John's Artist's Journal

Hi there Friends!

As I was reading John's project, I simply couldn't stop smiling.Not only did he create the most beautiful art journals explaining how and why, but also used my favorite colors and some really fond memories of us two making art together last April... Enjoy!

Also: Don't miss my beautiful Ambassadors' new post about Simplicity! They did such an amazing job (again!) putting together their thoughts, ideas and inspiring projects.

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I began my artist journey many years ago creating journals for myself simply because I couldn't find the 'perfect' journal to use. The journals that I found in stores were either to small, didn't fit my style, or didn't have the right paper inside for being creative. So I started creating my own journals that fit my personality and mood at the time.

For some reason along the way, I stopped journaling – I don't know if it was for any one particular reason, I just got out of the habit. I used to journal daily, I took my journal with me everywhere I went and was constantly jotting down new ideas or sketching out my next project.

My journals turned into a hodge podge of pseudo scrapbook/sketchbook/catch all for things that I found along my adventures and journeys. I could write pages in one sitting, my journal was my space to sort things out, give myself encouragement, and to dream.

Fast forward to the beginning of April when I had the pleasure of Anna staying with me while she was in between teaching. Not only is Anna the perfect house guest, but she also makes the best Polish stew in the world!

When she first arrived, I told her that she was more than welcome to use my studio space anytime she wanted. One evening I was wondering where Anna was and I ventured back to my studio to find her pleasantly working away on her travel journal and I joined her working on another project.

At the time I didn't realize that this was the journal that she's featured in recent posts using the new Impasto Paints (duh!) but while hanging out working on our own projects, I realized how much I missed journaling and having that freedom of exploring without having to worry about judgements and following rules.

It was at that moment that I decided to create my own journal and try to get back into the habit of journaling!

And I'm going to share with you how I created my own Artist's Journal using some of the new releases including Impasto Paints, the new colors of Metalliques and the Mega Art Stones. Because this is going to be my personal journal, I wanted to make something that I absolutely LOVE and decided that I would use my favorite colors for this project, blue and silver.

I started creating the cover of my book with a nice, thick layer of Jade Impasto Paint.

If you haven't used these new paints, they're absolutely AMAZING! These paints are opaque which means that you can layer them, and if you want to have the consistency more thin you can add a little water or even Soft Gel.

For this project I put them on thick so I could build some layers using both a brush and a palette knife. Next I layered Azure Impasto Paint over the Jade.

To create the background pattern, I used the Harlequin patterned stencil.

I couldn't resist using the new Dark Forest Metallique paint so I dry brushed this through the stencil for the base color of my stencil work.

With a palette knife, I added Cobalt Impasto paint to add both color and some rich texture.

Once dry, I highlighted the texture from the Cobalt Impasto paint with Pearl White Metallique, followed with Mermaid Teal Metallique paint.

To finish the color, I brushed a light layer of Midnight Sky Metallique paint to give a blue tone to the stenciled work.

Now it's time to start coloring the embellishments!

I wanted to see just how opaque the new Impasto paints are so instead of using Heavy Gesso as my base for my embellishments, I instead chose Azure Impasto paint – and the results were exactly what I was looking for even on the metal embellishments!

I used Midnight Sky Metallique for the next color followed by Deep Waters Metallique.

To finish coloring the embellishments, I used my fingers to apply Brushed Iron Metallique Wax followed with a touch of Summer Sky Mica Powder.

To adhere all of my embellishments to the book cover, I mixed together Graphite Texture Paste with a touch of Deep Waters Metallique to give a slightly blue hue to the texture paste.

After placing my embellishments into place, I sprinkled the wet Graphite Paste with Frosted Mica Flakes, Midnight Blue Glass Glitter, then Black and Silver Micro Beads.

I’ve been waiting to use the new Mega Art Stones and decided that they would make a great background underneath the decorated paint brush inside of the frame.

I used Graphite Texture Paste as the adhesive, then added the stones and heat set. I then colored the stones with Midnight Sky Metallique paint, applied on the thick side with a brush.

While the paint was still wet, I sprinkled the painted stones with Splash and Black Micro Beads to add more color and dimension and then heat set.

I can’t wait to start writing inside of my journal – especially with all of the new product inspiration on the covers!

And all of us can’t wait for you to share with us what you’ll create with the new Finnabair products. :)

xx

John

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