If you use waterbrushes, here is another tip from a seasoned journaler-on-the-go – cut the cuffs of old socks before you throw them away, slip one on your wrist and use it to clean your brush instead of carrying paper towels around with you which have a nasty habit of blowing away at the slightest gust of wind. An old tennis wristband would also work well.
If you want to pick up some excellent skills on watercolour journaling then head on over to Laure’s other website Imaginary Trips and check out her online classes.
I LOVE using PanPastels for my journal backgrounds – sometimes it is great not to have to wait for paint to dry… I especially love the soft subtle blending that can be achieved, and the wonderful tactile feel of the pages. I have been using them in my gratitude journal, and thought I would share some pre-prepared background pages -
The page bottom left (above) was created by applying Phthalo Blue and Hansa Yellow Shade and blending them where they meet. The flowers were created by stamping with Versamark, and then dusting very lightly over the stamping with Chromium Oxide Green for the stems/leaves and Red Iron Oxide shade for the flowers.
The page top right was created by blending Yellow Ochre and Permanent Red and then erasing the swirls with a pencil eraser (Pan Pastels erase very easily). The page bottom right was created by laying down a base coat of Yellow Ochre, and then dusting Red Iron Oxide shade over a Tim Holtz mask.
For most pages, simply rubbing well with a paper towel after applying the Pastel is enough to ‘fix’ the pages, however when applying over a mask or through a stencil, it may be necessary to use a fixative spray, although I haven’t done that yet with this page and it is holding up pretty well.
I also find that PanPastel can be easily used on smooth paper – usually soft pastel requires a paper with some ‘tooth’, but it is easy to get smooth ‘washes’ of colour on very smooth paper with this product as it is so low in dust and has an almost creamy consistency.
Over at Artella they are having a 50% off sale at their Vintage shop until November 30th.
Click on the image below to visit the Artella site to find out more
“The final day we’ll accept vintage orders in 2009 is November 30. Our new vintage store won’t be open until Spring of 2010, so if there are any vintage goods that interest you, now is the time to get them at 50% off…AND enjoy all the inspiring ARTSgiving bonuses below!
In addition to getting EVERY vintage item in Artella Mae’s Vintage General Store at 50% off, with each purchase, you also receive a Gift eCertificate good on ALL Artella eProducts:
Plus! EVERY purchase over $15 receives the fun ARTsgiving 2009 Holiday eBasket, including these fun, inspiring goodies:
The NEW Artella eBook, “Artella’s Step-by-Step Vintage Holiday Cards”
Our fun and useful eBooklet on making “10 Christmas Crafts in 10 Minutes”
Our beautiful collection of downloadable “Christmas Carol Background Papers”
A great way to create an interesting background for your journal pages is to add colour. However if use a wet medium such as watercolour or acrylic your pages may warp, unless you have good thick paper in your journal. Another option is to use soft pastels. The new PanPastels are ideal for this as they are soft and creamy and produce very little dust. You can create very soft blended effects – this example uses Yellow Ochre, Turquoise Shade and Hansa Yellow Shade, and was then lightly overstamped with Colorbox Chalk inks -
Looking for something different to give this Christmas? Why not inspire someone to keep a journal, by giving them a starter kit. Over in the Journal Craft store we have added to our range of Journal Kits, we now have a Travel Journal Kit which is ideal for anyone who is about to embark on a trip – even if it is to the neighboring town! The kit comes complete with our own booklet “How to keep a Travel Journal”, and everything you need to journal ‘on the move’.
We also have a journal starter kit, which includes Dan Price’s wonderful book “How To Make A Journal Of Your Life”.
Artists everywhere love nothing better than trying out new art materials – so why not treat them to a fantastic new product – PanPastel - highly pigmented artist’s Soft Pastel uniquely packaged in a pan We have sets of 5,10 and 20 and the individual Pans make ideal stocking fillers. We also stock a range of Sofft Tools specially designed for use with PanPastel.
Just a brief post to let you know we have updated our shopping site, you can now view and pay for our products in the currency of your choice – simply select your currency from the dropdown list in the mini cart on the right hand side. We accept secure payment by PayPal and ship worldwide.
We are also very excited to be offering PanPastels, the new artists pastels uniquely packaged in a pan - no more dusty crumbling pastel sticks to deal with! Pastels are wonderful for adding background colour to your journal pages without the problems of warping and buckling sometimes caused by wet media. They are available in 60 wonderful colours -
A great way to add colour to your pages is to use soft pastels. Because they are applied dry they don’t buckle the paper and you can easly write over the top.
Standard stick pastels can be used by directly applying to the page, or alternatively scrubbing the stick on a spare piece of paper to create pastel ‘dust’ and applying the colour with a cotton wool ball.
The new PanPastel that come in a plastic container are ideal, as they produce very little dust and give a smooth even coverage.
After you have applied the chalk, you need to rub the surface thoroughly with clean cotton wool or a tissue, to ensure that no residue rubs off onto the opposite page. Alternatively you can use a spray fixative.
Tip – when applying pastels it is a good idea to slip in a sheet of scrap paper below the page you are working on to prevent the dust from spreading to other pages in your journal.
This page is from the journal of Gill McCowen – Moleskine Sketchbook and Soft Pastels
(Click on the image to view original)
