Mixed Media Art Journal Page with Leah Tees

I am using a Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine edition for my inspiration today for OOAK Artisan Showcase. In every edition they post a reader's challenge, and in May of 2017, the challenge was flowers! I love the idea of using art for inspiration. And there was a couple of techniques I wanted try using flowers as the main theme, so this worked out perfectly!

I started by covering a double page spread in my large Dylusions Art Journal with various colors of Dylusions paint; some of my favorite colors like pink, teal and purple.

I also added some stencils with acrylic paint in colors like yellow, white and red, along with some stamping.

I also added some stamping with some mixed media texture and text stamps and black archival ink.

Here is a close-up so you can see the many layers I have added to these pages.  The techniques I wanted to try out include a black out technique, so the background needs to be fairly busy.

I drew out the shape of a vase and cut it out to use as a stencil. After tracing the shape of the vase onto my background, I added some hand drawn shapes for flowers as well as some flower stamps in archival ink. The drawing and tracing was done with my Stabilo All black pencil. I started to black out the design by first activating the Stabilo with water and a paint brush and dragging it out from the design. I also used black Lyra Aquarelle watercolor crayons to make the black deeper and go farther. I outlined the design in white Lyra Aquarelle watercolor crayon and also added some details. And the painting is done! For the sentiment, I printed the words out on cardstock and used the watercolor crayons to color around the pieces before gluing them down.

The finished page turned out great! One thing I would definitely do next time though, is coat the page with a layer of matte medium before adding the white outlines. As you can see in the finished picture here, the white watercolor crayon has soaked up color from the Dylusions background paint, dulling the bright white. Lessons learned, I will still definitely do this again :) Thanks for stopping by!  ~ Leah

You can see more of Leah's art online! Blog: odetopaper.blogspot.ca Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/odetopaper/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ode_to_paper/?hl=en Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ltees/