Art journal · Gel printing · Mixed media

Letters | Art Journal

Anita

As a welcome distraction from the Valentine’s madness of hearts and candies, Jennifer from the Art Elements team came up with the theme of Letters – which can be interpreted in many different ways, romantic or otherwise. It’s inspiring how a tiny letter is the building block for a word, a paragraph, an epic. How that initial letter leads to a chain of correspondence, a flood of emotions, a lifelong friendship. When one takes that first small step, great things begin.

A while later, I came across this beautiful and inspiring mood board on Mixed Media Place.

moodboard-mmp-2-2020

I tried to visualize my thoughts in the colors that inspired me from this mood board, and ended up with something that I’m satisfied with.

Letters | Art Journal | Anita

I started out the page with some gel prints, and brushed on acrylics over it. I then moved to applying acrylics on stencils with a sponge. I really need to work on this technique – the white acrylics spread out a lot under the stencil. (Did I get somewhat better when I tried with black? Hmm…) In any case, I completed the background by stamping some circles on it.

On a different piece of paper, I stamped an abstract human figure and applied some watercolors on it. I fussy cut the figure and pasted it as the focal image, and added heavy outlining with watercolor pencils and some water. I also added some highlights with a gel pen, and finished with a few splatters.

Letters | Art Journal | Anita

I handwrote the sentiments on the page itself at first, but couldn’t get them to be very visible, so I overwrote those with rectangles containing the same sentiments. I outlined the rectangles with watercolor pencils as well. I’d initially thought of practicing hand lettering for this page – since ‘letters’ is, after all, the theme that got me going, but I forgot all about that while I tried to get the background and composition to my liking. I guess I’ll do that another time! 😉

So that concludes my art journal page.

Check out the theme reveal on Art Elements, and go blog-hopping to feast your eyes on various letters-themed arty projects!

Guests: Tammy • Karin • Kathy • Evie and Beth • Divya • Hope • Anita (you’re here)

Art Elements Team: Claire • Lesley • Jenny • Cathy • Niky • Jen

With this project, I’m also joining these challenges –

A Bit More Time To Craft Challenge #110 - Anything Goes
A Bit More Time To Craft Challenge #110 – Anything Goes
Arty Divas - Challenge 16
Arty Divas – Challenge 16
CraftyCatz challenge #495 ATG w/ optional twist of Pretty Papers
CraftyCatz challenge #495 ATG w/ optional twist of Pretty Papers
Mixed Media Place - February 2020 challenge
Mixed Media Place – February 2020 challenge
More Mixed Media Challenge - Anything Goes w/ Optional Red
More Mixed Media Challenge – Anything Goes w/ Optional Red
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – Anything Goes

Published by Anita

A software engineer at heart and by profession, I take my creative skills seriously.

30 thoughts on “Letters | Art Journal”

  4. I’m so glad you did an art journal page too. It seems we had a few ideas in common but ended up with vastly different results! I love the yummy blending of the colors in your page, and the focal stands out beautifully!!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you very much, Hope! I’m still slowly making my way through the blog hop, but I’m looking forward to seeing yours.

      Like

    1. It’s definitely been a while, Cathy! (I was practicing art journaling all these months. 😉 ) Thank you for the fab comment!

      Like

  7. Oh this color palette is delicious. The texture on the figure almost looks like it was painted on a page of text. I especially like the sentiment of the quote as well. Lovely! Thanks for sharing!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you, Jenny! The texture on the focal figure was a pleasant surprise for me as well. I guess that goes to show how unexpected is sometimes good. 🙂

      Like

  9. The colors for your inspiration mood board are wonderful. I love those blues you incorporated into your journal page. I really like the focal of the human shape. The saying on your page is very inspirational – this whole piece is outstanding!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Oh gosh! That turned out great! I personally love how the white letters look from the stencil. It gives it more character, which is sometimes difficult to see when you have a different expectation. The entire page is great! Thank you for participating this month. We always enjoy having you.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks a lot, Jen! I guess the white just had to grow on me – I like it now too. 🙂 And thank you so much for the theme – I loved working on this page.

      Like

    1. Thanks, Divya! I can see the trippiness too – it must mainly be because the letters in the background seem to spiral out? Interesting, though unintended, effect. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  13. I love Art Journals, they seem to be a great way to grow your creativity but I haven’t managed to start one. Your page and words are very inspiring.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Karin! I got into art journals recently too, and it’s great fun even when things don’t go as you intended – probably more so when things don’t go as intended. 🙂

      Like

  14. Hi Anita! Love the depth of your page, cool letters and your own hand writing (mine is awful :)), and yes… I just love the slightly smeared white image, but if you don’t like it, you can use an almost dry sponge and build a few layers of ink. I’ve done that with fabric with good results, it’s just a matter of patience. If you don’t have patience, use a temporary spray adhesive to the back of your stencil… it usually works well. Hope this helps 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.