Create An Inspiring Art Journal Page with Cindy Gilstrap, StencilGirl CreativeTeam member

Hi everyone! I'm Cindy Gilstrap from Junque Art and I'm so excited to be doing my first post as a StencilGirl Creative Team Member. I am honored to be part of the StencilGirl creative family! I love stencils and can't wait to share fun projects with you here.

I'm a mixed media artist and one of my favorite places to create art is in my art journals. It's a great place to play and discover new ideas and techniques. I love creating pages that hold inspiring quotes or words. Today I'm going to walk you through a bright, quirky, and inspiring art journal page.

Let's get started and make a fun art mess!

SUPPLIES - I encourage you to use what you have but here are the basic supplies that I used in the project: Art journal (I'm using a Dylusions square journal by Ranger), white gesso (not shown), 5 acrylic paint colors, 3 stencils (Straight Stems by Terri Stegmiller L121, Chevron Doily Mask by Maria McGuire S195, Rows of Triangles by Rae Missigman M081), 2 colored markers, 2 paint markers, white gel pen.

Step 1: Gesso your page and let dry. I used Liquitex white gesso. (I did not take a photo of this step.)

Step 2: Use a palette knife or brush to spread a random layer of paint. (I used pink but you can use any color.)

Step 3: Add a second color by swiping randomly with a palette knife or brush. (I used orange.)

Step 4: Add a third color following the same technique in Step 3. (I used white to tone down the color a bit.) This technique creates a marbled look to the background. It also creates wonderful texture. Let dry completely.

Step 5: Using a darker shade of one of your background paints, stencil the 6" Chevron Doily Mask by Maria McGuire in several places. (I used a darker shade of pink.) Let dry.

Step 6: Using a contrasting color from the background, stencil the 4" Rows of Triangles by Rae Missigman in several places. (I used blue.) Let dry.

Step 7: Using another contrasting color from the background, stencil the Straight Stems by Terri Stegmiller in 3 different places. (I used green.) Tip: Vary the height of the stems. Let dry.

Step 8: Highlight the leaves with a marker in a darker shade than your paint.  I am using a Copic marker.

Step 9: You can blend your highlights with a marker that's a lighter shade. Let dry.

Step 10: Hand letter a favorite quote or phrase with a paint marker in a color that contrasts with the background. Let dry.

Step 11: Add outline detail to your lettering. I used a white fine point Sharpie paint pen. You could also use a gel pen.

Step 12: Continue to add detail to your leaves with a gel pen.

Step 13: Add more detail with dots or marks to some of the other stencil work. I used a white gel pen to add dots to the triangles.

I hope you enjoyed creating a fun inspirational quote art journal page! Remember your art journal is a place of discovery and play. You can apply any of the fun things you discover in your art journal to other projects like a mixed media canvas or scrapbook page. The most important thing is to play and have fun!

Thank you for stopping by StencilGirl Talk. I enjoyed sharing my stencil and art journal love with you! You can find more of my art at Junque Art. Stop by and say hi anytime!

Happy Creating!