Summer Lovin’ – a Trip Down Memory Lane Art Journal Spread

Summer is right around the corner, can you believe it?! I LOVE SUMMER! I am a Leo and since my birthday was in the summer it was always a special time plus Summer brings back a lot of memories of long days out of school, playing in the sprinkler, catching fireflies and meeting new friends at summer camp. I think I also had a new summer crush every year when I was a kid! The cute boy in archery class at camp, the boys I would meet at the pool, or getting to spend time with a friends slightly older brother while we waited for our home made popsicles to freeze. I think I was maybe a little boy crazy. 😉 I also made a lot of new girl friends on my summers out of school and I thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane and create an art journal spread inspired by my LOVE of summer!

Below are the supplies you need so join me so lets get creating!

Supplies:
TCW704 Cone Flowers by Rebekah Meier
TCW705 Star and Flower by Rebekah Meier
TCW Heavy Body Paint
White acrylic paint pen
Graphite Pencil
A few Copic Markers in Summer Colors
Copic Air Grip and Air Can
Water Based Markers (I used Jane Davenport Mermaid Markers)
A few black Faber Castel Pitt Pens in various sizes
Art Journal

To get started pick your stencils and your paint colors. I picked TCW704 Cone Flowers by Rebekah Meier and TCW705 Star and Flower by Rebekah Meier.

Stencils and a blank page just waiting to create

Stencils and a blank page just waiting to create

I also picked a bunch of TCW Heavy Body Paint in warm colors. I love these paints because they are thick and vibrant and hold up well when mixed and watered down into a wash.

TCW Heavy body paints

TCW Heavy body paints

Next pick 2 colors that you love to start with and put them on the page together and paint away! I love mixing colors right on the page because you can get fun and unexpected results!

mix paint right on the page for fun results!

mix paint right on the page for fun results!

When your base color of paint is almost dry add a good amount of spun sugar white. Spread the white in a thick layer over 60 – 70% of your page. it will mix a bit as you can see below. If you don’t want this mixing to happen wait until your first layer is completely dry.

white goes on next

white goes on next

While your white layer is still a sticky wet lay your stencil over the top of it and push down gently.

stencil on wet paint

stencil on wet paint

Next take your graphite pencil and trace along your stencil, your pencil will push into the wet paint and leave you with dimensional traced out painted lines and as you pull the stencil away you will also get an amazing texture in your paint.

Traced lines in paint

Traced lines in paint

Give your spread a good 30 – 40 minutes to dry or use a hair dryer to hurry things along. Once your page is dry use a stencil, a Copic marker and Copic Air Grip and Air Can to essentially airbrush through your stencil.

Process for using Copic markers to airbrush on your page

Process for using Copic markers to airbrush on your page

You can see a progress shot of my spread below. The “airbrushed” stenciled areas give an interesting dreamy layer to the page.

Art journal page in progress.

Art journal page in progress.

Next I used Jane Davenport Mermaid Markers to add additional washes of color to the page. I layered the marker colors right on the page and then used a wet paint brush to spread the colors across the page. I used the colors to add interest and to add a bit of detention to my stenciled lines.

Adding color to the page

Adding color to the page

Next I used my Faber Castell markers and an Acrylic paint pen to add a hand lettered title to the page. Since this is a summer themed page I added some fun white dots to my large S.

Hand lettering

Hand lettering

Next add another layer of color to your spread. I used TCW Heavy Body Paint in Candy Apple Red and watered it down to add a deeper wash of color. This makes the shapes pop off the page a even more. I also used a fine tip marker to gesturally trace the cone flowers. This helps draw the eye around the page and creates a stronger composition.

Add A bit more color to your page

Add A bit more color to your page

To add a bit more interest to the overall spread I added some pattern marks with a brush tip marker and turquoise marks with my paintbrush. I love adding an unexpected color into a spread and since summer for me usually involved a trip to the pool or running though sprinklers I thought a watery color was perfect for this little addition of pop to the page.

Add an unexpected color

Add an unexpected color

To finish my spread I added a bit of art journaling. Sometimes I like really legible almost diary like writing and other times its more about the words and looseness of the writing. For this page I used a brush tip marker to loosely write feelings about summers past. I thought the overall page was more expressive and I wanted my art journaling to feel the same way.

Final Art Journal Spread

Final Art Journal Spread

Summer memories can be a wonderful go to for art journaling inspiration! I love how this spread turned out and I would love to see your Summer inspired art journal spreads so be sure to share your thoughts and pictures on The Crafter’s Workshop Facebook page or by tagging The Crafter’s Workshop on Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest! Also tag me @Drawriot if you share your creations on Instagram!

Until next time, keep creating! ?

Tori Weyers
The Crafter’s Workshop Design Team Member

The Crafter’s Workshop provided me with some product to create this project. This post also contains affiliate links. The opinions I share are solely my own.

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