Hi everyone. It’s Bonnie here today with the Art Journal Adventure prompt for Week 16. The theme I chose for this week has to do with the  dreaded “blank page syndrome”. Sometimes a journal page or spread can be difficult to start because of that blank page which is staring at you, especially if you don’t have a solid idea about what you want to do. Some people clean off their stencils, brushes, and stamps on pages in their journals so that in the future that ominous blank page, which can seem larger than it really is, isn’t so intimidating. My prompt today is to use a page from a newspaper, magazine, old book, sheet music, junk mail or perhaps a mop-up deli paper to cover your blank page and give you a head start on your page. I’m calling it “Just say No to the Blank Page”.

I began with a page from a children’s dictionary which I had purchased at a thrift store. It was adhered to a 7.5 x 10 inch piece of bristol paper using Dina Wakley Gel Medium. A coat was also given to the front of the sheet to make sure that the ink from the book stayed put. White gesso was applied to the dictionary paper once the gel medium was dry, making sure that the focal word chosen as the jump off point was left uncovered. I was going to create something garden-related. I wasn’t looking for full coverage of the text but wanted to push it into the background so it became a layer rather than a feature. Blank page gone! Ahhhhh! (deep breath)

Now for colour…three Neocolor II crayons ( a light blue, bright green, and darker green) were randomly scribbled over the gesso. These were activated and spread with a large brush dipped in water. I kept the streaks horizontal like the print but could have easily done vertical streaks as well. This is such a simple, fast way to achieve colour on a page. You also don’t have to get it the way you want on the first go because you can add any colour where you want it and re-activate what’s already there to get the blend or intensity you want.

I wanted subtle pattern and depth so I grabbed Joggles Bubble Blast Stencil and applied three layers of circles here and there using Tim Holtz Broken China, Cracked Pistachio, and Faded Jeans Distress Oxide Inks and a blending tool.

To add some texture and yet another layer, Ranger Texture Paste was scraped through Carabelle Studio Weft Fabric and Numbers Art Template and allowed to dry. It picks up some of the Neocolor II from the background, tinting the paste slightly in a random way.

I love using stamps in ways that alter their appearance and gives me a fresh look. That was exactly what I had in mind for the flowers in my Garden of W himsy. Joggles Large Doodle Circle, Scribble Flower #4, and Scribble Flower #2 were stamped onto scraps of orange and yellow card stock using Jet Black Archival Ink. They were then fussy cut and adhered to black card stock circles.

While I love the original centers of the flowers, I was looking to do something different so I traced a circle using my circles template around an eye from three different magazine faces and cut them out. They were going to be my funky flower centers.

White Sharpie Water soluble Paint Marker dots and Black Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen lines were added to the eye itself and to the flower and black background to add interest and help things stand out. Stems were traced from Joggles/Margaret Applin Flora & Fronds #2 stencil onto mop-up paper and then fussy cut. Leaves from Flora & Fronds #14 stencil were traced and cut out in the same manner. These were all edged with Faber Castell Black Big Brush Pen to help them contrast with the background. The three flowers and the leaves were adhered with foam squares and the stems with Aleene’s Super Thick Tacky glue.

To add a little more detail to the scene, a sun circle was punched from a Lindy’s Starburst Sprayed scrap and matted with black. The grass was die cut from text paper, edged with a green Gelato, and roughly outlined with a Pitt pen before it was adhered over the bottom of the stems.

The area around the sun looked bare to me and I wanted something to look like rays. I always keep a little bag of black die cut( Alterations Artful Arrows)  arrows on my desk because I often want one or two to complete a page or direct the eye. I used five of them for the sun’s rays. I like how the black picks up the flower circle frames and the page frame. Love my pops of black 🙂 A simple border was doodled around the page edges and around the garden definition, and Black Big Brush Pen took away the white of the original edges before the page was adhered to my usual black card stock backing.

And now, it’s your turn to “Just Say No to the Blank Page” by adhering a layer of something & gesso to your page to give you a head start. It doesn’t matter what you use because it’s only a layer which will be pushed into the background and can peek out as much or as little as you wish. Have fun with it!