This weekend I'm talking about just paint on a page, sandpaper, and watercolor crayons. 3 super easy starts for an art journal.

First paint on a page. It's just that- liquid acrylic on a page. You can use any brand that you want, Making Memories, Golden, Liquitex, or CrApple Barrel. The all work. The essence is that you squirt the paint directly on the page. You can then move the paint around in any manner you want. You can work with more than one color at a time too. No rules.

The next thing I like to do is sandpaper pages. In this example. I've taken a page II"ve done the following to: layer 1 gesso Layer 2 liquid acrylic Layer 3 watercolor crayons and water I've let all that dry over night then I've taken a very fine sanding sponge and I've sanded the page. It give the page a weathered "shabby" look (shoot me now for using that word) BUT the page itself is glass smooth. the key to this look is to put on a rough textured layer of gesso. You could actually write on this apge with a fountain pen. I"m using a fine 3m sanding sponge that I've cut into a thin strip. You can also using a sanding block in fine. You can get these in the house goods section of any dollar store or at big box store like Home Cheapo.

Another thing I like to do is to add a layer of watercolor crayons in a  large amount over a page with gesso and acrylic on it. I then use a rag to wipe off some of the color. This can give a great distressed and vintage appearance. It's great to do with a collage piece too.

Next time: MY favorite gesso and sharpie