Art Journal JOY in my Heart
Hi everyone, it’s Shari here with my April art journal feature. This one is all about texture and soft Spring colors.
For this entry, I played with my Distress inks on Gesso, something I hadn’t tried before. After spritzing the inks with water this amazing thing happened… it’s like batik in a way.. the background white really showed through, like raindrops!
By coating the paper with Gesso first (and letting it dry completely) it allows the inks sit on the surface rather than soaking in. I kept my journaling and title simple… it has a lot of personal meaning for me as today is my moms birthday, her name was Joy. You could say I have all sorts of joy of life in my heart. :o)
I’ve shot a process video showing how to do the technique, as usual, I sped it up to fit it in the time frame needed. Enjoy!
Hope you were able to follow. I have the supplies listed below in case you missed them.
Thanks for stopping by today, hope you all are having a fantastic week-end!!! Oh but before I go, I have a BLOG Candy Alert! Follow our blog via email and comment on this post for a chance to win a special blog candy!
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Beautiful art journal page! Love this fun technique! Happy Birthday to your mom!
So delicate! Beautiful!
Beautiful! I can’t wait to take your class in Columbus next month. Questions? What weight paper did you use? Have you ever used Gesso on the Tim Holtz watercolor paper for this technique?
Shari, what a beautiful page in commemoration of your mom. I took a class from you when you were in Buffalo and we did a canvas based on one that you did that was symbolic of the life of your mother. It is great to remember the special people in our lives. Joy-what a beautiful name!
Lovely page! Thanks for the how-to video. ;-)
Soft and LOVELY! Like a Whisper:)
It’s just beautiful Shari!! Thoughts of your Mother really do bring out the most wonderful pieces from you, I still love the canvas piece you did.
Thanks for sharing with us!
WOW! That is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!! I love it!
Oh Shari, what a lovely thing you’ve made, and all the more special since it’s a tribute to your Mom…….Thanks so much for sharing with us!
This is just beautiful! Thanks for all your tips and sharing with us.
Gorgeous!! I love the white and the light soft colors!!
I bet your mom is going to be “over joyed.”
Shari, this is absolutely gorgeous! I love the colors and the subtlety, and the inspiration is so sweet.
Thank you so much for sharing. :)
What a wonderful tribute for your Mother. These pages are just lovely, sweet and really special.
This is the most beautiful art journal page I’ve ever seen – and extra special since it is in remembrance of your mom, Shari. I love those soft colors together and the way the inks look mottled by the technique you used. Thank you for the video – must try this some day soon.
Just beautiful!
Thank you for a bundle of inspiration! It is amazing how you can keep it coming.
Lovely journal, thank you for the tutorial :)
This is so beautiful. I’d like to try this technique to create a framed piece of art. Thanks for sharing your ideas.
So pretty!
I am curious, why did you use a spatula to apply the gesso versus a brush? I am guessing that you wanted the texture of the spatula instead of brush strokes? Also, why two different heat tools? You used the long skinny one when embossing, but the Ranger tool when drying. Are the temperatures different? Learned a lot today, thanks for the video demonstration.
Hi B.
I used the spatula with the gesso for a quick smooth spread with occasional ridges, this technique works well when you’ll be stamping on top.
The heat tools are different. The Ranger heat tool has lower heat and is perfect to dry inks and paints. The Milwaukee heat tool has higher heat which is melts embossing powder quickly.
Hope that helps!
Shari
Love your batik look achieved with this technique, Thanks so much for the video!
Beautiful–love the combo of colors and textures!
What a beautiful addition to your journal! Love the combination of distress inks that you used. Thanks for sharing!
Shari, this is so BEAUTIFUL I can’t say enough about it.
The soft colors of the distress inks are lovely.
I will be trying this and I think I can do it thanks to your tutorial.
Thank you for sharing such a lovely project…
Omgosh! This is so gorgeous!!! Thanks for the video & the inspiration.
Beautiful, love the texture.
So beautiful.
Shari – it’s beautiful. What a wonderful tribute to your mom. LOVELY!!!!!
What a gorgeous journal page! Your Mum would have been so proud.
What a special, special page, Shari! So soft and pretty! Love every detail! ♥
Such a beautiful project and i love the design and colours! x
I love to watch you make your pages+ you always give me some inspiration!
Softly beautiful, Shari.
Absolutely beautiful!
You hit my heart strings when you mentioned your Mom.
She would have loved it!
A gorgeous page with the soft colors. TFS!
That is amazing!
What a beautiful journal page and a fitting tribute for your Mother. Thanks for sharing the great techniques. I’m going to try this right now!
WOW, it’s soft, romantic and stunning!
What a neat technique! I never knew how to use Gesso and how neat it can be!
This is just beautiful, Shari!
Love your journal pages! Great video
That was amazing! Really do love how the water left the white spots and made it so distressed. Really great video.
Such lovely detail on this gorgeous project. Thanks for sharing!!!
Beautiful and heartfelt page!
Absolutely stunning! What paper did you use as the base? Love your tutorials and the detailed info.
Beautiful project! TFS :)
Shari, this is extraordinary, and even more special when considering the inspiration.
This is absolutely gorgeous – I just love it!! Thanks for your wonderful videos and I will be giving this a try in my new and pristine art journal – getting started seems to be a block for me!
I can’t imagine anything more beautiful !!
Another beautiful journal page. I follow the blog by email.