Finnabair: Hope Returns Art Journaling by Emilia Tapiola

Hello friends,

This art journal page got inspiration from the first swans of the spring that flew by my studio window, calling their promise of spring and hope to return.

I used simple layering of papers because my journal starts to get a bit too bulky for lots of lace and dried flower layers and is in serious need of dieting. So, here’s how I made my layer diet art journal pages…

I started with applying Clear Gesso to all prints and papers and using brown ink to distress the paper edges. I glued the background papers in place and added a whitewashed layer of white Heavy Gesso on the pages, to follow with a stencil with white gesso and Iris Tapestry stencil.

I highlighted parts of the stencilled background with Mica Powders from Golden Hour set with Soft Gloss Gel, to match the background colour and framed the page edges with Liquid Acrylics Ink Black and Burnt Sienna.

The next step was to create a simple collage with the swans being the main focal point. After glueing everything in place, I added some white gesso with careless brushstrokes into the white swans and flowers to make them a bit softer and added shadowing in form of Liquid Acrylics.

As the final touch, I added some Metallic Flakes with Gilding Glue, and painted the golden parts over with Liquid Acrylics, so that they don’t shout out from the otherwise worn-out pages. Oh, and I added some white and blueish-grey splashes to the pages, too.