Gratitude Art Journal Exploration

My art journal is a place to explore colors, textures, and marks but it is also a place to work out my feelings and find gratitude. Now that we are well into the last 3 months of the year I have been reflecting on all of the positive moments of joy, hope and love that I have experienced. I was thinking about creating a gratitude spread in my art journal so I got out my stencils and began to look through all the options.

I like to select supplies before I start working because it gives me a jumping off point and allows for a creative flow to happen. Below you can see the materials I used to create the following art journal spread. I find that taking the time to pause every once in a while and focus on all the good in my life helps me to stay positive and allows my creative energies to keep flowing!

Art Supplies! Acrylic paint, markers and stencils!

Art Supplies! Acrylic paint, markers and stencils!

Above are the supplies I selected but I ended up only using stencil TCW652s for my journal spread.

Supplies:
Stencil TCW652s Corazon
TCW White Gesso
Winsor & Newton permanent markers
Variety of Acrylic Paint
Sea of Brighton, 140lb paper Art Journal
Faber Castel Pitt Pens
Art Graf water soluble graphite stick
Standard Graphite Pencil

When I start my art journal process I find that selecting colors that are in the same color family and putting them directly onto my page pushes me to blend and explore color and texture. For this spread I decided cool colors would create a clam foundation.

Selecting cool colors as the base of my page.

Selecting cool colors as the base of my page.

I blended and spread color directly on the page. This allows for organic mixing of color and for little bits of color to play together in interesting ways.

Blended color on the page

Blended color on the page

Next apply a layer of gesso over the base color. This mutes the green and blue color back a bit and creates a great working surface for the spread as you add other mediums.

A layer of gesso over the color base

A layer of gesso over the color base

Once the gesso is dry add a touch of yellow red or orange to your spread this warm color gives visual interest and a nice contrasting pop of color.

Add a touch of warm color to the spread to add a pop to the page

Add a touch of warm color to the spread to add a pop to the page

Next choose your stencil decided your placement on the page and use a pencil to trace the stencil.

Stencil outlines with graphite pencil

Stencil outlines with graphite pencil

Next up is the water soluble graphite stick. The fun part about this stick is that you can use it many different ways after you draw or doodle with it on your spread. Below you can see how I used it on my page!

Water soluble graphite stick illustration

Water soluble graphite stick illustration

I illustrated rolling hills, and some hearts to mimic the heart in Stencil TCW652s Corazon. Once I felt my illustration was complete I used TCW gesso and a flat brush to paint over the graphite stick illustration. This causes it to blend and give the appearance of depth and shadow. Once the gesso has dried use some acrylic paint and water create a transparent wash and apply this to each area of your illustration. You can see below the hills and hearts appear more dimensional and the added contrast from the graphite stick adds interest.

Shadow made with gesso and water soluble graphite

Shadow made with gesso and water soluble graphite

Next up use your acrylic paint to add painted details to your page.

Detail work with acrylic on the stenciled area of your spread

Detail work with acrylic on the stenciled area of your spread

Once my painted detail work dried I finished off my spread with stream of conscious writing using my pencil and some additional detailing work to the hills, hearts and stenciled area. I used a brush tip and extra small Faber Castel maker to detail the page. The very last addition was the neon pink around the stencil to really create a string focal point for my spread.

Additional embellishment and stream of conscious writing

Additional embellishment and stream of conscious writing

Below is a close up of the detail work and gratitude writing on my spread.

Detail of stencil

Detail of stencil on my journal page

This was such a fun project and art journaling can be such a thoughtful and enjoyable process! I would love to see how you use stencils in your art journal so be sure to share your creations on The Crafter’s Workshop Facebook page or by tagging The Crafter’s Workshop on InstagramTwitter or Pinterest! Also tag me @Drawriot if you share on Instagram! Until next time, keep creating! ?

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.

Tori Weyers
The Crafter’s Workshop Design Team Member

6 thoughts on “Gratitude Art Journal Exploration

    1. tu peux les acheter chez Scrapbook.com ou bien Simon Says Stamp… quelques boutiques en France en vendent mais pas toujours les nouveaux produits. Regarde toujours chez La Fabrik à scrap…

  1. I’ve just entered the world of art journaling, Zentangles & mandalas. Your site is one of the few that is not only helpful, but does not overwhelm. Thank you for that.I look forward to future communications between us.

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