Tag Archives: hdprompt

Hump Day #13 Sharpie and Gesso

Hdprompt_4

The prompt is open ended and deals only with the material, subject and content are up to you, but the material is dictated.

The next material that I want to write about is actually a combination of materials but it’s a very cool combination that will give you a ghosting effect. The 2 materials are plain old Sharpie brand markers and plain old white gesso. I use Liquitex brand gesso but I think this would work with any brand.

Start out by writing up a journal entry in sharpie. You can use any color, I’ve done this techniques successfully with black and red but I’d love to see results that use other colors. After giving the sharpie some time to dry fully, go over your lines of text with gesso. A nice even thiin layer. There should be no need to thin it with water but if you aren’t getting an even layer you can loosen it with some water. You should barely be able to see the writing under the gesso while it ‘s wet. The key to this technique is a thin even layer.

Now wait for it to dry. If you are impatient like me you can hit it with some heat and dry it out, but you don’t have to.

When you come back to it you should see a faint purplish bleed through of your writing. I find that mine is barely legible but it can clearly be read. From here you can decide if you want to write on top of the gessoed words or draw or collage. As you layer over the gessoed writing you’ll find it becomes more faint and more ghostly. It makes a great background for more writing, drawing or collage.

Prompt # 13 Combine 2 materials: Sharpie and Gesso.

Hump Day Prompt #10, #11 & #12: Gesso

The prompt is open ended and deals only with the
material, subject and content are up to you, but the
material is dictated.

Another great item that no art journaler should be without
is gesso. It’s an easy to use product that can be used to seal a page before
creating art on it, so that your paints go further but it can also be used
mixed with acrylic paint to give it a flat sheen and to make it more opaque. It
can be put on heavily to create great textural effects.

Prompt #10 Seal a page with gesso them journal on it.

Prompt #11 Mix gesso with Acrylic paints.

Prompt #12 Use gesso to create a lot of texture on a
page.

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Hump Day Prompt #7, #8 & #9: Collage

The prompt is open ended and deals only with the
material, subject and content are up to you, but the
material is dictated.

Another great thing to use that is not so much a supply but
a something special is to use collage in your journals. Pictures from magazine,
pages from books, scraps of newspaper or bits of colored craft papers; all can
add a lot of texture to your pages and make it more interesting to journal in.
There are 2 fantastic products for gluing bits and pieces to your pages-
ModgePodge or Acrylic Medium. I’ve got both and both work great. You can also use white glue. It will yellow with age, but I’m not concerned with my materials being archival, I’m making them for me. Both are also
excellent for sealing pages.

Prompt # 7 Add collage to a page.

Prompt #8 Add journaling over the collage.

Prompt #9 Add collage over a journaled page.

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Hump Day Prompt #6: Artist Quality Acrylic Paints

The prompt is open ended and deals only with the
material, subject and content are up to you, but the
material is dictated.

Artist Quality acrylic paints. There are lots of brands of
“artist quality” paints. I’m a fan of Grumbacher and liquitex. Grumbacher dries
flatter where liquitex dries shiny and plasticy. Acrylics don’t crack and
remain flexible forever. That flexibility over time is also a difficulty that
you’ll need to deal with as your pages will stick together if not treated
properly. At most craft stores you can find an inexpensive set of acrylic
paints with a variety of colors, these are great to get you started.

Prompt #6 Use “artist quality” acrylics to makes a
page.

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(Note: after you finish a page with artist quality acrylic, particularly more expensive brands you’ll notice a slight taskiness left tot he page, weeks and even months later. This is a serious issue to addressw ith a block of wax or candle. I favor rubbing down a page with a 50/50 mix of paraffin and bee’s wax  and then burnishing it down with a soft piece of cloth. This will seal the page and keep it from sticking. You could also just slip a sheet of waxed paper between pages. Do this last because you won’t be able to stick more paint on top of the wax- most won’t stick.)

Hump Day Prompt #5 “Craft” Acrylic

The prompt is open ended and deals only with the
material, subject and content are up to you, but the
material is dictated.

Next on the hit parade is acrylic. I love me some acrylic
paint. When you start art journaling your going to go to the craft store and
look at the seas of paint- 2 parted but like seas of artist grade VS craft
grade- what to do!!!!! Both are great for different reasons. Craft grade
acrylic has come a long way in the last 20 years. The bigger brands have added
some lightfastness and quality to their paints. IN terms of craft paint price
is directly linked to their quality. Most tubes are around $1. I like Delta
brand. Applebarrel comes in a lot of colors. Find a sale and spend $6. Pick up a
tube of red, yellow, blue, green, and orange. Buy darker colors- you can add
white later. These liquid paints are great for backgrounds and flat painting,
ie if you don’t want texture these are wonderful. They dry quickly and dry
matte or flat. They layer well and some people do fantastic stuff with them.
The great thing about them is that unlike artist quality paints they dry
completely and don’t stick to one another, so you can work on facing pages and
not worry about the pages sticking together.

Prompt #5- use craft grade paints to make a page.
 
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(Note: In relation to last weeks HD Prompt craft grade acrylics are GREAT for toning pages. Try it you’ll like it.)

Hump Day Prompt #3- Reversable Water Based Media

Hdprompt

The prompt is open ended and deals only with the
material, subject and content are up to you, but the
material is dictated.

The next item to add color is watercolor or gouache. Both
are a type of water based paint. I love both for different reasons. Watercolor
allows you to create beautiful rich layers of color that are vibrant and pop of
the page. It’s hard to use and difficult to master. But they can be found cheap
and allow you to add color over inky lines. Gouache on the other hand is
thicker opaque and works more like a water based oil color than watercolor,
though it can be thinned to use like watercolors. It’s great for putting in
thick layers of color, toning pages and creating flat designs. It can also be
used to beautifully render subjects.

Prompt #3 Use a water based reversible media, pick one
watercolor or gouache. Subject is up to you.

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Hump Day Prompt #2- Colored Pencils

Hdprompt_2

The prompt is open ended and deals only with the
material, subject and content are up to you, but the
material is dictated.

Let’s face it lack of color can be, well, boring. There are
lots of things to add color. I use 2 or 3 media off and on depending on mood.
Colored pencils are about as basic as they come and come in lots of colors. Get
a nicer brand; Palomino, Prismacolor or 6mm Prang (trust me on this one- they
are *&*%^ nice!). Don’t buy Crayola colored pencils. They have a hard wax
base that doesn’t lend them to anything but not breaking. A nice colored pencil
will let you layer colors and create rich depth of color or lay on beautiful
thick layers of rich color, or just write in color.

Prompt #2- Use colored pencils to create a journal page. You
can write, draw or glue the colored pencils to the page but you have to create
some sort of image with them.

Leave a comment with a link to your blog with pictures of what you’ve done!