Art Journal with Gelato background

Art Journaling is an exceptional way to try out new techniques.  New supplies, bold colors, things you may not want to try on an actual project.  It gives you a freedom to not have an expectation or an outcome.  For us “A” personalities that are overwhelmed with OCD tendencies it presents one of my most favorite and most hated form’s of expression.

I like dimensional work, when messing in my art journal. I can get messy and have unfinished work.  It allows me to journal my thoughts or feelings in words, colors, or images. Typically, I shy away from simple flat images. Layers and background work is where it is at.  Complex images are my favorite, that is something that I am personally drawn to when making a project or starting to piece together ideas.

Have I mentioned throughout my blog that I stockpile images and backgrounds?  Aside from making tags and cards, this is another way that I use those already completed images or stamps.  I add them to my art journal for a quick filler and then embellish on and around them with different inks or mediums.

Art Journaling with Faber Castel Gelato’s

Gelato’s make art journaling a breeze. If you know what these are and have worked with them before, you are probably amazed by the versatility of the pigment.  If you have not ever used them before, you have to try them!!  You will not be sorry.  They are in mini pen-like containers, like crayons but fatter.  The texture is very pigmented and super creamy.  You can use them as is or add water to them and they can make some pretty amazing backgrounds that are vivid and fluid with little to know artistic ability.

Baby wipes work amazingly to smooth out backgrounds.  I used that method on the art journal pages that I am showcasing in this post.  You can also use spray water, droplets of water, or stencils.  This pigment will also lift off of paper with water.  So you can do a background then put a stencil down and lift the color up so it makes a reverse image.

Technique

Art Journal with Gelato’s

Pictured above in the top photos, are what the Gelato’s look like.  You can just color the paper where you want specific pigment to go or blend by overlapping colors.  When you are happy with the coverage you add water and it smooths the color out and blends the colors together.  I used a baby wipe wrapped around my fingers and just blended it together.  Super fabulous. Once it dries you can stamp on top of it.   Layer more ink, or pretty much anything you can imagine.

I have even used these on canvas for background and they worked beautifully.

Finished Pages

Art Journal with Gelato’s step 2

I might be done with this page, I might not be.  Sometimes I will go months then will go back and add things to previous pages. A coffee Gelato was used to rub around the images that I glued onto my pages and then I rubbed the pigment with my finger until I got my desired result.  Smudging the pigment is one super cool thing to do with them.  I rub the edges of a lot of my projects with Gelato’s because it gives a smokey finish to paper.

Art journaling is a vast media and there are five thousand ways to art-journal.  I would love to hear some of your favorite techniques.