Lots of Bumpy Texture

I love, love, love texture.  While working on pieces, I like to play during dry times.  I usually grab what is handy and just go a little crazy.  I keep mixed media paper pre-cut to 8 1/2 x 11 that I have already applied gesso to in my cubby of my desk.  I buy the Strathmore kid's mixed media paper in the 9 x 12 pads for a fraction of the price.  I had some distress stains on my desk while working on another project and I keep all my small jars of mediums in a trolly and stand by my desk.  I mixed the stains with the different mediums and it was cool.  I did softer peaks to more rigid bumps and just let dry.  Well it looked like a snot factory had hit when I was done, but loved the texture.  When dry it when into my pile of future art journal backgrounds.


I had a little time to play last weekend and decided that it was time to put it to use.  I unified the background by painting with a metallic turquoise paint.  While still wet, I sprayed with Lindy's spray in the lantern lime from the Industrial Chic set. The wet spray comingled with the wet paint to get a really neat effect.  Once dry, I blotted on metallic copper paint with a paper towel.  I of course had to add some texture stamping.  I finished off the edges with black and a little bronze utee.  I used gesso that has had a little water added to splatter dots all over.

For the actual page (shown) I fussy cut an image from G45 Steampunk Debutante and used tickets from Tim Holtz and inked with dark rust chalk edger from Prima. I adhered everything down with matte medium from Golden. Then added some staples from the TH mini stapler.  I then used my Faber-Castell big brush pens and did highlights and shading.  The title was stamped on velum, sprayed with lindy's, dabbed with a little copper, and inked up before adhering to the page.

Not shown:  I added a large tim holtz ticket to the right of the ticket (where the white blotches are)  that has rusted gears (that I had left over from the steampunk box tag), and flowers that had been sealed with the matte medium and shaded. Also I had a smaller ticket that I used from TH ticket stamp set along with the ticket die cut, smaller rusted gears left over, and smaller fussy cut flowers that I used in her hair to add dimension.

I love creating art journal pages.  For me, they start with play.  I enjoy doing the background and just using my supplies and trying techniques. However, it has also become very therapeutic in a way.  As the pages develop they become more personal.  I take pictures now before I add my journaling so you can see where I was headed, but the last step (the journaling) I save for myself. 

I don't usually go in with a thought or plan, it just develops as I go.