This art journal page was quite an adventure and along the way there were two things that became very clear. One was I should never ever under any circumstance be a cosmetic surgeon. And two, weird stories can show up in your art journal. Grab a drink and join me for a silly little adventure!

It all started with this random background where I saw a queen or regal figure. And I thought, “Well heck, let’s bring her to life.” Little did this poor queen know what she was in for.

To outline her, I wanted a liner brush. But I couldn’t find it and looking for an art supply isn’t nearly as much fun as using it. So rather than waste more time looking, I just picked a different one.

If you can’t find “the” brush easily, then just pick a different one because after all, the best art supply to use is the one you can either actually find or the one that’s within arms reach.

She needed details in her hair, so of course that meant scribble journaling. Doesn’t hair detail always say this?

A queen needs a kingdom so that’s where the Once Upon a Time stencil and mask set came in handy. One of the many things that I love about using masks is that you can audition the placement of them before committing with paint.

She became a Mr. PotatoHead meets Picasso type of adventure. In the video you see how how the pink became a cloud of halitosis, then she became a cyclops, and then the beak.

I committed to the beak by gluing it down. O.O.P.S.! That was an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly because wow, did I not like how this looked, but it did lead to something.

I started to think maybe this was a queen that had a secret identity as a bird so I decided she needed to keep her secret identity secret by painting over her beak.

Just go with it, since after all I put it in the video and here on the blog so it’s not very well kept secret.

I probably shouldn’t try and write scripts for Hollywood either because well some kind of queen that’s also a bird and keeps it a secret probably isn’t going to be the next blockbuster coming out of Hollywood.

Now have you ever seen a five or six year old try and put makeup on like their mom? That’s pretty much how I felt creating the nose and mouth for her. It just was awkward.

I grabbed an Art Crayon and suddenly the lips turned a corner for me. I started to feel a little bit happier with them.

No matter what I did with the nose, I was not happy with it. Not one bit. It was clear to me that I should never ever, ever be a cosmetic surgeon.

Rembrandt’s Words was just the look to go with her royal highness here.

Putting a stencil on top allowed me to easily stencil only where the black was, so it looked like I did it with careful planning. But it wasn’t.

Another benefit of stenciling is that you can peek to see if you’ve gone as far as you want. Just hold the stencil in place on one corner, then lift it up a little bit on the other side to see if the stenciling covers what you want. If not, put it back down and add more paint.

The scribble journaling around the towers isn’t literary gold, it’s just getting thoughts out on the page. Using a mat paint makes it easier for pens to write on it.

Now is this page completely finished to me yet? Nope. There’s still something else that it needs, but I’m not completely sure what it is.

So I’m going to step away from it for a little while and let my muse tell me what it needs to become next.

And you bet when I add more to this, I’ll be sharing it and letting you know what happens. If you want to be kept in the loop, be sure to get signed up for my weekly newsletter.

Here are the supplies used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. For example, I’m an Amazon Associate & I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you get a really good feeling knowing that you are helping keep the free tutorials coming! The journal I used is a homemade journal.

Botanical gel printing captures all the delicate details of flowers. Even on bouquets that are on their last leg wilting and with petals falling off, like this one of crazy daisies.

The prints created are gorgeously black and white but I couldn’t leave them without color. Keep reading and you’ll see how adding color created an old world fesco look.

You start by putting Golden Open paint on the gel plate and then the flowers. Open paint works a little differently than regular acrylics because it stays wet, or open longer. Hence the name.

Then place the flowers on top of the paint and press them down.

In the video, you’ll see 2 ways to press them down. One using only fingers and one using deli paper. Both work, it’s just a matter of which one you prefer.

The first print pulls most of the paint off the gel plate. But not all of it- there’s an amazing ghost print to be had.

It looks like there isn’t much here but there is more than you might realize. One of the ways gel plates are magical.

All that detail came up on this print. Even with so little paint on there, the gel plate can capture the fine details.

There was a whole bouquet of flowers and I made prints with them all for 2 reasons. First, it was fun! Second, there were things I wanted to have a deeper understanding of so I tested out several ideas.

What I figured out about which factors created the look that made me happiest, I’ve put into a bonus video inside my workshop, Gel Printing FUNDamentals. Below are some of the prints from that video.

Gel Printing FUNdamentals is all about understanding the principles of what’s happening on a gel plate so you can guide and steer your prints in the direction that you love.

If you’re already a member, just log in and it’s waiting for you because once you’re a member, you’re always a member and get access to all new content I add.

If you’re new to Gel Printing FUNdamentals and you’d like to have gel printing techniques and concepts explained to you step-by-step, then you can find out more about the workshop here.

As much as I loved these in black and white, I also wanted to add some color to them.

Art Crayons are water reactive and blend beautifully. Just a touch of water on the paper towel makes it easy to blend the colors.

The background was done by adding paint and water then wiping it off. By using blue and green it ended up with a bit of an aged copper patina vibe.

Next time you’ve got flowers around, or even blooming weeds from your yard, give botanical gel printing a try! And if you’d like to go deeper with gel printing techniques, check out Gel Printing FUNdamentals.

Here are the supplies used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. For example, I’m an Amazon Associate & I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you get a really good feeling knowing that you are helping keep the free tutorials coming!