Art Journal page inspired by Dina wakely

Hello all, I hope this post finds you all happy and well. Ive been rather chipper myself lately and I'm chalking it down to sunshine. I feel so much happier when able to spend some long hours out in the garden getting my hands dirty. June is the time of year when things really start to bloom and take over in the garden. It's gorgeous but it is high maintenance.

 But that's not what I'm here to talk about today. I'm here to talk about a fun, flowey, art journal page I created. This week I was stoked to receive my squiggly birds stamp set by Dina Wakely, in the mail. I immediately had to get to work with them. I grabbed my favourite bird and decided to create an art journal page. This project was inspired by the artist Dina Wakely. I'm very inspired by her recently. I love her style so much. Bold contrasts, painterly brush strokes, and a "no fear" attitude when it comes to white space. To check out more of her work , click here

So here's my go at a flowy back round mixed media art journal page:

 The Materials I used on this project:

Fresco chalk acrylics- chalk, dolly mix, orange

 Daler rowley Hard bodied acrylics- magenta, turquoise, yellow

Black gesso or paint

Silver metallic acrylic paint

Large, hard bristled paint brush

Copic fineliner pen 1.0

Scissors

Washi tape- pink/white stripe, music notes

Stencils- Chevron stripes, small squares, some bottles or glasses (you can use the bottom for different size circle stamps)

Magazine clippings and/or printouts of words you can make a sentiment from

Dina Wakely Squiggly birds stamp set, and her textures stamp set

Archival ink-jet black

1. Create a flowey back round by adding water to your hard bodied acrylics and "swoosh" different colours to your liking. I like the contrast from light white to dark black and everything in between.

2.Use your stencils. First with the chalk fresco colour through the chevron stencil then stamp Dinas grunge circles with the dolly mix fresco colour. Then run your orange colour through the stencil with the tiny squares. Try and put these in compositionally  pleasing places. A rule I always go by is placing things in odd numbers. For example,  the dolly mix grunge circles I have stamped in groups of three on adjacent corners.

3.Then grab the silver metallic paint and stamp it around using the bottoms of some glass jars you have handy. (dylusions sprays work, lid from gesso pots, also glass jar lids).

4. Stamp the bird with black archival ink. Preferably in some white space so you can see it clearly.

5. Rip off 2 bits of washi tape and position them so the bird is standing on them.

6. When the page is completely dry take your fineliner pen and draw squiggles and lines randomly throughout the journal page.

7. Cut out a word or quote from your magazine clippings and paste them on how you like. I went for a quote from my favourite book The catcher in the rye by J.D. Salinger. :

"she wasn't doing a thing that I could see, except standing there,leaning on the balcony railing,holding the universe together."

8. That's it , your done. Stand back and admire your artwork.

Hope you guys liked this page. Don't forget to follow me on here and on instagram.  the link can be found here: Her altered heart instagram page,

most of the materials you see on the list can be found online at some of the following shops:

Art from the heart     a sprinkle of imagination  The craft barn  (these are UK based shops)

For some more of my projects like this one click on the following links:

Vera Lane Seaside Tag

Stampotique art journal page

All about the journey card (suzi blu inspired)

Thanks, thats it for today! Check back soon .x

                                       Always, -Kass

Kids project: Bubblewrap art canvas

My mom (like most grandparents) loves getting pictures and pieces of art. So this mothers day that's what I decided we should do for her. We should make her a canvas to hang in her new lanai. A lot of people in Florida have lanais off the back of their house. Up in Chicago we would call them a back porch, in England we say conservatory. Lanai just sounds more tropical and everything is more tropical in Florida. Plus there is a pool in theirs so that's helps the tropical feel as well. My mom told me they were going with "key west colours" to decorate the area. When I think Key west colours I just think bright, tropical, sea inspired.

Well our canvas isn't really sea inspired but we tried to make it bright and colour complimentary. Before I go any further can I just say yes, Scarlett sat on top of my work space for this project and No, I don't recommend it for messiness and health and safety reasons.  She was under my supervision this entire project. What can i say? Shes a monkey.

Firstly just get colour down on the canvas. We used Faber Castell gelatos because they are so fun to use and have loads of colours to choose from. You can use whatever you have. Oil pastels work great, or acrylic paint if its all you have. Try and use something that will allow you to blend the colours nicely. So we scribbled the gelatos roughly all over the canvas where we wanted them

 and blended them together using our fingers.

Next we chose a contrasting dark paint colour and painted all over the bubble wrap generously but at the same time trying to not fill in the gaps between holes too much.

Then for the moment of truth. Put the bubble wrap paint side down on canvas and start printing. You just have to sort of go for it and have some faith. If you think about this part to much you will just hinder your creative process. Its better to just go for it and work with what you get. Its not suppose to look perfect.

Then Scarlett used the lid to a recycled jar to create circles to add to the composition.We used a orange transparent paint for this. Using transparent paint allows you to see the layers underneath creating a bit more depth.

Whilst I set that aside for drying I had Scarlett draw, cut out, and colour in some pictures.

 We raided my paper stash and found some long scraps to use as flower stems. Then I glued them on using mod podge gloss sealer.

After that had all dried we painted a ground using blue paint ( yes a blue ground. why not? maybe its the ocean. a big ocean with flowers coming out. wheres your sense of whimsy?) I then went all around the outside edge of the canvas with a lime green colour paint.

After it dries its ready to hang up and enjoy, or send off to a distant loved one. This is a project using basic layering and printing techniques so give your little one an applause when your finished making this. He/she is well on their way to becoming a brilliant artist!

Thanks for reading and have a great day.x
                                                                                         Always, -Kass