blue Hawaiian in the other two corners of the page. Once dry (it won't take long!), add a drop of green Dylusions paint Sour Appletini on the inner-ish area of the page (see photo above).

Above left - Trim a sheet of Dina Wakley MEdia Transparency 'typography' to fit the page, scribble Dylusions Wet Glue over the back of the sheet and press onto your page.

Above right - I painted on Dina Wakley MEdia Clear Gesso over the whole transparency so it wasn't shiny. The gesso gives the plastic surface a toothy texture too, a great substrate for paints, inks and markers.

Other glues ideal for sticking transparencies are Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium, Dina Wakley MEdia Wet Glue, Dina Wakley MEdia Gel Medium or Ultra Thick Medium, , or other glues like Mod Podge, matte gel medium or even a double sided adhesive tape. Staples, sticky tape, brads (split pins, fasteners) and paperclips will work to hold the transparency to the page as well, it doesn't really matter if the page is not totally stuck down. Use whatever you have :)

Above, from top left clockwise - Mix a small puddle of white gesso or white acrylic paint with Rose Quartz Dylusions acrylic paint, then using a blending tool to apply the palest pink through the Dina Wakley MEdia 'Triangle Fence' stencil.

Using Dina's very cool coaster stencil called 'Groovy', blend neon yellow Dylusions Lemon Drop acrylic paint through the wavy pattern.

I still had a splot of Sour Appletini and white gesso left so I mixed it into the leftover of bit of Lemon Drop, and blended it through Dina's 'Pointy Fence' stencil over the page.

Remember to let paint dry so you achieve patterns that sit on top of each other creating depth :)

Wet paint on wet paint is fabulous too, however the colours blend into each other rather that create layers. A better technique for marbled and blended backgrounds, like with inks and watercolours when wanting to paint ombre and gradients.

Above, from top left clockwise - Two spots of dark leafy colours were dabbed over each other through the leafy stencils, Dina Wakley MEdia 'Things That Grow' and 'Branches'.

The end result dried with Dylusions Balmy Night on the centres and around the base, and Distress Rustic Wilderness on the tips and leaves. Not a precise process, I simply applied the green then dabbed the blue over the top, keeping one blending tool with green and the other with blue (see top right photo).

I repeated the process with all the leaf shapes.

Above trio of photos - Changing colours to Distress Paint in Scorched Timber and Uncharted Mariner, I blending dark brown through Dina Wakley's 'Old School Silhouettes' stencil and dabbed dark blue randomly about over the top. Before it dried and before lifting the stencil, I spritzed water over the top.

Distress Paint reacts to water creating a cool effect. If I'd sprayed after lifting the stencil, then the edges could have blurred. Easy enough to tidy up while the paint is wet as long as the underneath layers are totally dry before you begin.

Above from top left, clockwise - once your silhouette has dried, add some more foliage in front of her/him with a lighter variation of green. I used Distress Peeled Paint (a mid green) with one of my faves, Distress Twisted Citron (lime green) dabbled over the top.

Once the leaves were dry, I placed the silhouette person back in place and using 'Things That Grow' group of spots over the top, I painted over a swag of spots on one side using Distress Twisted Citron. I used the same group of spots to blend green and white spots over the background.

Now to add oodles of dots to represent flowers in the hair. To do this, dip the end of the brush handle into your paint and dab it onto your page. 

In the photo above, you can see the green, yellow and brown puddles of paint, with the scribbly brush-end spiral in the yellow - such a precise technique to pick up paint - scribble! lol

The size of dot varies with how much paint you use, how thick or runny the paint is, the pressure or angle of the brush, the size applicator (handle). You can also use sticks, lids, pens, pencils, cotton tips, almost anything :)

What's an art journal page without words? An art journal page :)

As you know, I like to use all my favourites together... to add a phrase to my page, I used the awesome phrase from Dina Wakley MEdia 'Flower Crowns' stamp set, and the wonderful scallop tag from Dyan Reaveley's Dylusions 'Tag It' stamp set.

I've printed both designs onto Dina Wakley MEdia plain tissue paper using black Archival ink (use your favourite black ink - Distress Black Soot, Dylusions Black Marble, Ranger Jet Black). As you can see, I stamp imagery out a few times every time I stamp anything. Good for practice and also so I've spares for later. I just love stamping!

Let the paper dry or give it a blast with the Ranger Heat It hot air tool then cut out the scallop tag shape with scissors (I use Tim Holtz Recoil Snips, see the top right photo).

Glue the paper down with matte gel medium and let dry.

Pop a scrap of paper over the quote and using black and white paint, throw some splatters about. I often use a Distress Splatter Brush which has a wide flat thick plastic bristles which are great for flicking. Dip in the paint, aim at your page, pull back the bristles then let go ... or shake it around.

You could also use Dina Wakley MEdia Glossy Medium (acrylic spray) and use either the sprayer or undo the nozzle and use the straw to shake paint about.

Another slower methodical way is to do some more dot painting and dab spots in the same way as the hair, or use paint markers to draw the splatters.

What's your favourite way to make a splattery mess? 

Next ... Let it dry and enjoy looking at your page!

Thank you for visiting and spending time in my Creative Space craft blog. I hope it helps and inspires you to use your favourite colours to make lots of art!

Happy Creative Days!
:)
Jenny