Art Journal Cover - Your Living Canvas Workshop

The new online class, Your Living Canvas Workshop by Christy Tomlinson is FABULOUS....I could hardly wait until I got home on Monday evening to start watching the videos and reading the class instructions.  Our first assignment is to complete our journaling which are questions that make us think about things that have shaped us (challenges, accomplishments, etc).  They are the things that make us who we are today.  I had finally started my answers to the questions but couldn't wait to watch the videos.  The first video was Christy showing us how she created her Art Journal cover that we will use during the workshop.

I started with a Daler-Rowney wirebound sketchbook, found here.  It is only 65lb paper so I will be applying gesso to adhere 2 pages together.  This will give me enough paper thickness for the mixed media supplies I will be using on my pages.

Here's photos of where I started and where I ended up on Tuesday night.

The cover of this journal was not smooth so I started with scraps of patterned scrapbook paper, applied with Mod Podge.

Then I applied various Americana DecoArt paints, purchased from Christy's shop as the base for the front cover (above) and back over (below).
I then used a stamp with black ink and bubble wrap
to create some texture/dimension over the DecoArt paints.

I dabbed paint over the heart stencil

(from Walmart - can't find a link for you online).

I used some Golden fluid acrylic paint in

Quinacridone Magenta (love, love, love this color) to create circle/spirals

 and then dabbed my thumb in some DecoArt paint

and pressed it in the middle of the circle. 

And here's a photo of my fingers after swirling the Magenta paint (which is a permanent paint - like ink) on the Journal. You can see the green and purple paint from smearing the DecoArt paint on the edges with my fingers.

The Journal didn't feel quite finished so I used my FAVORITE PEN
to doodle around the edges, around the circles and the heart.
Note: the Permaball Pilot pen has been discontinued by Pilot

 so you can only buy in Christy's shop.

 

Then my youngest child (T2-Teenager 2, who is 14 and very artistic)

thought I should add some orange paint and some rectangle shapes.

So I did.

But the orange paint over the stencils didn't come out with clean edges

so I doodled around the rectangles and the stars with my favorite pen.



And then because you can't stop until you get a FEELING
that a painting/journal page/craft piece is DONE,
I added some white with a Painters pen in various areas.



as you can see above and below...both hands were messy by the end of the evening

So it was after 10 pm by the time I got to this point and

I couldn't decide what else it needed ... so I decided to stop.

I am still thinking about a title for this Art Journal.

Hopefully I will have some time tonight to

finish the cover and start Page 1 of the journal.

Hope you are having a good week!

Hugs, Erin