Art journal page: Currently

Hey everyone,

Natalie here with an art journal page that I want to share with you, along with an easy background technique. For this technique you just need a stencil and some spray inks. I'm sure it would work with a water reactive ink pad, too.

I picked three earthy and greenish color sprays from Lindy's Gang and started with the lightest one which was Opal Sea Oats. I sprayed my stencil with the spray and then pressed it onto the paper. Then I repeated the process on another spot of my page and let it dry. This is important if you don't want the colors to bleed into another.

The next color I used was My Mojito Green. Again, I sprayed ink on the stencil, but this time a little less, and pressed it onto the page. It was quite easy to align it right over the last imprint.

I did the same with the last color, Drop Dead Gorgeous Green, and a very light spritz of color.

On the following pictures you can see how I built up the layers.

While my page was drying, I decided that I want to use the bearded man as my focal image. And while browsing through my stamps I found a mushroom with the perfect size for him to sit on. I stamped both with Archival Ink, first in Coffee, then in Watering can. The two colors mixed to a grey tone with a little vintage touch. Using a stamping tool makes it easier to do this.

I cut out both images and added a little watercolor to them as well as I inked up the edges with a black marker.

Back on my page I stamped some flowers and a few other mushrooms to the bottom left corner of the background. I used Oxide Inks for all this stamping, just because they work well and I had some matching colors.

All I had left to do was placing my focal point on the page, backed with some thread for a little more contrast and texture, and adding a quote. Well, I didn't used a whole phrase, this word stamp "currently" was just saying everything that this page needed.

And because the top right corner looked a little too empty I grabbed the waybill stamp and added some stamping there, too.

Hope that my little tutorial inspired you. Here are some more photos of the completed page:

Stamps used:
Wild Flowers (18819)
Wildflowers Silhouette (19666)
Waybill/Invoice Background (19416)
Bearded Man Cross Legged (20087)
Mushroom (20046)
Mushroom (19118)
Tall Mushroom (19117)
Currently (20285)

Other material:
Art Journal (my page was cut from Canson watercolor paper)
Archival Ink (Watering Can, Coffee)
Lindy's Gang Starburst Sprays (Opal Sea Oats, My Mojito Green, Drop Dead Gorgeous Green)
Distress Oxide Inks (Forest Moss, Peeled Paint)
Stencil (TCW - Foral Radar)

Watercolor

Pitt Brush Pen (black)

See you soon!