Is it good or bad to be impatient?  Back before I had gray hair, I used to think it was a bad thing to be impatient.  But my impatience about waiting for a background to dry led to an even better than what I had planned.  In this video, I’m also sharing what I’m doing now with my spray bottles to prevent any clogging. Hint, it involves water.

Watch Impatient Art Journaling and How I Keep Spray Ink from Clogging on YouTube.

When you have to clean off a tool, say like a brayer while gel printing, clean it off on an art journal page.  This way not a drop of paint is wasted and you’re getting a start on your next project.  That’s how the background happened in an altered book journal.

The Mod Ovals and Circles stencil was calling to me, and yes, I really heard it beckoning me to use it on this page! The Art Spray was extra wet and juicy since I went a bit heavy handed with it and sprayed generously.

Because so much Art Spray was sprayed, some ran under the stencil.  I love when those random things happen in a mixed media journal!  The only catch was, it was going to take it a while to dry.  And I wasn’t feeling patient.

Be sure to check out the video, a couple of minutes in where I share how to keep the caps from clogging on your spray inks by recycling an empty one filled with water.

There were zero paper towels around to blot it off.  Not even a tissue.  O.O.P.S.!  This was an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly.  The opportunity was to use what was on my counter, a baby wipe.   That led to a whole bunch of color being pulled off creating a background far better than my original plan.  O.O.P.S.ies having a way of working this way, leading to something even better than planned.

The look of image transfers is amazing to me but I am never patient enough to do them “well”, so I take a short cut. I use Craft Attitude and just print whatever image I want to use on it with an ink jet printer.  Then add that glue and it has the feel of image transfer without all the work.

This image is from a kit by itKuPiLLi – I’ve tried to find the exact kit but it seems to be retired. But check out her store, it’s loaded with all sorts of fun images.

More impatience at work here as the journaling is added.  Since the Art Spray area is still wet, I kept my journaling to the dry areas.

When making an art journal page, how do I know what to do next?   There are 3 questions I ask myself and the answers to those questions guides the next step.

Knowing how to use those 3 questions means never being stuck again.  These questions are the the foundation of my online workshop, Art Journaling FUNdamentals.

Along with how to make decisions, the workshop also covers how to get the most out of your supplies, practical color theory, magic number for building up layers, how to deal with ugly pages, and more.

Here are the supplies 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!

What’s the best way to paint pour? That’s the question my dear friend asked me as we were about to start paint pouring.  I had all the supplies on the table for us and she had question after question.  She wanted to know the best way to add the paint to the cup, the best color combinations, the best pouring medium.

I broke the news to her that there wasn’t any one best answer and that is part of what makes paint pouring magical.  There isn’t a big book of must follow rules.    Instead of rules, it’s more about guidelines. In the video, I’m sharing the technique that I showed her for her first pour.

Watch on YouTube.

Which pouring medium?  Any one you like. They are all fun for making pours.   In the video I am using Floetrol, which can be found at a hardware store and is the cheapest.  It is the one I have found students have the most fun with starting out since it makes cells.

But how much pouring medium?  Start with a ratio of 2 parts pouring medium to 1 part craft paint.  This is a very forgiving process, so you don’t have to be exact. It’s a guideline not a rule after all. You can see how to mix paint and pouring medium in this video.

Which colors? Ones you like in any brand of paint. You probably already have paint that will work wonderfully well.  The only thing I stay away from is super thick paint, the kind that comes out of the tube like toothpaste.  It’s just harder to mix with the pouring medium.

You just pour that paint from the cup all over the canvas.  No thinking, no careful planning, just letting go and trusting. You can pour as little or as much of the cup of paint on the canvas.  It’s not like there are rules that you must follow.

As it dries, the paint might still move a bit.  That happened here and it brought the most wonderful surprise!

Every so often a face appears and when it does, I treasure it!  Especially when they are so groovy and fun like this one!  This isn’t something I planned or “made” happen, it’s just a gift of the serendipity of the paint.

Why is the paint darker once it was dry? During the drying process the color of the paint can sometimes darken.  There are several factors that make that happen and the main one here is the paint that I chose to use.

I helped my friend get comfortable quickly with paint pouring and I can do the same for you. Join me for Paint Pouring Palooza in Cincinnati and let the rainbow flow onto your canvases!