Finnabair: Awakening by Emilia Tapiola

Hello dear Finnabair friends,

January is obviously the month of new beginnings, hope, and grace. It’s also my birth month, so it’s a special month of new beginnings to me anyway. I started a new Hope Journal at the beginning of the year, and somehow it chose to be very light coloured, very subtle and otherworldly white, grey, and light blue, with a hint of gold. Also, it wanted to be abstract and very airy, in a way that leaves room for imagination and interpretation.

I made a new set of pages to it and here’s how I did it.

I ripped some scrapbook paper into a suitable size and stitched a bit darker paper as frames to it.

I chose only a few elements for the pages, from (ordinary) tissue paper to leftovers from die-cut pieces. I also decided the focal point to be a dragonfly (stamped on to ordinary transparency film, using white ink). Mostly it was to be playing with textures, though.

First, I secured the middle part of the pages with tissue paper and Soft Matte Gel, then added some vintage paper and more tissue paper, on the pages, and primed everything with white Heavy Gesso. I also used Laurels Stencil with Modeling Paste, some White Sand Texture Paste, and Mini Art Stones, to create interesting textures.

Next, I painted the pages with Impastos Snow White, Dark Chocolate, Pitch Black, and Manor Blue. (The colour theme of the journal.) I made a very, very watery mixture, and used also a spray bottle to make sure the paint spreads everywhere and wiped most off with baby wipes, to get a lightly coloured page. This watery way of painting made all the different textures stand out beautifully.

After painting, I added some finishing touches: White Gold Icing Paste, sprinkled white acrylic paint, some linen cord, and a few die-cut flowery bits and pieces. I also stamped word awakening into the page, and the art journal pages were ready.