I love digital art journaling as much as traditional inky/painty hands art journaling. Tangie Baxter has this great new kit, Steampunk Maritime, that is packed with such goodness! I love the ocean & steampunk so this was perfect! I usually do digital steampunk just because I don’t have a strong desire to do metal working, haven’t found big gears, and digital lets me do things I can’t do in “real life”. 
I am totally addicted to this guy from spraypaintstencils.com. A quick and sloppy border of my favorite color and it was starting to talk to me.
I looked for words to create the story and sure enough, they were there. I used a black pen and glossy accents to make the words pop. Then I wrote words all around the border that went with the story of this mysterious man.
Black is a great color, because it hides so many other colors! The Distress Ink in mustard seed that was rubbed around the center was quick but I needed a darker color. Spiced marmalade in Distress inks darkened it up nicely. The words stayed neutral because the ink won’t stick to the glossy accents.
I was just playing around with stencils. No plan. Just playing. Actually avoiding what I “should” have been doing…I tend to grab book pages for playing. I was using Deco Art’s carbon black traditions paint when I noticed how matte it was when it was dry. The photo does not do it justice.
What if I used a very shiny/slick paint on top of it? Golden’s Fluid Acrylics dry very slick, especially when I use a thicker application. Add a JudiKins swirl stamp and paint, and viola! The camera doesn’t show the subtle textures but it is very tactile.
I had planned to so lots of these based on how much paint I squirted out on my palette. That plan was thwarted because I loved the mask so much I had to let it dry so I could use it later in an art journal. I guess I’ll have to cut some more and find somewhere to slather paint….
