A Purple Bunny Hopped Right Into My Art Journal

Starting an art journal page with a free Spark of Art-spiration tutorial by Carolyn Dube

What do I do when I want to play but a blank page doesn’t inspire me? I grab a Spark of Art-spiration and see where it takes me. This Spark brought a purple bunny into the studio for another cardboard page in a Permission to Play journal.

Watch Starting an Art Journal Page with a Spark of Art-spiration on YouTube.

What is a Spark of Art-spiration and how do you get one? They’re free and are sent out with my weekly newsletters. If you missed this one when it went out, never fear! You can get it sent to you by going here.
Yes, I want the free download!

This purple bunny, that popped out of the Spark at me didn’t quite have long enough pink ears on the Spark but that wasn’t a problem. I just kept cutting into the white to create the ears. Did the same for a tail but all that hard work just didn’t fit on the page. Okay, it wasn’t really hard work.

Purple bunny rabbits are very happy bunny rabbits…so that is why I did the bright green background. Why the pink in the flowers? Because your ears should always match the flowers.

The Bunny has to have all sorts of adventures, all those eggs, all those baskets, all in one night! So travel seemed like just the right word for this page using my Are We There Yet stencil.

The background was the right color, but it was just too plain. It needed just a little touch of pattern. A bit of shimmering iridescent green with Pebeo and Arched Fountains stencil to the rescue.

Scribble sticks provided an easy and forgiving border since they react with water. New to Scribble Sticks? You can see more of what they do in an earlier video here.

What will I do with this cardboard page? I’m going to hop to it and bind it in a Permission to Play journal. (My apologies for the pun..just couldn’t resist!)

If you’re new to the Permission to Play journals you can find out how to make one in my free workshop here.

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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Spray Painting Cardboard and Making a Mask

This is what happens when I have a big piece of IKEA cardboard, Liquitex spray paint, and StencilGirl stencils video by Carolyn Dube

The joy of going to IKEA for me is the packaging, giant pieces of cardboard. It becomes a ridiculously long surface to art on and because it is so big, I need a way to do it quickly. After all, patience is not one of my virtues yet. Out come the spray paints!

Watch Spray painting with a stencil and creating an overspray mask on YouTube.

No rhyme or reason to this as the colors and patterns were haphazardly placed all around using StencilGirl stencils and spray paints. Instant gratification!

When I use stencils with spray paints, I prefer the water based spray paints, like the ones by Liquitex, not only because they are low odor but make clean up a breeze. Of course, make sure you are in a well ventilated area and wear the necessary safety gear.

All that color and pattern was about to become the background thanks to using my Scribble Scratch stencil as a mask with black spray paint. In the video, I’m sharing how to easily make the over spray guard around it so that the paint only goes over the stenciled area and not spill over the edges.

Plus, at the end of the video, you see what happens when the can runs out of spray paint, OOPS and why I didn’t get as crisp of a pattern for that last one.

With all the spray paint I was using, there had to be a way to clean the stencil off as I went. Otherwise, it would have been dripping with paint. Just plopping the stencil, wet side down, on the scrap cardboard let me remove the excess color and create a secondary print. That monochromatic cardboard unexpectedly stole my heart.

Does that ever happen to you when the clean up page becomes as wonderful as the piece you were making?

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 you are helping me keep this blog and my videos ad free! Thank you- I don’t like ads any more than you do!

InLinkz.com

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Using Pasta for Gel Printing

Going to the grocery store isn’t just for cooking, it is for gel printing too! Bucatini, a pasta that is part spaghetti and part drinking straw, makes the most wonderful textures on a Gel Press printing plate.

Watch Using Pasta for Gel Printing on YouTube. If you’re new to gel printing, there’s a getting started video and printable guide for you here.

This technique can be used on any size plate with any acrylic paints. The circle was calling to me, so that is what I used for this play. Naturally, if you use pasta with paint, it is no longer safe to eat. You probably knew that, but just in case my husband is reading this…I want be sure he doesn’t cook up some rainbow pasta.

Make the bundle of pasta and then start bouncing on the plate. Not only is it fun for it to bounce on the gel plate, but it gives a very crisp impression of these itty bitty circles. When I pounce it, or push it down on the plate, the impressions aren’t quite a crisp for me so I prefer the bounce.

Not a drop of paint is wasted when printing. The first prints went directly into my art journal to create the page today. The ghost prints and clean up prints went onto another art journal page, creating a background for use on another day.

Painting the white space precisely and staying neatly around the curves of the circles is usually a challenge for me to free hand but not today. Why? By putting the gel plates back down on the page, they acted as masks so I could paint right up to the line. Just be sure you have them lined up right over where you printed. In the video, you can see my little OOPSie on that.

The final touch was the hardest part for me. Not the writing, but the waiting. I could only hold myself back so long before my impatience took control and I started adding some journaling. Since the paint was still damp, a pen would have been ruined, so I grabbed a Scribble Stick.

Next time you are at the grocery, stop by the pasta aisle and see what fun textures you find to use on a Gel Press plate!

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!