Wonderful Life Art Journal Spread by Frieda Oxenham

We are sometimes in danger of forgetting how wonderful life can be in among the grimness of what is happening on this earth. We can’t do much about most of that, but we can try and enjoy our lives as best we can in amongst it all. For me that enjoyment comes from my home, my loved ones, my garden and my art and I’m celebrating both art and flowers on this spread. Many thanks must go to StencilGirl Products for giving me the opportunity to share this with you.

Here is the step-by-step tutorial:

1.      Gesso two pages in A4 art journal (I used the Dylusions one).

2.      Stamp random patterns over the pages.

I used rubber stamps designed by Nathalie Kalbach for Stampendous with black Archival ink.

3.      Paint in blocks of colour. I used DecoArt Fluid Acrylics in Cobalt Teal, Hansa Yellow and Pyrole Red.

On the red areas rub back the colour using a baby wipe and the small stencil from the July 2016 StencilClub.

4.      With matte medium glue on collage elements. I used pieces of scrapbook paper featuring roses, tissue wrap from Tim Holtz, and deli paper previously stencilled on using Circles Circles and Ancient Masks and black paint.

5.      Using more Liquid Acrylics (this time Golden Green Gold, Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold and Cobalt Teal) soften the areas of previous painting and collage.

6.      Stencil with medium stencil October 2014 StencilClub stencil and white paint, and also with the small stencil from July 2016 and Ripples Small stencil using black paint.

7.      Drip Fluorescent Blue and Pink acrylic ink (Daler Rowney) down the pages.

8.      Stencil on flowers using the large July 2016 Club stencil with gold, blue and red paint.

Use the same stencil to also add red dots.

9.      Add rub-ons (from Tim Holtz Remnants Rubs Botanical) and secure gently with matte medium

10.  Stencil on the word FREEDOM using stencil Use Your Words stencil with white paint.

11.  Outline with black and white markers and glue on vintage text.

12.  Write on some appropriate words with a pencil.

(C) Frieda Oxenham 2016. To see more of Frieda's work, please visit her BLOG.