Just say yes - art journal by Maya Isaksson

I really love to make pages in my art journal. To me it's a fun way to try out new techniques, products or just play a bit without the need for it to be perfect. And if something goes wrong there's always Gesso to cover everything up and start over again. This time I was in the mood to make something soft and calm instead of bright and colorful as I usually do. Here's how I made my page.

I almost always start with a layer of Gesso to prepare the surface and while I ws having all the products out I made backgrounds for both pages on the spread. I'll make the other side ready at another time. I scribbled some Mango and Bubble Gum Gelatos® from the Brights set on my glass cutting pad and spritzed it with water and used my brayer to apply the Gelatos® to my pages. I thought it needed a bit more color so I also grabbed the Iced Coffee Gelatos® and repeated the process. The Iced Coffee Gelatos® is metallic so it adds a bit of shimmer to the page as well.

Next up was a bit of stamping. I used a waterproof ink pad to stamp leaves along the edge of the page, leaving the inner part of the page for journaling. As you can see my art journal is not flat and not very good for stamping more solid images, don't worry I'll fix that in the next step. I am a fussy stamper and don't like to get bad impressions, even though the look gives a bit of extra texture.

I have some black PITT® Artist Pens that is perfect for fixing bad stamping. They contain India ink so they are permanent and lightfast and they are great for pretty much everything, but especially for this because I am going to give the leaves some color in the next step.

Another very good thing with India ink is that before it dries you can move it and even blend it with water. I colored my leaves using Stamper’s Big Brush Pens. They contain India ink and I just scribbled a bit in some spots and being fairly quick about it I used a waterbrush to blend the color over the leaves. Whe the ink dries it's permanent and the colors in the Subtle Colors set was perfect for my page. I shaded around the leaves with the Cold Grey 1 Stamper’s Big Brush Pen using the same method, and then just drew around the leaves for some extra pop.

I finished my page by hand drawing a title using the PITT® Artist Pens, and shading with the same Cold Grey 1 Stamper’s Big Brush Pen. I also stamped some words using small alphabet stamps and outlining the letters with a Magenta PITT® Artist Pen from. That's it. 

I hope you got inspired to play in your art journal, or if you haven't gotten any it's time to start one. Just remember to have fun! 

Supplies by Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft®:

Gelatos® Colors 15 ct: BRIGHTS (#770169)
Gesso (#770302)
PITT Artist Pens Writing Set: RED/YELLOW (#770076)
Essential PITT Artist Pens BLACK (#770075)
 Stamper's Big Brush Pens 3ct: SUBTLE TONES (#770055)

Other supplies:

Art Journal
Ink pad by Ranger
Stamps by WOW! Embossing Powder (Flights of Fancy)
Alphabet stamps by Studio-G

Comments

[claribou]

So soft and fancy at the same time. Absolutely love this !!!

[laury55]

fantastic page, love it

[Ann Custer]

Beautiful page, love seeing the Pitt Pens and Big Brush Pens in action.

[Joi@RR]

Oh my Maya - this is just WONDERFUL... totally in love with your wonderful creation. So happy to see a project focused on the Pitt and Big Brush pens... they are so INCREDIBLE. I don't know how folks do art without them. I use mine EVERY day! You really did a FABULOUS work with them here. j.

[shilpa]

Beautiful journal page, Maya