Anouk (Creanouk) - Spring is in the air

Hello you beautiful artist,

Spring is in the air, at least where I live. We’ve had a couple of beautiful sunny days and it has had the most positive effect on my mood. I can’t wait to spend more time outside, to walk with our little dog and to see the flowers in the backyard come to life again. When I was looking at my stencils The Tall Flower stencil by Margaret Peot immediately gave me those spring vibes as well, so I decided to go a bit out of my comfort zone and I tried to create a field of flowers in my art journal.

Step 01
I prepped my Dylusions journal with a layer of Amsterdam White Gesso to prevent any bleeding in a later stage. Then I used The Tall Flower stencil by Margaret Peot with Amsterdam Napels Yellow Red Light. I applied it with a kitchen sponge for a little bit of texture.

Step 02
For the ground part of my flower field I glued down some collage with Mod Podge Matt using

old book papers and tea bags. 

Step 03
I softened the background of flowers a little bit by using a damped brush and a tiny bit of White Gesso. 

Too create texture on the background I used The Chicken Wire stencil by Valerie Sjodin with some Amsterdam Modeling Paste.

Step 04
In the bottom corners I mixed Amsterdam Olive Green and a little bit of White Gesso to add some colour to the ground. 

I used my fingers to apply and mix those two directly on the page. I really like to finger paint in my art journal because it makes blending colours so my easier! It also brings out your inner child, which will prevent your inner critic to take over.

Step 05
I sprinkled some instant coffee directly to the page and then sprayed it with a little bit of water to create a loose and unpredictable effect. I spread out the coffee stains a little bit more by using a round watercolour brush and my heat tool.

Step 06

To connect the background with the ground part, I applied Napels Yellow Red Light
in the bottom corners of my page. 

Step 07

I started to work on the flower field by using The Tall Flower stencil again, this time using Amsterdam Napels Yellow Deep, filling in the gaps of the previous flower layer.

Step 08
To make the foreground of the flower field I used the same The Tall Flower stencil with some Amsterdam Light Rose mixed with Modeling Paste. To be completely honest this is the part where I would advise you to use a brighter colour to mix with your Modeling Paste. I think it will look a lot nicer and a little bit less dull. But hey, we live and we learn.

Step 09
To bring back a little bit of colour I used coffee to darken the ground and to add some splatters. I also grabbed some neon pink and yellow acrylic ink to create even more splatters.

Step 10

For my final step I used my type writer and a gel printed copy paper to type down my words.

I stuck it down with a little collage cluster to make it look more interesting.
I finished it off with a few splatters of Ranger Black Ink Spray and then this page was done!

 I enjoyed working on this spread that was inspired by the spring weather we are currently having in the Netherlands.

Instead of making a video about this process I made a cute little reel that you can see on my Instagram. As always I hope this page will inspire you to create something in your art journal today!

Product List:

Dylusions Squared journal

Amsterdam - Modeling Paste Matt

Vintage Music and Book Paper

Mod Podge - Matt

Amsterdam - White Gesso

Amsterdam - Napels Yellow Red Light

Amsterdam - Napels Olive Green

Amsterdam - Napels Yellow Deep Amsterdam - Light Rose

Neon Pink Acrylic Ink

Neon Yellow Acrylic Ink

Ranger - Spray Ink Black Faber Castell - Art Grip Aquarelle

Instant Coffee

Type Writer

Thank you so much for reading my blog post. I hope that I have inspired you to create today! My name is Anouk or Creanouk on social media, and I'm an all-round creative from the Netherlands. I love art journaling because I can put my heart and soul into it. You can find my work on Instagram and Youtube