How Disco Helped Me Deal with an Ugly Art Journal Page

Playing in a cardboard art journal with color and pattern video tutorial by Carolyn Dube

What do I do with a hideous start to an art journal page? Call it an OOPS and add more layers! An O.O.P.S. is an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly and little did I know that the word discover would take me to the 70’s and disco.

Watch How I dealt with an ugly art journal page on YouTube.

How do I build the cardboard journals? It’s all covered in the free workshop Permission to Play – join the fun and let yourself play.

The early layers on this page were hideously blah. They just looked like a mess and not even in colors I like! Since this is mixed media, when a layer looks that way, it just means it is time for more layers.

In the process of adding color that discover became disco. And yes, I started hearing the Bee Gee’s and Donna Summer in my head. Don’t worry, I didn’t sing on the video- autotune couldn’t help me hit a note.

A bit of orange pattern was added by using 1 of the 4 patterns on my Rectangular Patterns for Play stencil from StencilGirl. One of the many things I adore about stencils is that you can use just part of it to get different looks. There is an irregularly shaped patch of the little squares in the center, then a line of them at the bottom, and just a few in the upper corner. All from just one of the patterns.

Perhaps this is a bit of a controversial statement for all those kids of the 80’s who were raised that disco just wasn’t cool but…Disco should stand out, so I traced over the word with a black pen to make it pop a bit more.

Then it was disco dot fever time as I added splots of acrylic ink on top of some of the squares. The plan was to do just a few dots but it was too much fun, so I just kept on adding more and more. And yes, Donna Summer was still playing in my head… New to fineliners? Here’s a video that explains them in detail.

If you ever happen to have an ugly art journal page, try saying O.O.P.S. and adding more layers. That’s what I do!

If you’d like to see how to make a cardboard art journal as well as specific ways to let yourself play, check out my free workshop, Permission to Play.

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps keep the free tutorials coming!

InLinkz.com

Here’s a bit of what was (and still is) playing in my head thanks to that word discover becoming disco…

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Coloring Pages for the Impatient Inspired by Matisse

Coloring in Cutouts Inspired by Matisse with Fantastix creating colorful patterned paper by Carolyn Dube

Patience is a virtue that I have not mastered, especially when coloring and pattern making. However, I really enjoy exploring colors and patterns. The solution for me is to use a crayon rubbing and an extremely juicy “pen” that can cover a lot of area quickly hence minimal patience is required.

What are stencil crayon rubbings? You might have done leaf rubbings in elementary school and this is the same idea only using a stencil instead of the leaf. Cut Outs Inspired by Matisse stencil was the stencil used to make these pages.

Watch Coloring with Fantastix on YouTube.

New to stencil crayon rubbings? You can see how I made a crayon rubbing with a different stencil directly on book text here.

What was the juicy “pen” used for coloring? Fantastix dipped in the colorful inks. The juicy tips allow me to cover a lot of area quickly since I am an impatient colorist. Okay, I’m impatient with almost everything. Just ask my kids.

The plan was to to color with only blues. It didn’t take me long to abandon that plan and bring in the green.

After all the blues and greens were filled in, I decided the background should pop so out came the orange. As large a space as it was to color, it went quickly thanks to being able to dip the Fantastix in the ink to keep is juicy.

Now I have colorful patterned papers to use next time I am art journaling, collaging, and making a card. If you had an eagle eye, near the beginning of the video when I show a couple of papers already colored in, you might have noticed the O.O.P.S., there is one shape on the colorful one that was left blank. I’d like to tell you that was an artistic statement, but it wasn’t. I just missed that one!

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps keep the free tutorials coming!

InLinkz.com

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The Good, The Bad, the Ugly…and the Hoarder

The journey of a mixed media canvas from the good, to the bad,and the ulgy by Carolyn Dube

There was a collision of the good, the bad, and the ugly in today’s play as I dealt with one of my hoarding tendencies. This canvas began long ago, and it just sat. That is until today, when I realized the opportunity in the O.O.P.S. was to use up a hoarded treasure…one that other people might call trash.

Watch The Good, the Bad, the Ugly…and the Hoarder on YouTube.

Many moons ago, this canvas began as random stencil play with my Iron Grates stencil. There were parts I loved, but it so needed something else.

So I took the big risk, and added lots of black paint with Flora Bowley’s Bloom True flower and my Use Your Words stencil. And it just sat at this layer. For months and months, or maybe even a year.

What got me playing with this canvas again? Leftover scraps of paper from die cutting that I had been hoarding as if they were made of platinum. Perhaps they were secret art platinum from the muse, because without those scraps, this canvas would have stayed ignored on the shelf.

Then came the color. Paint for the treasured squares went as I expected but the feel of the oil pastels in my hand was addictive. So I might have added a bit more of it than planned, but plans are flexible when it comes to art play.

All that black paint that made me cringe in the moment, but it turned out to be just the O.O.P.S. this canvas needed. It took a while too find the opportunity in it, but it finally ended up where it was meant to be. Good thing my muse is patient with me.

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps keep the free tutorials coming!