I posted this yesterday at Artistcellar for Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to all of my USA readers.
Since I get to post on this holiday I wanted to share a gratitude spread that I created in my journal. I make gratitude spreads often so that I remember all that I am grateful for throughout the year, but especially on this holiday.
I started on the right hand side by laying down my four stencils in the Playful Pod series. I sprayed through the stencils with a mix of Dylusions sprays and my homemade paint sprays. I used a mixture of red, orange, green, and brown sprays. I wanted to represent many of the autumn colors. I then removed the stencils and sprayed over this layer with an antique gold and a bright gold spray paint while it was still wet. I let the page dry thoroughly.
Since I get to post on this holiday I wanted to share a gratitude spread that I created in my journal. I make gratitude spreads often so that I remember all that I am grateful for throughout the year, but especially on this holiday.
I started on the right hand side by laying down my four stencils in the Playful Pod series. I sprayed through the stencils with a mix of Dylusions sprays and my homemade paint sprays. I used a mixture of red, orange, green, and brown sprays. I wanted to represent many of the autumn colors. I then removed the stencils and sprayed over this layer with an antique gold and a bright gold spray paint while it was still wet. I let the page dry thoroughly.
Next I applied a thick layer of modeling paste with a card along the edges of the page. I pressed my hand carved leaf stamps into the modeling paste. This left a basic impression of a leaf and a lot of texture. Make sure that you wash your stamps right away and use a stiff brush to get off all the modeling paste, so that your stamps don't get ruined. I let the modeling paste dry completely.
I outlined the leaves with a dark brown Inktense pencil so that they would stand out more. I used a stiff brush to add Inka Gold to the inside of the leaves. I love the shimmer that Inka Gold adds to the page and the gold color went perfectly with my spread.
I wanted the leaves to stand out even more so I painted around the leaves with raw umber paint and scrubbed it out so that there wasn't a harsh line of paint. This helped the leaves to pop off of the page even more.
I wanted to add pumpkins to the middle of this page, because they symbolize Thanksgiving to me. I used a charcoal pencil to sketch them in since the page was too dark for graphite to show up. I painted my pumpkins in with Quinacridone Burnt Orange with Cadmium Red Light Hue and Titan Buff for highlights. I painted the stems with a mixture of Green Gold and Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold and I brought the Green Gold down into the top of the grooves of the pumpkin. I used both Liquitex and Golden paints.
I used the left hand side of the spread for my words. I started by rubbing distress ink pads on my page. I used a variety of green and browns. I also sprayed this page with the two gold spray paints in random spots. I stamped my larger leaf stamp into each corner with StazOn ink in Timber Brown.
I wrote Give Thanks on mulberry paper and I stamped Happy Thanksgiving on wax paper. I glued both down with fluid medium. They both kind of melt into the background but leave some added texture on the page.
I stamped and wrote words with a couple sizes of Pitt Pens in the middle of the page and I wrote "I have much to be grateful for this year" on the top of the page. I decorated around "Give Thanks" and "Happy Thanksgiving" with a white Gelly Roll pen and a clear star Gelly Roll pen.
I stamped and wrote words with a couple sizes of Pitt Pens in the middle of the page and I wrote "I have much to be grateful for this year" on the top of the page. I decorated around "Give Thanks" and "Happy Thanksgiving" with a white Gelly Roll pen and a clear star Gelly Roll pen.
Don't be afraid to experiment and try out new things in your art journal. It is a great place to have fun and grow as an artist and to remind yourself about what is really important.
Here is the finished spread.
Here is the finished spread.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving weekend
Janelle
Janelle
