Art Houses Journal Page Without A Plan

Happy Monday fellow Artinators. My blog offering today is a Journal page, I know, I haven't done one in a while, even though it is high on my 'Must Do More Of' list this year! This one is special in that it is an organic make, it is plan free, totally free-form.

Cast your mind back to this blog post from November last year when I said I don't really do a lot of the creating without a pre-thought through plan. Your comments were fabulous and I got a complete split response from those folks who always have a plan and those who never have a plan before they create and all the scales between.

With a little bit of thinking I worked out why I do a lot of working to plan, it all comes down to the fact that I do a lot of working to deadlines and when I get a commission I will inevitably start by idea generation and sketching out the makes. It has become a bit of a habit for me.

Of course there is no right or wrong way, but when I have the time I want to do some blind making where the make just guides its own creation, it is a lot fun, as you know, and you can learn just as much. But I do find it a bit more scary than working with a plan as there is that element of 'But what if it turns out *INSERT FAVOURITE EXPLETIVE*!' as I'm sure I've mentioned before and you all know that feeling too.

But practice makes perfect and so this make directed its own creation and I started with a colour scheme (which changed as it went along btw) and one of the house stamps designed by Sam Poole from the Art Houses Creative Expressions Stamp Set. That was it, no plan, no idea of what I wanted it to look like.

The colour combo originally was peaches, salmon pinks, beige and browns and I started with some tearing of scrapbook papers to give a textured look to the journal page, then added a bit more colour with some water soluble wax crayons.

A couple of layers of gesso later...

and ready for a colour change...

More gesso and a bit of blending and we are ready to make a focal point by drawing around a paper circle

and filling it in with white paint. Then a quick dry brush layer of gesso to the background for more texture and blending. Next a bit of stamping out the house on another piece of paper and cutting out to stick to the focal point.

A little bit of texture in the corners by stamping the large flourish from the Creative Expressions Funky Floral stamp kit in Versamark and adding pastel colour.

Some ink and pen details to add a bit of pop and a sentiment from the Art Houses stamp kit.

There you have it, one free-form, plan free journal page. If you get close you can still see the scrapbook paper details coming through, which is nice.

What is your most recent free-forming project? Give me a shout and a link and I will pop on over to have a look!

Catch you later Artinators!

Kim