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Letting myself just play in my art journal by asking what if...and it went through some ugly layers in the video but in the end created a map of the Land of What If

What if? This is the question that I asked in my art journal today. This page went through a lot, including some very ugly layers.  Since this was what if play, it didn’t matter if a layer was ugly.  It didn’t matter if it had no direction.

It only mattered that I asked what if.  Little did I know I was making a map as I was letting myself get lost in the play.

Watch Letting myself get lost in the art journal play on YouTube.

Building on an old background, I began smearing paint and adding pattern with stencils.  That yellow paint was slow to dry, since there was so much of it, which led me to asking what if with a baby wipe.  After all, I seem to have a subconscious need to avoid heat guns.

Letting myself just play in my art journal by asking what if...and it went through some ugly layers in the video but in the end created a map of the Land of What If

Oh, did it go through some ugly stages!  But that didn’t matter because smearing paint around brought me joy. I even ended up with a bout of pink polka dot fever.  Letting myself just play in my art journal by asking what if...and it went through some ugly layers in the video but in the end created a map of the Land of What If

The word “what” was redone with my Ransom Alphabet stencil, and I am proud to let my first grade teacher know that it wasn’t because of misspelling (this time at least).

Letting myself just play in my art journal by asking what if...and it went through some ugly layers in the video but in the end created a map of the Land of What If

As I stenciled the 3 Cutouts Inspired by Matisse, I began to see a forest.  I would love to visit a forest like that!  This is when the idea of a map took control of the page.Letting myself just play in my art journal by asking what if...and it went through some ugly layers in the video but in the end created a map of the Land of What If

Maps need towns, so I added castle towns with a mask from the Once Upon a Time stencil.  There was one feature still missing from this land, and that was water. A great big ocean was needed.

Letting myself just play in my art journal by asking what if...and it went through some ugly layers in the video but in the end created a map of the Land of What If

What types of places are in the Land of What If?  The Ocean of Inspiration and the City of Creativity of course!

Letting myself just play in my art journal by asking what if...and it went through some ugly layers in the video but in the end created a map of the Land of What If

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!


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Using a dried up paint palette to start a stenciled art journal page - video tutorial by Carolyn Dube (so there's an OOPS or 3 in it!)

What happens when I start with an old dried up paint palette, then start thinking about high school lit class, then make a series of OOPSies?  An art journal page!

You can find the video of the play in my guest post at StencilGirl Talk!

Be sure to check out the end of video where I analyze the symbolism on this page…and spoiler alert, my English teacher probably wouldn’t have liked my attitude about it!

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Imaginary creatures appear from paint drips during mixed media play by Carolyn Dube

When the play started, it was just goofing around on cardboard.  Just a bunch of dried up drips on some imperfectly applied gesso.  It was so blah, I didn’t even take a photo.  Then, I saw legs in the green drips, so I drew the creature.  Part giraffe, the legs, and part elephant, the trunk. A gir-fel-ephant.

Then there was the window. You might be wondering why on earth I drew a yellow window below the belly of the gir-fel-ephant.  I had the impulse, so I followed it.  No logic.  Just an impulse.

Imaginary creatures appear from paint drips during mixed media play by Carolyn Dube

Then I said O.O.P.S. and promptly removed said window with a baby wipe.  If MacGyver was an artist, I think he’d use baby wipes as much as he used paper clips.  Here, the baby wipe was a not only a quick way to deal with an O.O.P.S., but it became a color applicator at the same time.

Imaginary creatures appear from paint drips during mixed media play by Carolyn Dube

Of course, these imaginary elephants can’t fly, after all their ears are just way too small for that.  The gentle hills that they walk upon, well, they aren’t green but magenta.  After all, if I am making it up, I’m going to make it up rainbow.

Imaginary creatures appear from paint drips during mixed media play by Carolyn Dube

This little guy, ended up an elephant not because he was born that way but because of an O.O.P.S.  So his nose was considerably shorter earlier, but now has been influenced a bit by Pinocchio it seems, and became a full snout.

Imaginary creatures appear from paint drips during mixed media play by Carolyn Dube

These two creatures are taking some time to look around the rolling magenta hills of their world and when they are ready they will let me know where they want to go next.  After all, there is no deadline to art play!

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