Getting Messy by Sue West

I can't believe how quickly March has whizzed by, and that it's time for my third and final post as guest designer here at the Artistic Stamper Creative Team, and I am going to let you peek into some of my art journal pages.

For me one of the joys of keeping an art journal (actually I should own up to having four on the go) is that they allow me to play around with supplies that I am not always quite sure what to do with, or how they will work together.  At the moment I'm using a big sketch book, an old hardback book that I'm slowly altering and a couple of Moleskin journals for specific projects.

The first pages are from my big sketch book, and I've found that if the pages are a bit thin Mod Podge them together, and I nearly always gesso my pages, it makes the paper you are working on a lot more forgiving.

The background for this page is acrylic paint that is swiped on with a baby wipe (much easier than washing brushes). I have used the Swirls Splats and Dots stamp, and Journaling Words #1 to create my bubbly images, using Adirondack Inks in Pool and Lettuce. and the gold circles are a Gold Acrylic paint dabber, the words are stamped in black Archival Ink.  The Adirondack ink takes an age to dry on the acrylic, and takes on a slightly faded and textured quality, using a heat gun will help a bit in the drying process, but don't get the acrylic and gesso too hot or it will start to bubble up randomly.  The collage image is from my stash, and the wings are made from Tim Holtz tissue paper, that has been edged with some of that gold paint dabber.

For the second page I used Neocolour II water-soluble wax pastels (they look like wax crayons) which I scribbled over the page and then magically turned into a watercoloured background with a wet paintbrush. This time I've used acrylic paint to stamp the Splats and Swirls, and the words are from that same Journalling Words #1 set again stamped with Archival Ink.

Have some fun making paint splats using slightly watered down acrylic paint. The more random the better, though make sure you cover up the surrounding area, because if you're anything like me the splats won't just go on the page.

Finally here's a page from a travel themed journal that I'm making in a Moleskine notebook.  This picture reminded me of my Grandma when she used to go off on holiday with her pals in the 1960's. I'm not sure if she ever ate moules et frites or drank wine, but who knows? This page has been sprayed with Adirondack Colour Wash, which has run down the page ( and been mopped up at the bottom with kitchen towel) before using Archival Ink in Aquamarine and Black for all stamping. I've used the Travel Words and Labels  stamps on this page.

I really like having little bits sticking out of my journal and tags that I can write things under. Actually I just love journaling, and if things don't work out I can just cover them up with something else.  Have fun!

And thank you to Jennie and team for having me...
Sue x